Page 51 of Same Difference
“Are you sure Nathan will allow you to do that?” Dodger asked. “Second of a Pack, extremely dominant, and just lost a bond to a woman his wolf was accepting as his? That one won’t be able to leave you alone. Not because he actually cares, but he won’t be able to stand letting you get away. It’s predator instinct that will drive him, Delta. Not love.”
And damn Dodger, his words filled her stomach with a twisting sensation. That felt right. It felt accurate. Nathan hadn’t been able to curb his urge to show up around her as she was asking for space. He’d overstepped every boundary she had tried to construct. He couldn’t stop taking care of the things she wanted to take care of on her own.
When she was with him, he was intoxicating and the rest of the world melted away. Her senses were dulled, and her instincts quieted. All she could see and feel was him.
But here in the cab of Dodger’s truck, all of this made sense.
Perhaps her wolf had chosen him too, and that’s why this hurt so much. Maybe they were both running on instinct.
She tried to imagine him moving on with another woman, and just the vision of him sitting next to another woman at a Pack meeting dragged a snarl up the back of her throat.
What was this? It wasn’t love, right? She’d loved Decker for a little while, and it hadn’t been like this. It had been quiet and understandable, but with Nathan, since they’d separated, she felt like she was on fire around him.
It wasn’t love, no. It felt more like need. It wasn’t right. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
Dodger didn’t say much more on the drive to Main Street. He said an easy goodbye and dropped her off at the curb in front of the flower shop. All of the bouquets had been switched out in the front display case since yesterday, and Delta admired them before she walked inside to the sound of that pretty bell over the door.
The interview went well. At least she thought so as soon as she got through the early nerves of talking to the co-owner of the shop. Both women smiled a lot so that was something. Sheryl told her they would have an answer for her on the job by the end of the week, and by the time Delta stood to leave, she felt hope blooming inside of her chest.
“Oh, hey,” Sheryl said as she headed for the door. She pulled something out from near the register. It was a small piece of paper. “That guy who was in here yesterday left this for you.”
The guy? Delta unfolded the small piece of notebook paper.Brian Younghad been scribbled across the top, along with a phone number.In case you ever find yourself single.
Holy moly.
Delta swallowed hard and lifted the piece of paper to Sheryl. “Thank you.”
“Sure honey. We’ll call you soon.”
“Right. Have a good day.”
In a daze, she meandered out to the sidewalk outside and looked left, right, and then left again. What did she do now?
The Pack text loop was quiet right now. She’d turned off notifications while she was talking with Sheryl and her daughter, so she caught up real quick. The last messages were from Dodger, announcing that he was headed to the police station to meet up with the others.
She opened a text to Nathan, but he was probably up to his eyeballs with Liam stuff right now. And also? She didn’t need to have him come save her every five seconds.
She needed a car.
That had been the plan before she and Nathan had broken up, and she’d been getting all her ducks in a row for it. Nathan was planning on paying half on a three-year-old four-wheel drive Ford Ranger she’d liked, but all those plans were out the window forever now.
She still had half saved up now, and it wouldn’t even tap into her savings. Maybe she could draw some of her savings into her car account and do this on her own. She couldn’t afford the Ranger she’d fallen in love with, but maybe she could look at the rest of the cars on the lot and find something less expensive.
Werewolves couldn’t get bank loans, or car loans, so she would have to pay cash. Delta opened her banking app on her phone and checked her balances.
She needed something with four-wheel drive to get up to the property in the snow or mud, and those were more expensive.
In her last Pack, she’d just borrowed her dad’s daily driver most days. There hadn’t been much of a reason to spend her savings on a car, but now? Now a car felt like freedom. She wouldn’t have to ask the Pack to keep coming to help her.
She connected to a ride-share and waited for the driver to come pick her up. He was a nice older gentleman who chatted the whole way to the used car lot about his wife’s upcoming birthday party. She was in the hospital, but he didn’t sound sad. Maybe it had been a part of his life for a while, and it was just the way it was.
She smiled at how happy he sounded when he spoke his wife’s name.
He said an easy goodbye, and she tipped him twenty percent as he drove away.
With a steadying breath, she turned for the car lot and mentally prepared herself to negotiate. She’d car shopped with her dad when she was a kid, but she’d never done this on her own.
“I can do this,” she whispered to herself, clutching her purse closer as she slowly walked to the first row of cars with sale stickers on the front windows.
