He nodded at the clothes. “Go ahead and finish packing,” he said.
I blinked. “What? I’m sorry. I thought five minutes ago, you—”
“You’re coming to stay with me until the ceremony,” he said. “I’m not letting you run off.”
My mouth dropped open. “I’m sorry?” I scoffed.
He gestured at the suitcase and the clothes. “You’re clearly a flight risk. If you come stay with me, it will be a lot harder for you to back out.”
The words didn’t register at first, because he couldn’t actually be saying what I thought he was saying. But then I saw his expression and realized he was serious.
“You have got to be kidding,” I snarled, genuine anger flaring white-hot inside me. “There’s no way in hell I’m doing that.”
He blinked as if surprised by the outburst, then shrugged. “I’m not giving you a choice. I’m not letting you run.”
I bit back a scream. I rarely get this angry anymore, let alone show it. But Drake had managed what I had assumed was impossible. I glowered at him.
“Why?” I snapped. None of this made sense. He should be thrilled I wanted to leave. It would mean he didn’t have to deal with me; he wouldn’t have to be my mate. I still couldn’t understand why he had come over here in the first place. I had expected him to more or less sulk and remain surly until the Oracle dragged the two of us together and ensured the mating ceremony took place. Why the hell had he come over?
“Because I’m not,” he growled. “Do I need more of a reason than that? You’re going to be my mate. I have a responsibility toward you and the pack. Letting you run off and avoid what we both know is going to happen is just going to make everything more complicated. I don’t get why you’re being so obstinate.”
A few years ago, you told me it would never happen,I thought, my heart thundering.You told me that just because you were nice to me, it didn’t mean that anything would never happen between us. You broke my heart. I had to pick up the pieces. It took me years to get over you and learn to love myself. Why do youthinkI’m being so obstinate?
I wanted to scream it at him, to make him understand. Except I was fairly certain I could tell him a hundred times in a hundred different ways, and he still wouldn’t get it.
More importantly, now that he knew my plan, there was no way he would let me go through with it. I could go halfway across the world, and he would find me. I had lost my chance to evade my fate the second he barged into my apartment.
In another life, the thought of Drake caring enough to chase me down no matter where I went might have made my stomach flutter. But that was another me, another world.
Despite my own misgivings, I could feel my wolf—still there, despite the fact that I couldn’t shift—and her excitement.She might have been angry at him for how he’d treated us, but that didn’t stop how drawn she was to Drake, that need and want for him overriding everything else. Her mate was in reach, and she didn’t want to let him go.
That pull from my wolf and the knowledge that he would follow me no matter how hard I tried to run made me cave. I threw up my hands.
“Fine,” I snarled. “Fine!”
He gave a brusque nod, not showing any sort of emotion at his victory—not triumph, not satisfaction, not guilt, not happiness, not disappointment. It was the way he had always been. Always would be, probably.
And we’re about to be mates, I thought.I’m going to be living with that grumpy, surly demeanor for the rest of my life.
For whatever reason, the thought didn’t repulse me as much as I would have thought. It was a part of him, the same way his hair was dark.
He jerked his head toward the suitcase. “Do you want help packing?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure if he was offering because he felt sorry for forcing me into this position or because he thought I might bolt if I had the chance. It didn’t matter, not really.
“I’m fine,” I said, taking the shirt still gripped in his hand and folding it. I turned my back on him as I kept throwing things in.
***
“Wow,” Jessie said. “The Oracle just sprung this on you?”
I nodded, glancing down at the table, the pattern of the sun on the metal design. The three of us—Rachel, myself, and Jessie, who had been my friend for years now—all sat outside our favorite café as we waited for lunch.
“Are you happy?” Rachel asked after a moment.
“It’s weird, you know?” I said. “I don’t know how to feel, but I’m sure it’ll work out.”
I had given them an abbreviated version of what had happened, not going into the fact that I had tried to run or hated the idea of all of this. I wasn’t going to bring that negativity to the conversation, and admitting it would bring up all sorts of complicated conversations about why.
