Darkest Wolf

XIV

"It's no excuse, I knew what I was doing."

"Zach, it was just a cat. Calm down."

"Just a cat? How can you say that? He was a family pet."

Jade sighed for what must have been the hundreth time since I let loose all those feels in him. I haven't paid much attention to him at all since then but she's been trying to "clean up my mess." I can feel her glare on me as I walk by but I'm more focused on getting off this damned plane.

"Thanks for the ride, Zach," I said as I patted him on the shoulder," Really appreciated it."

"Oh, God! I polluted the atmosphere just to get laid."

Jade looked at him with distress before leaving him in the very capable hands of the captain and following me as I wandered around the small airport. I spotted a driver with a car and a sign that read "Zachary Williams" on it in bold text. Jade sashayed over to him and leaned over to whisper something in his ear before climbing in. The driver seemed to understand because he let her and held the door open for me.

I nodded at him as I got into the expensive car with my cousin. The door shut and he climbed into the driver's seat. Then I turned to her.

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him that Zach was tying up some lose ends and told us to head over to the hotel to get started," then she turned to me and looked at me seriously," What did you do to him?"

"I just let him feel a little shame. It should wear off by tomorrow."

"Are you sure you should be doing that?"

"I'm sure it got me out of having to whore myself out for a ride."

"Wow, E. Tell me how you really feel."

"Jade, I-"

"Don't bother. You never were one to censor yourself."

_

A sign reading "c'mon in" written in large, orange letters above a door that was just a few blocks away from some castle-like hotel that Zach's driver had taken us to was the strangest thing about the prodigious bridge that took passerby's across the River Shannon.

Jade stood off to the side smoking the last cigarette she had with her while I watched the water flowed slowly, pollution making the water a dull brown instead of the decent blue it is from a few steps back.

Now that we had made it to Ireland we had to find our way to get back to the cliffs but the simple thought of them dipped my bones into a feeling of beautiful numbness.

I believe this is what death feels like.

Now who is the one being morbid.

Do you ever stop talking?

I turned around and looked at Jade, my skin rubbed against the brick walls of the wall as I slid down to sit on the rough ground. She rolled her eyes at me but stepped back as a car rolled under the bridge.

The license plate disappeared down the street and off into a main road where it continued along its merry way.

"When do you want to head to the cliffs now or get some food first or what?"

"Food? Didn't you eat on the plane?"

"Yeah, but I don't really count being fed strawberries by a horny asshole as eating. Besides, you didn't."

My wolf grumbled something close enough to agreement for me to follow Jade as she walked down the sidewalk. I suppose to someone else it may seem as if I were stalking her but in all honesty I couldn't bear to walk next to her with all the emotion running through the city. It was overpowering in the best way. Near euphoric after being trapped in a pack full of love and hope for all of my life.

But the amount of denial and sadness and anger coming from Jade?

That was a little too much for me to handle. 

At one point I had to sit down on a bench next to a sleeping homeless person for a second. Jade was still looking for somewhere to eat- she always was picky- so I amused myself with the scenery. Ireland's blue sky was dull and filled with clouds but it was still beautiful. I smiled to myself and checked out the locals. June weather had them all dressed up in sweaters and jeans with a few higher end residents in suits and dresses. 

"If yer lookin' for yer girlfriend, she went that a' way," the homeless man grumbled with a head jerk to the left, upset from me waking him up by sitting down," Go get her."

"Oh- I don't have a girlfriend."

He grumbled again before rolling over to face the inside of the bench, leaving only those strange words and the stench of his breath. 

I looked up to see Jade had gotten really far down the street so I jumped up and jogged to get over to her. She had found a Jade-worthy restaurant for us to eat at. We went in and sat ourselves down in a brown booth by the window for my day-dreaming self to be amused. She ordered a club sandwich right away but I stuck with onion rings and a chocolate milkshake. 

A pretty, young waitress that was tingling with lust brought us our drinks. While I sipped on my shake I thought of how Ethan would lean over to tell me all about how she was completely infatuated.

I always wondered how it would feel to feel the other end of the spectrum. To know for sure that she was in love but also looking forward to her nightly activities. 

"That girl's walked by the window like four times."

I looked up to see Jade watching a girl with short blue hair walk away. Her pants were leather and black and her shirt dipped low to show off what may look like a decorative chain to go with her very expensive looking shirt but I recognized it as a whip sword.

"Are you sure she's walking by on purpose," I asked, trying to make it seem like I didn't see her by smiling at Jade and picking the cherry off the top of my shake.

"Certain."

"What are we going to do?"

The girl turned around about halfway down the block and stopped to pretend like she was looking at some flowers outside a store. She tucker her hair behind her ear, revealing an arrow tattoo next to her hairline.

"We're going to run."