“Food, right. I’ll get you some breakfast.”
Jules left the room and I called Simon.
“Rosemary you are not going to believe who showed up.” I’d never heard Simon sound so excited.
“What did Thyme just appear out of thin air?”
“Yeah,” Simon said, “But you are not going to believe me when I tell you what she’s been up to.”
“My sister’s alive?”
Years of worry and panic tore through me. Thyme was alive. She was back with her mate. I had Jules. Thousands of miles away from each other.
“My mom recruited her to Red Rock to be a pack member. Now I just need to convince her to be my mate,” Simon said.
“Wait, she doesn’t want to be your mate?”
“She keeps saying she’s not Thyme.”
“But you’re sure it’s my sister.”
“Yeah, the Moon Blessing doesn’t lie.”
I felt Jules get closer to the bedroom, “No it doesn’t lie.”
“How’s Minnesota.”
“I’m coming back. I’m going to be on the first flight to Tucson, you better have someone pick me up.”
Dishes clattered to the floor in the hallway.
“But- but you said,” Jules stood in the hallway.
“Thyme is back,” I explained to him, “You’re coming with me. I’m not losing either of you ever again.”
***
Jules was the ideal travel companion on the way back to Red Rock. He carried the bags, neither of us had much, but it was more than I could be trusted to keep track of. I was so distracted by the what ifs of Thyme’s sudden reappearance.
Jules was there always at my side. His hand finding mine. His shoulder ready for my head to rest on when I needed it.
This is what mating was supposed to be like. I couldn’t believe I let myself miss out on this for so long.
For what?
Friends, socialization, life experience. Maybe it had been worth it. I would never know. All I had was the future and what Jules and I could have.
Benson picked us up at the airport.
“You couldn’t stay away, could you?”
I nudge him, “Benson, this is my mate, Jules. Jules, this is my friend Benson. Presumed future Beta of Red Rock. If he gets his head out of his work and finds a mate.”
Benson rolled his eyes and shook Jules’ hand, “All the good ones keep getting taken before they meet me. Car’s out front, I gotta warn you though. I think Simon’s off his rocker. The girl he says is Thyme looks.... Well you’ll see.”
I squeezed Jules’ hand. The entire ride to the Pack house my leg bounced. There was nowhere for my nervous energy to go.
“It’ll be okay. No matter what, I have you,” Jules whispered.
“What if Simon’s wrong?”
“Wolves know their mates. He’s not wrong.” He didn’t sound confident though.
The drive from Tucson to the pack house had never been longer. Benson was driving the speed limit which only added to the torment.
“Doesn’t this go any faster?”
“She’s going to be there,” Jules said.
“What if she runs again? What if I lost my chance to see her again?”
“Then we’ll find her. We’re packless, only responsible for each other. We’ll find her if she runs okay?”
I rested my head on his shoulder grateful for him even more than I was a minute before.
Finally, we get to the house. I race up to the door searching out Simon. He wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. I ducked back to the front hall. A short woman with a gnarly looking constellation of scars on her right shoulder blocked me from my mate.
“Jules, wha...what are you doing here?” Her arms crossed over her chest, “Did they kick you out too? After all I did for them too...”
“Ginger?” Jules asked, “What are you doing here? Rosemary came back and-”
“Rosemary? Who’s Rosemary?”
Jules pointed at me. The woman turned around.
Mara.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Thyme
Red Rock. Arizona
7 years ago
“Simon!” a girl’s voice called from the darkness. Simon tensed beside me. He dropped the hand that had been holding mine and took a step away from me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. My mind raced with all the possible reasons my mate would step away from me. If he’d stepped in front of me, I’d have thought he was preparing to defend me.
But he stepped to the side.
Was he creating distance so his friend’s wouldn’t see us together? That didn’t make sense, he said most of them were pack kids. They had to know who we were to each other, and what that meant.
“Shit man,” Benson said, “I thought she was at camp for another week. I didn’t realize she was going to come.”
“Who?” I asked.
The pack kids all ignored me.
A blur of copper blond hair rushed into my mate’s arms. He caught the much smaller woman like she weighed nothing and in an instant, their mouths were pressed together.
All the pack kids fell silent. Their eyes were on me. I was their future Alpha Female. A human woman just started kissing my mate. I didn’t have a wolf. I couldn’t tear the interloper to shreds. The two were still locked by their lips.
I cleared my throat. Hopefully, the girl was a pack kid, that would make what happened next easier. Something we’d laugh at once we were full pack members. Simon set the girl down and looked at me. His face was flushed, and his eyes were wide.
“Oh, hi,” the girl said, equally flushed, “Sorry, it’s the first time I’ve seen my boyfriend since I left for summer camp in June. Did you just move here? I’m Mara, and you must already know my boyfriend, Simon.”
I looked at Simon, “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, girlfriend,” Simon said, “Mara this is Thyme. She’s staying with me and my family for a while. She’s from British Columbia.”
“Oh, like an exchange student?” Mara said, her smile widened, and she extended a hand to me.
