Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
And then I probably never would’ve met my fated mate.
My morning alarm goes off, making me start. I swing the door shut and look around.
Crap. What should I do?
Asher’s hurting. I want to help. I need to help him. I wish I would’ve shifted immediately and followed him. Now there’s no way I’d catch up to him.
I glance at the clock. Dammit.
I take a quick shower, grab an apple to eat, and drive to Sweet Treats. Asher’s mom should be working today.
She and I have avoided each other since the incident. I’m not sure why. I think I was ashamed for leaving her to fight her husband alone that night. She was probably ashamed for what happened. Neither of us have spoken about it–which now strikes me as really fucked up and weird.
I park in front and walk in. Mrs. Angelson gives me a wave from the kitchen door. “Hi there, Carlotta! I heard you were back in town!”
“Hi, Mrs. A!”
I force myself to meet Mrs. Martin’s gaze and step close to the counter. “Um, good morning, Mrs. Martin. H-have you seen Asher?”
There’s no surprise in her expression, but her brow furrows. “No,” she says slowly. “He didn’t come home last night.” She studies me. “I guess I thought he might be with you.”
“He was,” I say. “But, um…” I swallow. “This morning he found out about…” My heart thunders against my sternum, and my palms are wet. I haven’t spoken about the incident since the council meeting. “It came out this morning.” I try and fail to swallow. “--what happened with his dad. And Asher wolfed out and ran.” My eyes swim with tears.
Asher’s mom goes pale. She comes out from behind the counter. To my shock, she pulls me into an awkward hug. “Thank you.” Her voice is taut.
“For…what?”
“For caring about my son.”
I fight my tears. “Of course I care. I mean, I’d care anyway, but…he’s my mate.” I whisper the last words.
Mrs. Martin jerks away to stare at me in surprise.
I nod. She throws her arms back around me, this time in a tight embrace. “Oh, that’s incredible.” I hear happy tears in her voice, as if I’d just told her I’m pregnant or something. But fated matches are rare enough that it is worth crying over. Most wolves never find their one true mate, they just make a life with a shifter who’s compatible. “What a blessing–for you both.”
“Yes, but that’s why finding out what happened drove Asher to madness.”
She releases me again, her expression clouded. “Yes. Yes, I see. Well, it needed to come out at some point. Give him some time and space to cool off and process this–it’s a lot to work through. You go on to school, and I’ll call him in as absent. Hopefully he will run off his anguish and come back before dark.”
Before dark.
Fate, that makes my heart ache. I don’t want Asher out there alone in anguish. I don’t want him in anguish at all.
“Go on,” Mrs. Martin urges. “I’ll be sure he contacts you when he’s back.”
“Okay, thank you.” I squeeze Mrs. Martin’s shoulder.
She gives me a fierce hug. “I’m so happy for you both. Don’t fret over this. Fate throws curve-balls. It makes us nimble.” Her smile is sad, though, reminding me that Fate has thrown her far more than her share of curveballs.
I owe it to her as much as to myself and Asher to make sure we work our stuff out.
As I climb into my car, a text comes in on my phone. My heart leaps, illogically hopeful it might be from Asher.
It’s not. It’s from Andy.
Andy:
See you at 5
Nope. This isn’t happening. Asher needs me.
Me:
Sorry–I can’t go. Something came up. Good luck, though.
Chapter Twenty
Asher
I feel the impact before I hear the crunch of metal crushing. Glass shatters all around me. My body is launched into the air and hurled fifty feet to the side of the highway, where I roll.
The sound of brakes squealing reminds me to get back on my feet and run away from human eyes.
Blood soaks my fur. Some of my bones are broken, but I ignore the pain.
Fuck, where am I?
I become dimly aware of the fact that my paws are scraped and bloody, and I’m far, far out of wolf territory. I’m halfway to the Grand Canyon, deep in bear country. And I will not win a fight against a bear shifter if I run across one.
I look up at the sky. By the placement of the sun, I would guess it’s past noon.
I’ve been running for hours, blind to my path. Blind to anything but vengeance.
Except I have absolutely no ability to execute that vengeance. I don’t know where my dad is or even where to start looking for him.
Clearly my brain went off-line when I wolfed out and ran.