Chapter 51
RODERICK
“Hey, Roderick! Can I talk to you?” I turn away from my bike, searching for the person trying to flag me down.
The wolf from Bear Valley, Cory, strolls toward me.
His expression looks hopeful.
I nod in greeting, waiting to hear why he stopped me. After another day of meetings and negotiations, I’m ready to go home. Tonight, I can see Juliet. After the way we kissed in my office, I’m hoping we can move past the shitstorm we found ourselves in.
No part of me wants to hang around longer to chat, but this guy is a friend of my pack mate’s, so I can bite down on my dismissal and listen to him.
“I’m glad I caught you. I have a favor to ask.
” He shoves his hands in his pockets, giving me a rueful grin.
“I totally trust you when you say Thad’s doing better, but honestly?
I miss the guy. I’ve been wanting to visit, but I’ve never crossed into another pack’s territory before, and I didn’t know the best way to approach it. ”
That’s understandable. Different leaders have different requirements that can make the whole thing tricky. One more reason wolves stay close to their hometowns. The meeting of the packs is often where visitations are arranged.
Plus, from the few interactions I’ve had with Mick, I got that he’s not really the warm, fuzzy, let’s-work-together type.
“You want to come to Pine Falls?” I clarify.
He nods eagerly. “Could I? Just for a short visit? I think it’d be a badass surprise.”
The lack of planning bothers me, and in the past, I would have turned him down. But I’m trying to be less rigid. Plus, Thad shouldn’t have to be cut off from someone from his old pack that actually cared about him. And I feel like I still need to make up for my initial blunder with Juliet.
After deliberating the pros and cons for another minute, I relent.
“You can come. But only for the night. In the future, you’ll need to arrange with me at least a week ahead.”
The man grins wide. “Of course. I’ll grab my bike and follow you all.”
When he disappears into the crowd of others getting ready to leave, I glance over at Courtney, who leans against her truck with arms crossed.
“What do you think?” I sign.
She chews on a stick of gum as she considers. “Dunno. Gives me bro vibes. Seems like the kind of guy that’ll drink too much and do stupid shit.” She switches to signing. “Maybe keep an eye on him.”
I don’t want to have to watch over him. I want to shrug off my yoke of responsibility, find my woman, work out our problems, then pleasure her until she’s begging to stay with me forever.
With a sigh, I mount my bike. Considering all avenues, I decide to have a talk with Thad. Make it clear that the visitor is his responsibility while in Pine Falls, that it’s on my pack mate to keep him in line. Thad isn’t a partier, so I’m confident in his ability to maintain order.
Cory pulls up beside us, and I rev my bike to life, leading us all out on the highway. Our tires eat up the pavement, and I enjoy one of the last long rides I’ll be able to take before snow comes to the mountains and the temperatures drop so low that even a wolf will feel it.
One of the most useful things about the ride, especially now that the meeting of the packs is done and not my concern again for a few years, is that I have time to think. Which is seriously important if I’m not going to fuck up this chance with Juliet tonight.
Despite the passion that roared between us last time we spoke, nothing has truly been solved. She still blew a gasket when I brought up the idea of us being together long-term. Though it hurts to think about, I replay the scene from a couple of nights ago.
And my brain snags on one important detail.
“I will never get mated.”
That’s what she said.
Not I don’t want to mate you. Only now, as the cool air swirling around me stifles any of the residual angry heat from the confrontation, do I realize the importance of her phrasing.
There’s something there. I know there is.
As the road disappears under my wheels, I pick apart the argument and then throw my mind further back, to other conversations, searching out more clues.
“Believe me, he wanted to. I politely declined.”
Another wolf asked to mate her, and she turned him down too.
My animal stirs in my chest, upset that another ever thought he had a claim.
But I focus on the fact that Juliet has been presented with the idea of mating before, and from what I can tell, she had a shitty experience with whatever wolves she associated with in the past.
For all I know, her ex might have tried to force her into the arrangement.
The thought has me gripping my handlebars overly tight.
Mating is a mutual choice, not something to be forced. Although I can’t say that it doesn’t happen that way in some packs.
And, like an epiphany, I realize where I went wrong.
Juliet wasn’t reacting the way she did because of the potential tie to me. She had that defensive reaction in relation to the idea of mating.
I want to groan when I think back on what I said.
“When we mate.”
Like she had no choice in the matter. Like I’d decided for her because I thought I was the dominant in our relationship.
“Rule number two, I set the pace of our intimacy.”
That’s what I agreed to. And then my words bulldozed over her boundaries.
The way she flinched from me tears at my heart, but why wouldn’t she be afraid? If someone had tried to force a mating on her in the past, then she could have thought I was prepared to do the same thing if she refused.
My curses are lost on the wind as our bikes draw closer to home.
Closer to her.
I need to find a way to explain myself. To fix things.
The ride home takes close to three hours, and I know the moment that we cross into Pine Falls pack territory.
Mainly because a tension held high in my shoulders eases.
Also, there’s a sharp twinge, letting me know a non-pack member crossed the line, but I was prepared for that.
Glancing back at Cory, I notice a tight set to the man’s mouth.
