Chapter Six
Emery
I pulled up outside the motel and groaned. My weekend was going downhill rapidly.
With the sound of Phoenix slamming the door still echoing in my ears, I’d eventually headed for the hotel just south of Minton toward Ellensburg, only to find it was hosting an out-of-state wedding, and half the groom’s family had flown in from upstate New York.
Coupled with two graduation events, the hotel was full.
I could go into the city itself, and I hated to admit it, but I was really starting to feel sick, so I’d stopped at the first motel I’d come to after being directed there by the local pharmacy.
I had no idea what was wrong with me—some sort of stomach bug, I guessed—because my insides were clenching and unclenching rapidly, and I was so hot I felt like I was being turned on a spit.
Danny would have waggled his finger at me and said he’d told me so.
Danny took all sorts of vitamins and sprays to ward off the bugs the kids brought into class.
But I’d always been convinced my immune system was fabulous enough not to need help because I never got sick.
Even last year when it seemed half the town was down with the flu, I’d practically run the school on my own.
Looked like Karma had bitten me on the butt this time.
Ughh.
Butts. Why did everything I thought of remind me of Phoenix?
And in this particular instance, the thought of sinking my teeth into his sculptured ass made certain other parts of my anatomy clench.
I’d finally had the best sex of my entire life, and my partner couldn’t get away fast enough the next morning.
It obviously hadn’t been as memorable for Phoenix as it had been for me.
I pulled up at the cheap and supposedly cheerful motel, killed the engine, and got out to get the small bag I’d packed, plus the one containing what seemed like half the pharmacy and a few bottles of water. I could call for takeout if I got hungry.
I stilled and looked at the dilapidated building, the flashing sign that read MOT because half the bulbs were out, and I tried to cheer myself up by humming the music to Psycho. Or I would’ve if I’d known what it was, so I contented myself with Jaws. “Duh, dumm…”
After dragging my things up both flights of stairs because the elevator was being serviced by an invisible mechanic, I unlocked the door and stood in depressing silence as I surveyed the room.
It was clean, which was the main thing, but really the only thing going for it.
The curtains, carpet, and decorations looked like something from a bad seventies sitcom.
The TV was cracked. With a sigh, I dumped my case on the second empty bed, got changed, and brushed my teeth.
I felt rotten enough, even though it was barely eleven in the morning, to crawl into bed.
Maybe I could sleep off what was ailing me.
Phoenix
I yanked Kaylan’s truck open. A mate. A mate.
And Esther didn’t mean someone I was tied to for pack, land, treaties even, she meant a blood mate.
Cursing, I threw myself in the truck, barely registering Matthew and Kaylan jumping in just before I peeled out of the parking lot.
I should’ve known. My wolf had been trying to tell me from the second he’d sensed him in the bar.
I tightened my hands on the steering wheel.
“Are we going to the apartment first?” Kaylan asked.
“First?” What? “Shit!” I snarled as I remembered all the boxes. What if he’d already left?
“Who is he?” Matthew asked from the back seat.
“Kindergarten teacher at Minton Elementary,” Kaylan supplied.
“Emery Valentine?” Matthew asked in surprise.
“You know him?” I clipped out, my wolf immediately disliking the idea that anyone—I couldn’t help the soft growl in the back of my throat—knew more about my mate than I did.
Matthew swallowed, clearly hearing the noise. “I know Danny Jacobson, Alpha. His mom had the remodel—”
“Sorry,” I interrupted. Of course he did.
My wolf eased a little, but not that much.
I might’ve been worried. Scratch that. I was downright fucking terrified Emery was in danger, but my wolf was pissed.
Furious that I’d left in the first place.
I also registered that Matthew—one of my good friends—had just addressed me not by my name but by my designation.
I shoved all that to one side, along with the whole I needed to have pups problem, and just drove.
We got to the bakery in just over twenty minutes, not surprisingly, as I could’ve easily set a new land speed record.
I was out of the truck in seconds, closely followed by Kaylan and Matthew.
I pressed the bell for the downstairs door, remembering Emery had unlocked it last night, while Kaylan disappeared into the bakery.
He reappeared seconds later with a worried-looking woman, who seemed to be wearing as much flour as she presumably baked with. Her expression softened when she saw Matthew, and he sheepishly returned her hug, refusing to look either Kaylan or me in the face.
