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Crain was nowhere to be seen. But that was just as well. After the way we’d last parted, I didn’t want his negativity to ruin our send-off. Or upset anyone else either in my party or those who were so graciously bidding them farewell and telling them to have the best time ever.
This trip had become less about a last single hurrah and more about thinking time for me.
We shifted, helping one another with the harnesses to be sure we would be comfortable doing it along the route, and bounded away up the trail west. The ocean called, and the Triple L Ranch would be waiting when we returned. At the entrance to the pass, we stopped and looked back. Triple L lay stretched out below us, its pastures and woodlands stretching as far I could see. It was a beautiful place. My heart swelled with love for my home and pack mates, but right before I turned toward the west again, I caught site of one figure standing alone in the spot we’d said goodbye to everyone. I didn’t need anyone to tell me who he was.
Crain had indeed changed since I’d accepted his proposal. When we made our agreement to mate one day if neither of us found our fated, we’d been about twelve years old with no idea what the future held. It had been a lighthearted conversation, and one I only now realized had been initiated by him.
I considered him a friend and until now, someone I could enjoy spending my life with, but if he has stronger feelings, was I being fair?
A yip from ahead of me alerted me to my friends’ already moving through the pass. This high up, there was still patchy snow on the ground, but my wolf didn’t mind the cold. Her thick, layered fur was meant to help my body keep both warm in cold weather and, once the wooly undercoat shed in spring, insulation to keep us from overheating. My summer coat was adequate for the temperature now, and I trotted after my friends, my pack bouncing a little in my hurry.
The angst waiting behind me could just stay there. I’d figure it out by the time I got back.
For now, I had a bikini waiting to be tried out in the waves and an interest in sipping cocktails in a beachside bar with my besties. They needed this as much as me, and we were going to have so much fun!
