Chapter 8
Jules
Jules woke to a dying fire and an empty cabin.
For a moment, she just lay there on the couch, wrapped in blankets that still smelled like Lex, trying to orient herself. Weak morning light filtered through frost-covered windows. The fire had burned down to embers, and the chill in the air told her the generator was still struggling.
But that wasn't what made her chest tight.
The cabin was too quiet.
Lex was gone.
She sat up, pushing tangled hair from her face. "Lex?"
Silence.
His boots weren't by the door. His coat wasn't on the hook. She padded to the window and looked out at the pristine snow, noting the single set of footprints leading away from the cabin toward the road.
He'd left without waking her. Without saying goodbye.
After everything last night—the kiss, the revelation, the way he'd held her—he'd just... left.
Don't panic. He probably just went to check on the road conditions or something. His truck was gone, so maybe that was it.
But a cold knot of dread was already forming in her stomach. She thought about his pack member's visit last night. The way Lex's whole body had gone rigid when he'd come back inside.
Maybe he'd come back and Lex had gone to deal with that. To protect her.
Or maybe he'd realized what a mistake this all was.
She was still standing at the window, spiraling, when she heard the crunch of tires on snow. Her heart leaped, but it wasn't Lex's black truck that pulled up. It was Adam's.
Faye jumped out before the vehicle had fully stopped, wading through the snow toward the cabin. Jules barely had time to open the door before her best friend was inside, stomping snow from her boots and pulling her into a fierce hug.
"Oh my God, are you okay? Lex texted and told Adam he told you. About what he is." Faye pulled back, searching Jules's face. "Are you freaking out? You're freaking out, aren't you? I wanted to tell you, but it wasn't my secret to tell, and Adam made me promise, and—"
"Faye." Jules managed a weak smile. "Breathe."
"Right. Sorry." Faye took a dramatic breath. "Okay. I'm breathing. Are you okay?"
"I'm... processing." Jules glanced past her to where Adam was climbing out of the truck, his expression serious. "Where's Lex?"
Adam and Faye exchanged a look that made Jules's stomach drop.
"He's at a pack meeting," Adam said, stepping inside and closing the door against the cold. "Riko called everyone in this morning. It's about..." He hesitated.
"It's about me," Jules finished quietly. "Isn't it?"
Adam's jaw tightened. "Stan's been running his mouth. Got some of the older members riled up about too many humans knowing about the pack. Lex went to handle it."
"Handle it how?"
Another exchanged look. This time, Faye was the one who spoke. "There might be a challenge. If Stan pushes it."
"A challenge?" Jules's voice came out sharper than she intended. "Like a fight?"
"It won't come to that," Adam said, but he didn't sound entirely convinced. "Riko's a good alpha. He'll shut it down."
Jules wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold despite the blankets still draped over her shoulders. This was her fault. She'd stumbled into Lex's life, his home, his world, and now he was facing down his own pack because of her.
"I should go," she heard herself say. "Back to my house. Or... somewhere."
"Jules, no." Faye grabbed her hands. "That's not—"
"Your house isn't livable yet," Adam cut in. "I checked yesterday. The damage is worse than I thought. We're looking at a month of repairs, minimum. Maybe longer."
A month. Jules felt the blood drain from her face. "How much?"
Adam's hesitation told her everything she needed to know.
"How much, Adam?"
"The estimate came in at around fifteen thousand. Maybe more depending on what we find behind the walls."
Fifteen thousand dollars. She didn't have fifteen thousand dollars. She didn't have fifteen hundred dollars. Between the car repairs and her cut hours at the shop, she was barely scraping by as it was.
"I can help," Faye said quickly. "We can help. Adam knows people, and—"
"No." The word came out harder than Jules intended. She softened her voice. "I appreciate it, Faye. I do. But this is my mess. My house. My problem."
"You're not a problem," Faye insisted. "And neither is what's happening with Lex. He wants this, Jules. He wants you."
"Does he?" Jules pulled her hands free, moving to the window again. "Because he left this morning without a word. And now he's at some pack meeting fighting for the right to... what? Keep me around like some kind of human pet?."
The silence that followed was answer enough.
"I heard them last night," she admitted quietly. "I wasn't asleep when Lex went outside. I heard what Stan said. About how the pack is divided. Weak. Because of humans like me." She turned to face them. "I won't be the reason Lex loses his family."
"Jules—"
"I need some air."
She grabbed her coat and boots, ignoring Faye's protests as she pushed out into the cold. The morning was bright, the sun reflecting off the snow in a way that made her eyes water. Or maybe that was something else.
She walked without direction, just needing to move, to think. Her boots crunched through the fresh powder as she made her way toward the tree line. Everything was so beautiful here. So peaceful. A world away from her flooded house and mounting bills and the complicated mess her life had become.
A world she didn't belong in.
The thought settled over her like the cold—uncomfortable but undeniable. She wasn't part of his world. She was just a small-town girl with a crumbling house and a talent for talking too much, who'd somehow stumbled into a world of wolves and ancient traditions she didn't understand.
And Lex...
She thought back to what he'd confessed on their walk yesterday. He told her he'd spent months watching her from a distance, fighting his instincts, trying to stay away. And at the time, she couldn't understand why.
But maybe he was right. Maybe he'd been right to stay away from her.
"You look like you're about to do something stupid."
Jules spun. A man she didn't recognize stood at the edge of the trees, arms crossed, watching her with pale eyes that caught the light in an unsettling way. He was lean and sharp-featured, with the same coiled energy she'd noticed in Lex and Adam. Another wolf.