“Connie, this is a friend of Emery’s,” Matthew explained. “He has some news about a job, which we know he’ll want to hear, but his phone seems to be out of order.” I was glad Matthew had thought of an excuse. My own brain seemed to have checked out.
Mrs. West took her phone out of her pocket and squinted at it.
“If you could give me the number, I’ll check it,” Matt supplied helpfully, which got us the cell number we wanted.
“Has he left?” I asked through gritted teeth because he obviously wasn’t answering the door.
Mrs. West practically wrung her hands. “I felt awful when I heard what had happened, but my Robert will be here by five, and he was already packed.”
“Straight to voicemail,” Matthew murmured and handed the phone to Mrs. West after typing the number into his own phone.
“Do you happen to know where he’s staying this weekend, ma’am?” Kaylan asked politely. “I really don’t want him to miss this interview.”
“Oh dear.” Mrs. West frowned. “Neither do I if it means he can stay local. He said he was going to check into a hotel for the weekend.” Mrs. West paused. “I’d try Bayside Country. I got the impression when I saw him this morning he was upset. He was probably ready for a little pampering.”
I didn’t dare look at Kaylan. We thanked Mrs. West and headed back to the truck, but this time, Kaylan held his hand out for the keys. “I’d rather not total it on the way.”
Bayside Country Club was full, and Emery wasn’t at the next three places we tried, even with cash making our inquiries answered a little more eagerly. I was getting desperate as they trundled through Lower Minton, which was even smaller. The main street had a total of three shops.
“Can I just call in here and grab a bottle of water?” Matthew said quietly.
I nodded—we hadn’t stopped for the last two hours—and Kaylan pulled up outside the post office that seemed to double as a grocery store and a pharmacy.
I got out, wanting to stretch my legs and trying not to let my frustration boil over, and followed the other two inside the store.
One foot inside and my wolf went ballistic. So much so that, for a few tense seconds while I just stood there, I thought I was going to lose control of my shift, which hadn’t happened since I was around thirteen and my grandad died.
It was Emery. No. It was his scent. He’d been here, and I looked up eagerly, taking another step inside, only to be blocked by Kaylan.
“Phoenix,” he hissed and elbowed me back outside.
“What the hell?” I objected. I had to get back in there, ask—
“Your eyes,” Kaylan muttered, and I took a breath.
Fuck. I hadn’t even realized my vision had bled to wolf. My vision was suddenly much sharper, but the colors were muted. I blinked and took a few breaths, knowing the gold around my irises would disappear in a few seconds.
Emery’s eyes. The gold I’d seen and thought I’d imagined. But he was human, surely?
“He’s been in here,” I confirmed unnecessarily. “But not now.”
“I’m going to go back inside. Stay here,” Kaylan ordered me, and I tried not to bristle. Kaylan might’ve been an alpha heir, but as one of my closest friends, he could talk to me however he damn well pleased.
It didn’t mean I had to like it, though. Although if I was honest, it was the fact I was leaving someone else to ask the questions I desperately needed answers to.
Matthew and Kaylan came barreling out with a few grocery sacks. “We think we know where he is,” Matthew said eagerly.
“Where?” I demanded as I turned on my heel and headed for the truck.
“Motel no more than five minutes away. Lady in the shop gave him directions.” Kaylan scrambled in and started the engine. I was about three seconds after him. I looked at Kaylan, expecting him to elaborate, and my heart thumped hard at Kaylan’s grim expression.
“What’s wrong?” My words came out a little thicker as I felt my canines erupt in response to the sense of some unknown threat pouring off the cat.
“He’s sick,” Matthew growled out. His beta wolf was sensing his alpha’s alarm.
“Could be a simple cold,” Kaylan added. “Humans get them.”
“Tell me,” I ordered.
“He complained of a cold. He even joked a little with the lady behind the counter, saying it was the first time he’d ever caught something off the kids. Said he was normally as healthy as a horse.”
I nodded. Emery could have some shifter blood in him that he was unaware of. Shifters, as a rule, were not susceptible to human viruses. “And?”
“And that’s it,” Kaylan admitted. “Once she gave us an address, I wasn’t going to stop and chat.”
No, I agreed, immensely grateful—once again—for my friend. We didn’t even bother with the highway since the motel was that close.