Phoenix knew. Ashley did everything she could to avoid him. That was her end game. He ran a hand down his face and looked toward the doorway. Ashley moved around upstairs, and then he tensed up as he heard her rushing downstairs.
“I’m heading out, I’ll be back late, goodbye,” she said.
The door slammed as he stood. He couldn’t chase after her. His breakfast was still in front of him. Every single fiber of his being told him to chase her, but instead he sat down and looked toward her parents. They looked so fucking sad and lost.
“She won’t leave.”
Leah got to her feet. “I don’t want her to leave, but there’s something different about her today. I had hoped she would come around to Daniel. He’s a good boy and he’d make a good mate.”
“Leah, honey, we don’t want that for our daughter,” Ben said.
Phoenix clenched his hands into fists. All he wanted to do was snap at them and say that Daniel was never going to touch her. No other man was ever going to touch her because she belonged to him. She was his mate. But instead, he kept his thoughts to himself. No one knew she was his mate.
He finished his breakfast and tried to calm Leah and Ben down. The couple didn’t deserve to be so sad. They loved their daughter so much. He didn’t know what to say to them to make it right, but he knew he wanted to.
After breakfast, Ben saw him out. The other man offered him his hand, and he took it, giving it a firm shake. “It’s an honor you have come to visit us,” Ben said.
“I don’t do any of that formal crap, Ben. You know that.”
“I know. The town owes you a great debt.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
Ben chuckled. “One day you will realize how important a pack is. We had no idea how … weak we were, or how dangerous our previous … you know.”
Phoenix had noticed not a single pack member would refer to their previous alpha as such. They didn’t speak of him by name or title. He was dead to the pack, not that he could blame them. The alpha hadn’t been able to protect them. Phoenix had come too late. Men had died, women had been hurt.
He looked behind him. The town had always called to him and he knew why. His mate had been here. Each time he’d left in the past, he had told himself he would never visit again, but each time he found himself coming back again and again. For Ashley—always for his mate. A mate he’d not known until that night five years ago.
“I imagine the open road is calling to you,” Ben said. “Where will your journey take you this time?”
“I’ll be sticking around longer this time,” Phoenix said. “I’m not heading out for some time.”
“Oh,” Ben said. “Do you need a place to stay? We have a spare room.”
Being close to Ashley was ideal, but with her parents living under the same roof, he didn’t think it was the best plan.
“Daniel told me last time I was here, that the alpha stayed in a house deep in the woods.”
Ben nodded. “Yes, he did. He would tell us that was his place to talk to the elders and figure out what course of action to take.”
Phoenix rolled his eyes and Ben laughed.
“Don’t judge, we all thought he was a little strange.”
“And you weren’t wrong.”
Another laugh filled the air.
“If you want, I can take you,” Ben said.
“I’ll get Daniel to take me. This is your Sunday with your wife,” Phoenix said. “It was a pleasure seeing you again.” He shook Ben’s hand.
If only Ben knew that he was the cause of the problems Ashley had. Why was she starving herself? He’d been cruel to her but that was for her own good. He didn’t understand what went wrong, but he was going to find out. He’d been gone too long and the call of the road had started to die. He didn’t even feel the compulsion to leave.
This time, he was sticking around. Ashley was his and it was time for him to stake his claim.
Chapter Three