AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She didn’t understand that my feelings were not like that at all. They had been for a long time, but I saw her as an adult, as her own person, and I loved her for it. How could I say that now? She didn’t want to see me and told me to leave her alone. I couldn’t do that, but I was definitely going to have to think long and hard about what came next for us.
I got off the phone with her when I saw a shadow on the other side of my door. I knew it was someone listening in. That had been happening even more since the alpha meeting. I was now known as a traitor, and Amos looked at me differently. He wouldn’t do anything, of course. I was the one making the pack’s money, so he would just give me dirty looks. I felt them, though, every last one of them.
I yanked the door open and was shocked to see that it was Sondra.
“What do you want?”
She smiled at me. “I was just checking on you. I heard voices. Who were you talking to?”
I knew she was just trying to get information, but I wasn’t going to tell her where Eliza was. There was no way that I would betray her like that. I might not have been able to stop her from messing with Eliza while she was here, but I wasn’t going to give her away.
“I am busy, Sondra, so if there isn’t anything else.”
Sondra moved closer to me, her perfume strong enough to curl the hairs in my nose. She had her face painted to perfection, raven-black hair pulled back and shining. She was beautiful, but it was what was inside that kept me away. Sondra was black as coal through and through. I closed the door behind me and told her I was leaving. I skirted past her attempt to seduce me. She’d never been my type.
“I better not find out that you are in contact with Eliza. She’s been shunned, Patrick. She doesn’t belong here.”
“That’s none of your business,” I told her. It was bad enough that they had kicked her out, but I wouldn’t put anything past Sondra and Amos.
7
CALVIN
Ididn’t like how close Eddie and Eliza were getting, so I sent him off to sell some horses and pick up supplies. This left Eliza and me pretty much by ourselves. Everybody had something to do. I was trying my best to get closer to her before Eddie got his way and took the girl.
I wanted there to be something between Eliza and me, but she didn’t need to know that right now. I wasn’t sure what to think of her. I knew her background, but it didn’t make any sense to me. There had only been a couple of mates rejected in our pack, including Eddie, and I’d seen how it affected him. Eliza had no faults that I could tell. She was beautiful, intelligent, and she would have made a great queen. I didn’t see how anybody could turn her away. Whoever this Amos guy was, he was an idiot.
I went to the bunkhouse to pick her up and let her know it was just going to be use two this morning. Eliza seemed okay with that, and she was always more than happy to do what she could, no matter what was asked of her. I appreciated that about her, her willingness to help and to do new things. I was even happier that she didn’t ask about Eddie.
“So, how do you like it at Mystic Falls Ranch? How do you like the rest of this town? You haven’t left the ranch very much; don’t you like it at Dottie’s?”
Eliza giggled. “That sure was a lot of questions.”
It was sort of rapid fire, but I had a lot of things that I wanted to know about her. I especially wanted to know what it was about Eliza that made me feel strange inside. But I couldn’t just come right out and ask that.
“I really like Mystic Falls a lot. I think I have enjoyed myself here far more than I thought possible. Being around Amos and the others for so long, I forgot that people weren’t all like that. The rest of the town is okay, but the ranch is so beautiful I don’t find myself wanting to get leave much. Dottie’s was nice, but like I said, I’m into different sorts of things. The woods right out back are where I spend a lot of my time if I’m not working. It’s a great place to run, climb, you know, let the beast out.”
“I would like to run with you sometime, if you wouldn’t mind. I spend too much time here as a man. I forget the other side of me.”
“That’s a good idea. I’d like that.” I could see the way her eyes lit up and I knew she was telling the truth. That’s how she really felt. While it may seem astonishingly easy to just tell somebody the truth, I found that people rarely did it. Instead, it was mostly half-truths that were spread into lies.
Once work was done, neither one of us wanted to end the day. At least I thought that was how she felt, because when I asked her if she wanted to drink a few beers and shoot guns that needed a little cleaning, she agreed. Either she really liked to shoot, or she wanted to spend more time with me. Naturally, I liked the idea of the latter better.
I took her up on the ridge, taking the long trail that wound around. It was high up, and I knew that for some people it was too high, but Eliza seemed to enjoy the heights. She walked easily and I had to admire her mobility. I took her to my favorite spot, where we could see for several miles in all directions.
“This view was totally worth it.”
“I know, right? I love it up here. Hardly anybody comes up here, though. They usually just go to the field and shoot down there.”
“Why do you guys shoot so much? Is it really a skill that you use?”
“There are all kinds of reasons to learn to shoot. Animals, humans, shifters. You might have to shoot all of them.”
Eliza looked surprised.
“Why aren’t you more familiar with shooting?”
“They didn’t let me shoot or have any kind of weapon back home.”
