Emily was getting ready for bed. Tomorrow would be here soon, and it would be a long day. But ask she came out of the bathroom, she heard an odd sound outside her cottage. This was a more quiet section of the pack’s territory, being that it was closer to the lake house than the packhouse. Also, the time of night was off. This didn’t bode well for her peace of mind, and she went to see what it was all about. If there was a problem, the person should take it to the enforcers on duty or go to the packhouse. She worried it might be a medical emergency or a rogue attack. Both things Janine worried about when Emily moved out to this cottage alone.
Emily moved to the front door and slipped off her shoes in case she needed to shift quickly to protect herself. What greeted her wasn’t a rogue wolf or a bloody accident. No, it was a drunken wolf. A wolf she knew all too well. James sat there, weaving from side to side in his inebriated state. She knew this state all too well. She’d dealt with him in that state many times over the years. It was one of the few reasons she’d stopped drinking herself. Emily needed a clear head to deal with him in this state.
“What do you want, James? It’s late. Shift and just tell me. Then I’ll call Evan to come to pick you up.” Clearly, by the pack on his back, he’d gone out for a run and on his journey, he found a bottle or two of alcohol.
James shifted, swaying on his feet and naked. He glared at her as if she was the one embarrassing herself. She said nothing, just left the front door open and walked back into her cottage. It didn’t take him long to stumble in and fall onto the settee in the corner.
“So talk to me. Why are you here so late? What do you need to say that’s not said at any other earlier time?” She didn’t have any coffee to serve him, even though he clearly needed it.
“I have questions and you can answer them.” He slurred his words as he said this. One arm fell on the back.
“Fine. What are those questions? I’m listening.” Emily crossed her arms. She wanted to sleep and the faster she got this over and he has gone, she’d get back to getting to bed.
“You’re so mean right now. What’s wrong with you? Fine, I’ll say it. What is so wrong with me? Leaving me like this? And why can’t you be happy here with the way things are?” He got even more comfortable as he tried to get a better view of her.
Emily couldn’t believe this. He’s only now only a day before she left to ask her this. Her first instinct was to soften her words and placate him. But then she figured he’s drunk, and he often blacked out about what he did when he was in this state. He’d not remember what she said to him.
“Fine. If you want to know so badly why this is happening, I’ll tell you exactly why. I never wanted to be a Beta. I wanted to be a mate and mother. I wanted a home I could care for and a mate to be there for. The pups to cuddle and raise. But no, instead I get a pack I can’t find a mate in because I’m too closely related to except for you. With all the complications from that bite, I will never find my true mate, so when this opportunity came up, I jumped at it. Damon has pups and needs a mate to help him raise them. Why would I stay here to receive more disrespect, nitpicking my every action, pushed to the side, and the pièce de résistance, my best friend, treated me like his personal servant? I have no future here, everyone disregards my dreams, and I have to clean up your messes again and again without even a thank you. Tonight’s dinner was for me. But I spent most of it fixing your issues. You couldn’t even say a single word to me that was thoughtful. You made Evan feel like a failure, and he’s scared he will either find out he’s fired or that he’ll need to quit. You’re too hard on those around you and you’ll end up alone. You’re childish and act like a spoilt brat. I may have contributed to that, but no longer. Why should I stay here where there’s nothing but misery and disappointment when I’m being offered a future that I crave? No, James, you need to leave and look at yourself. Stop blaming everyone for your problems and start fixing them yourself. Now I’m calling Evan to come to pick you up.” As Emily stormed over to her charging cellphone. She heard her front door slam. When she turned, James wasn’t on the settee and his wolf was running away from her cottage.
There was nothing else she could do. She wasn’t his keeper anymore, and he was a grown man. With everything done, she could go to sleep. She’d said her piece.
Hours later, her cellphone rang, and she crumbled to pick it up. When she answered it, Evan was on the other end of the call.
“Emily, have you seen James? I just got a very odd call from him. He’s not back from checking out the perimeter. He said he was up at the lake house, and he sounded drunk, maybe even depressed. You’re the closest person to the lake house. Can you go make sure he’s safe? If he’s up there alone and falls in, he might drown.”
Emily couldn’t believe this. She’d quit and it wouldn’t stop. But this was James, the man she’d known since birth. Emily felt guilty after what she’d said and how he’d left. If he got himself hurt, then she’d never been able to forgive herself. “Fine, I’ll go look for him. I’ll call you when I know what’s going on.” She didn’t get dressed because she decided there wasn’t time for it and left as soon as she hung up. It didn’t take her too long to get up there.
A quick check of the lake house. She found it open, but no one was inside. His scent was all over it and quite fresh. Several whiskey bottles lay empty about the living room area and a mug half full of whiskey rested on the patio railing. So she followed his scent out toward the lake itself. In the dark, she worried if he was still drunk, he could fall in and not be able to get out. With her heart heavily beating in her chest, Emily padded out to the shoreline, following his scent.
