by Moira Byrne
I sighed. I would never get used to how not-subtle wolves were. They weren't shy about taking great big sniffs of people. Whenever Ben smelled something that caught his interest, I knew, because he'd sniff and snort like a pig looking for truffles.
Was I exaggerating? Maybe a little, but come on. They didn't even hesitate to walk right up to someone and start asking their business. Sure, I wasn't much better about being nosy, but at least I didn't openly sniff people.
Charlie's eyes gleamed with amusement. He rubbed his hands together. I knew he was getting ready to play his twenty-questions game. He got a real kick out of making people guess what he was. To say that ogres were rare was an understatement. I cocked an eyebrow. This wasn't the time for that. It was already going to take me twenty years to spill the beans.
"He's an ogre," I revealed.
Ben sputtered, "An ogre?"
"Aw, shoot, you spoiled it." Charlie pouted.
I shot him an eye roll. "Yeah, a big, whiny ogre."
"Well, now that you've taken all my fun away, I s'pose I should leave you two to talk about . . . things. I'll be outside if you need me." Charlie raised his eyebrows as if to say "good luck with your mess" before he ambled out of the hardware store. I had no doubt he would be waiting outside, though. He was always there whenever I needed him.
Ben laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck, more confused than amused. "This place is crazy, you know that? Such a perfect town, but so weird."
"Tell me about it. I wouldn't have moved here if it wasn't for—" I cut myself off, not wanting to get into that here. If I talked about my old pack, I would end up talking about Ana, too.
"For what?"
"You'd be, uhh, surprised." I stared down at the bare concrete floor for a second, rubbing at the back of my neck. "Ben, look, there's a lot we need to talk about."
"I don't doubt it. Should we grab a bite?" Ben cleared his throat, suddenly looking as nervous as I was. Hopefully I wasn't about to find out he had a baby, too. "We could find someplace more comfortable to talk? Catch up?"
"Actually, yeah, I know just the place. I'm really going to need some ice cream for this anyway."
"Damn, that bad?"
"You have no idea."
"Well, let's get to it." He smiled and grabbed my hand. An excited shiver ran down my spine as I curled my fingers around his. Cool it, kitty-cat, I chided myself. It didn't work. I seemed to savor the feeling more with each passing second. We still had so much to talk about. So much we both had to explain, yet I couldn't help but enjoy the warmth of his palm against mine.
I grudgingly shoved another bite of apple ice cream into my mouth. We hadn't even started our big conversation and things were already going downhill. Well, in reality, I was mostly just grumpy because this town was so painfully cheesy sometimes. Apple ice cream. Yeah, their orchards were awesome, but did everything have to be so obnoxiously thematic?
I was supposed to be distracting myself with chocolatey-peanut buttery goodness right now. Alas, there wasn't a peanut butter cup to be had, and there was no way I was having chocolate without peanut butter. A woman has to have standards.
I groaned internally at my own thoughts. I had been avoiding even thinking about talking about our daughter. First, I distracted myself by agonizing over my order, although that was mostly because the options here were terrible, but after we sat down . . . I delayed the inevitable like it was my job.
Spoonful after spoonful of ice cream went in, and no words came out. Whenever Ben caught my eyes and looked like he wanted to start talking, I looked away and shoved in another bite of ice cream, mostly because it was there and I needed the distraction.
Ben raised an eyebrow at my scowling face. "You that mad at me for taking so long to get back to you? Are we going to clear the air or . . .?"
"No, it's the ice cream. I mean, why don't they have—" I rubbed at my forehead with a grimace. I was trying so hard to avoid talking about the important things. "Look, when it comes to clearing the air . . . I'm sure we both had our reasons for disappearing."
"Yeah. What made you take off? I went a little crazy when I couldn't find you. I've been thinking about you for months."
He reached across the table and brushed his fingers over my cheek. He smiled, his teeth lightly biting at his bottom lip. As if that wasn't enough, he had to go and K.O. me with those damned dimples creasing his cheeks.
