“I need to head back to town for a while. I need to get my affairs in order and pack my things,” I explained.
“I’ll give her a ride there and come right back,” Finlay told them.
“We are sending her out there all alone?” Martin asked.
“Hey, you make it sound like you are sending me into an enemy camp. It’s a sleepy small town where I have lived for four years and where I have friends. It will be alright,” I promised.
“But what about your wolf? She needs to run,” Medow pointed out.
“I’m sure Amie will be back long before the need gets urgent,” Matilda told everyone.
“Goddess, yes,” I agreed.
“I’ll make sure the pack knows,” Martin offered.
“And if I know my mate and your aunt, they will plan some kind of homecoming party already,” Sam said, kissing Medow on her cheek.
“I’m looking forward to it,” I told them, and found that it was the truth. “I’ll just run up to the room and grab the keys to my apartment,” I told Finlay. He nodded.
Before I knew, we were heading back to the town I had spent four years trying to build a life in. It was odd that I felt like the pack land was more home after three days, than the town ever had.
“Are you going to be alright?” Finlay asked me as we got closer. We had spent most of the drive in a comfortable silence. “I know we, myself included, get over enthusiastic when we think of youjoining the pack. We forget you have a life outside the pack and you need to say goodbye to it.”
“It’s okay. I have made some amazing friends. But it can’t compare to being in a pack. I hadn't realised it until thinking of going back. But it feels like these four years have been a standby period in my life. It has been okay, but I was waiting for something else.”
“You were waiting for us,” he said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe it was. As the town came into view, it looked different. Smaller and lonelier. Finlay drove me almost to the point his truck scraped the stairs to my apartment.
“Thank you for the ride,” I told him.
“You're not even going to invite me in for coffee?” he joked. I laughed and punched his arm.
“You need to get back to the pack. I have taken up too much time already.”
“Fine. But you better keep in touch, Red. We’ll be back to make sure you get home safe,” he said. The new nickname surprised me, but I didn’t hate it.
“Yes, Alpha. And it goes both ways. Let me know you get home safe.”
“Scared I’ll get hurt?” he asked.
“More like I have standards. I need to know if someone else is taking over the pack and if I can stand them as my Alpha.”
“Ouch, I feel a little hurt.”
“You’ll survive. Drive safe, Finlay. And thank you for insisting that I come and visit,” I said and opened my door.
“Best four dinners and breakfast I ever spent money on, Red,” he told me before driving away. Watching him leave made me feel strangely empty. Then I shrugged it off and headed into my apartment to list things I needed to do before I could leave.
Finlay called me when he got home, even though I had said a text would do. We talked for an hour as I walked around myapartment and packed my things in a random order. Nothing I would need to stay in town for a week or two. He asked me how I was feeling. My first instinct was to tell him I was okay. But I remembered him telling me to be honest, so I was. I told him it felt off being back, like a part of me was missing and my wolf was anxious and on high alert. Like the sweetheart he was, he offered to send Sam and Medow to keep me company. But I turned down the offer. I had done this before, and I knew it was temporary this time. I just needed my wolf to understand it as well.
The next morning, I got ready and headed down to the bakery. I had thought about how I should tell the sisters about leaving. After years of knowing them, I knew that once I told one, the other would know within two minutes.
“Amie! I have missed seeing that lovely face,” Mrs Andersen said as I came downstairs.
“Hello, it’s nice to see the place still standing,” I told her. She laughed.
“Nothing changes in this town, and if it does, it takes a lot longer than three days. Here, I have fixed some coffee and blueberry scones for you.”
“You’re an angel. I’m heading over to the diner.”
