“I’m glad you came, Yvonne,” Aurora says sweetly. “I know how hard it is for you, but I already saw that you’d be here.”
“What do you mean?” I frown.
“I saw it in a vision,” she explains as she gestures with one hand all around. “This very scene right here. Normally, I have visions when it has to do with the demon, but they’re becoming more frequent, and sometimes they’re about the simplest things.”
“Hm,” I hum introspectively, not paying as much attention as I should to Aurora when I hear the Alpha Elias talking about how the others are meant to take mates.
The elders are pressuring Dawson specifically to find a mate by the end of winter.
Something in my blood boils as I hear his reply.
“Yeah, I know the elders are putting pressure on me, but they can relax,” he chuckles nonchalantly as he pats Alpha Thane’s shoulder. “Why aren’t they putting pressure on Thane? He is older than I, after all.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m stricter and more certain about what I want,” Alpha Thane responds with a scoff. “You’re the only one among us who has no idea what he wants.”
“I didn’t find it for a long time,” Dawson replies with a long, drawn-out sigh, his eyes flicking to me for a brief second before turning back to Alpha Elias. “I guess I’m still figuring it out.”
Hearing Dawson speak so casually about picking a mate while I’m right there, while we’d shared a passionate kiss just the other day, has a deeply buried anger surfacing inside me with a heat I can’t explain.
Somehow, I’m able to hear everything around me more clearly, picking up on the voices of the werewolves seated at the table behind us.
“Did you hear that? Alpha Dawson needs to find a mate…”
“It’s gonna be me.”A female voice simmers with a sense of haughtiness. “Alpha Dawson is an expert lover, and I know exactly how to seduce him.”
My gut churns when I hear that.
Of course, Dawson has been around, sleeping with throngs of she-wolves and giving them hope of a mate bond with him.
What was I expecting? That he’d keep himself chaste after I left, waiting for me to return?
Pfft!
I scoff under my breath, unable to take any more of this while everyone around me seems to be putting a spotlight on Dawson.
Dawson this, Dawson that…
Dawson’s going to take a mate…
Dawson’s going to“pick me…”
Urgh!
With acrid bile rising in my throat, I turn to Rissa, noticing that she’s already preoccupied with feeding Gio some of her dessert. I tap her on the shoulder, not wanting to interrupt the sweet moment between her and my son, but knowing that this is the perfect opportunity for me to excuse myself for some fresh air.
“Where are you going?” Rissa asks when she agrees to watch Gio for the rest of the evening.
All I know is that I have to get as far away from Dawson as possible.
“I … I don’t know,” I shrug defensively, confused because I know if I go to the log cabin behind his house, he’ll be sure to find me. I need to go somewhere, anywhere, that he won’t find me.
“The recreation center is empty,” Rissa suggests as if she can read my mind, my thoughts, and my emotions in this moment.
It’s the jealousy rolling off me in waves. Even she can sense it.
That’s what this all-consuming feeling is.
Somehow, Rissa knows that I need to cool down, and what better way to do that than in the ice baths in the recreation center south of the village, closest to the forest?
