Eventually, my body couldn’t stay awake any longer, and I fell into a dead sleep without so much as a dream.
I was ripped from my slumber by the sound of my alarm going off. Even if I wanted to go back to sleep, I couldn’t miss breakfast. I’d have my father’s betas here, dragging me to him. Others could come and go to pack meals as they pleased, but not me. I needed to check in every day like clockwork.
My head was pounding and my limbs weak, but I refused to let that stop me. A quick glance in the mirror told me I looked every bit as horrible as I felt. I had to rally. I had to put on the best show ever. I couldn’t let my father see what had happened.
Thankfully, my father didn’t pay me any mind other than a grunt when I said, “Good morning,” and, like always, everyone else ignored me. I ate my eggs and toast and drank my coffee, pretending that the day was normal and that nothing unusual had ever happened. Every second away from my mate felt like an hour, the wait painful.
Breakfast done, I went for my morning check-in with the healer. He greeted me with, “You look like shit.” He wasn’t wrong.
“I know. The past two days have really done a number on me.” It wasn’t a full-on lie, but I let him jump to the conclusion that I meant all the healings, especially those stupid bruises.
“Take an inventory of the items we usually pick up in town and see if there are any that need replacing,” he said. “Thanks to all the horses getting themselves injured lately. I noticed that the ginger is nearly gone, which means other things probably are too.”
I nodded, trying not to let him know I was thrilled by the possibility of going to town. It would give me a way to possibly get what I needed and meant I wouldn’t be expending any more healing energy.
While taking the inventory, I managed to sneak a far-too-large handful of antibiotics into my pocket. It was a significant enough quantity that it would be noticed if he needed them before I was able to leave. Thankfully, he rarely used them in the herd lands, but you never knew, and all I could do was cross my fingers that no one came in needing them before I was long gone.
I gave him the list, and he checked it. “Well, this isn’t going to be cheap. Put it on the herd account, and might as well take the main list while you’re there.”
We had a herd account I could charge things to, partly because we were considered a business in the owner’s mind and partly because I thought they were scared of my dad. Whatever the case, it was good because it meant I could sneak some extra things in, and with doing both errands at once, it would blend more easily.
I’d done it before with one or two items and hadn’t gotten caught, but never anything this big. I didn’t plan to be around when the getting caught would happen, but I didn’t know the billing cycle enough to count on that.
I made my way from my cabin to the Alpha house to get the keys for the van and the supply list. People were mostly ignoring me, but something had shifted. They were now talking about me, in front of me, openly, not pretending to be sneaky about it like they usually did.
“Not long now, the ceremony is almost here,” one person was so bold as to say it straight to my face. “Your dad’s finally getting you settled.”
Settled, like I was some sort of debt. I just nodded and smiled. I didn’t need to make waves today. I had to get through this.
I grabbed the keys, letting my father’s beta, Larry, know I was going to be running errands for the healer. He was the worst of his three betas, and I thought he was still out of town on business, but it looked like he was back early. Wasn’t I lucky.
The man had a cruel streak in him a mile long and was constantly making comments to and about me, putting me down. But today, it hit differently, maybe because I was leaving.
“I don’t see what’s so valuable about you.” He might’ve been talking about whatever arrangement my father had made for my mating, but it came across as a threat. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why it had me so on edge.
I attempted to brush my anxiety away, telling myself I was being paranoid, thinking that somehow this was connected to more than just my mating. But with all the events that had happened recently, I couldn’t keep my head from going to the worst-casescenario. Just as I was beginning to think I’d convinced myself I was wrong, I could’ve sworn he mumbled something about a horn market.
Fuck. That could only mean one thing: poachers. I could not get out of there fast enough.
I pretended I didn’t hear him and got in the van and drove. The small town where we did our business wasn’t that far by vehicle, and everything was all together in one little strip mall.
The old town buildings had all been turned into apartments years ago, and the stores had all moved to the same location. It was an odd arrangement, but it worked.
I went from store to store, getting everything from both lists. While doing so, I made sure to get more protein bars, snack bars, and jerky, as well as any other small, compact, nutrient-dense items that were easy to carry and didn’t go bad. I also grabbed some pain relievers, ointment, another big first-aid kit, and two water bottles that, according to the label, could filter any water to make it safe.
I kept everything I needed separate and dropped it all off in the woods at a little pull-off near the river, before taking everything else back to the herd lands. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only one I could think of, not wanting to risk others seeing that I’d picked up extra items I’d fill my backpack with later on my way back to the cave.
From there, it was a waiting game—a game I detested. Every second I was here, I wasn’t able to give the bear what he needed to survive.
It wasn’t hard to decide to leave my herd, not with my mate waiting for me. It wasn’t as if he could come to my herd lands,not that I’d want him to. There was nothing good about my herd. At least not to those of us who weren’t horses.
The wait near killed me, but finally the herd was quiet and the sky dark enough that my window of opportunity had arrived. My first stop was going to be filling my bag with all of today’s purchases. The second was my mate.
Please, let him be doing better.
6
BRYDEN