Not only was he spectacularly handsome, but those dimples of his reminded me of all the late nights we spent studying together. I always wondered if he practiced that look in a mirror. The smile. The lip-bite. It was all too perfect. I fought to suppress a groan. This wasn't a great time for me to be mooning over him.
I scratched at the back of my neck and cleared my throat. "I, um . . . wasn't really expecting you to show up."
"Your email said you were in Fayoak, so here I am."
"Well, yeah, but that was months ago. Why did you ignore all my calls and emails until now? That was pretty messed up." I felt all the old anger from months ago start to simmer inside me. I'd tried to reach out to him and he never once replied. It was like all our months of friendship ended after we had sex.
I bit at the inside of my cheek and dropped my eyes down to my bowl of ice cream. With each word we said, the fantasy was stripped away and reality was rearing its ugly head. I didn't want to be one of those hostile couples who screamed at each other when they dropped the kid off for visitation. I hoped we could work something out for Ana's sake.
"Hey, whoa, I wasn't ignoring you."
"Uh-huh."
"Remember our last night together?" he asked, sounding upset.
I raised an eyebrow. That was a cute way of describing a night of animalistic romping in the sheets. We went out to celebrate after the last exam of Ben's college career before he went back to his hometown. One thing led to another and we ended up spending the night together.
"I most definitely do."
"I know this sounds ridiculous, but my phone must've slipped out of my pocket when I kissed you goodbye as you got into that taxi. I swear I heard a crunch as the taxi drove away and I never found my phone."
I narrowed my eyes, still suspicious. "That sucks. But why didn't you get a new phone?"
Ben looked away, embarrassed. "I did. But I sort've lost everything that was on my phone."
"What about my emails then?"
I struggled to keep the anger from my tone. I knew he was telling the truth. Ben was an honest guy. Plus, he did come all the way to Fayoak. My anger wasn't at him. Not really. It was more the fact that I had this huge truth bomb waiting in the wings and I was still struggling to figure out how to set it off.
"My parents surprised me with a graduation gift. They threw me on the plane to visit family in Korea as soon as I got home."
"And your relatives don't have internet? I'm pretty sure Korea is the leader in internet connectivity, Ben."
Ben snapped his head back like I had slapped him, and I winced mentally. Even I knew I was gunning for him a little too hard. Too hard. I snorted. I was going at him like a prosecutor with a personal vendetta. And hadn't I just thought how honest he was? What was wrong with me?
"Actually, they don't," he countered calmly. "They live in the middle of nowhere. I didn't get your message until last week when I got home. I replied, but my email bounced back. I figured you had checked out completely. Gone for good. Disappeared without a trace. I was worried about you, Aly. Can you please tell me what happened?"
"I told you in my last email that I was here, though." I deliberately ignored his question.
"Yeah, but I didn't get that until later. I headed back to school to see if I could run into you; instead, I ran into that girl from our study group, Sheila. She mentioned you had emailed her from some weird new email address."
I pushed my spoon around in the bowl, trying to keep myself from reaching across the table and shaking the entire story out of him. "And that helped you out how?"
"I f
ound all of your emails from that 'say-peach-one-more-time' address in my spam folder."
"Are you kidding me?" I leaned back in my chair and let my eyes fall shut as all my anger melted away. I hadn't even thought of that.
"No, I wish I was. If I hadn't run into Sheila, I wouldn't have looked in my spam folder. I wouldn't have found you or known you were okay." He paused long enough to let me see the worry in his eyes before he continued, "Why did you ditch your school address?"
"For the same reason why I came here."
"And why is that?"
Whatever good humor I had left instantly poofed out of existence. It was time. I had to tell him about his daughter. Our daughter. Dread coiled in my stomach. This could go so horribly wrong.
"Well, Ben," I said in a slow, measured tone, "there's someone you need to meet."
