Page 11
He walks Jenna out with his hand at the small of her back. When the door clicks shut, Claude tidies the exam room at a crawl. With no patient left to put a face on for, she smells even sadder than before.
“You did well with the Doppler,” she says without looking at me. “Good steady hand. You’ll be good at this.”
“Thanks.” I hesitate, then decide to push. “Claude.”
She keeps her back turned. “Hmm?”
My wolf shoves at me until I spit it out. “Where’s Ezra?”
She quits wiping down the ultrasound machine. Her scent goes sharp.
“We have another patient in twenty minutes,” she says. “Wolf shifter from House of Boker. Routine checkup.”
I don’t take the hint. “That’s not what I asked.”
She turns around then. Her eyes are wet, and she doesn’t have any fight in her to hide it.
“He left,” I answer for her. “He left Ash Clan.”
Claude sighs and leans against the exam table. She takes her time. I’d swear she’s weighing how much of this is hers to tell.
“A week ago,” she finally says. “He’s staying in Aaron’s old cabin on the community lands. Aaron moved to the Witching Glen, so the place was empty.”
My wolf howls. Ezra’s been gone for a week, but my parents have looked me in the face every day since without saying a word about it. Even Ocran kept his mouth shut. I curl my hands into fists at my sides. “Why didn’t anyone say something?”
“Because it wasn’t our place.” Claude doesn’t blink. “Ezra made a choice. He didn’t want the whole of Wintermoon gossiping about it before he had a chance to figure things out.”
“Figure what out?” I demand.
She watches me and doesn’t answer. Guilt cuts through the sadness in her scent.
I step closer. “Claude. Please.”
“You should ask him that yourself.” She won’t meet my eyes.
“I’m asking you,” I press.
“And I’m telling you this isn’t my story to tell.” She reaches behind her and grips the edge of the table. She smells like a mother missing her son. “Aya, I love my boy. I raised him, watched him grow, watched him turn into the man he is now. But he’s not a hatchling anymore. He makes his own choices, and those choices are his to explain.”
I want to argue and demand real answers, but I can taste the grief coming off her. I’m not cruel enough to keep pushing at it. It isn’t in a dragon to leave his clan, any more than it’s in a wolf to turn her back on the pack. Ezra didn’t move out to the community lands for no reason. I have a bad feeling it’s because of me.
“Is he okay?” I ask instead.
“He’s Ezra. He’s always okay.” She hesitates. “Tyrion flew over to check on him a few days ago. Said the place looks better than it did when Aaron lived there.” She meets my eyes. “I think he’d be better if you went to see him. But that’s your choice to make. Not mine.”
Max wouldn’t let go of Jenna’s hand for anything. My parents still forget the rest of us exist whenever they’re in the same room. Meanwhile Ezra’s out there alone in the woods and waiting on me to quit running. My eyes sting.
Claude pushes off from the exam table. “Go take your lunch break.” She pats my shoulder on her way past and walks out.
I stay put in the empty room. The ultrasound screen is dark, but the cub’s heartbeat keeps thumping in my ears.
Jenna grew up outside Wintermoon. She didn’t even know shifters existed until Max, and she still chose her bear. So what’s my excuse?
I grew up surrounded by fated pairs. I’ve had my whole life to get used to the idea of Ezra being mine, and I’ve spent every bit of it finding somewhere else to be. My wolf gave up arguing with me years ago. I’m the one who kept pretending I didn’t want him.
Today my wolf is pulling me toward the forest and Aaron’s old cabin. She’s followed my lead even when every instinct told her to run to her mate. She’s done following now. Ezra left his clan for me. He left his parents and everything he’s ever known.
I grab my sweater from the locker room and push out the back door of the medical center. The path winds off through the undergrowth toward the community lands, packed dirt I could follow blind.
