And Then She Was Gone

An Alternative Perspective

When Elizabeth returned, whatever debate that needed to be settled was already settled, and Jason lingered in the corner by the window surrounded by Alex, Brent, Keith and Lucio. Rowan was immersed in his phone responding to text communications and Skylar and Terry were engaged in small talk.

It appeared that lunch was left untouched in her absence, which only resulted in her further flushed cheeks. Not only, did she unknowingly delay their eating by Jason's supposed necessary actions, but she delayed them in the recuperation period she took in response to those said actions.

Her hazel eyes flickered among all available parties within the room, and they were only met with two different shades of green eyes, one iridescently lighter and gradient in color, the other being deeper in their forestry tone. Everyone else seemed to continue about their business as if it had not been interrupted by her reappearance.

"You're back." Skylar said, interrupting his conversation from Terry, his deep tone calling away the fixation of Jason's stare upon her, almost as soon as she re-entered.

"I apologize-" she began to speak but once again was intercepted in her response.

"Do not ever apologize. It's beneath you." Skylar said cooly, and yet it held an authoritative tone.

"Skylar." Alpha Terry stated in brevity, holding his ultimate allegiance to the Floridian leader and not wanting to divert from his strength. Hoping that past times would be recognized and considered between them, before any rash decisions were made.

"My mate was showing her own manners." Jason's sharp focused eyes on the Floridian once again. "Do not correct her, it's not your place."

"I'm sorry. I immensely apologize. Did her actions need to be corrected? All I saw,was a beautiful woman walking into a room. Tell me, Jason..." his words lingered in an almost reverberating manner. "Did her actions call for retribution? By my nose, I'd think not."

"We need to eat lunch." Alex stated in brevity. Breaking the tension from the air with shifting blue eyes following the same pattern of hazel ones across from him, which seemed to find their own reprieve at his words.

"Yes, let's eat. I would not have been away so long had I known everyone was waiting for me to start." She said with a gentle nod, quickly returning to her seat and waiting for everyone else to do the same. However, she did not wait to take a heavy draw of the glass of wine sitting idly beside her plate, her still feeling slightly uncomfortable from the situation.

"Are you okay, baby?" Jason asked after he made his way over to her, adopting an overly affectionate manner towards her to further symbolically piss on her leg and mark his territory. Her chair being shifted closer towards his and her plate and glass also being readjusted on the table.

"Yes, I'm fine." She said watching him closely and fighting the urge to roll her eyes at his not so subtle gestures. Allowing him to continue down this route only to aid in the peace keeping of the room, and in recognition that he was extra sensitive and needy, due to only recently getting her back.

"Eat then. You need to gain some weight and rebuild your strength." He said adjusting himself comfortably in his seat with a hand being placed on her thigh where he traced circles against the material of her pants, his other hand grabbing at his own glass of scotch.

"The doctors said I was fine, Jason." Her volume lowering as she used discretion to show her lack of want for him to fuss and make her look helpless in front of the men at the table.