CHAPTER 24 JARED
Present Day
I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do is check Alex’s messages.
He’s sent me a few videos of Tommy, and they feel like food for my soul.
Tommy laughing on a swing, Tommy staring in fascination at the fish in an aquarium, and Tommy munching on cubes of grapefruit and making the most adorable little face every time the bitterness hits him.
I spend half an hour just staring at my son, with a painful ache of longing in my chest.
I've been away from him for so long now, a full week.
And the worst part is that I’m not even doing what I’m supposed to be doing.
Eventually, I put my phone aside and bury my face in the pillow, emotions tearing at me from every direction.
Dammit!
I know I have no excuse left to stay in bed. My recovery ended yesterday. I'm back to full strength, and dragging this out any longer would start looking suspicious to everyone around me.
My subconscious is sabotaging me, desperately wanting to keep hiding under the blankets a little longer, but I still have to follow through on at least part of the plan I told Alex about.
I wanted to do one more sweep of the area and make absolutely sure I wasn't going to run into my True Mate somewhere nearby.
The thought fills me with reluctance. Because the truth is, the only thing I want is for that person to turn out to be… Mauro.
And then there's the matter of the green entity in the forest. My conviction that it was Mauro is growing stronger every day, and not even in a conscious way. Probably it's wishful thinking. Or maybe it isn't?
It's as if, somewhere in the background, all the scattered pieces are slowly beginning to assemble themselves into a complete picture, every clue, every thread, every conclusion leading straight to Mauro.
During my very first conversation with Veyron, he suggested… or rather strongly implied that he knew who the person was. I could almost read Mauro’s name between the lines. So why am I still resisting that conclusion? Everything fits, dammit.
After thinking it over, I realize what the answer is: Mauro still hasn't confirmed it.
True, we were interrupted the last time, but if he really was the green entity from the forest, shouldn't he find a way to tell me by now?
That's the one thing that still bothers me, the uncertainty, the lingering secrets, and it's enough to get me out of bed.
I end up tearing apart my nest a little in the process, but I get dressed and head for the door, deciding that I'll start searching immediately after breakfast.
During the meal, Mauro and I keep exchanging those tiny, subtle pleasures: our elbows and knees brushing, our hearts galloping, our gazes repeatedly finding each other.
It’s like being in high school again, flirting subtly without exchanging a single word, stealing glances whenever the teacher isn’t looking, with sparks flying between us.
Every little moment sends warmth flooding through my veins and makes me want less and less to go wandering around the forest looking for a person I don’t really want to find, since I already have my eyes on one great alpha, but… I stick to my original decision.
I made a plan, damn it!
The moment I finish eating, I jump up and head back to my room, feeling Veyron's and Mauro's curious eyes following me. I close the door behind me and spend a moment staring at my reflection in the mirror, muttering curses under my breath.
Finally, annoyed with myself, I pull on my jacket, hat, and gloves and head for my car without saying a word to anyone. I'm afraid that if I start talking about it, they'll only give me more reasons not to go.
The question is, what exactly am I supposed to do?
There aren't many roads in the surrounding forest that my car can actually handle, and wandering deep among the trees on foot may not be the smartest idea either.
Still, I start driving. First, I take the road leading away from Renato's estate toward the narrow gravel track that heads in the direction Storm pointed out on the map.
At some point, I recognize the stretch of road where I stopped last time.
It’s a small pull-off on the side of the road, probably a place where people heading out for hikes in the forest leave their cars.
I think I should remember the way. Now that the preheat isn’t clouding my mind, and I’ve fully regained my strength, my sense of direction is working again.
So I get out of the car and, gritting my teeth, head toward the cabin.
But as I walk, I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong.
This isn’t the right direction.
I won’t find anything there. That fae won’t be there!
Ugh… The whole trip takes me about twenty minutes, much faster than last time. I reach the familiar slope and carefully make my way down it. When I look closely, I spot a narrow, winding trail running a little farther west.
