Oliver's P.O.V My heart broke when I witnessed that rogue tear run down Lana's perfect cheek. She didn't deserve this, any of it. I would give her time to process this, just not too long. Then I would be right back at her doorstep, as a fully clothed human, to explain. In the meantime, there were several things I needed to do. The first was to take care of the bodies from last night. I had pulled them away from the house with what energy I could muster, but I was too weak to do anything more than drag them until I had healed more. Their stink was rapidly growing, and each time the wind blew, the smell of their corpses would pollute the air around my mate's home. My nails broke the ground as I dug as quickly as I could, needing to get deep enough that their bodies wouldn't be found if another rainstorm would hit. The last thing Lana needed was a bunch of people swarming around her house and questioning her if someone stumbled upon a pile of naked humans who had been mauled to death
Lana's P.O.V. I had expected a full meltdown after the way Maddie acted this morning when she woke up from her nap. The cold shoulder she gave me was hard to experience as it was the first time she had ever done that to me, but as I was already stressed about going to the store, I was also secretly glad for it. As long as she was shunning me, she wasn't pulling attention to either of us. We had been able to go through a fast drive-thru and get all of our shopping done without any hiccups. Maddie groaned at the large amount of oatmeal, pasta, rice, and canned veggies I bought but still refused to say a single word. The deer in the freezer would last us a while, and when that was done, we would be moving on to the canned chicken I bought. Fresh meat was too expensive and would eat through our savings faster than we could afford. I also found a book on how to set snares, and I had high hopes that I would be able to catch a few smaller creatures to keep us sustained, but that would be
Oliver's P.O.V. I was in agony. Every time I walked away from that house, and could no longer hear or see my girls, I felt like my heart was being ripped out and left behind. But it pushed me. It helped to motivate me to return home sooner. It had been a week of watching them from a distance. A week of suffering. Yet, I honored Lana's choice and kept my distance while also keeping busy. Each day there would be a new rogue scent near the house, and I did everything possible to get rid of them. When they weren't breaking any rules by being on no man's land, they were also extremely hostile. I had tried countless times to just speak to them, to get answers. It wasn't normal for so many rogues to be in one area, and their numbers were growing by the day. Rogues usually had a wild and territorial side that didn't like other wolves, even other rogues near them. Once a wolf went fully rogue, whether by choice or from banishment, its animal would start to take over. Even if they chose t
Lana's P.O.V. He was in my dreams. Every night for the past week, I would close my eyes and see him. My stress from the day would melt away as he wrapped his arms around me. I would lean back against his chest and tell him about my day. He would kiss the side of my head and hold me close. It was the only time that I felt at peace. I found myself sleeping more than usual. Every nap Maddie took, I took one too. If I wasn't sleeping, I was alone. Even with my daughter in the same room, I was on my own. She refused to talk to me, which was probably a world record for a kid her age, and when I did get her to talk, she would just yell and argue against anything I said. Her accidents were happening more frequently as she refused to ask me for help or tell me when she had to go to the bathroom, and she was refusing to eat more than a bite or two at meal time. I was terrified for her and was doing everything that I could to make sure she stayed healthy. The connection she seemed to have to
Lana's P.O.V. He stood frozen as I stormed at him, his body turned toward the forest like he was ready to make a break for it. "Don't you dare! I want answers now." I snapped, my breathing heavy as I approached him, stopping only a few feet away. "I had asked you to leave. Why are you still here, and what the hell are you?" The soft whisper in my mind was repeating itself, 'Please, say a figment of my imagination. Please, say a figment of my imagination.' His body began to shake as the sound of popping and cracking filled the tense silence. Within a few seconds, it was over. The literal man of my dreams stood before me as bare as the day he was born, with his hands raised in a gesture to show he wasn't a threat. Even if he was, I had no way to protect myself. I just stormed out into unknown dangers blindly driven by my anger. His mouth opened and closed several times as he stared at me, looking me over with a careful gaze. I could practically feel where his eyes traveled like t
Lana's P.O.V. My cheeks burned as he stared at me. The longer we sat there, the more comfortable I felt with him. I still knew nothing about him, but I wanted to. I wanted to discover this new world that I had been blind to all these years, and I wanted to know more about the man that my daughter and I both felt such a deep connection to. My hands clasped together in my lap as I tossed around where to begin before settling on the beginning. "Why were you hurt when you first showed up here? What happened?" I glanced over his exposed chest, my eyebrows pulling together in concern as I looked over the scars covering his body. "Can I give the short version?" The way his head tilted to the side made the deep green of his eyes look lighter than before. I couldn't help it as my gaze traveled from them, over his tanned cheeks and to his perfect lips, remembering the way they had felt in my dreams each night as he ran them over my body
Oliver's P.O.V. Having her so close and not being able to touch her was torture. All evening she made a point of avoiding any physical contact with me. It almost made me want to go back to the way things were before she knew the truth. A week ago, she would run her fingers through my fur or pat my head as she walked by. Now, there was an invisible barrier surrounding me, and she made a point to stay at least three feet away at all times. It was an impressive feat, given the limited amount of space in the house. When she was cooking dinner, I couldn't help myself any longer after not having contact with her for so long and rubbed my head and shoulder against the back of her leg, making her jump. She sent me a glare to knock it off, and I tried not to laugh, letting out a choking, snort sound until she turned and set down a dog bowl of food, sending me a smirk with a sarcastic, 'good doggie'. This resulted in a lot of attention and love
Lana's P.O.V. It felt so good to have him hold me in real life. The bliss I felt in my dreams was nothing compared to the way he felt, and how he made everything in my mind go quiet. His skin was warmer than what I would figure to be normal, and his heart was beating fast as I placed my ear and cheek on his chest. I had to wonder if I was having an effect on him too, or if it was due to him being a shifter and his body working differently than humans' did. I knew I was being stupid, cuddling up to a man I didn't know very well, but the bond he kept mentioning was very much there. It pulled like a rubber band whenever I walked away from him, and when I was close to him, the world grew brighter, and my senses were brought to life. Everything tasted better, smelled better, and felt better. A single touch from him had sparks running across my skin and butterflies swarming in my stomach. I wanted to know what it would be like to taste him