“I have to head into work for a bit.”
“Is everything okay?”
I lick my lips, trying to ignore the mating heat.“I’m not sure.I’m going to find out.Keep the phone on you, okay?”
She nods, and I give her what I hope is an optimistic smile.I step toward her, and she stares up at me.Her pupils are dilated, and when I take a deep breath, I can smell her desire.
She wants us,my bear roars.
Maybe, but she hasn’t said it yet, so we have to wait.
He growls, and I try to ignore him.I reach out, squeezing Fern’s shoulder, and force myself to move past her.
Hurrying through a shower, I pull on clean clothes and head for the door.
“I’ll be home as soon as I can.Keep the door locked,” I tell my mate.
Fern nods, her half-eaten plate of pancakes on the counter behind her.I know she’s anxious about what’s going on.“Call Abe if you need anything.I’ll be with him, okay?”
“Okay… be safe.”
“Always.”
Fern locks the door behind me as I leave, and I climb behind the wheel of my truck.I take one last look at my home before I pull out of the drive and head to the Midnight Haven cabin.
My bear is rattling against my ribs by the time I arrive for the meeting.We should be with our mate.
We need to make sure she’s safe, I remind him.
She’s safe with us.We shouldn’t have left her.
We’ll be back soon.Besides, she needs time to think about becoming our mate.
She can do that with us beside her,my bear challenges.
I ignore him and enter the cabin.The Alphas are already there, and I shake their hands before I take my seat.
“All right, what’s going on?”I ask the group.
I sit and listen, trying to focus on the update, but my mind keeps drifting to what Fern might be doing right now.Is she scared?Is she missing me?
Go home and find out,my bear rumbles.
“They’ve been creeping onto our land more and more,” Knox is saying, looking pissed.
The door opens, and I tense until I see it’s Christian.
“Sorry, I’m late.I had a patient,” he says as he sits.“What did I miss?”
“They’re still looking for my mate, Fern,” I explain.“And they’re trespassing on our land.”
“Do you think they’ll kidnap people again?”Abe asks.“Maybe we should warn tourists not to go hiking in that area.”
“That’s a good idea,” Rhodes, the Alpha of the North pack, says.“I’ll put out an alert.I’ll say there was a bear seen in the area or something.”
We all nod, and I make a note to tell the patrols to deter anyone from going up to the north territory.
“We should increase the patrols.No one should be out there alone now.We don’t know what they’ll do next,” I say.
