Enough.I’dbeen hearing his complaints sinceCassandraall but bolted out of my cabin.I’lllet you run it off tonight.
Hescoffed at the invitation.Runningon the mountain wouldn’t do a damn thing to bringCassandraback.
Shenever would have stayed,Icommunicated.Shewas returning home today, anyway.
Shewas a witch who lived inMassachusetts.Iwas a shifter who lived in the mountains.Shehad a daughter;Ihad my pack.Weeach had our careers where we lived.Ourworlds didn’t mesh.
Mywolf andIargued some more.
It’sbetter this way,Iinsisted.Iwas too set in my ways to share my life with anyone else.
Themorning ticked by slowly.Asthe temperature warmed up to double digits, more people arrived and the lines for the lifts grew longer.AtleastIhad my work to distract me.Wehad a few wipeouts but no major injuries.Eachone reminded me of whenIhelped a pretty blond who’d lost her skis, which then turned into so much more.
WhenIfinally finished my shift,Ireturned to my cabin.AsIwalked through the door,Cassandra’sscent lingering there hit me with a wave of longing.Worse, the cabin seemed empty without her.
Fuck.WhatcouldIdo about this?She’dgotten under my skin.Whycouldn’tIshake her off?
Becauseshe wasn’t just some woman—she was my mate.
Mywolf pressed,Gofind her.
Washe crazy?Didhe miss how the morning had played out with her rushing to get away from me?
Iinhaled deeply and tried to ignore the instinct to hunt for her.Shewas a witch, not a wolf.Havingsome shifter appear in her space with a declaration that she was his mate would not go over well.She’dflee from me quicker than she’d left my cabin this morning.
WhatIneeded was time and space, and maybe in a day or two, the urge to find her would subside.Isat on the couch and rubbed my temples.Myhead pounded with conflicting emotions.
Iattempted to distract myself by focusing on tasks, starting with building a fire to warm the cabin.Onceit was lit,Ishoved away thoughts of how nice it had been to sit before it withCassandra.Iscowled and scurried around my kitchen, searching for something else to do.Icould cook a stew.Thehearty warmth would be welcome to heat me up after spending hours in the cold, especially sinceI’dhead back out tonight.
Hourspassed andIcouldn’t shake her out of my head.Itwas time to let my wolf burn up some steam as we went out on patrol.
Iremoved my clothing before heading outside and shifted to wolf form.Heran relentlessly through the snow up the mountain, not pausing to sniff at every damn scent the way he often did.Andalthough it wasn’t yet a full moon, he tipped his head up and howled in anguish.We’dfound our mate and then lost her.Themournful sound vibrated deep into my soul.
CASSANDRA
OnMondaymorning,Isifted through emails in my office, surrounded by jars of herbs and spell books at theSalemSupernaturalNetwork.Thiswas the part about my job thatIliked least—any sort of admin duties.I’drather work on a spell or potion or talk to people.
Aftercatching up on updates of what happened in our area and in other networks around the world,Istepped out to make myself tea with guarana for an extra caffeine kick.I’dtried to catch up on household stuff and laundry whenIreturned last night but after the drive home,Iwas exhausted.ThatmeantIhad an excitingMondaynight with a date of laundry to look forward to—far different one from the timesI’dmet up withValenin the mountains.
Don’tthink of him anymore.What’sthe point?You’llnever see him again.
Thatwas true.Whatreason wouldIhave to seeValen?I’dpromisedPaigeI’dtake her skiing, butIdoubted that he’d want anything to do with a family activity.Andwhy wouldIeven entertain the idea of seeing him again?Theway that he’d acted yesterday morning corroboratedAurora’swarning about how he was with women.Hegot what he wanted and couldn’t seem to get me out of there fast enough.
Thefront door opened, and someone entered.Ipeeked out into the hall to seePandorawalking in.
“Hey,Cassandra, how was the mountains?”
Mymouth twitched.Howto sum up that story? “Good.”
“Good?”Shearched one of her dark brows. “Justgood?Iwant to hear the rest of the story about your date.”
Asshe headed into her office and hung her coat on a hook,Ifollowed her in.
Ah, that’s right.I’dtexted her before my date withValen.Whenshe’d followed up the next day to see how it went,I’dkept it brief with a note that all went well, andI’dtell her whenIgot back toSalem.
“Well,Imentioned that chairlift dating was a bust.”Igave her a brief description of that disaster.ThenItold her about my fall in more detail, which led to the dinner invitation fromValen.
“And?”Shepushed her dark hair over her shoulders and leaned back against her desk.Hereyes sparkled. “Howdid that go?”
