He could argue that she had pushed him to lose his damn mind, but that was for another time. Carter had found out everything he needed to know. He stood, grabbed his folder and tucked his pen back into his uniform pocket. "I thank you for your cooperation, Miss Williams. An officer will drive you home."
"Carter," she said as he opened the door.
He turned back. "Yes?"
Her eyes went hard and for the first time that night he wondered if he had pushed her too far. "You owe me ice cream."
He didn't laugh.
Props to him but he couldn't keep a straight face much longer.
Carter nodded once. "Noted," he said and hightailed it the fuck out of there.
Sixteen
All Virgos speak at least five languages: English, Profanity, Sarcasm, Truth and Love.
Horoscopescafe.com
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True to his word, Carter had an officer drive her home. Not to her car but to her house. She was too pissed to say anything when the officer had turned in her driveway and not driven the five extra minutes to her abandoned car which she would now have to walk to get later on.
She was given back her purse, phone and keys and told to have a nice night. Emilie did not curse out the young officer who looked truly scared of her. He was a wolf, could smell the fur on him. If she could smell him, he could surely smell her. Probably had never come into contact with one of her kind before.
Yeah, she was angrier than she had ever been before but she wasn't in trouble of shifting. As she stomped up her steps she noticed two things. Her car was parked beside the house and Carter's porch light was on.
A growl rumbled across her lips.
Emilie spent the evening in a right state. She couldn't settle. TV pissed her off. No book held her attention longer than a few pages. Her bath had last five minutes before she had to move and pace and punch something.
For an hour she bitched to Dean about the atrocity she had to live through. Dean, smartly, didn't say much to contradict her. She could feel his need to speak up about what Carter might be playing at but right now all she wanted to do was yell and scream and cry.
Yes, cry.
He pissed her off so bad that she had sobbed for twenty minutes straight. Nothing she did settled the turmoil inside. So she turned to her bear for help. Emilie shifted out back and got lost for a while.
Somehow she fell asleep that night. It was well after three in the morning when she fell into bed, exhausted after the run she had. Emilie's bear had explored further than ever before. She pushed herself up the steepest hills, ran until her legs went numb and roared her frustrations into the night more than once.
She was woken up early. Startled into consciousness by a pounding. Emilie shot up in bed, blinking rapidly and looking everywhere for what was going on.
Another loud pound came from the other side of her bedroom wall and Emilie groaned. Carter. It was barely the butt crack of dawn and he decided now was a good time for home improvements.
She groaned as she fell back into her pillows. Emilie pulled the blanket over her head and burrowed deep down trying to block out the sound.
When the sledgehammer plowed through her wall, she knew there would be no hope in going back to sleep.
Her eyes went wide as she watched someone bust a hole through her wall, then another, and another. A foot kicked at the drywall until there was a large enough space for her to see through into the other room. Carter's head popped through the hole and smiled at her.
"Oh good, you're up."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, CARTER?"
He'd lost his fucking mind. There was no other reasonable explanation for this. First, he kidnaps her, interrogates her, eats her fucking ice cream and now he was busting holes in her wall.
"Connecting our bedroom," he said as if it was the most reasonable thing to be doing at such an hour.
Emilie rubbed her head. She'd had a headache from the night before that wouldn't quit and now this.
"Why? Why the hell are you doing this to me?"
She couldn't fight it. Emilie's shoulders sank with defeat. Whatever it was he was trying to pull, fine. He won. If he was trying to tell her to get out, she'd leave. If he was having a psychotic break, she'd call his alpha and get him help. Whatever it was, Emilie would do it. She had finally found her breaking point. After this, she was done.
Carter kicked a few pieces of drywall away and stepped through the hole. He brushed off the dust that was smeared across his shirt and smiled at her. The look broke her. Oh, how she missed that smile. So warm and inviting, happy for no other reason than he was looking at her. He walked over to her bed where she was sitting, surround in her nest of pillows. He sat beside her on the edge, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, all while that look was still shining away.
If she didn't know better, she'd call it love.
"I'm tearing down the wall so I can kiss my girlfriend whenever the hell I want."
She sucked in a breath. He said the "G" word. He said it while giving her the crinkly eyed smile. She had no defense against that.
His thumb brushed the corner of her eye, catching the tear that as pooling there.
"Girlfriend?" she asked.
"Oh yeah." Carter pulled her towards him, his lips meeting hers tentatively like he wasn't sure she was with him, but she was. She was all there. Emilie grabbed his neck and kissed him back, hard. He responded with a growl. It rumbled down her back all the way to her toes.
"Why the games?" she asked between kisses. She was needy for him, for his touch. He must have felt the same way because his tongue licked over her bottom lip and then nibbled.
Carter pulled back and ran his finger down her face, pleasure seeping from him. "I didn't know. You didn't tell me he was gone."
"You wouldn't let me. You asked for a break and then disappeared. You never came home."
"You never called," he countered.
That was true, she hadn't called but she did text him. "I sent you a text the night I got back into town." Emilie grabbed her phone off the nightstand. She pulled up the text and there it was, right where she left it. She handed him the phone.
Carter read the message. His brows creased as he studied every word. At the end a sad smile graced his lips and he looked up at her.
"You never hit send," he said.
