Chapter Eleven
I’m home safe. Thank you for all the kindness you have shown me. I’ve really appreciated it more than you know. This isn’t working, but you have been so fun to talk to and get to know. I think it’s best if we let this go.
Tabian winced as his skin tingled and he twitched his head to the side. He just needed a minute to think, but the wolf was growing louder by the second, demanding his turn.
Everything is going to be okay, he typed out. Fuck, that wasn’t enough. It was too generic a response. He deleted it.
A long snarl released from his chest, and his vision blurred.
It’s not too much, he typed, then paused. I’m still in it with you. Just need a minute to—pain ripped through him, and the phone fell from his hands. Crap.
He tried to fight the wolf, but like every other time he’d tried, it was useless. The wolf always won. It’s what he was designed to do.
The problem was most of the Pack was still Changed and running in the woods. Liam was calling him to them. He was trying to reset their bond after the confusion of that fight.
He understood it, but the timing was terrible.
Tabian pitched forward on his hands and knees, then hit the porch hard. He was barely able to struggle out of his jeans before the wolf was shredding out of his skin.
It was Bridger he saw first. He was standing right on the edge of the trees.
For a moment, Tabian resigned himself to fighting him again.
They had unfinished business from earlier, but as he stalked forward, Bridger’s eyes softened.
He turned and gave Tabian his back, then trotted into the woods in the direction of the others.
Confused, Tabian watched him disappear into the shadows, then trotted after him.
This body didn’t have all the emotions and feelings he did as a man. He still felt unsettled about Tru and Bayen, but he couldn’t think straight right now.
Now, he hunted.
It was what his Alpha wanted him to do.
****
Someone was sitting on his porch.
Tabian frowned at Bridger and caught the pair of discarded jeans Bridger tossed him.
“What do you want?” Tabian asked in a hoarse voice. Multiple quick Changes back-to-back always left him sore and frustrated.
“I’m sorry.”
Tabian waited for the punchline, but Bridger left that apology hanging in the air.
“It’s fine.”
“I didn’t know it was a kid. I just felt the wolf.” He stood and strode for the corner of Tabian’s house. “Nice den.”
Tabian nodded. “Thanks.”
Bridger ran a hand down his beard. He hadn’t shaved in a while. “Look, I’m having trouble…” He cleared his throat and shook his head hard against a growl that rattled up his throat. “I’m…” Bridger chewed the corner of his lip and ghosted a glance up at Tabian. “Are you gonna keep him?”
“Keep…him?” Tabian asked, confused.
“The kid.”
Tabian shook his head slightly. “I don’t think he’s mine to keep.”
“You want the girl? You make it right with her kid.” Bridger shrugged and walked into the night, toward his house. “Those are the rules.”
Baffled, Tabian watched him leave. “How do I do that?” he called after him.
Bridger didn’t answer.
“Hey, how do I make it right with the kid?”
Bridger still didn’t answer. Fuckin’ Riddler over there pretending he knew anything about anything.
Tabian made a click sound behind his teeth and grabbed his phone off the porch, then made his way inside.
The clock on the microwave said it was 11:11.
His mom used to make wishes on that number.
She used to make him make wishes on it too.
He didn’t really believe in that stuff anymore, because his wishes had never come true.
It was always the same thing though. He wished his dad would come back.
His dad’s stubbornness had been more powerful than any magic a number could hold.
Tabian squatted down and stared at the damn number until it turned to 11:12. A dozen memories washed through him. He didn’t have to try and imagine Bayen’s anger or what caused him to act out like he did. Tabian had lived it.
He read Tru’s last text again. Thank you for all the kindness you have shown me.
He’d known she was going through something huge, but he’d had no idea how big.
Now? His respect for her had grown. She was tough.
Like…really tough. She was a human woman raising a teenage werewolf, and she wasn’t complaining.
She was doing the best she could and not giving up on him in a difficult situation.
Tabian had already been head over heels for her, but now? Now Tru consumed him.
She’d been with a werewolf. She understood at least some Pack dynamics. She understood the males to an extent, because she lived with one and then was now raising one.
Holy. Shit.
It was really hitting him.
She hadn’t been scared for herself when Bridger had attacked. She’d been worried about the boy.
Tabian had witnessed her patience with Bay even when he was being a cuss.
Even when Tabian had sensed her anger, she was keeping her impatience tightly in check.
It’s probably why she was still human and hadn’t been accidentally Turned by Bayen by now.
She was stronger than anyone even understood.
Tabian wanted to know everything. He wanted to learn every single thing about this woman who lived in both worlds—human and werewolf.
Before this, he’d thought Tru was the sexiest woman in the world.
Now she was somehow even sexier.
Secret badass.
You gonna keep him? Bridger’s voice echoed through his mind.
That decision was ultimately up to Tru…
But he was going to try.