“Tell him he should have that checked out. It seems abnormal,” Lisa teased.
“He’s a Canis lupus, Lisa. We don’t get bladder issues,” Tanya reminded her, even though she knew the human was well aware.
“Yes, but can you imagine the look on his face if a pretty nurse told him to pee in a cup?” Lisa cackled. “Would he have to lift a leg to do so?”
“I can hear you, old woman,” Trevor called out. “You’re not funny.”
Tanya grinned. “You’re totally funny, Lisa.”
“See you soon, little wolf,” Lisa told Tanya and then hung up.
She headed to the van with her three guard dogs in tow and tried to tamp down her excitement of seeing her friend. Even with the looming knowledge about Tanya’s true mate, she was happy she’d get to spend some time with Lisa.
Daniel glanced over at Tanya, who had fallen asleep after another stop for gas and food. She had been quiet since she talked to her mother, which was not like Tanya. Typically, she had lots to say about anything and everything, but the woman sitting next to him wasn’t the one he knew. Whatever had happened between her and the wolf named Dillon had shaken her up. Daniel didn’t want to pry, and he didn’t want to go behind her back and talk to her father about it. But as beta of the pack, he answered to the alpha first, not the alpha’s daughter and his friend.
Daniel heaved a deep sigh and refocused on the highway. The sun was setting, painting the sky with streaks of light blue, pink, and yellow, dotted with cottony white clouds hovering in the air. He could see the moon becoming more visible and noticed it was full. His lips turned up as he thought about the fact that humans had the lore of his kind all wrong. They didn’t have to turn on a full moon, or only turn on a full moon. The Canis lupus could phase, as they referred to it, at will. For which he was profoundly grateful. His wolf was as much a part of him as the air he breathed. If he was cut off from his beast and only able to interact with him once a month, it would feel like a slow death. His wolf growled at his thoughts. “You need to contact the alpha,” his beast said. Daniel didn’t disagree, and he was avoiding it by letting his thoughts wander.
“You’re doing an awful lot of sighing up there,” Austin said.
Daniel briefly looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Have you ever seen her like this?” He motioned with his head toward Tanya.
“She met her true mate. He turned out to be an ass,” Austin said as if they were just talking about the weather and not the fate of one of their pack mates. “How do you expect her to act?”
“Why won’t she talk to us about it?” Daniel’s hands gripped the steering wheel. “We’ve grown up together.” He shook his head. “Why doesn’t she trust us?”
“Dude,” Trevor spoke up. “We’re not female. She’s not going to talk to us about this.”
“Hence why we’re driving ten hours in the opposite direction of home,” Austin added. “She wants to talk to Lisa.”
“Why would she want to talk to a human about true mates?” Daniel’s mind was running around in circles as he attempted to figure out what Tanya could want to ask Lisa that a wolf wouldn’t know. Especially about true mates.
“Lisa has been with the Missouri pack for a long time,” Austin pointed out. “Maybe she has some insight that a female she-wolf doesn’t.”
“Even Tanya’s own mother?” Daniel frowned and forced himself to loosen his grip on the steering wheel.
“I stopped trying to understand the female mind a long time ago.” Daniel saw Austin shrug in the rearview mirror. “Let’s just take her to her friend, and maybe she will be able to work things out, and then we can head home and see if Dillon shows up, even though she threatened to kill him.”
“He’ll show up.” Conviction filled Daniel’s voice and heart. He knew it as sure as he knew his own mind. A male who had met his true mate would follow her to the ends of the earth, even if she was throwing rocks at him the whole time while cursing his very existence. There was no way in hell Dillon would leave Tanya alone. And Daniel couldn’t blame him, even if his first impression was less than impressive.
He sat back into the seat and rested one hand on his leg while he used his other to steer the van. Night slowly took over the sky, which was barely visible because of the brightness from the full moon. It was almost as bright as the sun, but with a softer glow. He might not need to phase during a full moon, but the forest bathed in the beautiful light called to his wolf. When they arrived, he’d have to let his beast out for a good, long run. Then, after he could give himself a little more time to see how Tanya acted after speaking with Lisa, he would decide if he should contact Jeremiah. And he’d have to put on his metaphorical armor because Tanya was going to kick his ass when she found out. Daniel rested his head back. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Chapter
Five
“There were few things worse than being divided in my loyalty. Living with a wolf inside of me, harmony between us was a necessity to sanity. As an unmated male I lived on the brink of darkness. My heart was divided in multiple ways. The human I’d loved, the pack I’d left behind, and the mate I desperately wanted. How would I ever feel whole again? Did I even deserve it?” ~ Dillon
Dillon pulled away from the curb, his tires squealing. He glanced over at the duffel bag in the passenger seat. One paltry bag of belongings. Thirteen years in Coldspring, and that was all he had to show for it. That and the shattered heart of a woman he loved.
"Stay focused." His wolf spoke in his mind.
Dillon growled back at his wolf. "You cannot understand."
The man felt like a loved one had passed. In essence, that's exactly what had happened. He knew he would never see Lilly again. How can you love someone, practically live with her as a husband and wife would, and then leave her at the drop of a hat? Every day for the past three years, he'd gone home to Lilly's apartment. That was more his home than his camper had ever been. Now, in the blink of an eye, she was gone. No, she wasn’t gone. He was. Dillon was the one that had left. This wasn’t Lilly’s doing.
He gripped the steering wheel and pushed the pedal to the floor, thankful that no police were around to pull him over. If they had, he wasn't sure he would have stopped.
"I understand what I need to understand. You are a fool. You've hurt our mate."