“Girl. Friend.” I repeated. My brain couldn’t quite parse the phrase. Why did he have a girlfriend? He said I was his mate. Mate beat girlfriend right? Was I going crazy?
“Oh, sorry,” Mara said, her brow furrowed, and she turned to Simon, “I thought Canadian’s spoke English.”
“We do, I’m just trying to understand why Simon would claim me as his mate-” before I could finish my sentence Benson wrapped an arm over my shoulder.
“House mate,” he said, speaking over me, “Why he’d bring his house mate to a bonfire without warning her about the completely normal and completely human girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Mara giggled, “That’s… odd. I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about… um I’m sorry they just said it, but I forgot. What’s your name again?”
“Thyme,” Simon filled in for her, “And I’m sure there will be plenty of time for that later. Let’s catch up.”
My mate led his girlfriend around the fire.
I watched their slow practiced movements. How natural he was with her. His arm wrapping around her waist. Her head leaning against his shoulder. Quiet whispers. Secrets turning to laughter.
His laugh with her wasn’t forced like it was with me. His movements weren’t careful. He wasn’t afraid of scaring her. I backed away, into Benson.
“I’m sure he didn’t want to dump her over letter while she was at camp. You’re his mate, he’ll choose you for sure,” Benson said. His attempt at reassurance fell flat. Any idiot could see my mate was crazy about the tiny human.
She was everything I wasn’t. But that shouldn’t have mattered. The Moon Goddess herself paired us. That had to mean more than silly human infatuation.
“Why is he even dating a human?” I asked, “Those relationships never go anywhere. In Spatsizi it was completely forbidden.”
“Does this look like Spatsizi to you?” Benson asked, gesturing
around the campground. The fire danced and flared as another log was added to it. The new light helped, but there was enough light pollution from the nearby city even a full human could find their car without a flashlight.
I shook my head. This place was nothing like Spatsizi.
“I’m going back, tell Simon...” I wanted to have a clever quip. Something to show him I could be just as metropolitan as his human. But the words couldn’t reach my tongue. I wasn’t metropolitan. I was a wolf or would be if the damn beast would just decide to show, “Tell him I went home.”
Benson raised his eyebrow, “I’ll walk you back. Alpha won’t like the future mother of his grandpups in the city alone.”
Right. Not Thyme. Not me. Not even his son’s mate. I was the incubator for the future grandchildren to the Alpha. How did it happen that even three hours ago I would have loved being identified as such? Now it was heartbreak.
I spared one final glance at my mate and his human. They sat on a log curled close together, whispering and giggling.
“He just needs to find the right time to do it,” Benson promised, “It wouldn’t be cool to break her heart right now.”
“Right. Cool.”
“Thyme? What are you doing back so early?” Celeste asked when I unlocked the front door to the ranch style home.
“Mara came home early from camp,” I said.
Celeste’s lips formed a hard line, “He told me he ended it with that human,” she pulled out a phone from her apron, muttering under her breath about her sorry excuse for a whelp son.
“I’m going to bed,” I told her, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Celeste waved me off, too focused on pressing the correct buttons to give a proper goodnight.
I woke from sleep to Simon’s wolf nuzzling my neck. It was still dark outside and the alarm clock beside the bed read two am. He smelled of campfire smoke and sickly-sweet floral perfume- Mara’s.
“What do you want, Simon?” I asked rolling over to face the wolf.
His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. I crossed my arms over my chest, “A human? Really?”
The fur receded from Simon’s wolf’s forelegs and the grotesque process of shifting back to human form began. Witnessing wolves do it night after night had taken most of the horror out of watching the process, but it was still gross.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I waited for more. That couldn’t be his apology. I’m sorry. For humiliating me in front of the whelps of the pack? For spending the entire bonfire with a girl when he’d claimed me as his mate.
“I’m sure you’re aware tonight was your last night with the human,” I bit out.
“Thyme, that’s not fair to Mar-”
“Don’t even say her name,” my throat was tight as I struggled to control my anger, “I don’t care what you think the human deserves. I’m your mate. You don’t get a choice in this. You are not to talk to her again.”
His jaw twitched, “You don’t get to make demands like that.”
“Oh, I don’t?”
“My wolf claimed you, but that doesn’t mean you can just-”
“That’s exactly what it means!” I yelled, “Your wolf wants me. The Goddess decided. Do you think you know better than the Moon Goddess?”
His jaw ticked again.
“She does not exist to you anymore. You want to break up with her the ‘right way’ you should have done it tonight,” I said, “If you humiliate me again like you did tonight, I’m gone.”
“Where would you go?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest, “Any pack would send you right back here. And don’t even get me started on the human world, Miss-no-birth-certificate-or-passport.”
“You’d choose the human over me?”
“At least the human is capable of love.” He spun on his heel and walked out of my room, slamming the door behind him.
In the light of day, I realized I probably took the wrong approach with Simon. He had a history with the human, one I didn’t understand. But it wasn’t the end. I could just find him, and we would have a mature discussion.
Celeste was in the kitchen when I arrived, busy chopping vegetables for whatever party she was hosting tonight.
