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My cell vibrated in my coat pocket, and I reached in to grab it, seeing a text from Sasha.
Sasha: We still on for lunch tomorrow at BB’s? Noon? ’Cause I met a guy and need to gossip. Also, I want to know more about your plans with school and after.
I smiled and typed out a reply.
Me: I wouldn’t miss it. Got some news myself.
After a few more texts back and forth, I put my phone back in my pocket. School was temporarily on hold. Although I planned on finishing up my degree at some point, and it was something Adryan supported me in doing, the truth of the matter was, I’d been going at it so hard because I’d been missing something in my life. I thought putting all of myself into courses would fill that void.
I hadn’t realized that void was not having my mate.
So yeah, school could wait as I enjoyed—for the first time—loving things around me and just living instead of existing.
I hadn’t told Sasha about Salvatore and his involvement with a twisted, exploitative group of assholes. I didn’t tell her about the Otherworld or that Adryan was a vampire.
I didn’t tell her any of that because truthfully I didn’t want to have more to deal with on top of everything else. I cared for Sasha so much, and telling her about the paranormal world we lived in would freak her out, not to mention the shit with Salvatore being an even bigger blow.
But I’d have to speak the truth at some point, especially seeing as she’d always be in my life. She was the first person I’d connected with on a personal level. A friend through and through. She deserved to know about all the stuff happening, but now? No, now wasn’t the best time.
I was still working all this out myself, and the last thing I wanted was to drag someone else into this crazy world that was upside down. Especially if telling her didn’t solve or accomplish anything. Adryan assured me she wasn’t in any danger. In fact over the last few weeks he’d had one of his men watching over just to be sure.
The only thing I told Sasha was the one and only “date” I’d gone on with Salvatore hadn’t panned out, and thankfully she hadn’t pressed, just told me her cousin had gone back to Italy, which I wanted to call bullshit. God, I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to be honest with her, but the truth was I feared it would put her in unnecessary danger.
I stepped onto the front porch, Bear my big, silent canine protector—and always at my side—following at my heel and stopping beside me. I shut the front door, and locked it for the last time.
For a moment I just stood there and stared at the key in my hand. As if Bear sensed my melancholy, he butted his head against my thigh. I smiled down at him and ran a hand behind his ear, giving him a scratch.
I’d rolled my eyes when Adryan told me—because he sure as hell didn’t ask—that Bear would be by my side to keep me safe when he couldn’t be. I might have scoffed but I truly didn’t have a problem having Bear by my side. Both Adryan and Bear had become a point of calm for me in the otherwise turbulent sea that was my life over these last few months.
I turned just as the moving van rounded the corner of the driveway and disappeared from sight. The sun was just about to set, the pinks and oranges turning the sky dusky and dark as it sank beneath the horizon and night started to take over.
It was beautiful and sad, the latter because I’d never see it just like this again, but happiness was still far stronger than anything else. I just stood there, the wind frigid, but the smell of the seasons changing filled the air.
The flash of headlights caught my attention, and I watched a sleek black luxury car coming down the driveway. Instantly my heart rate picked up, my body flushing and desire racing through me, pushing everything else away.
Adryan.
He wanted to be with me every step of the way. Hell, I was pretty sure if Adryan could permanently secure me to his side, he’d do it without a second thought. In fact, he’d tried that arrogant, chauvinistic bullshit with me plenty of times, but if we were to be together, we had to work as a team. I wasn’t a piece of property, and he didn’t own me, even if he thought otherwise.
I rolled my eyes but still smirked, because for as insufferable as he was, I still loved him with every part of me.
But for this instant, as a grown woman, and an independent one at that, I’d had to do things on my own, and one of those things was dealing with my uncle's home and finalizing everything.
