Page 44 of Fetch Me A Mate
Diana picked up Miriam's fountain pen, testing its weight. The ink flowed smoothly across paper, dark blue and permanent.
"What would you write?" she asked.
"Something simple," Miriam suggested. "Something true."
Diana thought for a moment, then began writing on a fresh piece of paper:
Rowan - This is your place too, if you want it. Whatever's happening, you don't have to face it alone. - Diana
She folded the note carefully and tucked it into an envelope.
"Where will you leave it?" Twyla asked.
"His truck. If he's planning on leaving town, he'll find it when he loads his tools."
"And if he's not really leaving?"
"Then maybe he'll understand that some offers don't have expiration dates."
Diana sealed the envelope and wrote his name across the front. Her handwriting looked steadier now, more determined.
"I need to ask you both something," she said. "If Rowan's in the kind of crap that brings dangerous people to my doorstep, am I putting the inn at risk by getting involved?"
Miriam and Twyla exchanged a look.
"Possibly," Miriam said finally. "But you're already involved, dear. The question is whether you're willing to fight for what you want or let fear make your choices for you."
"I didn't come to Hollow Oak to play it safe."
"No, you didn't." Twyla smiled. "You came here to build something worth keeping. That includes the people who matter to you."
Diana looked at the envelope in her hands, at the simple message that said everything and nothing. This morning she'd been humiliated, dismissed, treated like she didn't matter. But underneath Rowan's cold words, she'd sensed something else. Desperation. Fear. The kind of protective instinct that made people push away the things they cared about most.
"He matters," she said quietly.
"Then make sure he knows it," Miriam said. "Before it's too late to tell him."
As afternoon faded to evening, Diana walked out to the square where Rowan's truck sat parked beside the inn. She slipped the envelope under his windshield wiper, pressing it flat against the glass.
The anger was still there, simmering beneath the surface. But it was tempered now by understanding and something deeper. Love, maybe. Or at least the recognition that some people were worth fighting for, even when they couldn't fight for themselves.
Back inside the inn, she returned to her planning. If Rowan chose to stay, she'd have work ready for him. If he chose to leave, she'd have built something strong enough to survive without him.
Either way, she'd belong here by choosing to. Just like she'd promised herself she would.
22
ROWAN
The north shore of Moonmirror Lake stretched out like black glass under the afternoon sun. Rowan arrived first, positioning himself with his back to the water and clear sight lines to the tree line. Old habits. When you'd spent years as an alpha, you never stopped thinking tactically.
They emerged from the woods like shadows given form. Kael, Max, and Danarius, moving with the predatory confidence of wolves who'd never learned to doubt their place in the world's hierarchy.
"Punctual as always," Danarius said, his voice carrying across the water. "I was beginning to worry you'd developed bad habits."
"Cut the crap. What do you want?"
"Same thing we've wanted for three years." Danarius stopped just outside striking distance, a careful calculation. "For you to come back home and fix what you broke."