"I don't believe we've met," she said carefully.
"We haven't. Name's Stan." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm the one who came by last night. Thought I'd check in. See how our little human guest is settling in."
Every instinct screamed at her to run. But she lifted her chin instead. "I'm settling in just fine, thanks."
"Are you?" He took a step closer, and she forced herself not to retreat. "Because from where I'm standing, you look like a woman who's finally realizing she's in over her head."
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know you're causing problems for Lex. For the whole pack." Another step. "I know that right now, he's standing in front of everyone defending his choice to bring a human into our world. Some of them are listening. Some of them aren't." His smile sharpened. "Want to guess which side is winning?"
Jules's heart hammered against her ribs. "Lex can handle himself."
"Sure he can. But should he have to?" Stan tilted his head, studying her like a predator assessing prey.
"All this trouble, all this division... and for what?
A woman he barely knows? A human who'll grow old and die while he stays young?
" He shook his head with mock sympathy. "You're not his mate, sweetheart.
You're a distraction. A warm body to pass the storm with. He'll come around."
The words hit her right in the heart, but Jules refused to flinch. "You don't know what I am to him."
"Don't I?" Stan's eyes glinted. "I know he's never claimed you.
If he had, I'd smell it. If you were really his, don't you think he would have done that by now?
" He leaned closer, close enough that she could see the wolf lurking behind his pale gaze.
"The kindest thing you could do—for him, for the pack, for yourself—is walk away.
Before this gets any uglier than it already is. "
He stepped back, that false smile returning. "Just something to think about."
Then he was gone, melting back into the trees like he'd never been there at all.
Jules stood frozen, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps that clouded the air. Her hands were shaking. Her whole body was shaking.
He's wrong, she told herself. He has to be wrong.
But the doubts were already crawling through her mind, finding purchase in every insecurity she'd ever had. Too much. Too talkative. Too clingy. Too everything.
Maybe Stan was right. Maybe the kindest thing she could do was disappear before she caused any more damage.
She made it back to the cabin on autopilot. Faye was still there, pacing by the fire while Adam spoke quietly into his phone. They both looked up when she entered.
"There you are! I was about to come looking—" Faye stopped, her expression shifting to concern. "Jules? What happened? You're white as a sheet."
"I'm fine." The lie tasted bitter on her tongue. "I just... I need to pack my things."
"What? No. Jules—"
"Faye, please." Jules's voice cracked, and she hated herself for it. "I can't stay here. I can't keep causing problems for everyone. For Lex. For the pack. For you."
"You're not causing—"
"I AM." The words burst out louder than she intended. She took a breath, steadying herself. "I am. And I won't do it anymore. I'll figure something out. I'll sleep on the cot in the storage room at the shop, or... I don't know. Something. But I can't stay here."
She moved past Faye toward the guest room—her room, for these few strange, wonderful, terrible days—and started gathering her things. There wasn't much. Some clothes. Her toiletries. Fred in his little sunflower pot.
"Jules." Faye appeared in the doorway, her voice soft now. "You don't have to do this. Lex cares about you. Really cares. I've never seen him like this with anyone."
Jules clutched Fred's pot to her chest like a shield. "Even if that's true," her voice wobbled dangerously, "the best thing I can do for him is leave him to his peace."
She couldn't say anymore. Couldn't voice the fear that had been gnawing at her since Stan's words had planted their poison.
Why hasn't he claimed me? If I'm really his, why hasn't he tried to sleep with me? He had every chance in the world last night.
"Oh, honey." Faye crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Jules, Fred and all.
"He's trying to protect you. That's what these idiot wolves do.
They think they have to handle everything themselves, fight every battle alone.
It doesn't mean he doesn't want you. It means he wants you so much he's terrified of screwing it up. "
"Or maybe he's already realized he made a mistake." Jules pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Either way, I can't stay here waiting to find out. I need to go. I need to think. I need..."
She needed Lex. But she couldn't have him. Not like this. Not when being with her meant tearing his whole world apart.
"At least wait until he gets back," Faye pleaded. "Talk to him first. You owe each other that much."
Jules looked around the small room that had become a strange kind of sanctuary for her over these last few days, at least until the tree made the roof leak.
She thought about staying. About waiting. About the possibility that Lex would walk through that door and tell her everything was fine, that he'd handled it, that they could figure this out together.
Then she thought about the look on his face when he'd come back inside last night. The tension in his shoulders. The way he'd held her like he was afraid she might disappear.
Maybe she should. For both their sakes.
But… what if he came back and asked her to leave? Told her it wasn't going to work?
"I'll leave him a note," she said finally. "But I can't be here when he gets back, Faye."
Faye opened her mouth to argue, but Adam appeared in the doorway.
"Jules." His voice was gentle but firm. "The meeting just ended. Riko shut down Stan's challenge. Lex is on his way back." Adam's dark eyes held hers. "And according to Riko, the first thing Lex said when it was over was that he needed to get back to his mate."
His mate.
The word hung in the air between them, heavy with meaning.
"He's never called anyone that before," Adam added quietly. "Ever."
Jules stood there, frozen, Fred clutched to her chest and her heart lodged somewhere in her throat. His mate. Lex had called her his mate. In front of the whole pack.
But even as hope flickered to life in her chest, Stan's words echoed in her mind.
He's never claimed you. Never marked you. If you were really his...
She needed to think. She needed space. She needed—
The sound of a truck engine cut through her spiraling thoughts.
Lex was home.