Violet
Although she thought of him often, Violet had absolutely never planned to see Tristan again.
He was the father of her child, but their outlooks on life were just too different.
She could not let him near her daughter.
He’d told her to stay put, and she did not like being told what to do.
She also wasn’t going to stick around to find out what he wanted. She ran toward her pack. They’d made a little camp in the woods, and she was relieved to see that Arabella was asleep already.
“Come here. I need to tell you all something,” she whispered.
Once they were all huddled together, she spoke. “You guys aren’t going to believe this. Hell, I hardly believe it, but I just ran into my ex. He was the firefighter. He pulled me out of the building while I was trying to get the owners out.” She nearly choked on the words. “I have to get out of here. I have to go now. I can’t stay here until morning.”
Her breathing picked up; she could feel the panic flowing through her veins.
“Hey, Violet.” Strong hands were on her shoulders. “Calm down, we'll get you out of here. We’re not going to let him find you,” Angelina said.
“You don't know that. You don't know.”
“Are you scared of him?" Austin asked.
"No. I'm not scared of him. But he's tenacious. He wanted to be with me. If he finds out we have a daughter, he's going to lose it. He'll want her. He’ll try to take her from me.”
"We will not let that happen,” Onyx insisted.
Violet had never been this terrified. Not even when she had been living at home or when she had run away from her pack to live on her own for the first time. “We have to go. We have to leave Alaska right now. We can't stay here.”
"Violet,” Austin said. “No. We are out of money. We just traveled for twenty-four hours. We all just barely survived a fire. Thanks for getting us out of there, by the way. You were great. But we need a minute. We'll go down to Anchorage and find another job soon, okay?”
“Austin’s right,” Angelina said. “One of us will go back and talk to the owner and let them know we're heading out. But we cannot leave the area yet. We’re all exhausted.”
“Arabella and I could go alone,” Violet said. “We could just meet up with you in the next location.”
"Obviously, I can't stop you from doing what you think is right, but I don't think that's a good idea,” Austin said. “Did you not just buy an artifact to protect you from the threat of vampires? You don't need to be out there alone. There's no one to watch your back. If you really think this guy's gonna come after you, you need us around.”
He was right. She would be better off sticking with the pack. Why had she ever let them talk her into coming back to Alaska? It was bad luck. It was bad luck for all of them.
She would stay. She would just have to find a way to get Tristan to leave her alone.