Bryden, mate, alpha mine,
When you find this, I’ll already be gone. I have no choice. I bought some time with the poachers when they caught me by the river, but that time is almost up, and if I’m still here, the pack is at risk. You are at risk. Our baby is at risk.
The safest way is for me to run. Keep Ira safe and loved. When he is old enough, let him know his daddy loved him very much.
I love you, alpha mine, more than anything. Thanks for giving me a place to belong, a place filled with love.
Your mate,
Roland
I purposely didn’t tell him anything that could lead him to me. I refused to risk giving him a way to chase me.
Otto called my name through the window, and I put the letter under a stack of books, not wanting Bryden to see it until well after I left. I still hadn’t quite figured out when I was leaving or which direction to head, but it would be soon. Anywhere but near my herd, that was all I knew for sure. Maybe there was another place like this pack, a place where I could belong, even if for a short time.
No. No place was like Stoney River.
I went to the open window. “Otto, what’s up?”
“I could really use your help.”
I joined him, Ira wrapped against my chest sound asleep, not wanting him to get suspicious. The help was frosting cupcakes, lots and lots of cupcakes. Normally, I liked this kind of thing; it was fun being with someone else, doing a monotonous task. Today, I was so on edge that every swipe of frosting was a chore.
“Thanks.” Otto’s smile was forced. “You earned a nap.” Which was code for I looked like shit, which I already knew. “I’ll watch Ira and you go take a nap.”
“On it.” I headed back to the cabin knowing this was my time to leave. Otto had the baby and my mate was working at the library.
To my surprise, when I arrived home, Bryden was already home from work—the letter in his hand, his face not hiding his anger.
“You’re leaving?” he snapped. “Let me rephrase that. You’re not leaving. Is this why you’ve been so weird lately? Why you look on the verge of tears all the time? Why you jump at the slightest motion in your peripheral vision? Why you cling to me in your sleep? Is this why?” He waved the letter in the air, anger rolling off him.
“I thought you weren’t going to do this again. I thought you weren’t going to hide things like you did the first time you scented those horses. What the fuck do you mean? Did you make a deal with the poachers?”
The door was still open. His voice was getting louder, and Auden came in behind me. “What’s going on here?”
His calm didn’t match the energy in the room.
“I wanted to protect you.” It came out as a sob, but once I began the story, it flowed out with every detail explained fully. I’d hated lying, and now that I could tell the truth, they were getting all of it.
It wasn’t until I finished that I realized it wasn’t just Auden in there. Other pack members were behind him.
“You’re. Not. Leaving.” Bryden had never been so forceful with me.
To my surprise, the others who’d gathered around all agreed with him and were quite vocal about it.
My mate came to my side and took my hand, whispering close, “Don’t leave. You can’t leave.” He was still mad at me, madder than he’d ever been, and not as mad as I deserved, but he was also standing by my side.
“You’re not leaving,” he repeated.
“We’re making a plan.” Auden put his hand on my shoulder. “Where you went wrong before was you did it by yourself. You don’t need to be in this alone. You have us. We’ll figure this out together.”
Auden gave me a hug, and when he pulled back, he said, “And I know what we’re going to do.”
So much for protecting my pack. Once again, they were sheltering me, keeping me safe. Fate hadn’t sent me a mate, they sent me a family.
24
BRYDEN
