My eyes were on Ellie, but it was Wyatt that answered. “The issue with her car is bigger than we thought. We’re heading back to pack lands right now,” he grunted.
Ellie had texted me earlier to let me know her car broke down on the highway and she’d be late, but that was the last I’d heard about it. So, what was going on now and why were they in such a hurry?
I glanced at him quickly, but not long enough to take in those features I’d already memorized. When I turned back to Ellie, I said, “I can give you guys a ride home if you want to wait a minute.”
Wyatt shook his head. “Don’t bother. Wes is almost here.”
Dismissed.
That’s exactly what he’d just done, and to be honest, it didn’t feel good.
Wyatt turned to usher Ellie back down the hall, but she stiffened and stopped his forward trajectory. When she turned back around, she said, “Thanks for the offer, Callie. You stay here and finish out your day. I brought a bunch of stuff home with me, so I can get more work done there.”
I waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about that, Ellie. There are bigger issues you need to be focusing on than The Asheville Initiative right now.” Without my permission, my gaze jumped to Wyatt for a moment before focusing on Ellie again. “Have you told Abey yet?”
She winced, and I knew the answer without her having to say it out loud. Apparently, I didn’t need to reprimand her out loud either.
“I didn’t want to worry him when we didn’t know if there was actually anything to worry about yet.”
“Ellie, he’s not going to be happy about that.”
She sighed. “Yes, but his trip is more important than what’s going on here.”
I arched a brow in her direction. “Don’t you think he should be the one to decide that?”
Her shoulders fell, like the weight of the world had been resting on them. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling. She’d been the target of more animosity than anyone I’d ever known in my life. On top of that, she was fated to an alpha of a big pack which meant she’d been taking on those responsibilities as well. She’d never signed up for this life, but she was handling it with a grace that made me proud.
“Probably,” she admitted. “I thought I was doing the right thing by holding off. You know how important it is for him to find us more allies.” She lowered her voice before continuing. “The Charlotte pack could attack any day. We need all the help we can get if we’re going to have a fighting chance. You know that.”
I swallowed harshly at our new reality before sighing. “Yeah, you’re right. I just know he won’t be happy about being kept in the dark.”
“Well, I’m going to take the blame for this one. I did what I thought was best at the time. Now that we know it was foul play, I’ll call and fill him in.”
My heart stopped as my eyes went wide. “Foul play?”
She smiled, but it wasn’t happy. “Apparently my brake lines were cut.”
I gasped. “Oh, Ellie.”
Who would have done something like that? Who felt that strongly about her that they’d sabotage her car? As I thought more about it, the list of people who didn’t like Ellie started to grow. She hadn’t exactly had an easy transition into life in our pack and it seemed like she wasn’t getting a break any time soon.
“Yeah, that was definitely not the news I was hoping for,” she said with a shrug.
“What are you going to do?”
Wyatt, clearly done with being ignored, stepped up next to Ellie and wrapped his fingers around her arm. My eyes zeroed in on the contact as my stomach pinched painfully.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
I wasn’t jealous of Ellie right now. I really wasn’t. But it was hard to watch him touch someone else when I’d been yearning for the feel of his calloused hands on my skin for what felt like forever. I shook my head and locked those thoughts in a box. I was being ridiculous, and we had more important things to worry about.
Wyatt’s voice broke through my mental train wreck. “We’re going to figure out who the hell is responsible and make them pay.” He looked down at Ellie and continued, “We’re leaving now, Ellie.”
She glanced at me, her face apologetic. “I’ll talk to you when you get home.”
My eyes darted between the two of them as the realization of what could have happened today really sunk in.
Ellie’s car had been tampered with. Someone had purposely cut her brake lines in the hopes she’d lose control of her car.
She could have been injured.
She could have died.
And Wyatt had been with her the whole time.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Get there safe.”
Wyatt grunted. “Thanks for the suggestion, Callista.”
His response was like a bucket of ice water dumped on my head. Without waiting for a response, he took off down the hallway, dragging Ellie behind him as I stood there with my mouth hanging open.
He’d never spoken to me like that. Never been rude or short. But I guess that was back when I was someone he cared about. If he’d showed me one thing over the past couple of weeks, it was that I wasn’t important to him anymore. He didn’t have to be sweet, or nice, or even courteous.
It didn’t feel good being on the outside of his life and looking in, but who could I blame for that but me?
***
“This is bullshit,”