I follow it down, pass the thicket that was hiding the clearing before, and there it is, right in front of me: the small cabin.
It’s still charming, secluded, and surrounded by forest, but there’s an eerie silence around it, and I know there’s no one inside.
I walk up to the building and try the door handle, but it’s locked. I peer through the window. Inside, there’s nothing but darkness and silence.
There’s no green shape of the fae glowing inside…
I stand there for a moment, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, but I know the cabin is a dead end. Something tells me so.
I should keep looking, perhaps try following my intuition this time?
So I head back to the car at a quick pace, pushing through the forest and turning all the facts over in my mind, trying to piece them together.
I've heard that True Mates can sometimes tune themselves to each other when they share an active Bond. They can find one another across great distances. Something pulls them together, drawing them forward as if they're following an invisible thread.
Unfortunately, my supposed True Mate and I don't share a Bond, right? But why not try anyway? Maybe, over a short enough distance, something like that could still work.
And if this is a case where I already have a Bond with my True Mate, my intuition will probably lead me to him. I have nothing to lose, right? A test, just like that.
I decide to drive wherever I feel drawn to go, surrendering to intuition, to my energy, to my heart.
For the next fifteen minutes, I wander through a maze of forest roads, turning here and there without much thought.
Sometimes I have to backtrack when the ground becomes too wet or deep puddles make it impossible to continue safely without a proper off-road vehicle.
Meanwhile, I relax, letting my thoughts drift away and slipping into something almost meditative, allowing myself to be guided by instinct.
Eventually, I begin noticing a pattern. There seems to be a direction I consistently prefer. Not there. I don't want to go that way. I'll turn… there. That feels right.
My certainty grows stronger.
A strange excitement begins building inside me, and I keep moving forward while thinking, What the hell am I even doing?
Then I find it—that one particular direction that feels undeniably tempting.
The forest road carries me through relatively easy terrain, and unexpectedly, through my cracked-open window, I start hearing distant sounds.
I stop and listen, even shutting off the engine.
A saw. Hammering. Maybe even the whine of a drill.
Could there be a construction site out here?
I start driving again, slowly and cautiously, keeping a close eye on the forest ahead.
Sure enough, after a while I spot a clearing between the trees, and a construction site comes into view.
My heart speeds up. I nervously glance toward the glove compartment where I keep my gun and open it. You never know what kind of people might be working at a site like this. I approach at an unhurried pace.
Someone is building a rather elegant log house here. I'm not sure whether it's meant to be a vacation cabin or a year-round home, but at this stage it still doesn't have a roof. I spot three workers: two alphas carrying lumber and a beta operating a power saw, cutting beams near the entrance.
Could I find my True Mate here? Could it be one of the workers?
I can't deny that something was leading me here.
My heart speeds up slightly, but I'm afraid to get out of the car.
Eventually, the beta operating the saw notices my car.
For a moment, he just stares at me, apparently unsure what to make of the fact that some old beater has suddenly emerged from the forest with a guy inside staring at him.
The two alphas carrying lumber disappear inside for a moment, and only then do I dare pull a little closer and crack my window open.
I'm already gathering the nerve to ask the beta something—I have no idea what, actually—when I suddenly notice two other men coming around the back of the building.
One is an older beta wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat, looking a little like the site supervisor.
But the other one is someone I already know very well.
It's… Mauro.
My heart leaps.
Holy shit, did I drive all the way here just to find him? Is this where I was being drawn? Was it him I was searching for all along?
I have to admit, I just stare at him with my mouth hanging open.
Mauro hasn't noticed me yet. He and the other man are looking over some plans, and the man in the hard hat is pointing something out to him, but after a moment, Mauro clearly feels the weight of my stare.
His head suddenly lifts, and he looks in my direction.
Even from this distance, I can see the effect my presence has on him. He freezes, turns his whole body toward me, and stares. He probably has no idea what I'm doing here, and honestly, at this point, neither the do I. What the hell is going on?
Could he really be my True Mate?