It didn’t take her long to find him. But what she found was nothing like what she expected to find. The drunken fool that sat on her settee now walked toward her with a determined look of a sober man on a mission. What was she getting into now? What was he up to and where would it go?
“You and I are going to talk now, Emily. This has been a long time coming.” “Talk about what? James, you aren’t making sense. One minute you show up at my place drunk out of your skull asking questions that make little sense. Now you’re standing there a few hours later telling me we need to talk. You started this evening barely looking at me or saying anything beyond hello. Then you take over my going away dinner with some crazy mistake you did nothing to fix but left me, too.” He didn’t bother listening to this. He guilted her to say this as she followed him back to the Lake House. “I think we’ll both need a drink to have this conversation. Come on.” He disappeared into the house, expecting her
“Hi, Evan. I’m fine. Everything is fine. I need to take a few days away from the pack. I just need to get my head on straight. You’ll need to complete the deal with Alpha Haden. Just get him to sign the paperwork and keep Annabelle from making anyone else’s lives miserable.” James disconnected his call. He’d been lucky and got Evan’s message machine. That was perfect. He wouldn’t need to answer any prying questions for now. They could leave messages on his phone. He leaned over and looked at Emily’s sleeping form in the passenger seat of his vehicle. Now he just needed to get them settled in the old packhouse and then they could finally talk about this. James wasn’t sure what he’d say yet. All he knew was that whatever he felt about her leaving, it felt wrong. It hurt
Emily woke slowly. Her eyelids were heavy and hard to keep open. Groaning, she shifted. When did she go to bed? Her blurry sight came into focus. That’s when she realized nothing was familiar. Dust clung to everything. Whoever owned this place covered the furniture in drop cloths. The air felt stale and not pleasant to breathe. Where was she? Sitting up, Emily pondered her next move. She felt like she should go back to sleep, but her brain registered that this wasn’t a safe place to sleep. She needed to get out of this building so she could breathe. Stumbling to her feet, she found the door in the gloomy room. Her feet felt sluggish and weighted. But she made it to the door to find out that it's locked. The door handle and lock were old, and she couldn’t see the key anywhere.&n
Evan entered the office looking for James and he didn’t find him anywhere. He assumed James went for a morning run to check up on things around the territory. Which, by Emily’s notes, he often checked on things first thing in the morning. Evan decided he’d start the day by recovering the phone messages and checking email. The email went easily, and he’d got all the documents printed for the day. So, he started in on the phone messages. Nice, simple, call this person back about that. Nothing important or rushed. Until he found a message from James. His voice sounded distracted. What did Evan do now? Their guests were still here. They’d not concluded their business yet. This was a disaster in the making. He tried calling Emily, but she wasn’t answering h
“James, this is insane. What did you do? Where are we?” Emily couldn’t believe he wasn’t a victim. She was the victim. James kidnapped her, but she didn’t understand why he’d done this. “What do we have to talk about that we haven’t talked about a million times? I need to get back soon because I need to close up the cottage before I leave for the airport.” “Rebecca. Never mind about closing up your cottage.” James said simply as he watched Emily and any telltale response, she might miss and betray herself true feelings with. “We’ve never talked about what happened.” He tried to approach her but hesitated. “What’s there to say? We lost many people that night. R
It stunned Emily when James’ lips came down in an insistent, no demanding kiss. Ever since he’d found Rebecca, she’d shied away from any thought of James like this. Gods, she could feel the heat of his body as he pulled her against him. He’d caught her arms between them and now his hands roamed her back for the first time. Feeling her body for the first time. With surprise on his side, she clung there, feeling him, and the inexplicable response to his kiss, his body, even his demands. Time felt like it stood still, and Emily’s mind struggled to make sense of this new turn of events. Finally, she broke the kiss and hid her face in his chest. Breathlessly, Emily demanded. “What was that? That was wrong on so many levels. No, this can’t be happening and it can’t happen again.”
Emily’s eyes popped open to see the dusty ceiling about her. What just happened? Gods, they had sex. James just blew her mind. She knew he would. That’s why she’d avoided it. Yeah, she may have known that Rebecca didn’t plan to go through mating with James. She still felt like she was betraying her friends, and she’d never tell James about the hurtful actions Rebecca would have done if she’d lived. Oh, this complicated everything. Damon expected her to be at the airport catching a redeye to Montana. He planned to meet her at the airport, and he’d take her back to his territory. Then they’d get her settled into his territory, sign the documents, and make her joining official along with their mating. She’d made agreements, promises even to do this. Emily felt grateful to have this
Janine couldn’t figure out what her son was thinking, let alone where he’d gone. The boy infuriated her for some days. Though she was more concerned about Emily. They found the girl’s phone at the lake house amid a mess. She prayed they were together, wherever they were. Janine was thankful that they found no blood at the scene. Alpha Haden, thank heavens, was a man who kept a finger on the pulse of his pack. That meant every morning he checked in with his Beta for news, and to deal with their private business. This meant Janine needed to do something while she waited for him. So when he finished with his things, he found her pacing and demanding that they continue their search. Embarrassed that he overheard most of the situation from o