Otherwise, I would kill to protect Dallas and Steele. They were my brothers and my friends. We had history. We were family.
In the end, I was the last to be inside her, and the last to mate with her. For me, there will never be anyone else. No competition. She must choose me because my animal would die without her.
Ever since that night spent in the throes of lust with Cassidy, I hadn’t been my normal self. Things had changed in me, and I couldn’t keep my focus. I certainly wasn’t going to put myself in front of other women and advertise my body… whether it would have led to sex or not. I wasn’t going to do it. The last thing I wanted to do was let another woman force herself on me. Not after Cassidy.
And not even then. Working was no longer on my list of priorities.
Besides, it would feel too much like a betrayal to Cassidy. Even the thought of doing so was a betrayal.
As such, I had been avoiding work. I was also avoiding home and the endless questions I would have to endure from Steele and Dallas. I was sure Charlotte had a few choice words to share with them about our actions, along with probably demanding where I was. Knowing them, they would be unhappy with me for disappearing on them and leaving them to deal with the alpha on their own. But they would cover for me without hesitation.
And if Charlotte had things her way, she and I would have mated a long time ago. It didn’t sit well that she had a demented claim on all of us men, to begin with. I suspected that was what led to her banning us from having sex. At least with any other woman besides her.
Meanwhile, I waited for the chance to see Cassidy again. And while doing so, I walked through the city of Manitou Springs, heading toward a trail the locals called “The Incline.” I wanted to head into the mountains for a few days and hunt and give my animal a chance to stretch his legs. I needed to escape the place where I knew Cassidy would be because it wasn’t safe for her to be seen with me.
Charlotte had spies everywhere. And she was a dangerous woman when crossed. Especially when she felt betrayed.
Ask any number of our tribe members who were castrated because they dared to mate. Don’t ask about what happened to their mates. That wasn’t a story I particularly enjoyed retelling. Ever.
To put it simply, the mates are turned into cautionary tales of what happens when someone dared to cross Charlotte. The results were always bloody, and a lot of our members minds were broken.
All because Charlotte had to have her cake and eat it too.
Though I would never come to love another woman, I was sure, in time, the feelings of longing within me would subside.
As I walked, a breeze blew into me the sweet, delicate scent that struck my heart and caused it to instantly race. I held my breath and raked my gaze over the shops that surrounded me. She was around me. Somewhere. And now that I had caught her scent, my plans changed, and finding her was all I could think about.
My animal nearly stretched out of me to get to her.
As I struggled to keep myself from shifting, I followed her scent to a local sweet shop. The place was famous for the cinnamon rolls and donuts. They were the only place known to stay open into the long hours of the afternoon. And they had the business to support it.
Once I made it to the shop, I stopped outside the window, standing on the sidewalk like a fool, staring at her as she bent her head back to stare at the menu hanging from the ceiling. She stood off to the side from everyone in line, letting the people that came in behind her order first.
I snuck inside, entering the line behind her.
“Go ahead in front of me,” she said, not looking at me. “I’m still deciding.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’ll wait.”
She acted as though she hadn’t heard me then sighed and muttered under her breath, “Twelve hundred calories?”
I stared at her in confusion. The woman was voluptuous, gorgeous, and curves for days. She had me wanting to take her on the table I stood next to. Were it not for the people around and it being highly illegal… never mind the whole Charlotte thing and her spies, I would have done so in a heartbeat.
Cassidy moved forward. “I’ll have a coffee and that’s all.”
I stared at her in disbelief. I couldn’t help myself and interjected. “No, you won’t.”
She turned around as she said, “Excuse me.”
I smirked as our eyes met.
Her lips parted with shock. “Oh.”
“Hello, my dear,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
I smirked. “I followed you. Order what you truly wanted.”