Page 45 of A Surprise Baby for the Wolf Shifter

I nodded. “Yes.”

“What if I told you he wanted to talk to you?” she asked. “Would that change your mind?”

“When did you talk to him?” I asked.

“I haven’t,” she said.

“Then how do you know he wants to talk to me?” I asked. My heart started to race and my mind focused on him. Not to mention everything that had gone so wrong.

“Maybe because I’m looking at him right now,” she said and nodded over my left shoulder.

My heart skipped a beat. “What did you say?”

“He’s staring a hole through the back of your head,” she said.

I covered my face. This day was going to get so much harder. I wasn’t ready to face him. I certainly wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him.

Fate, you evil witch. Destiny, I hate you. Karma, what the fuck are you trying to teach me?

“No, no, no, no, no,” I said and started rocking in the seat.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” she mocked. “I’m going to wave him over.”

“No, don’t!” I said, reaching over the table to keep her from lifting her hand, but it was too late. She had already raised her hand and beckoned him over.

“Pull yourself together, you big, beautiful mess,” she said.

I let out a lungful of air. “Please tell me you are about to follow that up with you were only joking.”

“He’s coming this way,” she said and winked at me.

Ready or not, here he was coming.

18

WEYLAN

Adjusting to life with Gemma gone had been difficult in ways I hadn’t expected. The world seemed colder, less vibrate, and duller than when she’s around. The air also felt stagnant. Hunting wasn’t even the same. And I kicked myself for the way things played out. I also hated myself for waiting to long to show up.

Later, on the night she left following my not so graceful reveal of what I was, I had gone to visit her. I was unable to sleep and the only thing that would soothe me was her.

I went with the intention of smoothing things over. Making her understand I wasn’t a monster. I was still the man she knew. The only thing that had changed for her was the simple fact that I had a pesky animal-shifting thing most people didn’t have. But when I got to her room, she was already long gone. And though I still remembered where she lived, I desired to respect her space more than my need to see her.

Now I was paying the price for my stellar decision making skills.

But as the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, I was losing hope of ever being in her vicinity again, much less her presence. And that hurt more than anything. She was the one for me. She was who I wanted to be my mate. She was the one who was carrying my child.

I could have gone after her. Said screw it to her boundaries and her space and made her give me a second chance. But I also didn’t want to force her into something she wanted nothing to do with. Taking off the way she did had said that and so much more. I had no other choice but to respect her decision. As difficult as it was, I had to leave the ball in her court. If she changed her mind, I was sure she would come to me.

At least, that was what I told myself so that I might sleep better at night. Little good that has done me so far.

Suffice it to say, that after a little more than six months later, I was an emotional wreck. My job was suffering, my peace was non-existent, and Tabitha took all the opportunities she was able to catch to try and get me to go back on my word. I hated to admit how close I was to that much less how often. I was lonely, and she was willing to help me through it… except, I remained firm in my decision to cut ties with her. I didn’t let her back in.

It had been a couple of weeks since I last ran into her.

I knew better than to believe she finally caught on.

But Gemma? She was a whole other ballgame. I was slowly losing my mind. Everywhere I looked I thought I saw her. It was enough to drive me insane. Every once in a while, I would catch her scent and try to follow it only to end up at a dead end.

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