by Sara Summers
“No, I’m actually starting to get better.” I smiled. That was the one plus to all of the drama, not to mention the plus that was my sexy soulmate.
“Sweet! Alright, back to what I was saying. You’ve handled sickness for years, and you can handle this easily. You’re going to sit in yours and Ross’s bedroom until he comes in to find you, and then you two are going to figure out what’s right for you together. You’re a team now.” Jazz’s conviction was just what I needed.
“You’re right. I can do this.” I nodded. “Thanks, Jayday. You’re the best.”
“Any time, girl. You know I have your back.”
“I know.” I smiled.
The door opened, and I turned to see an exhausted-looking mate.
“I have to go. I’ll call you later.” I promised.
“Over and out. Love you, be strong.” Jazz told me.
“Love you too. Bye.”
Chapter
I hung up and looked at Ross, watching as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn’t say anything for a moment, just closing his eyes and staying still. I scooted closer to him and put my hand on his arm.
“What happened?” I almost didn’t want to know the answer.
“Monty escaped, and the pack is outraged by the flippancy you have toward many sacred aspects of shifter history.” He sounded like he was quoting someone.
“And do you agree with them?” I bit my lip. The pack could hate me all they wanted, but Ross was my soulmate. If he hated me, we were going to have issues.
“I want to. Our history is what makes us strong.” Ross looked at me. “But the things you said make sense. Why should it be okay for a man to lose control because a woman chooses to wear her cotie with pride? Why are you at fault for a man losing control?” He shrugged hopelessly.
“I want to think you and your friends are wrong the way I used to, but I’m just not sure any more.” He fell to his back and closed his eyes again. “We’re taught to protect women with our lives, why should that change when we see someone’s cotie?” he wondered.
“It shouldn’t.” I dropped to my side beside him, my front pressed against his hip. “Did they say anything else?”
“They want me step down.” He said. “The pack wants me to take you and leave.”
My eyes widened.
“What do you think about that?” I checked. This time, I was cautious.
“I don’t know. You’d be safer if we went to Glacier.”
“But your life is here.” I whispered, though I couldn’t help but be a little excited when he mentioned going back to Glacier.
“My life is wherever you are.” Ross opened his eyes. He cradled my head with his hand and gave me a tiny smile. “My future only has meaning with you beside me.”
“When do you have to give them your answer?” I asked. Guilt was trying to drown me—I really was screwing up his whole life. His friends were here, they were his only family left, and I was the reason they were telling him to leave.
“I already did.” Ross stared into my eyes. “The competition to determine the next Alpha begins tomorrow morning, and we have to be gone by then.” He said.
My mouth parted as I stared at my mate. My hot mate, my sexy mate, my mate who was willing to give up his life to be with me.
“You didn’t have to do that.” I swallowed. “You can tell them you changed your mind. I’ll let the other girls be the Omega together, you can still keep your pack.” I was desperate to stop him from making this mistake.
“You’re right, I didn’t have to do it. I chose to. My pack doesn’t respect you the way you deserve to be respected, so we’re leaving. It’s as simple as that. You’re more important to me than any of this.” Ross gestured to the space around us. “You’re the other half of my soul. Being Alpha is nothing compared to spending my life with you.” He ran his fingers through my wet, tangled hair.
I swallowed again.
“I don’t want you to regret it. In a few years, you might look back and wish you’d made a different choice.” I whispered. “You belong here.”
“No, I belong with you.” Ross cradled my face in his hands, rolling to his side to face me. “How could I ever regret choosing love?” he pulled my mouth to his, and all thoughts of the conversation vanished. It was just me and Ross, together, the way the Creator always intended us to be.
Georgia or Washington, his pack or my friends, none of it mattered. All that mattered was that we were going to stay together no matter what it would cost us. We were soulmates, after all. What else is there?
Chapter 20
The end!
Just kidding, the story isn’t over. Not quite yet, anyway.
It was a very long drive from Georgia to Washington. So long, in fact, that Ross and I had the chance to tell each other all of the million things we hadn’t yet gotten to say because of all the drama that we were going through. We pulled over to shift a few times (to avoid another near-death experience), stopped at a motel once so we could get some real sleep (car sleep really doesn’t count), and paused to grab food at six-too-many fast food places.
