Today, she would meet Daniel. She would tell him everything, her fears, her hopes, the truth about the person she was becoming, because of him. She didn’t know what he had been going to show her last night, but she knew it mattered; she had felt the weight of it in his voice.
She might have run away from her wedding, but she was not running anymore.
Chapter Twenty-One – Daniel
Daniel arrived at Pine Hollow Lookout forty minutes early, unable to stay away. The winter wind cut across his face as he paced back and forth near his truck, leaving deep tracks in the pristine snow. He stopped every few moments to scan the winding road below, searching for any sign of movement.
He pushed out his shifter senses, straining to catch even the faintest trace of her presence, but couldn’t detect Holly anywhere nearby. The ridge remained silent except for the lonely crunch of snow beneath his boots and the occasional whistle of wind through the pines.
“She’ll come,” Daniel muttered to himself, though each passing second fed the dread gnawing at his insides.
His bear alternated between tense pacing and low, frustrated growls.She’s late.
She’s not late,Daniel corrected.I’m early.
What if she isn’t coming?his bear pressed.
She promised to come,Daniel replied, her words repeating in his head,‘I’ll see you later’.
What if she chose Andrew?his bear moaned.
The thought pierced Daniel’s heart. He had replayed their brief morning interaction a hundred times in his head. The way Holly had looked at Andrew. The way she had slipped into her coat and walked out without explanation.
The quiet promise to meet him later that now felt terribly fragile.
Daniel fought the impulse to shift and run, to race down the mountain and find her. The need to know clawed at him from the inside, but he forced himself to remain where he stood.
“She needs to come to me,” he said to the mountain as he fought the primal pull. The same intense need his ancestors, who had walked these mountains, had probably experienced. “She needs to choose me. Not for me to hunt her down and pressure her.”
He turned and looked out across the view that stretched for miles—snow-capped mountains rising against a crystalline blue sky, the town of Bear Creek nestled in the valley below like a village in a snow globe. It was breathtaking, the kind of vista that usually filled Daniel with peace. Today, he barely saw it. All he could focus on was the empty road and the fear that he might have already lost his chance at happiness with his mate.
Fifteen minutes past their arranged time, Daniel checked his phone again. No messages. No missed calls.
She doesn’t have a phone,he reminded himself as he pulled his beanie lower against the cold and resumed his pacing.
Maybe her car wouldn’t start?his bear suggested.
Yes, maybe it’s her car. Again.That made sense, Daniel reasoned.
Then we need to find her,his bear replied immediately.
“Give her a few more minutes,” Daniel insisted, though his resolve was weakening with each passing moment.
Ten more minutes crawled by. Daniel’s hope faded with each tick of his watch. He leaned against his truck, eyes closed, trying to calm the storm of emotions raging inside him. Had he misread everything? The connection between them, the way she fit so perfectly with the children, with him. Had it all been one-sided?
Then, like a whisper in his head, he sensed her. At first, it was so faint he thought he might be imagining it, but as the seconds passed, it grew stronger, louder, unmistakable.
Holly.
Daniel straightened, his heart hammering against his ribs as he stared down the road. Soon, he caught the flash of metal through the trees, the sound of tires on packed snow. Her car rounded the final bend and pulled into the small clearing that served as a parking area.
His knees nearly gave out from the relief.She came.
Holly stepped out of her car looking windswept, flushed, and nervous. Her dark hair tumbled around her shoulders, and she wore the red coat that now seemed like a part of her. Their eyes met across the snow, and the world went quiet around them.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she called, walking toward him. “The car... I had to sort... It took longer than I expected...”
Daniel couldn’t bear to hear excuses. Not after thinking she was gone for good. He was just incredibly grateful she was here.
