I wind a long scarf around my neck. “I’d rather face what’s out there than spend another minute in here with you.” I push past him, heading for the front door. Grabbing a snow machine helmet, I step out into the storm.
Chapter8
JAX
As I watch Riyah walk out that front door, my wolf spirit roils inside me. There’s not a part of me that doesn’t want her.
Fuck this.
Why have I let Brody get in my head?
Except it isn’t just Brody. I claimed Riyah. She is my mate. Her happiness is more important than my own now. We are more than a couple; she is the other half of my heart.
But she is also a vampire. I had to know that she didn’t have some hidden agenda. Hell, that succubus could’ve promised her anything. If she doesn’t have anything to be guilty of, why is she so pissy?
Yet if I’ve done the right thing, why do I feel like shit?
I shove her paper clutter off the dining room table in frustration. Paper debris flutters to cover the floor. Great. I’ve made a mess of her stuff and I don’t feel any better.
As I bend to scoop armloads of paper back onto the table, a picture of myself as a toddler catches my eye.
I flip through the scrapbook quickly, watching my life unfold before my eyes in carefully arranged layouts. Then I return to the beginning. Each scrapbook page is thoughtfully constructed and framed. This is more than the work of a perfectionist. This was laid out with love.
Riyah loves me. Just like I love her. Wearetrue mates.
When I hear the snow machine start, I know she’s heading to Maddy’s. She’ll cool down. Literally.
I’ll go to her, apologize for not trusting her, and promise to make it up to her.
Yeah.
Good plan. I pace the cabin a few times, stalling so I don’t run right out the door after her. I have some self-respect as a shifter.
Finally, I bound for the door.
Outside, the snow machine is gone. I take the steps two at a time, then start my run to shift.
I skid to a halt. The snow machine tracks aren’t headed toward Maddy’s house. They’re in the opposite direction, toward the mountains.
Why would Riyah go that way? In this poor visibility, she could misjudge where the cliffs plunge into the valley. Also, other wolf shifters are in the area. My mate or not, if another wolf senses a vampire is a possible threat, they won’t hesitate to kill her.
Fuck.
The only reason to travel along the coast is to reach either the mining camp to the south or the fae up north. There are the bear shifters too, but she wouldn’t go that far north. Neither trolls nor fae would welcome a vampire’s arrival, even one with Riyah’s physician credentials. Both groups are paranoid to the extreme.
Fuck. I messed up big time.
Now I have to find her before it’s too late.
I sprint along the snow machine tracks, shifting before I leave sight of the cabin.
Chapter9
RIYAH
Son of a fucking bitch.
The speed at which my life imploded dizzies me. I’ve gone from dead (again) to the best sex of my life and being claimed by the man I love to being mistrusted because I’m a vampire.