Page 44 of The Coyote's Veterinarian Omega

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’twantto. 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 wasespeciallytrue 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 wasnothing 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.

Cam

He hates you.

No, he doesn’t. He can’t hate me! We’re mates. We bonded.

You screwed it up. Of course he hates you.

A knock on the bathroom door made me jump. I leaned on the counter and took a deep, shaky breath. “What?”

“Are youdone?” Cal asked. Christ, he sounded madder than a nest of hornets. “Some of us need to use the facilities.”

I scowled, then pressed up and wrapped the towel tighter around my waist. “There’s more than one bathroom in this house,” I told him tartly as I opened the door.

“And there’s more than just you and me here right now,” Cal returned easily. Then he frowned. “I don’t know who’s worse, Connor or Aunt Caroline with her makeup.”

I snorted, then stepped out of the bathroom, a cloud of steamfollowing me. “All yours, big bro.”

“Thanks,” Cal said, then paused and glanced me up and down.

“What?” I glowered at him.

Cal shook his head. “Nothing.” Then he closed the door with a click.

I huffed, then stalked back to my room. I dressed, then headed downstairs, hoping to get out of the house unseen, so I could shift into my fur and trot the five miles over to Vern’s.

Instead, Aunt Caroline ambushed me with a mug of coffee. “I made breakfast,” she said cheerfully.

“Gosh, thanks, Auntie,” I drawled, forcing sincerity into my voice. She’d made breakfast every morning she was here. Which was nice—she did full spreads, unlike what Cal and I usually scraped together when we were both undercaffeinated and half-asleep—but it was unusual.

She smiled at me. “We’re leaving this afternoon,” she said.

“Oh. Right.” They were heading back to their house; spring break was over for Cody and Connor. We’d see them again in the summer.

Caroline took me by the elbow and led me to the table. “Why don’t you join us?” she asked, her tone almost needling. I bristled.