“Have you seen Simon?” I asked.
Celeste pointed the knife toward the Alpha office, “We heard your little fight last night. My mate will set that boy right.” Her swift-bladed cuts got even faster and harder.
I walked down the narrow hall toward the office. I could hear the Alpha yelling, but I couldn’t make out the exact words.
I continued walking, finding the reading room. I took a seat in one of the plush chairs and waited for her garbled shouting to stop. After he talked to his dad, he’d definitely see my side of things. He’d follow the blessing pull to me, and we’d talk it over, hug it out, and all would be forgotten.
Yes, that’s what would happen. Because that’s how mates were supposed to be. It was ok to be angry, but they needed to come back at the end of the day and be together as the Moon Goddess intended.
My sister didn’t have to deal with this. Jules loved her the second he saw her. He was so devoted and dedicated to her, he broke all the rules to be with her. Maybe when I got my wolf I would understand.
Maybe if I never got my wolf, my mate could love me the way he seemed to love the human.
A door slammed.
“Simon Get back here! This conversation isn’t over!”
A set of hurried footfalls passed the reading room door followed by another slam. The Alpha came racing down the hall by the time I reached the door.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Alpha Hill rubbed his forehead, “Go back to reading, Thyme. I’ve got it under control.”
I felt like Simon was avoiding me since our fight. But Rosemary was supposed to come today, and I needed to talk to him before she arrived. He promised to drive me to pick her up from the bus station.
“Have you seen Simon?” I asked Celeste.
She shook her head and I continued wandering through the house.
I didn't want to search his room for clues, but he left me no further choice. I knocked first. No answer. Right, because if he were here, I wouldn’t be looking for him.
His scent was intense in the room. His bed was unmade, and dirty clothing littered the floor. I was surprised that Celeste let him keep a sanctum of disorder in her perfect house. I couldn’t think about that now, I needed to find my mate.
I checked under three sweatshirts and a pile of books on his desk, hoping for a calendar or something. Nothing. I checked under his bed, pillow, in his side table. I looked everywhere and nothing. There was a lot of junk that I had every intention of getting rid of, but nothing that would tell me where my mate was.
I was about to give up when I caught the sickly-sweet floral scent coming from his closet. I followed my nose until I reached it. A small hat box was hidden under layers of duffle bags and even more dirty clothes.
I needed to get my mate a hamper.
I opened the box and her horrible smelling perfume filled the small closet. I was going to be sick. Mara+Simon=Forever written over and over again. Cards with their pictures taped over bride and grooms. Dozens of them. And he kept this.
I bolted from the room. I had to find him. He was not going to do this to me. We were mates. If he didn’t want me he shouldn’t have claimed me.
I ran down the street ignoring other pedestrians. I crossed roads ignoring cars. I had no care for my safety.
My mate was in the park with a homewrecker.
My insides were swirling. Bile rose in my throat. I ran so hard every muscle hurt. My lungs burned. My very bones felt like they were breaking.
I found the spot. I could hunt that horrible perfume anywhere. My mate’s hand was up the human’s skirts. They were rolling in the grass, unaware of my presence.
He knew I was here. He was the one with the wolf. The one who could feel the bond.
I walk
ed into the clearing. I cleared my throat, but it came out more like a growl.
Simon looked up. His cheeks were flushed, and his lips were swollen from kissing the harlot.
His lips moved as if he was forming words, but I heard nothing. Fire laced in my veins. I was so angry I felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest. Everything hurt. I howled with pain. Howled.
I looked down at my hands. They were changing.
I looked back at the couple.
No. this isn’t how it was supposed to happen. My first shift couldn’t be in front of my mate and the human he was choosing over me.
I turned around, trying to run, but the pain was too much.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ginger
Red Rock Pack House
Present day
Rosemary. My sister was the mate who abandoned Jules?
Seeing her was surreal. The woman was beautiful. Arizona agreed with her. The warm hues of her tank top and shorts glowed against her tan. Her face that had once been a mirror to my own was furrowed in confusion.
Her long black hair was pulled up in a messy bun; flyaway hairs haloed her head. She took her eyes off Jules and her face contorted into a myriad of expressions as she tried to place me, “Mara? I thought you... got... fat.”
“Rosemary This is my friend Ginger. The one I told you about.”
“Thyme,” Rosemary said. Her brown eyes grew glassy. She leaned on the wall as if she couldn’t stand up.
“Why does everyone keep calling me that?” I groaned. I knew it was pointless to continue to deny the truth that even my wolf admitted to. But I didn’t want to be Thyme. I wanted to be Ginger. I didn’t know Thyme. She was a faded picture covered in cobwebs in the deepest depths of my wolf’s memory catacomb. She didn’t want me to be Thyme for a reason. Even if she forgot those reasons as soon as Simon touched my skin.
“Do you recognize me? I’m Rosie and you’re my Ty Ty. I was on my way to visit you when you disappeared. We never stopped looking for you. But I guess we never would have found you...” She took a step toward me, arms extended.
I jumped back.
Ginger and Thyme (Kootenai Pack Book 4) Page 17
