Willow
It tookme about two-point-five minutes to track Camden down, much longer than usual. He was in the spot I’d never thought he’d be without me.
Especiallywith a she-wolf.
My heart pounded in my ears, and unfortunately, it wasn’t loud enough to drown out Meridith’s voice.
I wet my lower lip with my tongue. I was well into my midtwenties and was still behaving like a skulking pup, padding after my best friend.
But... I would do anything for Camden. If I had to save him from her, then so be it—it wasn’t like I hadn’t gotten into fights over him before.
I just never thought he’d take her to our spot. Peeking around the large pine tree, I had to keep him from seeing me. We’d argue... just as we’d increasingly argued this past month. I didn’t know what was with him, but his short temper was frustrating the shit out of me.
Even so, as soon as I’d heard he was on a potential mating date, I’d come running. He’d be angry if he caught me, but I couldn’t sit and twiddle my thumbs while Camden was snatched right from under my nose. Yeah, maybe it was selfish, but not just anyone could have Camden. He was special. He deserved the best possible.
She inched closer, bringing my attention back to the pair as she invaded his space. I narrowed my eyes, my stomach coiling in knots.
“Let’s go elsewhere,” Camden said, an aggression in his tone.
Meridith’s eyes lowered and a slight frown on her face. By the dent between her eyebrows, the lowered shoulders and gaze, Camden must have used the full force of his Alpha wolf behind his order.
He shouldn’t even be wasting his time on her. I scowled, molars grinding.
Camden rubbed the back of his neck and then stretched his head to the side. My attention stuck on the vein throbbing near the base of his throat.
“Why do we have to—”
“Now,” he said, patience running thin. Meridith flinched and sucked in a breath.
Good. He must know I’d go nuts on him for being here with her. Why was he here in the first place, anyway? It was ridiculous, traitorous, and a slew of other words I couldn’t come up with right now.
At least he was making her leave.At least he was making her leave.
My shoulders relaxed. I was overreacting, of course Camden wouldn’t cross the line, right?
The next moment slowed as Meridith’s lips pressed together into a tight line. As Camden turned, she lurched forward. She was a relatively tall person, taller than me, so she simply had to invade his space to meet his plump lips.
My stomach dropped, knees weakened, and my throat...
It was like when I got my neck injury when I was fifteen; the blunt force to my neck crushed my throat, ruining my voice box. The memory of the agony accompanied me to this day. With therapy and much,muchcare, the ache had abated. It no longer hurt to swallow, breathe, or eat. I also no longer choked on my spit randomly.
The hair on my arms lifted as if the aching in my throat had never gone away.
I blinked slowly, struggling to process as Meridith’s lips landed at the corner of his mouth. Still too close for comfort.
Palm pressed into the rough bark, I steadied myself, but it didn’t help in calming my racing heart. Camden’s lips near hers... hurt.
It couldn’t have been longer than a beat, but time seemed to slow as Camden lifted his hand to her shoulder and shoved Meridith off so hard that she staggered and fell to the uneven ground. The back of his hand scrubbed across the corner of his mouth. Relief slackened my jaw that he hadn’t continued, and my nose burned. Yes, he’d pushed her off, but the visual was ingrained in my mind.
Seeing him with someone else, hurt. And it wasn’t only this, it was the potential of him getting a mate. I knew it would one day come. It was impossible for it not to with him being the next pack leader. He was prepared to take over but he’d been putting it off.
“Why?” Camden snarled, head lowering. His russet wine locks fell forward, a chunk of the messy mop falling over his left eye.
Meridith’s chest moved up and down and her eyes were wide, as if she couldn’t believe his reaction. At his aggressive move forward, she scrambled backward in the dirt.
Camden was quiet. He usually stood behind the Alpha, quietly intimidating. To the pack, everything rolled off his shoulders and he never seemed bothered by anything... that wasn’t what he showed me.
When we were alone, I received the full force of his personality, and he was a prickly son of a bitch—with all due respect to his mother.
