Page 1 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
Chapter One
Sylvie
Journal #1—Entry #1
The day it all started, I woke up, and my instinct told me it was going to be a bad day. Talk about an understatement. Getting dumped for a side piece was just the appetizer. From there, it only got worse …
“Can this wait?” I struggled with my jacket, the inner lining adhering to the sleeves of my blouse and messing it all up as I tried to put it on. “Stupid thing. I’m sorry, Caidyn, but I really need to go. I don’t have time to talk. You know I can’t be late again.”
“No, it can’t.”
I froze mid-jacket struggle. When Caidyn talked like that, short and snippy, it was usually easier just to listen. If I didn’t, things would only get worse. But my temper wasn’t simply going to take the sudden outburst lying down.
“Okay then,” I said, eyeing him as he waited near the front door, also ready to go. Leather jacket draped casually over one arm, shoulder resting on the wall, he was the picture of impatience.
“Okay?” He blinked rapidly, befuddlement clouding his bright baby blue eyes.
I sighed, running out of patience so early in the morning.At least he’s handsome. “Yes. Okay then. Spit it out already if it’s that important.”
“Can you at least stop and listen to me?” he said, standing tall to compensate for the shortness of my words.
“No,” I said, continuing to force the jacket up over my shirt. It would have to do. Wrinkles or not, I was nearly out of time. “Tell me what’s bothering you so I can go to work.”
I could make it up to him later, somehow. Maybe by stopping and picking up another bottle of that new red wine we’d tried with dinner the other week. That and some junk food, and we could fix this all up. Whatever it was.
“Sylvie, I think you should know something.” He fidgeted, his fingers wringing themselves out under his jacket. “I’ve found someone else.”
The metaphorical bottle of wine slipped from my fingers, shattering as it hit the ground. Pieces of razor-sharp glass pierced the perfect little bubble I’d been building about my life.
“Sylvie—”
I raised a hand, cutting him off. “You’re breaking up with me. Is that what you’re saying?” I had to be certain, to be sure of what I was hearing.
Caidyn refused to look me in the eyes, instead staring off to one side. “I’ve been trying to find ways to tell you, Syl. When the time was right.”
I laughed, shocking myself. “The time was rightbefore you went looking for someone else.” There was no rage or anger, no shouting. Just stoic disbelief. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. But it was.
“I’m sorry, Syl. I am. I promise.”
“My name,” I said gratingly, “is Sylvie.”
In that moment, I never wanted to hear him say my name in any format again. Ever.
The arms of my jacket seemed to slide on easily now, the materials recognizing what was going on and ceasing to fight me over it. I zipped it up and glanced at the door behind Caidyn. Had he planned this, planned to block my exit? Just like he’d planned to go shopping the sales rack for new girlfriends?
The shock was real, and it was hitting me like a cement truck. I had gone from thinking of salvaging a rocky morning in our relationship to discovering that therewasno relationship. It had failed. Not only that, but it had done soa whileago. Caidyn wouldn’t be ending things with me if he wasn’t already nice and cozy with his side piece.
“Please, Sylvie, you have to—”
My hand shot out, palm upward. “Key, please.”
“What?” he looked down at my hand and then back up, finally meeting my gaze.
Coward.
“The key I gave you to my apartment,” I said sharply. “I want it in my palm, ten seconds ago. Then I want yououtof the apartment, and I don’t want you ever coming back. You’re banned. I’m trespassing you. Now give me my key andget out!”
By the end, I was shouting at him. Shock was morphing to anger as all the wasted time, two whole years of it, came racing back to slap me in the face.
