“Not at all. And as forthat, you can trust me. I’ve got you. You’re in good hands, I promise.”
“Is it weird I believe that?” I asked.
Then I met his gaze fully, looking him directly in the eye, mentally working myself up to ask if he wanted to get out of here—maybe back to my hotel, where I could allow him to keep his promises—and that’s when a bolt of static electricity passed from his palm to mine and I jumped.
Reed flinched at the same moment. He yanked his hand back and looked down at it, his eyes going wide.
The smile died on his lips when he looked back up at me. Going pale, he stood up, visibly shaken. “Harris, I’m sorry. I—” He didn’t look me in the eye. The tenderness in his expression was gone, replaced by panic. “Uh, I have to go. Now.”
I stared at him, shock coursing through me. “What?”
“Yeah. My pack is waiting for me. We’re heading back to Crescent Springs tonight.”
“Wait—what the hell just happened?” I asked, bewildered. “Did I do something wrong?”
“It’s not you.” Reed grimaced and shook his head, still not looking at me. A wall had slammed down over his expression. “I’m sorry.”
Without another word, he fled like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels.
I watched him go in stunned disbelief, trying to make my brain catch up to what had just happened. I was left feeling hollowed-out, as if someone had scooped out everything inside me.
And that was the very first night the dreams started.
NOW
CHAPTER ONE: REED
Some people say love heals all wounds… and yeah, no. I call bullshit. Whoever said that never had an entire pack—hell, an entire town—depending on them to keep their shit together. But that didn’t stop my mind from wandering back to my fated mate. Harris was never far from my thoughts, even if I couldn’t let myself have anything to do with him.
“Reed, have you heard even one thing I just said?” Lindsey raised her eyebrows at me, seeming equal parts annoyed and amused.
I shrugged.
I hadn’t, actually. I’d been too wrapped up in my own head to focus. For the past four hours, I had been biding my time, waiting for the moment when I could return to my log cabin, lay my head down on my pillow, and dream. And then I would see Harris again. Complication or no, it was the only thing keeping me going.
“I’m finished with my sections,” she said, arching a brow, her dark eyes glittering under the moonlight. “And I was asking you if you need me to take more, or should I head home?”
We were searching the forest of the Cascade Mountains for a missing hiker. He’d driven up to Crescent Springs, the nearest town to the pack’s commune, for a day of hiking and had never come back. That’d been two days ago. The deputy in townhad noticed the abandoned vehicle and called the park rangers. They’d been sending out teams during the day. By night, it was our turn, even if no one else but us knew that.
“Don’t know why you’re asking me for permission,” I grumbled, in a bad mood from having searched the forest for the last several hours when I’d rather be doing almost anything else. “You’re not even technically one of us.”
“You know, it’s not a smart idea to be alienating your allies,” Lindsey said dangerously, her expression going tight and angry in a heartbeat. “I might not technically be part of your pack, but I am helping. And it sure as shit makes sense for you to let me.”
“Fine. I’m glad you’re here,” I replied, abruptly too exhausted to argue with her.
And besides, it was true. I was acting like a jackass, but I’d be an idiot not to be grateful she had decided to establish a private practice in Crescent Springs instead of going back to her cushy veterinary clinic job in Ellensburg. And she had done it because she recognized the danger her hometown was in.
The bleeds—interdimensional rifts between our world and the Otherworld, which regularly spewed monsters into the forest—had been dormant for months, but we all knew it wasn’t going to last. It never did. And if the person we were searching for wasn’t just lost, but actually the victim of one of the monsters that slithered through the bleeds and into the forest surrounding Crescent Springs, it meant we were all in a boatload of danger, now and for the foreseeable future.
The pack was weak enough as it was, and Lindsey was a powerful wolf. Her presence was probably going to end up protecting the lives of the people I cared about most, sooner or later.
It definitely wasn’t her fault I didn’t want to be alpha and never had. Which meant I shouldn’t take my frustrations out on her. I knew that rationally.
I added, “I can cover the rest of the forest. We’re almost done anyhow. You should go home.”
She must have heard the tension in my voice, because the anger in her expression subsided almost immediately. “Reed Thornwood,” she said, the reproach clear in her words. Plus, she was using my full name, the way she did when we were growing up, after I’d just gotten in trouble with her—often. “It’s okay to let other people help you, even now. You know that, right? It’s okay to let people in.”
I snorted. But it was all my fault I was in this situation, anyway.
