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I received more than enough groans about it, but as far as I knew, everyone complied.
By the time we pulled up to the welcome sign, everyone behind me seemed to tense. I wished I could reach out to them with my wolf and remind them everything would be fine. We just needed to keep our cool and plead our case.
My missing connection made me feel vulnerable, aware that I’d have to admit to the Rose Valley pack that I couldn’t access my powers. That I was essentially inadequate.
But it wouldn’t matter, not when peace was on the line.
Roaring through town, we reached the main street, and I knew word would be traveling fast. Based on the faces I caught glimpses of, it was obvious the pain we caused was still fresh. They were distraught at the sight of us, caught off-guard.
I could only imagine it felt like seeing a ghost. We were the awful force that had threatened their safety, and none of them knew we wanted something completely different.
I never truly took in the town or its storefronts. During my visits, I had only ever been in the backwoods and through the less populated areas. I never liked how it felt to walk through a place where people didn’t recognize you, and their eyes seemed to follow your every move.
But as we approached the town square, I caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar store. The sign in front was black with purple and white writing, and their logo was a single eye.
Movement through the front door caught my attention, and the moment I spotted her, everything in me froze up. My heart clenched, and I couldn’t believe it happened so soon.
Willow stepped onto the sidewalk and propped the door open. It was obviously a mystic shop that she apparently owned.
As I suspected, she was still in Rose Valley, and it made me wince.
Before I could stop it, the memories flashed through my mind, reminding me of how awful I had been.
It was warm and sunny the day Griffin and I decided to take a dip in one of the streams that ran through Rose Valley. We had been camping in the woods, using our basic survival skills to make sure we weren’t getting rusty.
That was when I spotted her. A girl walking through the stream with a basket in her hands. She was looking at me strangely and wore a white, flowing dress with small flowers all over it. Her hair was flaming red and blowing behind her as she approached almost curiously.
My brows had furrowed, and I hit Griffin’s arm to catch his attention as I stepped closer.
“Can I help you?” I called out, feeling cocky with my wolf powers coursing through my veins. I had never felt a day of disconnect with that part of me, and I didn’t yet know how devastating it would be to lose it.
Her eyes seemed to widen as she got closer, looking struck by something. The longer I studied her, the more I began to feel my wolf pulling towards her. Like a connection was being forged between us just from seeing her.
That sensation almost vibrated within me like it was alive, and the impact of it was overwhelming. It felt like returning to something familiar, despite how I didn’t know her at all.
“We don’t know each other, but…I think you might be my mate,” she had said, voice somewhat hopeful. “My name’s Willow Pike.”
“Rowan Clark,” I said in return.
I had no reason to doubt her, not when I could feel that tether in myself. She was easy on the eyes, sure, but my apprehension came at the first smell I had of her.
The breeze swept her scent in my direction, and I pulled back at the realization. She didn’t smell like a wolf.
Between that and the basket in her hands, full of herbs, flowers, and berries, I already knew what she was.
“You’re a witch,” I snarled at her, angered by the thought of my mate being anything other than a wolf. I didn’t want it to be true.
Willow stepped forward, putting out a hand as if to soothe me. “I am, but—”
“Enough,” I snarled at her, immediately hating the hand I had been dealt.
Mate bonds were divine, wonderful things that everyone hoped to find one day, but mine only felt like a horrible joke. How could I, the son of an alpha, be given a witch as a mate?
I wouldn’t have it.
“I don’t care about the connection,” I said, feeling as that tether strained against my words. “I don’t want you as my mate. I won’t have you.”
I had watched as that hope snapped within her eyes, and she wore a pained expression. That mutual ache pounded against my ribcage, but I urged it down. I couldn’t give in to it, not when it had been my decision.