Yep, I was nauseas, but only partially because of my lion. The food was the culprit that time.
Though it was a long trip and we both yawned so many times it would be ridiculous to count, I actually had a good time road-tripping with Ross. I didn’t even know he had a car until that road trip, but apparently even Alpha lions need vehicles sometimes.
When we got to the house in Glacier it was late at night, probably around 12 or 1. We didn’t even bother grabbing anything out of the truck, just trudging into the house as we yawned.
I flipped the light on in the kitchen, and then I screamed.
“Get out of my house.” Ross growled at his brother, who was sitting down at my black card table with his feet propped up like he owned it.
“I think I’ll stay.” Monty drawled. “It’s nice here. The people are nice.”
“How did you find my house?” I demanded.
“It was easy. When I told the girl at the school that I was your mate’s brother, they were more than happy to give me your address.” Monty smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was a cold smile that barely hid the fury underneath.
“Get out.” Ross repeated the order.
“I’ll only leave if your mate comes with me.” Monty shrugged and leaned back in his chair like he didn’t have a care in the world. The guy was seriously messed up.
Ross tried to step forward. He was going to lunge at his brother and take him down, that much I knew. I put my hand on his chest and held him back.
“Why do you want me to go with you?” I checked.
“It doesn’t matter. He—“
“I want Ross to know what it feels like to lose his soulmate. I want him to miss you the way I miss her.” The emotion in his voice told me everything I needed to know. Monty didn’t hate Ross, he just wanted his brother to understand what he was feeling.
“Do you want to kill me?” I asked. Depending on his answer, I might actually agree to go with him. If I could help Monty, I still felt like he deserved that. He’d lost his soulmate and his mind with her, if I could help him find just a little peace…
“Of course not. I like you.” Monty said.
That hardened my resolve.
“Alright, I’ll go with you on one condition.” I nodded once.
“You are not going with him.” Ross roared.
“Yes, I am.” I squeezed Ross’s arm. “Monty needs closure and this could help him find it.”
“How would this help him?” My mate demanded.
“What’s your condition?” Monty wondered.
“After we leave here, we check you into the hospital. They can get you feeling better.” I said.
Monty stared me down for a moment, assessing my determination.
“Alright, I will go there for one day.” He gave in. I knew the hospital would
n’t let him out after just one day so I didn’t bother arguing.
“Okay. What do you want me to do?”
“You’re an Omega. The pack hasn’t picked a new leader yet so you still hold all of the Omega’s abilities. I want you to remove yourself from Ross. You can make it impossible for him to find and feel you.”
“No.” Ross grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me. “We’re not playing along with his game.”
“I don’t think it’s a game.” I said, soft but certain. “Monty is grieving. He just wants you to grieve with him for a moment. Please just let me try.”
“No. This is your last warning. Get out of here.” Ross snarled at Monty, stepping closer to him. That was my chance and I knew it was probably the only chance I’d get to follow Monty’s plan and get him the help he needed.
I wasn’t quite sure how to separate myself from Ross, but I remembered Leah saying something about how she had freed the women in her pack when she did the same thing. So I closed my eyes and whispered to myself,
“Just for a moment, I need to be free from Ross.”
I expected Ross to collapse on the floor in pain, or cry out, or maybe swing at his brother.
“It didn’t work.” I frowned.
“Because your lion knows you don’t need to be separated from me.” Ross’s eyes softened as he looked at me. “I already know what it feels like to lose you. I held you in the bathroom and watched the life drain from you. I watched hopelessly as your wolf tried to leave you. There was nothing I could do, nowhere I could go to get away from the pain. My cotie burned and froze and felt like it would fall off of my skin.
Ross turned to Monty.
“I know what it’s like to lose your soulmate, okay? Nothing in this world could be as horrible as that. I’m sorry that you lost yours, but that wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t mom’s fault either. The Creator took her back home because it was her time to go. If we could’ve saved her you know that we would’ve.”
