Nineteen
Wyatt
Ithrew up. then i stared blankly at the wall for a while, clutching my still-rebelling stomach. slowly, i swallowed more bile.
Was I sick? Had I contracted some kind of … shifter flu bug? Or maybe Caroline and Karla had brought something in with them? Cam had indicated that they’d traveled on a plane or a bus or something.
Or maybe I’d picked up something weird out in the fields. Oh, God, I hoped it wasn’t anything zoonotic. Fuck, I didn’t want to be patient zero for some new swine flu or bird flu or something.
I took a deep breath to steady myself, then let my eyes slip shut. My mind drifted back to the wolf, and I felt even more queasy.
Where had he come from? Was he following me?
I gritted my teeth as I realized I was crying. Hot tears slipped down my face, and I lifted a hand to wipe them away.
What the hell was wrong with me this morning?
Tired, I told myself, you’re just really tired. And I was. I’d slept solidly once Cam was in my bed, but I’d been up way too long before that.
That was all. It was probably why I felt sick too.
Heaving another breath, I got back to my feet, flushed the mess, and rinsed my mouth. Then I marched myself back to the kitchen.
Cam was gone. I couldn’t help the way disappointment flooded me, sudden and overwhelming. I barely made it back to my chair at the table, collapsing into it.
Caroline was at the sink, spraying down some of the dishes. She gave me a quizzical look. “Cam went out to the barn,” she said.
I relaxed a little. That was a normal thing to do. Caroline turned the water off and stripped off the rubber gloves she was wearing. She clacked her way over to the table. “You feeling all right?” she asked softly.
“Not really,” I murmured.
She considered for a moment, then said, “Cam shouldn’t have bit you last night. He didn’t know what he was doing.”
“I told him to,” I offered. I was an adult; I could own my decisions.
She smiled gently. “Doesn’t mean he should’ve. So, Karla is going over how to bite with him, so he can fix that mess on your neck and bond you properly.”
My stomach twisted at the word bond. “Is that why I feel like shit? Because he did it wrong?”
Caroline’s smile turned rueful. “Probably,” she said. “A half-formed bond would feel pretty strange.”
I glanced at her quizzically. Now she looked almost coy as she turned her head and lifted the pearl necklace resting around her throat. I couldn’t help the sharp gasp that escaped me when I glimpsed the scarring along her pale skin.
Caroline winked, then let the necklace fall back in place. “A bond is a wonderful thing, when it’s done right. Karla will straighten him out, and we’ll get you feeling right as rain.”
I nodded meekly, then eyed what was left of breakfast. It had probably gone cold, but …
“I can whip up something else, if you like,” Caroline offered.
I shook my head. “No, this is great. Just … needs to be heated up again.”
She reached over and patted my hand. “You sit tight, honey.” She loaded up a plate, then took it to the micro-wave.
“So,” she said over the beeping of the machine, “you’re a vet.”
“Uh-huh.”
“That’s pretty nice,” she said. “Working with animals all the time.”
“I like them better than people, usually.”
She laughed lightly. “Don’t we all,” she murmured.
A loud ring echoed through the house, nearly startling me out of my chair. Caroline frowned. “Now, who could that be …”
She wandered out of the room. A second later, I heard her melodic voice drifting back to the room. “Good morning, Rocky Ridge. Oh, hello. Yes. Yes. Oh, of course. Will do, doctor.”
There was a click, followed by the sound of her heels on the tile. “Dr. Martin wanted to know where you got to,” she informed me with a smile. “And he said to answer your Goddamn phone.”
I stared at her, then laughed. “Of course he did.”
Her smile broadened. “Of course, I think you should wait until after breakfast.”
I shook my head and darted back to the guest room to retrieve my “Goddamn phone.” When I returned, Caroline had put the warmed-up plate on the table.
Vern had called and texted several times. I wondered how he’d known to call the Carlyle place, then flushed.
Of course he’d figured out where I was. I pondered how he had the number for about ten seconds, then realized he probably had everyone’s numbers. At least all the ranchers, that was for sure.
I got about three bites into my breakfast before my cell started vibrating again.
It was a good thing, actually, because after those three bites, my stomach was turning somersaults again.
It wasn’t an insult to Caroline’s cooking; it was delicious, but I was apparently through with food this morning.
“I gotta take this,” I told her, pushing away from the table and heading back to the guest room.