Must be uncomfortable to be in a strange territory.
Mason and I will put out the word about the guy’s presence so no one hassles him.
Before too long, we’re pulling up to The Rabbit Hole, and I’m happy to spot Thad’s bike in the lot. Now I don’t have to search for the guy. I can pass off Cory, then finally go to Juliet.
When our engines quiet, I dismount and turn to the visitor.
“This is the pack’s bar. Thad’ll be inside. I’ll let the pack know about your visit.”
The guy nods. “Great. I’ll give you all a head start. Something on my bike was rattling weird for the last few miles. Want to check it out before I relax.”
I nod, throw a wave to Courtney as she passes by the bar in her truck, then head into the bar.
There’s a decent amount of bar-goers tonight. Everyone is probably waiting on news from the meeting of the packs, even though I told them I’d hold an official gathering later this week.
An older wolf stops me to talk about his grandson approaching transition age.
After promising I’ll visit the kid in the next few days, I step away, searching for my target.
Finally, I spot Thad at the bar. As I approach him, more members waylay me, asking how the meeting went.
Eventually, I break free of the mass, reminding them I’ll call a full meeting of the pack for a rundown of everything discussed.
As I approach Thad, I notice the lines drawn at the corners of his eyes and the pensive way he stares into his beer glass. Reaching his side, I wave for his attention.
“Something wrong?” I ask.
“Family stuff,” is all he gives me back.
Even after having him in Pine Falls for a couple of years, I’m still not clear on his family dynamic. I know Thad’s mother is a wolf, his father is human, and they both still live in Bear Valley, Utah.
But did they treat him the same way his old pack did? Or were they the ones encouraging him to try a new place?
Whatever is going on now, I’m not going to force him to tell me.
I nod at Moose, silently requesting a beer.
No matter how much I want to head straight over to Juliet’s place, I think it would be best for me to stay for one round while Cory and Thad get reacquainted.
I figure if the two of them hit it off immediately and I start feeling like the third wheel, I can chug my beer and head out.
“I brought your friend back with me,” I sign.
His brow furrows. “Back from where? What friend?”
He looks legitimately confused, and it notches up my worry about his family issues. Whatever is happening is bad enough to have him forgetting the event that the rest of the pack can’t stop talking about.
“Meeting of the packs,” I remind him.
Thad’s eyes widen, and his nostrils flare, scenting the air near me. I expect to see a smile or a mild look of interest.
Instead, my pack mate shoves up from his stool, leans closer, and breathes in deeper. Then he reels back with an expression that looks a lot like horror.
“Who?” The gesture is jerky, the man’s stare boring into me.
A dark sense of foreboding twists my gut.
I start to fingerspell, “C-O-R—”
An inarticulate roar tears from Thad’s throat, and he shoves past me, staring around the bar with frenzied eyes before facing me again, his hands wild. “Where? Where is he?”
Looks like, everything the Bear Valley wolf told me about being friends with Thad was a lie, and my anger rises in response. He wanted it to be a fucking surprise, and I’m the idiot who agreed.
“Outside,” I sign. “What’s wrong?”
But my pack mate is already out the door. I sprint after him.
He stops beside the guy’s bike, but there’s no sign of Cory.
My mind tries to make sense of the scene before me. Where would he go? Why is Thad so agitated? If they have beef, I led him to the wolf he wants to fight.
Stepping toward Thad, I’m just about to grab his shoulder for his attention when the wolf lets out another enraged sound, hefts Cory’s bike above his head, and then chucks the entire machine across the highway. Sparks fly as chrome scrapes across asphalt.
But Thad doesn’t stick around to watch the fireworks display. He lopes off toward the woods, half bent over. He’s scenting a trail, and I chase after. Just inside the tree line, I find him clutching the clothes Cory was wearing earlier.
He transformed?
I need answers.
“What the fuck is happening?” My words are growled and gestures are broad, demanding his attention.
Thad stares at me, eyes wild. Then he drops the clothes to talk back. “He wants Juliet.”
Ice encases my chest, and denials slice through my mind.
“No,” I sign.
My woman has nothing to do with this. There’s some other reason Thad looks on the edge of madness at the surprise visit of a strange wolf.
He shoves me back, growling in rage, “YES! Fucking idiot! You brought him here! He’ll take her!”
Not bothering to explain further, Thad dodges around me, sprinting back to the parking lot. I follow after, just in time to see him leap onto his bike. Other pack members have filed out of the bar, staring in shock at Cory’s bike across the road and Thad’s manic behavior.
“Mason, Moose, Raider, Sandra. With me.” I don’t know what exactly is happening, so the best route is to bring backup. On my bike almost as fast as Thad, I follow him through town.
Despite the frantic nature of the ride, I finally have a second to think.
Thad knows and dislikes Cory.
Cory lied about why he was coming to town.
Thad said that Cory is after Juliet.
A memory resurfaces from that night when I sat on the kitchen floor in the librarian’s home.
“I know about werewolves because I dated one.”
And as the cold evening air whips my face, realization comes with a terrible, horrifying clarity.
Juliet is hiding from her past. Cory is Juliet’s ex. And I brought him straight to her.