Her eyes widened. "What?"
He handed back her phone. "I didn't get this because you forgot to hit send."
She took her phone back and he was right, she hadn't sent it. Horrified, she looked up at him. All this, all this sadness for nothing.
"I am so sorry."
"God woman," he said, his eyes softening. “What am I going to do with you?"
Kiss her apparently. He was going to kiss her till she didn't feel embarrassed anymore.
Carter couldn't keep his hands from her. He traced over her bottom lip, caressed her jaw, and fingered the tips of her hair. "Emilie you are like no one I have ever met. My wolf is mesmerized by you, my body entranced." He picked her hand up and placed it on his chest. "My heart has only been beating for you since we've met. Rejection from you would have broken me but you are stronger than I am. I've known it all along. You would keep going, no matter the circumstance."
Emilie ran her fingers through his hair, the simple motion making him close his eyes in bliss. "I missed you," she said softly. He opened his eyes and kissed her again. They couldn't seem to get enough of that.
"I missed you too."
"No more running. Okay? We have a problem we can take time and then talk about it but no more running. You say I'm strong, but my strength has limits."
Carter's hands found her body in amongst all the blankets and glided his bare hands under her shirt and around her waist. He picked her up and slid her across his lap. "Why would I run when I've got what I want right here?"
He kissed her again but with much more control this time. His touch radiated reverence and love. Yeah, he hadn't said it. Neither had she. But it was there, l
ove binding them together. She found the words not necessary when his kiss, his touch and his eyes said it all.
"So you didn't have a psychotic break?"
He grinned. "Nah. I couldn't risk showing up here to talk and you slamming the door in my face."
She rolled her eyes. Idiot. That may have been what she did the first time he knocked but she would have let him in eventually.
"So last night was part of the plan?"
"Well..." he laughed. “Not quite. I got a little carried away at the traffic stop. It was supposed to end there but you are just so damn cute when you want to hit me."
"Like now?" she deadpanned.
He nodded and kissed her nose. "Adorable."
"I hate you," she said with a laugh.
Carter kept her guessing. He was unconstrained and adventurous. He made the things that she found uncomfortable look easy. He wasn't someone to be controlled but someone who would stand beside her, strengthen her. She brought him stability and he brought her spontaneity.
Carter added energy to her life. A zing that she seemed to be missing all this time. Nothing would be boring with him. Mundane wasn't even a word that he knew. Everything about him was out of her comfort zone, but that didn't matter anymore. Instead of fearing it, she was embracing it.
An adventure.
Emilie looked at the hole in their bedroom and laughed. Their first adventure would apparently involve removing a wall. "So I take it the front door was?"
Carter grinned. "Too far."
Epilogue
Carter was told to meet Miles in the conference room at the pack house. Now that they were back, he was beginning his training as enforcer. Emilie said she was proud of him for doing this, which didn't that just make him feel like he could move a mountain?
Miles came in followed by Owen. He hadn't seen his alpha since he temporarily moved into a room in the pack house. But the gossip train had apparently reached Owen and he wanted to know more.
"Couldn't help but notice that you are back at home," Owen said with a grin the size of New York.
"Nothing gets by you, Alpha."
Miles snorted and took the seat across from him at the large table.
"My place needed some emergency renovation that I had to oversee."
Owen tilted his head not following. So he hadn't heard everything after all. Well, this would be fun.
"Emilie and I made up after I tore down the wall between our bedrooms."
"Dramatic," Owen said, impressed. "I like it."
Miles just shook his head. "I don't know how your females put up with you two."
Neither did he but he wasn't questioning it.
"I gotta ask since your situation has changed, you still good to take the job?" Owen would let him walk if he wanted. Damn good alpha right there. But he was sure about this, just as he was sure that Emilie was the one he'd be spending the rest of his life with.
"Yeah, I'm good." He really was.
Afterword
Thank you for reading this Zodiac Shifters romance.
A shifter’s mate is in the stars… Welcome to Zodiac Shifters, a collection of books with an astrological spin on love. From Aries to Virgo… discover all-new tales of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Zodiac Shifters features New York Times, USA Today, and other bestselling authors. Each month expect new releases based upon the twelve astrology signs. Happily Ever After… it’s our promise to you.
Learn more at zodiacshifters.com
About the Author
K.C. Stewart is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Hailey Holloway series and most recently, the Adirondack Pack series. All her life she had fantasized and day-dreamed on a regular basis but it wasn’t until she began writing short stories that she made those fantasies a reality. She has graduated to novels but still dabbles in the occasional flash fiction and short story. Because of her love for reading and the written word, K.C. is currently continuing her education at Clarion University for Library Science. When she isn’t taking photographs, studying or writing, she is supporting a very real gummy bear habit. Currently, she lives with her boyfriend, german shepherds and cats in central Pennsylvania.
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K.C. Stewart
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Also by K.C. Stewart
Hailey Holloway Series
Spark
Singe
Scorch
Smolder
Hailey Holloway Complete Series
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Adirondack Pack Series
Over the Line
Too Far Gone
In Pursuit
Fault Lines
Unleashed
On the Edge
* * *
Adirondack Shifters Series
The Truth in Love
The Truth in Love: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Virgo Page 12