2
Ben
What did she mean? Someone I needed to meet? The tension in Aly's voice made my instincts scream out in warning. It wasn't only that she'd been acting odd since I first saw her. There was something else to it. It almost felt like she was worried or nervous, but . . . Alysse Addison didn't get nervous.
If only I'd been able to come back sooner. Seven months since her last message. What the hell had happened in those seven months? I hadn't intended to stay away from her for so long. After months of flirting, we had finally given into our attraction that night after I finished my last class and it left me wanting more. I wanted her. Alysse. I knew the moment I had her in my arms that she could be my mate. I'd gone home the next morning fully planning to turn right back around and go be with her.
But then my parents had surprised me with the trip. I couldn't get her out of my thoughts the entire time I'd been gone. I'd tried to come back earlier, but my family always found something only I could do. I couldn't disappoint the family. So I stayed. All the while, I hoped whatever we had would survive our separation.
When I finally got back stateside, she was nowhere to be found. My wolf had been frantic, and I drove the three hours back to school to see if I could find her. I went to the library, but no one had seen her in months.
The student lounge gave no trace of her, either. I went to her favorite places to eat and again, no one had seen her. Her favorite hang-outs were void of her presence, too. With each dead end I had gotten more and more agitated. Now I had her with me, and my wolf paced inside me, confused. All I wanted to do was pull her back into my arms and continue that kiss we shared earlier.
"Who do you want me to meet here in Fayoak? You have a dragon to introduce me to or something?" I smiled, trying to hide the fact that my thoughts were running around in circles.
"Don't be dumb. Dragons don't exist," she said, her tone distracted.
My curiosity ate at me. Who did she want me to meet? Seven months was such a long time. A lot could've happened. That was only when she'd sent her last email, too. It had been even longer since we'd seen each other.
My desire to be with her hadn't faded during our separation. From the way she kissed me back, I knew she felt the same way, too. A worm of doubt crept in—I'd caught her by surprise with that kiss. I thought her hands on my shoulders were a good thing, but had she planned to push me away? Had I read her wrong?
Had she found someone else while I was gone? I clenched my fist under the table where she couldn't see it. Was this person she needed me to meet a new thing? My wolf snarled inside me at the thought and I wanted to do the same. I didn't know if I could make it through an introduction, let alone quietly accept the fact that she had moved on.
Maybe I showed up for nothing.
No. She was worth fighting for. I wanted her to be mine. I had to meet my competition, size them up, then figure out how to win my Alysse back. If only I hadn't waited so long to make a move in the first place . . . all those times in the library where we spent more time smiling at each other than studying. Why hadn't I made my move sooner?
"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked, keeping my voice even, controlled.
"Yeah. Just peachy."
I clenched my jaw. Her voice was light, but the intensity of her expression hadn't eased. I didn't understand why she wouldn't come out with it already. It would make it easier on the both of us.
"Aly, come on," I ground out. "I can tell something's wrong."
She took a deep breath, her gaze bouncing around like she was looking for an escape route. "Right, yeah, let's get this over with."
She quickly stood up, her chair loudly scraping the floor, and I reluctantly got to my feet. Seconds ago, I was wishing she would just say it already, now I was clenching my jaw so tight that it was starting to hurt. All I could think about was how good it felt to see her again.
There had been a gnawing void in my life during those months I was without her. I realized with a heavy heart it was a void nobody else could ever fill. She was Aly, through and through, and that was something no one could replace.
She took three steps out the door, onto the sidewalk, then stopped so fast that I almost ran into her. She turned to look at me. There was a wild look in her eyes as she met mine. It wasn't the wild of her animal looking out at me; no, this was the frantic expression of someone faced with an unpleasant task ahead and no good choices before her.
"You'll need to follow me," she clipped out. "Where are you parked?"
I glanced down the street. "About two blocks over. But, Aly, why don't you just—"
She shook her head, although it was more of a head-jerk than anything. She wasn't just nervous, she was agitated. If whatever this was bothered her this much, why couldn't she just come out and say it? Why drag it out like this?
