And because I was so depressed, I didn’t care what kind of harm listening to Wyatt’s heartbeat would do to me. Didn’t care that taking these extra inhales in order to breathe him in would keep me up tonight. I couldn’t sleep anyway, so what did it matter?
Abey continued to drone on, but I knew what he had to say, because I’d been there to hear it for myself. Our old packmate Peyton was now working with our uncle against us.
She’d been friends with Bea for years and we’d all tolerated her, even grown to almost like her, but recently she’d just been awful. Peyton has had a thing for my brother since as long as I could remember, but he was never interested. As soon as Ellie showed up and stole his heart, Peyton went from annoyingly persistent to outright relentless.
She’d even poisoned Ellie’s cat in a bid to get her to move back to Raleigh. But the last straw had come during the solstice party. Turned out, Peyton had conspired with Calvin to separate Abey and Ellie for good. Her job was to cause a fight between them and then get Abraham alone while Calvin came to Ellie’s rescue and drove her back to Raleigh.
She probably didn’t know that Calvin was planning to kidnap Ellie, or that he’d been murdering women in the woods for a year, but that didn’t matter much to Abraham. The moment his mate’s life was on the line because of Peyton’s actions was the same moment she found herself without a pack.
We hadn’t seen or heard from her since then, but that all changed tonight. She’d been at Del’s show, hurling threats and showing more of her hand than she probably meant to. It seemed like when she left the Asheville pack, she’d been offered a place with our Uncle Conrad in Charlotte. Which led to this meeting.
I knew it was all important, and I knew it pertained to me, just like I knew I should care, but I was having difficulty doing that. Besides, all my focus was on the man just two feet away from me.
A cheer went up around the room and I focused back on Abraham and what he was saying.
“Are there any questions?” he asked as his blue eyes glanced around the room. When no one spoke up, he dismissed the enforcers and took a seat at the head of the table we were positioned around.
I watched Wyatt’s broad back out of the corner of my eye as he walked across the room and through the door. My stomach pinched painfully as I remembered how many times I’d watched him walk away from me in the past. And then I’d remember that this time was my fault and my belly would cramp even more.
Abraham went over what would happen while he was away meeting with other packs and I only half listened. I knew I should be paying better attention. Our uncle in Charlotte was planning an attack against our pack any day and Abraham was leaving for a week to find us allies.
Conrad still blamed Abraham for his son’s death. Even though Calvin had been a serial killing psychopath and it hadn’t been Abey’s fault, that didn’t seem to matter to our uncle. Abraham had taken something of his and now he was retaliating.
But the black cloud that surrounded me like a shield was basically impenetrable.
I couldn’t find it in me to care that we were all in danger.
I couldn’t find it in me to care that my brother would be leaving pack lands for longer than he ever had in the past.
I couldn’t find it in me to care that our way of life was in jeopardy.
All I knew was the hurt and the pain and the loss that constantly swirled around my head and the ache in my chest that never went away.
When Abraham finally dismissed us, I slowly stood and started making my way toward the door. Instead of another sleepless night, I had plans to work through the long hours. I figured if I couldn’t sleep, I might as well be useful.
A thin arm linked through mine and I turned to find Bea next to me, a sad smile on her face. “You look like you could use some ice cream.”
I gave her a weak smile. “I don’t think ice cream will fix this,” I told her softly.
She shook her head. “Ice cream might not fix it, but it always makes everything a little better. Let’s go see what Ms. Elsie’s got in the freezer.”
I let her pull me along through the conference room and out the door, but as soon as we made it into the hall, my feet stopped short along with my heart.
Leaning against the opposite wall was Wyatt, looking so handsome it actually hurt. My poor heart kick started in my chest and raced ahead as I watched him push off the wall and stand to his full height. My mind raced with what he had to say or why he was coming to talk to me after all this time.
Maybe he was here to make up.
Maybe he was here to apologize.
Maybe he was getting by without me as well as I was getting by without him, which was terribly.
Maybe–
“Hey, Bea, I was wondering if me and Wes could trade shifts. I’ll take his tonight and he’ll pick up mine tomorrow.”
My sister paused for only a moment and I knew it was for my benefit. I loved her a little more for it. “Um. Yeah. That’s fine.”
He nodded once before spinning around and walking away.
Just like that.
He didn’t have anything to say to me.
He didn’t spare me a single glance.
He didn’t even acknowledge I was there.
As my
