Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Lincoln takes a step back, pulling me behind him protectively. The bear stays upright, sniffing the air as he eyes us.
Then he lumbers away, lifting a great paw into the air as he turns.
“Did that bear seriously just wave at us?” Lincoln is in awe.
I laugh softly. “Yeah, he did.”
“Mom would’ve loved that.”
“Yeah. I feel like… maybe Mom sent him. Maybe it’s her way of watching over us.”
My vision gets blurry, but they are happy tears. Despite my epic breakup with a guy I wasn’t even supposed to be dating, this day feels significant. Magical in a way.
Because I know what Lincoln said is true. We are all going to be OK. Me. Lincoln. My dad. And Abe. He is part of the equation now. He belongs to me just like I belong to him.
But I can’t make him come around. If he wants me back, he will have to fight for us.
And I will fight too.
Abe
I wake in my dad‘s clinic.
“Fuck.” I sit up fast, making my vision recede into blackness again.
“Easy.” My dad pushes me back to prone.
I sense, rather than see, his light moving across my eyes.
“What happened?”
“You tell me, son. Asher said you had a seizure at school and then another one in your car while he was driving.”
“Fuck.”
“Watch your language.“
I sit up again, this time swinging my legs off the cot.
“Whoa. Where are you going? Can you even see right now?”
“What time is it? How long was I out?”
“About ninety minutes. I gave you a short-term sedative to try to relax your nervous system.”
I rub my eyes, light bleeding back into my visual field.
“I didn’t want it to interfere with the game tonight.”
The game tonight. Fuck.
“What time is it?” I stand, blinking. I still feel nauseous. I need to get to Lauren.
“Five o’clock.”
Five o’clock. That’s the time we’re supposed to be in the locker room for the game. But I haven’t spoken to Lauren yet. Haven’t fixed my mess–if it’s even fixable.
“I called Coach to tell him you’ll be a few minutes late, but you’re coming. He heard about the seizure at school. The whole town has by now.” My dad’s judgment hits me like a punch to the gut, but I don’t flinch.
I walk toward the door.
“Hold up.” My dad uses Alpha Command, so my body freezes of its own accord. “I’ll drive you there. I don’t want you behind a wheel yet.”
I growl my dissatisfaction. How will I get to Lauren without my car?
“You could pass out behind the wheel and hit a human.” My dad says. “Give me the keys.”
Gah. This day couldn’t get worse. I hand over the keys, and we walk out to the Rover.
But then it does get worse because as soon as my dad gets behind the wheel, he says, “What happened to the money in my safe?”
My stomach knots. My eye starts to twitch. I flip it back on him in my usual deflective mode. “Really? You’re going to grill me right before the game you care so much about?”
“What happened to the money?” My dad’s using a form of Alpha Command. The blast of it sears through my skull.
The danger to Lauren makes my wolf snap and snarl. My vision goes dark in the center. The light through the windshield hurts my head.
Stick close to the truth. It’s the only solution.
“Lauren saw me shift.” I shade my eyes, trying not to show how much pain I’m in. “I called Austin, and he told me about the safe and gave me the contact info for a vampire. I took her there and took care of it.”
Close to true. I took care of shooting Thomas when he tried to drain Lauren instead of mind-wiping her.
“Which vampire?”
“His name was Thomas.” A shudder runs through me at the memory of Thomas sucking Lauren’s blood.
“Thomas. He’s not trusted by our kind. That was dangerous, Abe. Taking matters into your own hands is not how things get handled in this pack.”
“I know, Dad. I do. But I’d been told to stay away from Lauren. I figured it was better to take care of it myself. And I did.”
“You did?” Do I hear doubt in my dad’s voice?
“I did.” I’m trying to say it firmly, but it comes out as alpha command, and it pushes my dad’s body back in the seat.
Whoops.
My dad frowns as he pulls up in front of the school. I throw open the door and hop out. My nose is starting to bleed, my head is killing me, and I can barely see.
I shut the door without waiting for my dad’s game advice. I frankly could care less about this game.
I am nothing without Lauren. That’s already epically clear.
I’ve been denying what I knew from day one–she’s my mate. The episodes with my vision are worse because my wolf is desperate to mark her.