Chapter 216
“We could try again?” I offered. “What were you saying?”
“You truly didn’t get enough sleep last night?” he asked. “This isn’t about me? Because I feel our connection so strongly, Annette, but if you don’t…”
“It’s not that,” I said, another lie. “I really am just tired….” Looking around, I had the slow realization that this just wasn’t going to work. “Maybe we could try another time. I’m sorry.”
“Its fine,” he said, though there was hurt in his eyes. “If you don’t feel well, it can’t be helped. I’ll pay for our drinks and then see you home.”
“Oh, I can walk home,” I said.
That startled him. “But if you aren’t feeling well…”
“The cool air will do me wonders,” I said, practically insisting.
He seemed conflicted. “I could escort you?”
“I’d only continue to be terrible company,” I said, standing. “Thank you, Ian. We will try again soon, I hope.”
“Of course, Annette…”
As I walked out of the restaurant, I felt his eyes on me the entire way.
I knew I was being insufferably rude, but I couldn’t help myself. I felt like I was suffocating in there. The minute I stepped outside, I suddenly felt free.
I didn’t want to return home too soon, or my family would have questions that I wasn’t ready to answer yet. So I decided to go the long way home, as I sometimes did, taking a walk through the forest.
I loved nature, and had energy to burn. I hated being so cooped up in the estate all the time, so oftentimes, like now, I would sneak out to go on a mini-adventure through the woods. I’d been going further and further each time, exploring new parts of the forest I was coming to know well.
Today, venturing so far, I saw houses for the first time, and a street. These weren’t places I knew, they must have been outside of the pack. For that reason, I stayed in within the safety of the forest, unwilling to cross pack lines. Unless I had already.
Perhaps I should go back.
Yet, just as I was about to retreat, I saw a family of three, a father with two young children.
I froze at once. Didn’t I know that man?
Then I realized. He looked just like my fantasy man.
Damien’s POV
“You need to stop teasing your teacher,” I said to my two girls on our walk home. “She didn’t appreciate the picture you drew of her on the chalkboard, Stacy.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be mean,” Amy said, coming to her sister’s defense.
Stacy stayed quiet, making me suspect it was supposed to be mean. The teacher said Stacy had drawn her as some kind of crass lizard person.
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Chapter 216
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“Why would you draw your teacher as a lizard?” I asked, trying to stay calm. Stacy had been acting out lately, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. That would require patience on my part. Gods, I wished Amelia was here. She would excel at this kind of thing.
“It was a dragon,” Stacy said stubbornly.
“Dragons are cool!” Amy added. “It was nice…”
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