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Ishouldn’t be doing this.
Déjà vu is a bitch as I push my Jeep up the narrow mountain path. This is only the second time I’ve ever gone this way, and the last time had been when I was fleeing toward Muncie. Tonight? I’m heading back to Accalia—and, yeah, this is just another in a long line of Gem’s impulsively bad ideas.
I blame the moon. It’s already hanging heavy in the dark sky, a yellow beacon luring me toward Ryker. Following the thread of our fledgling bond, I know he’s retreated back to pack territory.
I just don’t know why.
Especially now that he’s admitted that he’s long considered us one step away from being fully mated, his instincts should have him scratching at my door. That’s how it works. Add in the undeniable truth that I fucked him just a few days ago, and I don’t understand why he left me behind in Muncie.
Not that I want to be his mate. I… I don’t really know what I want anymore. But for Ryker to disappear so soon after I let my guard down, after I let him in… I barely survived his rejection the first time around; if Aleks hadn’t called Gretchen off that fateful night, I really don’t think I would’ve. And then I stupidly started to think maybe, and what happens? He’s gone.
It took months before I could ignore my bond with Ryker. Between the magic in Aleks’s fang and my own stubborn nature, I eventually was able to shut it off. But since he showed up at Charlie’s a few days ago, my tie to Ryker has become an itch I can’t scratch. A nagging sensation that only eased up when I stopped pretending it wasn’t there.
Right now? I focus on it, trying to use it to guide me toward Ryker. It’s not as easy as it should be. It kind of feels hazy the closer I get to Accalia. Like, I know he’s somewhere nearby, but pinpointing his exact location just isn’t working.
That’s okay. From the moment I sped out of Muncie, I think I always knew where I would end up again.
I can’t really explain it, but it doesn’t feel right just driving up to Ryker’s place—and not only because it’s so secluded, the road doesn’t quite reach it. I’ve got a pretty sturdy vehicle and I know my Jeep could make it. Even so, I stop when there’s about a half a mile to go.
Maybe I’m really buying into the whole re-do thing tonight because I park my Jeep in about the same spot as I did the last time I invited myself over to the Alpha’s cabin. Hopping out of the car, I pocket my keys instead of leaving them in the ignition. I abandoned the pack more than a year ago. Just in case, I don’t want to make it easy for one of my former packmates to trash my baby.
I’m still trying to think of a way to explain what I’m doing here when I reach the edge of the trees that border the isolated cabin. Telling Ryker that I was worried when he seemed to vanish will only work against me, and when I think about how I tracked him down to his rented room, I feel like a stalker. Just because we had sex in the woods, it doesn’t mean that we’re mated now. I don’t own him. He doesn’t have to explain himself to me.
Then again, he’s the one who promised that he’d do anything to get me to change my mind. He could start by being honest and open with me for a change. Ryker wants to be my partner? That means an equal in my book.
And I hold onto that fantasy for, oh, maybe three seconds before I pick up on someone approaching the font of the Alpha’s cabin—but it’s not Ryker.
I freeze, stunned.
It’s her walk that makes me recognize her even before her scent drifts on the breeze back to me. It’s in the way she swings her hips, the skirt of her dress swaying just like that. When I first met Trish, she seemed more comfortable in jeans and a blouse. As soon as she got a good look at the sundresses I habitually wore back then, her style changed overnight. Now, a year later, I see she’s still pretending to be a knock-off version of me. I mean, hell. Even her light brown curls—the same hairstyle I used to wear—bounce as she strides confidently toward the cabin.
I watch, expecting her to head toward the back. I don’t think Ryker is hosting any pack meets tonight, not with the full moon out, but any packmate has the right to visit the Alpha in his den.
Only that’s not where she’s going.
Holy shit. My heart drops right as my adrenaline spikes. Because Trish? She’s letting herself in through the front door of the Alpha’s cabin like she has every right to be there.
The front door.
Like she’s his mate.
Ryker’s mate.
No.
I want to snarl, but I swallow it angrily. My claws shoot out and I slash at the air, wishing I could slice right through her instead.
No, that’s not fair. I should know better than anyone how irresistible Ryker Wolfson is. After all, I’ve fallen for him twice now and he’s made a fool of me both times.
How the hell can I blame her for going back to him? I did, didn’t I?
He told me he didn’t choose her. He told me that he had his reasons for staying away from me, and he refused to discuss Trish whenever I brought her up. Still, he swore that she wasn’t his mate, chosen or otherwise.
So what the fuck is she doing walking into his house?
I don’t know and part of me wants to pull the same stunt I did last year to find out. With my head held high and my wolf ready to attack, I want to follow Trish inside of Ryker’s cabin and confront the two of them. Maybe if it wasn’t the full moon, I would’ve. With the Luna urging me to find Ryker, if I walk in on him with another female, I won’t just mark him this time.
I really will kill him.