"I'm in that truck." She pointed at a rusted old truck parked in front of the hardware store. "Meet me here. I'm not the easiest to follow, so be ready."
She gave me a crooked, half-hearted smile as some semblance of the Aly I knew peeked through her hard expression. She seemed to catch herself and it disappeared in an instant as she started toward the truck. What was so difficult about introducing me to someone that she couldn't even joke about it?
"Aly."
She kept walking, and I lightly grabbed her arm so she'd stop and look at me.
"What?" Her tone was abrupt, her attention elsewhere.
"You don't have to do this," I said in a quiet voice. "If whatever it is bothers you so much . . ." My gut twisted. I was more certain than before that she had met someone. I was too late.
No. If she was this conflicted, we still had a chance. It would be like a punch to the gut to see her with someone else, but I would pick myself back up and fight for her.
I regretted that I hadn't secured a motel room for the night. I'd been so intent on finding Aly that I hadn't thought about where I would stay. Now I needed to figure out where I would stay while I tried to win Aly over again. There was no way I would simply walk away. I could feel my wolf's complete agreement with my decision.
"No, Ben, trust me. I have to do this."
"Fine," I ground my teeth together, "let's get this over with."
"Yeah, get this over with . . ." There was something sarcastic in her tone.
"I get it," I forced out. "Just introduce me to your new guy already."
She stared at me blankly for a moment, then sputtered out a laugh, her tension breaking. The silly, lopsided smile on her face—the one she gave me so many times—made me want to kiss her more than ever.
"Wait, what're you talking about?" she asked. "Who's this new guy?"
"The one you're so eager for me to meet," I explained hesitantly.
She looked at me as if I was speaking a language she didn't understand. "Where did you get that idea?"
"You were really worried about me meeting someone. I figured you'd hooked up and didn't know how to tell me. It's not the ogre, is it?"
"Hey, why'd you kinda laugh when you asked that?" an amused voice asked from nearby. "You think I don't stand a chance?"
I looked toward the sound and watched as the ogr
e I met earlier got out from a truck beside Aly's. I resisted the urge to snarl at the man as he leaned up against the truck. A second later, I did a double take as I realized he was eating from a plate of meat. What was up with this town?
"Honestly . . ." Aly sighed and rolled her eyes at Charlie, but I noticed the hint of a smile behind it all. A spark of jealousy jolted through me.
"Is this him, Aly?" I ground out.
She sighed again, even louder this time, and made a face like she was giving up on our conversation. I had a feeling I got it all wrong.
"Ben, just go get your car and follow me." She turned on her heel and headed to the old truck. I frowned as I watched her walk away. What was going on? Impatient to get to the bottom of this mystery, I sprinted to my car, ignoring the strange looks as I hurtled past people strolling down the sidewalk.
"Where's the fire?" Charlie yelled at me in the distance.
I jumped into my car, started it up, and pulled out of my parking space. My head was a mess as I started down the street toward Aly's truck. None of this made any sense—the way she was acting, that damn ogre . . . I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
I slowed down when I saw her truck idling in the parking space. Noticing me, she pulled out into the street in front of me. Relief ran through me when I saw she was alone in her truck. For a moment, I had feared Charlie had hopped into the truck when I was running to get my car. I didn't think I could stomach a drive, even a short one, if they were in there together.
I followed her truck, twisting and turning through the streets. She darted through traffic like she was in an action movie. If I hadn't been watching closely, I would have lost her a couple of times. She took a detour through a residential area, then we were soon outside the city. What could be out here in the sticks?
Sooner than I expected, she turned onto a dirt road. I hadn't been paying attention to the signs we passed, so I wasn't sure where we were going. We pulled into an unpaved parking lot with a dozen or so cars. Several large buildings surrounded the lot, and beyond that were row after row of trees. I saw a sign near the parking lot on a large pole that read, Greenhaven Orchard.
