There was no world that existed where I’d walk away from her if she wanted me. Of course, I laid down beside her and like a fool fell asleep the minute her breathing evened out. I shift and take off at a run with the night I spent with Cordelia running circles in my brain.
She was sweet and warm, body soft against mine. It had been heaven and that hadn’t even been counting the dream that I knew was coming. There was no avoiding it after running into Jazzy. If I was a dumb wolf, I’d write it off as nonsense but it wasn’t.
It was my mate dream.
Cordelia was there in a green dress, a basket of flowers in her arms while I worked on building a new home. I didn’t know where we were but the smell of warm sweetgrass rose up around us. The sun was high in the sky. It had to be summer. Sweetgrass and wild rose. There were some that grew near the Meadows. That must be where the dream took place. I normally wouldn’t care about something like where a dream took place, not with the way dreams never make much sense but a mate dream isdifferent. It’s the whisper of what’s to come, a sacred glimpse of the future. My mate dream showed me the home I was building for us, for Cordelia. I’d turned from the plank I’d been sanding down and there she’d been. Walking into the cleared space with a smile on her face.
“How much longer?” she asked.
“Not long. Do you want to come see?” I’d held out my hand to her. She’d come to me no question, taken my hand and handed me her basket of flowers like we’d done it a thousand times before.
That’s when I’d woken up. Summertime, eh? That’s when the fates say I’ll have my mate close with a home of our own. My wolf let out an excited yip. He liked the idea of us having our own space just outside of Red River, somewhere we can hunt and run on our own with our mate. I like the idea too of being somewhere all our own with Cordelia. We’ll have time there to slow down, get to know each other. She’ll lose that haunted look she gets sometimes and I’ll make sure she gets everything she wants. She’ll be happy and safe. We both will be.
I make it to the Eastern Ridge in no time. My wolf ran faster with the promise of Cordelia and a home in front of him. Lucian is the first to spot me when I come trotting up through the trees. The group made a makeshift camp, breakfast is cooking and they throw me a pair of shorts and a shirt when I shift.
“Where the fuck you been?” Damon, one of the bigger alphas calls out but Lucian holds up a hand.
“Enforcer’s business is his own. Mind yourself.”
Damon shows neck before going back to his breakfast. “I like it when you take charge.”
Lucian rolls his eyes. “You would say that.” He turns to me, “where the fuck have you been?”
“What happened to Enforcer’s business is his own?”
“That’s when it’s everyone but me.” He lowers his voice. “How is she?”
“Good, all things considered,” I say. Lucian gives me a look that says I better keep talking so I do. “Her ex-mate was there. Sniffing around from the looks of it but he was long gone by the time I showed up.”
Lucian sucks on his teeth and shakes his head. “What the fuck is going on lately? Moonshadow and now that? Who is it?”
“Heir to the Frostclaw Pack.”
“Seven hells.”
“More or less.”
He rubs the bridge of his nose and then sighs. “We’re going for him after this, aren’t we?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“That means war with Frostclaw.”
“I’m aware.” I stretch my arms over my head and survey the woods in front of us. We’re high enough up that I can see as far as I like in every direction. I don’t see signs of the Moonshadow fucks anywhere. Damn it to hell. “We can’t allow them to come onto our land. Not like that.”
“What if it’s a one off? Just him being a dick.”
“Oh, I know he’s a dick if he let her go but it still stands. I’ll talk to Ronan first, though. We’ll give them an opportunity to get their head screwed on straight before I beat the shit out of him. Anyhow, it might give us a chance to get eyes on the others they took. No doubt they want to come home.”
“That’s true. It could be like a rescue mission.”
I hum in agreement. A rescue mission. War is never a topic I like to think about, I prefer peace but a rescue mission…that I could throw myself behind.
“Come on. We’ve got a lot of territory to cover and not that much time to do it in.”
“You don’t want to rest? You just got in.”
“I’ll rest when this is over,” I tell him and take off at a jog down the ridge. “You bring the others. I’ll run point.”
