Page 3 of Same Difference
He sped out onto the main road that would lead to the highway, but he kept checking the rearview mirror, and his eyes darted this way and that to each car that passed them.
“Is someone after us?” she asked.
Nate didn’t answer, but as another minute passed, he relaxed his stranglehold on the steering wheel and seemed to let out a breath of relief as they came to a stoplight on the edge of the small town they’d been passing through.
“Nate?” she asked softly.
“Everything is going to be all right. We will go back to Coeur d’Alene and see what Liam is on about, and everything will work out how it is supposed to work out. You can be near Nory.”
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Delta.
She shook her head, unsure of what to say. Nate was lost in his mind right now and didn’t seem to want to share whatever was going on. She hated this part of the Arrangement. They hadn’t known each other much before they’d signed their contracts and paired up. Not really. They’d met a couple of timesand seemed to want the same things. He wanted a mate, and she wanted…well, Delta wanted to be anywhere but in her old Pack.
She’d needed an escape, and Nate had offered it to her, and she’d gone into this pairing with the best of intentions. Sure, it was a symbiotic relationship where they both needed each other to move forward, but she had also always wanted to be paired, and somehow, someway, she’d been chosen by Nathan Donn, seventh son of the notorious Rake Donn, of the infamous Donn Pack of Louisiana. Handsome, confident, respectful to a fault, caring in his own way, bullheaded at times, and unfortunately for her, the king of distance. He could protect her though. Being a submissive werewolf was the worst. She needed someone strong to keep her safe so she could move through her life with as much peace as she could muster.
Over the past two months, his distance had been punctuated by sweet moments that had attached her heart to him and dredged up a deep care inside of her.
Someday, she was going to earn his trust and break down his walls. This man was a slow open, and they were still newly learning each other, but God, she wished he would tell her what was happening.
His phone buzzed, and a familiar name came up on the Bluetooth of his truck. He hadn’t even plugged his phone in, but his phone had attached to the truck.
“Fuck,” he gritted out, poking buttons and trying to unlink his phone from his pickup.
Numbness crept through Delta’s body. “Why is Decker calling you?” Delta asked. “And before you lie and say it’s another Decker, please remember I’m not stupid.” Her breath hitched on the last word. She never spoke boldly like this to him, or to anyone. Her submissiveness prevented it, but right now, the numbness enabled her to speak her mind.
She wasn’t stupid. She was a watcher, and now she knew it to be true. If her ex was calling her current mate, something was very wrong.
“I’ll explain it all later,” he rumbled, and now the wolf was in his voice.
She swung her gaze to him, and oh, she knew what her face would look like right now. The angles of her jawline and cheekbones would be sharper, her canines would be elongated by millimeters, and her eyes would be blazing that neon green that made people uncomfortable looking at her.
“We have a long drive. Explain it now.” They could both have the wolf in their voices now.
He flashed a frown at her. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I feel like you are betraying me.”
“I’m not.”
“Lie!” she whispered in horror. “I can hear it, Nate. I am a werewolf too—” A gasp took her throat as she saw the truck passing them.
It wasn’t just any truck. It was one of a kind. It was a black 1972 Chevrolet K20 with custom white flames down the side of it that turned light blue in the right sunlight. She knew it because she’d grown up working on that truck with her dad.
“Stop,” she uttered as an awful feeling consumed her.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said, tracking her dad’s truck.
“I want to talk to my dad,” she whispered.
“But—”
“Nate, this is the second thing I have ever asked for. It’s not a lot. I want to talk to my dad. He’s here. He will give me a straight answer on what’s going on.”
“Fuck,” Nate gritted out. “Delta…” He couldn’t seem to finish his thought though. Not with her, and not out loud.
“Pull. Over,” she said in a shaking voice. Why hadn’t her dad told her he was headed to meet them? She’d just talked to himon the phone two days ago and he hadn’t mentioned anything. He’d been his normal chipper self, but now as she looked in the side view mirror, she could see Dad pull his truck around in traffic and settle into the same lane behind them, and she could see it plain as day. Her ex, Decker, was in the passenger seat. She didn’t know what was happening, but already, it felt as if her heart was breaking.
“Pull into there,” she said, pointing to a grocery store parking lot to the right.
