Chapter Ten
Wilder
The date ended on an abrupt note. One that had me yearning for more but also resolved to let things lie for a while.
Lewis got weird on me after we ran. Maybe it was because our beasts bonded so quickly. Maybe it was the talk of his parents. Maybe he had indigestion. There was really no explanation for his whiplash change of attitude, but on the way home, I decided to be at peace with it as much as I could.
There was a time, with other alphas, that I would’ve shouldered the blame.
Overcommunicated, thinking I’d done something wrong or misspoken.
But I’d realized over the years that I couldn’t force others to communicate effectively.
If I’d offended, then it was up to the other person to tell me, not my place to overthink and drive myself nuts deciphering the mind of another.
Knowing that Lewis was my mate made that detachment ten times harder, but I had to do it for my own mental clarity.
I had a business to run and a life to live, even if he never called me back.
Customers came in droves that weekend. I was packed from opening Saturday morning until noonish on Sunday. Although I’d resolved not to think too much about Lewis and the way he was so hot and cold, I couldn’t shake the night from my mind.
“This shop is fantastic,” a man said as he bought a bunch of my calming teas and a few tinctures.
“Thank you. Is this all?” I asked. He was still scanning the room.
“Well, this is all the product I want to get.” He leaned in, and I did too. People who came in sometimes had intimate issues. You didn’t exactly want to shout those things out. “Are you single?”
I stood up straight. The question shocked me. Yes, I was hit on here and there, but that was before Lewis. To my wolf, I was absolutely not single anymore. He was my fated mate. There was only one of him, and the life I wanted to build with him would be second to nothing and no one else.
“I-I’m involved.”
The man grinned. He was handsome and sexy, built like a machine, but he wasn’t Lewis. “That’s not a no, omega.”
Strangers shouldn’t go around calling people by their designations. That was reserved for mates or people you were dating.
“Is there any other product I can help you with?”
“No. This is it.”
I nodded and rang him up, hoping he took the hint.
The alpha left, and I went back to making salves. I was out of stock now on several and getting a good handle on what sold and what didn’t. I would keep them all but had to make more of the more popular items.
I checked my phone an embarrassing amount of times, hoping Lewis would text or call.
He didn’t.
Not a peep.
I could text or call first but I knew my worth. He was the one who ended the date out of nowhere, and I left feeling empty and questioning everything.
I was not going to chase.
I’d done that before, several times, in other relationships. The alphas liked being chased, and I ended up doing all the work in the relationships. Setting up dates. Begging for their free time.
Fated mate or not, I would not do that again.
On Sundays, I closed the shop at one and caught up with inventory, but I kept an eye on the front door for Lewis.
He felt what I had. Our beasts bonded almost immediately but infinitely so while we were running together.
During that run, he had been free of whatever rules and grumpiness he’d decided belonged ti him.
He was free then.
At first, I was aggravated and frustrated, but now that I’d had time to stew, I was heartbroken.
All I wanted was for him to come through that door and admit that what we had was real. That he was as head over heels as I was.
Maybe that was too much to ask of the grumpy bear.