Chapter Thirteen
Andrew
Henrietta shows up on Moonstone property at mid-morning. I already know something’s wrong. I’ve felt second-hand stress all morning, boiling up inside me.
My mate is suffering and I can’t fix it.
My wolf’s going crazy.
Now she's walking fast across the field toward where I'm standing near the equipment shed, fists clenched, eyes are blazing with anger.
Before I can say anything, she shifts.
No warning. Just the change rolling through her, clothes shredding, and then her wolf is there—gray and white and furious—and she's already running toward the tree line.
I shift and follow.
The woods are thick here, all towering pine and underbrush, and she's fast. I catch up to her about a quarter mile in, and we run side by side for a moment, and then she wheels around and bites me.
Hard.
Right on the ass.
I spin to face her. She's already shifting back, and I shift too because I have no idea what's happening but I'm pretty sure we need words for it.
We're both standing there naked in the middle of the forest. She's breathing hard. My right butt cheek itches with healing as my bite marks seal closed.
"I had no idea you liked your foreplay so rough," I say with a grin.
She kicks me in the shin.
"Tell me the truth, you idiot!"
"Uh—" I try to think of what truth she’s asking for. "I don't really hate hanging out with you?"
"Not that truth! Moron!"
"My wolf wants to keep you and never let you go?" The words come out before I can stop them. "And, since we're truth-telling, I don't want to let you go either. I'm not sure I can."
She stops. Stares at me. "Uh. Not that truth, but that's... uh... interesting."
We stand there for a second.
"Tell me the truth about my father," she says. "What happened?"
Oh.
That truth.
I take a breath. "Your father was dealing drugs. Plant-based hallucinogens. Dangerous ones. I saw him in the woods handing off a bag to someone I didn't recognize. I followed him after the buyer left, and I found his stash hidden in a hollow tree."
Her face goes very still.
"There was enough there to get him executed," I say. "So I destroyed it. I left the bag because I couldn’t hide his crimes completely. I couldn’t let him hang around here and deal drugs. I figured that if they suspected, but weren’t completely sure, the council would exile him instead of kill him.
I thought—" I stop. "I thought that was better. For you."
She's staring at me.
"He chose exile over being compelled by a truth mage," I add. "He ran. If he'd been innocent, he could have stayed and proved it."
Silence. A bird calls somewhere overhead. The wind moves through the pines.
"I need some time to think," she says finally.
"Okay."
"I'm going back to the guesthouse."
"I can't let you go back there alone. My wolf can’t handle it right now."
Her head snaps up. "I can leave if I want to!”
"My wolf won't let me." I'm not budging. I don't even want to budge. "I can't—" I struggle for the words. "I can't watch you walk away right now."
"You don't own me! The bond doesn't mean—"
"Andrew!" a voice comes shouting from the treeline.
We both turn. Cole is running through the trees toward us, moving fast, and the look on his face makes my stomach drop.
"Andrew! Henrietta's uncle is heading to Hannigan's Bar parking lot right now to death challenge Roderick Frost!"
I wheel on Henrietta. "Roderick? Why in the hell would he—"
Her face goes pale.
And I get it. "This is what you weren't telling me."
"Oh God." Her voice cracks. "Roderick's trying to claim me and I told my uncle and now he's trying to take care of it."
Fury boils up inside me at the thought of anyone else trying to claim my mate.
"What the actual hell—" I start, then stop. "No, you know what, I'll yell at you later. Let's go."
I shift. She shifts. Cole shifts.
And we run.