Page 998 of One More Kiss

Wyatt

I was late,I knew. It was hard to force myself to move as I continued spiraling deeper into depression. Where I had once loved Ashley with my whole being, I now hated her with equal passion as each day passed.

I was meeting the guys at the barn to go for a ride out on the range. I had always loved riding, but it was the one thing that Ashley and I loved to do together. If I were being honest, it was the only thing she and I had truly loved to do together.

It was funny how hindsight was twenty-twenty. I was quickly coming to realize just how many things I’d given up or done just because she wanted to when really I didn’t even like doing them. It made me second guess myself and wonder if I even knew myself at all.

Maybe Emmett had been right, and I’d just been her whipped little bitch all along. I still didn’t want to believe it was true though.

One thing was certain though, I was done with girls, maybe even forever. The bachelor life was starting to look pretty damn good, and I was going to talk to Austin about finally moving into the second room in the basement apartment his parents had built for him. It was time for me to step up and be a man making my place in the Pack.

Finding a new sense of purpose on the short drive to the barn, I parked and jumped out of my truck feeling a whole lot lighter and ready to take the next step towards being the man I knew I could be.

“Hey guys!” I waved with my new and improved attitude.

“You’re late,” James reminded me.

“Sorry. I’m trying,”

Emmett eyeballed me suspiciously. “Are you high?”

“Nope,” I said honestly.

“But you’re smiling,” Clay pointed out the obvious.

I shrugged. “It’s a beautiful day for a ride.”

“Oh Lord, he met a girl,” Emmett said shaking his head. “You’re rebounding already?”

“I’m not. I told you. I’ve sworn off girls entirely.”

Just then Austin walked out of the barn talking to a dark-haired beauty. I couldn’t do anything but stand there and stare at her. No way was this girl into my quirky, big-mouthed, redheaded friend. No freaking way.

She was easily the most gorgeous female I’d ever laid eyes on and I was struggling to look away from her.

Mate!a voice said in my head.

I gritted my teeth.

Not happening,I growled back at my internal beast already wanting to claim this girl.

She stared back at me in equal confusion.

“Oh, hey, Wyatt’s here,” Austin said, but still, I just stared, making things weird. He cleared his throat. “Uh, Wyatt, this is my cousin Kate I was telling you about. She’ll be hanging out with us this summer.”

I growled in response.

Austin’s brow furrowed as a hand reached out and smacked me on the back of the head. I turned my head slowly to see Thomas glaring at me in warning.

Shit.I had to pull it together.

“Are we riding or what?” I snapped walking past the girl without a second glance. That hadn’t been easy to do, but I stubbornly did it anyway.

The last thing I wanted was a mate. I’d thought I already had one and I wasn’t willing to risk my heart to another anytime soon.

Mine!my wolf argued.

Tough shit,I thought.

---