“What’s up?”
“We’ve been waiting for you,” he says. “To start dinner?”
Suddenly, I smell the roasted lamb, the garlic, and the potatoes. I completely forgot we had a communal dinner this evening.
I also forgot that I’m supposed to be making a speech, talking a little about the threats we’re facing, given that rumors spread like wildfire here and everyone’s talking. Everyone’s concerned.
“Sorry,” I say, “I was just doing research, yeah, let’s go.”
We head over to our dining room, and I look back at the library that’s fading out of view. Danielle still hasn’t emerged.
I spent the majority of dinner sitting alone, lost in thought.
Not exactly a beacon of hope for our packmates, whom I was trying to reassure. But I couldn’t help it. As the murmurs and chatter swirled around me, I was fixated on forcing out any memories I could find. Unfortunately, that still proved to be a lost cause.
And why wouldn’t she tell me now? She’d been caught—what else did she have to lose?
Unless the witches are planning something.
But I can’t entertain that thought.
We face a threat that we need to address together. We can’t continue arguing like this; we need to trust each other now more than ever.
Once I return to my cabin, I half-expect Danielle to be there waiting for me. Ready to tell the truth.
I didn’t see her at the communal dinner, and I supposed that she’d been given enough time to sort through her thoughts.
Now I’ve given her space, and we’re no longer wrapped up in the intensity of whatever we experienced in that library—surely, she’s ready to confess?
But I return to a dark, silent cabin.
I head upstairs to my bedroom, and I scent her, but her lights are off and she doesn’t utter a word.
Tomorrow, I tell myself.She won’t let this go on much longer. She knows we have important work to do.
I think back to that initial night, when I told myself she’d come clean the next day, and I laugh a little to myself, before, once again, I feel pissed off.
Danielle has made sure that our schedules don’t align.
When we have wolf and witch meet-ups, she’s never there. She’s not even there when I return home. She must not be getting any sleep, or maybe she’s sleeping somewhere else—I don’t know. I know that she’s here sometimes, because I scent her lingering fragrance, but whenever I’m here, she’s not.
On the third day since that afternoon in the library, whatever patience I once had left has officially worn off.
Sheowesme an explanation. She can’t fuck with my mind and expect there to be no repercussions.
And the craziest thing is, when I’m not mad, not trying to suss out her schedule, or not busy with pack duties, I think back to our time in the library before I found out that I knew who she was.
I yearn to touch her body like I did, to taste her soft lips and fill her with my come.
It’s ridiculous that even after everything, I can’t help but want her.
That only pisses me off more.
This morning, I have a council meeting, but I also discovered from my guards that during council meetings, she slinks off.
Danielle returns to the cabin for whatever reason, mid-council meeting, and by the time it’s finished and I return home, she’s gone.
I tell Aaron to fill my place, and I wait for her downstairs by the kitchen table, drumming my knuckle impatiently on the wood.