Monty closed his eyes. The house was silent as the legs of the chair slowly lowered back to the ground. Ross threaded his fingers through mine, and we watched the emotions come and go over Monty’s face. He wasn’t sure how to feel, and I wouldn’t have dreamed of judging him for that.
“Okay.” Monty finally opened his eyes. His voice was quiet, and he looked on the verge of giving up. “Take me to the hospital.” He whispered.
I smiled and took his arm. Though I was exhausted, I could spare the sleep. Monty was finally going to get the help he needed.
Ross pulled me aside before I walked through the door.
“You’re incredible.” He whispered. He shook his head, then grabbed my waist and pulled me in for a long, deep kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I kissed him again, and everything was perfect. I didn’t need or want anything else in the world.
I was on the path of recovery, and I knew I’d continue to feel better every day. I’d love my lion side more than I used to, I’d remember that I was a lion, not just a shifter.
Most importantly though, I’d be with Ross. We would be together for the rest of forever, and I couldn’t wait for that. Our lives were going to be so great. Our time with his pack was only the beginning of that.
Epilogue—9 months later
“Yeah, J Z, I know. We’ve been over this seventeen thousand times. I’ll only stay feeling good if I keep shifting a few times a day, at least for the next year or so. My lion needs to know that I love her, and that’s possible even while I’m going to school.”
“You don’t need to go back though, you have a good job and a nice apartment. There’s a chance it could make you sick again, and I don’t want to have a sicky best friend again when we can avoid it.”
“I know you’re saying this because you love me, but you’re wrong. I’ll love being a therapist.” I glanced up at the clock. “Besides, the classes are online. It’ll be fun to help people all day long. Now, I have to go pick up Monty, he’s getting released today. Talk to you later.” I was about to hang up when Jazz exclaimed,
“Wait!”
“What?” I leaned forward in my comfy rolling chair
“Did you hear about Bree?” Jazz checked.
“What about her?”
“She saved a wolf.” I could hear the grin in Jazz’s voice, so I waited for her to tell me she was kidding. “She and Emma did, together.”
“What?” my mouth parted. “How…”
“I guess the Creator knew what he was doing, making her friends with us.” I imagined her shrugging.
“Obviously.” I agreed.
Jazz hung up a few minutes later while my brain was still trying to process the news. Bree had saved a wolf? She was going to become a shifter? She’d wanted to be one for so long, but wasn’t born one.
She was going to be a shifter?
Bree? Our resident human?
WHAT?!
Seriously? A shifter? Bree? Excuse me while my head spins for the next twenty years or so. I knew she’d be a great shifter, there was no doubt about that. It was just crazy that out of everyone on the planet, she had the opportunity to become a shifter.
My mind was officially blown.
I’d thought everything was calming down in Glacier for a while when Ross and I got back, but apparently I was wrong. I had the feeling that Bree becoming a shifter was only the beginning of a lot more drama, and I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or afraid.
No matter what happened, though, I’d have Ross. He and I would always be together, and that’s what really matters.
After all, what could possibly be more important than love?
***
Book 8
More than a Human
Coming Soon
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Author’s Note
Thanks for reading! I hope you love these characters and their stories as much as I do. If so, please, leave a review! Reviews can help other readers find and fall in love with these characters and stories like you and I have.
Thanks again for reading!
Sincerely,
Sara Summers
P.S. Keep up with me and the rest of my characters on my website, iamsarasummers.blogspot.com. Hope to see you there!
***
About Me
I'm married to the koolest kid in town, and we basically spend our time adventuring and nerding out over things we won't admit to being into. We live in Idaho Falls, Idaho, which is... a place. And it's windy-- really windy.
I'm usually either writing up a storm on my handy dandy writing chair, reading inspiring quotes on Pinterest, or out some place with my man. I also dabble in the art of singing (though I never do it well) and do hair occasionally, but those are more of hobbies. I'm obsessed with leggings, muddy buddies, and garlic salt, and I'll never turn down a good back massage.
Finally, as you've maybe discerned, I'm a writer. Completely, totally, and unapologetically. I'm a writer because I love to write, and I love to write because it makes me a better me. Writing reminds me of the good in the world and helps me understand myself more.
So yeah. I write.
I write a lot. :D