Just as I'm deciding where to stay, weighing my options, we hear footsteps padding the ground and ruffling the blades of grass. My attention snaps in the direction of the approach, only to see Delilah jogging over.
“What happened? Is Arianna alright?” Tyler asks, suddenly panicked.
“Yes, she's fine,” Delilah tells him when she comes to a stop. “Emily's gone over there. I need a minute with Hunter.”
Both men glance at me quizzically, but all I can offer is a wary shrug since I don't know what's going on.
All this time, Delilah has been patently avoiding me as if I'm the plague, and now she wants to talk?
My curiosity is piqued, but I can't stop my snarky tongue from whispering, “Have you finally decided to treat this like arealmarriage? Wanna go back to my room?”
Wiggling my brows, I'm only trying to make her loosen up after Tyler and Nicholas have left.
It doesn't work, and Delilah throws her head back and groans defeatedly.
“Goddess! You're insufferable, Hunter!” she rages to the skies, lowering her head to glare at me when she meets my eyes. “Just forget it!”
As she spins on her heel, I grab her wrist to stop her from leaving the meadow, deciding to take it down a notch since it makes her uncomfortable.
I'll only end up making her hate me more.
“Wait, Delilah,” I sigh as she snatches her hand away, turning toward me with fire in her eyes. “Sorry, that was inappropriate of me. You obviously came looking for me for something important, and I'm an idiot.”
“Yes, you are,” Delilah concedes with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I'm probably gonna regret this, but I need your help.”
“My help? What for?” I ask, seriously this time, when I notice her grim expression.
“It doesn't matter. It's urgent. Please.”
Her eyes plead with me, and I can't help but agree to whatever she needs from me, feeling duty-bound, not just because I'm her husband, but because we're fated mates.
Both are things she obviously doesn't want to speak about, but that's not important right now.
“Lead the way, m'lady. I'll help in whatever way I can.”
Delilah doesn't offer further explanation before she suddenly shifts into wolf form and whimpers, prompting me to follow her.
***
When Delilah asked me for help, the last place I expected her to drag me to was Scarborough.
Yet, here we are, across the invisible border spanning the perimeter of the town, standing in our human forms as Delilah dusts off her jeans and combs her fingers through her hair.
“What are we doing in your territory, Delilah?” I ask with a skeptically lifted brow, watching her clean herself up. The sun has already begun rising, delicate rays warming the ground and bouncing up to Delilah's cheeks to give her a radiant glow.
“I told you, I need your help,” she reminds me calmly, her lips curling with an encouraging smile.
“You're not gonna tell me more than that, are you?”
Delilah shakes her head and suddenly reaches forward to grab my hand.
“Come on. They must be getting ready for breakfast.”
They?
Who's “they?”
Feeling Delilah's warm fingers wrapped around my hand is delightful, though I'm surprised that she's holding my hand at all. Apart from the effects of the mate bond surging through my fingers and traveling up my arm, I'm highly aware that she's acting out of character.