“Did you get my text?” Vern asked when I answered.
“I was just reading it,” I offered.
“Well,” he drawled, “hurry up, and meet me over at Mustang Sally’s when you’re done.”
“Where’s—”
He hung up. I stared at the phone for a second, then inhaled deep through my nose.
Fixing my bond with Cam would have to wait. I dressed hurriedly, then popped back into the kitchen. “Thanks for everything,” I told Caroline.
“Dining and dashing, huh?” She barely glanced up from the book she was reading.
“Vern wants me somewhere. Sounded pretty urgent.” I paused. “Uh—you know where Mustang Sally’s is?”
Caroline jolted, her eyes going wide. Then she laughed. “Oh,” she muttered. “He means Roy’s. Two farms down, on your left. Big horse paddocks.”
“Right,” I said. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, sugar.” She smiled. “I’ll let Cam know where you’re off to. Will we see you for dinner?”
“Depends on what’s going on at … Mustang Sally’s.”
She laughed again. “All right,” she said. “Just let us know, hm? We’ll see you again soon, Wyatt.”
Her expression turned a little darker. “Don’t let that bond go too long, hm?”
I nodded. She smiled again. “Good boy.”
I gave her another nod, then departed.
I spent all day at Roy’s ranch—Hobby Horse, not Mustang Sally’s, actually. By the time I left, the sun had set, the moon was rising, and the stars were peeking out to play. I drove directly to Vern’s and crashed in my bed, no supper, no shower.
I felt disgusting in the morning. I showered quickly, then wolfed down my breakfast, which left me feeling queasy again. I fought the urge to be sick as Vern explained our day to me: we were back to down to Jed’s with another calf on the way.
Anxiety raced through me. I didn’t want to go to Jed’s. That was where I’d first encountered the wolf. And then the wolf had followed me to Rocky Ridge …
“Something wrong?”
I glanced up to see Vern regarding me with an arched brow. I shook my head and got to my feet. I stretched in an overly theatrical way. “Nah,” I said, “just tired still.”
“Don’t see how,” Vern grumped, clomping to the door and heading outside. I followed, breathing in fresh morning air. I hoped it would help settle my stomach.
I didn’t see the wolf at Jed’s again, although I wasn’t there long. Another call came in, and Vern told me to take it on my own. I headed over to one of the other ranches. Miraculously, I didn’t get lost.
Maybe I was finally starting to figure Coyote Creek out.
Two days went by, then three, then four. Then, suddenly, it had been almost a whole week since I’d seen Cam.
Not that I was counting or anything. The ache in my neck deepened with every passing day, though, and nerves twisted through me for a new reason. Caroline had said our bond was wrong, that Cam had messed up when he made it. It needed to be fixed.
And she’d said I needed to do it sooner, rather than later. And yet, I’d let a whole week slip away.
I had to be honest with myself. I was avoiding Cam.
Why, I didn’t know. Part of me wanted to see him so badly I ached. The mark on my neck throbbed whenever I thought about him, and my chest squeezed tight. Half the time, I could feel tears burning at the edges of my eyes, threatening to spill over.
Yet every time I thought about driving down to Rocky Ridge …
My breath caught. My heart seemed to stop, and I shook. I didn’t want to. As much as I wanted to see Cam, I also didn’t.
“Why don’t you take today off?” Vern asked me on Saturday morning. He didn’t even look up from the newspaper he was flipping through.
“Huh?” I crunched my brow. A day off was almost unheard of, unless you worked at a big enough practice, where there were enough vets on staff to cover absences. Even if the clinic was closed or you weren’t on-duty, you were usually still on-call—emergencies happened.
That was especially true with a practice like Vern’s—and especially in the spring. You never knew when an animal was going to give birth or how long it would take or when it would get complicated.
There were other things too—a horse going lame, for example—but that was the big one. A day off seemed … irresponsible.
Vern tilted his head. “You look like you could use one,” he said, without looking at me.
I scowled. Finally, the older man looked up at me, his gaze connecting with mine. “Avoidance isn’t the answer, Wyatt. Not when it comes to the Carlyle boys.”
I moved my lips like I was going to say anything, but there was nothing to say. Instead, I took a deep breath. “Fine,” I said softly. “I’ll … take the day.”
“That’s the spirit,” Vern muttered, then went back to his baseball scores. I scowled again, then headed back upstairs to grab my keys.