Epilogue

Harou

What Blu had said, the words he'd hammered into my heart and left me reeling with the need to do something. Anything to break free of the cycle of pain I'd been living in since Doc had so spectacularly rejected me.

Within the pack, any soul brave enough to say it aloud, that I'd had a lucky escape, were the lucky ones to be left alive. I'd learned restraint, though some days death had felt like the best option with the gaping hole in the center of my chest at the loss of my mate. The rejection.

Of all the thoughts I'd had running continually through my mind, none of them had considered that Doc wanted me, that he was worried for me and wanted to protect me.

Hope, a tiny sprig that formed from Blu explaining what he knew, settled in the crack in my heart.

Would this knowledge make a difference?

Hope unfurling inside the damaged part of me convinced me it would. My wolf remained reticent. He'd done his duty, protected the pack, but otherwise he'd become as melancholic as me.

This changes things!

How? he fired back. He's not here. He left us. Rejected us.

Did you not hear what Blu said? He was worried about dying and leaving us alone to suffer.

We are suffering without him.

The argument was real; I lived with the pain. I got it, but…

There is no but.

My wolf was unlike others in the pack. There's seemed to be more go getters, whereas mine was a thinker. Liked to consider all the options first. It was an oddity, one I'd accepted long ago. But right now, I needed it on board for what I was about to do. We are going to go and show him he's wrong to hide how he feels from us. We don't need protection from him.

Don't we? How short your memory is.

It's not short, I argued back, I recall every minute we've endured without him.

Then why chase after him to have to suffer yet more rejection?

I didn't believe he'd reject us again. Fight against it, yes. But he'd run away and with what Blu had shared, I believed now it was fear that had driven him to leave. I didn't give a rat's ass that he was an alpha. We'd figure it out.

You were shocked into a stupor.

I groaned and ground my teeth together, seeing no way to avoid just how shocked I'd been by the tidbit of information. Okay, I was. It doesn't change anything. We can work around that. Russ and Olowin have. Fucksake, Olowin had babies. Potato babies!

He sulked, I could feel him settled down for a big long one. I sighed, disheartened by his lack of enthusiasm. We need to figure this out together.

Silence.

Come on, he's ours!

Silence.

Fine, I'll work it out myself. I shoved the last bits I'd laid on the bed to pack before I'd got waylaid by the conversation into my carryall. And you'll just have to suck it up.

One sweeping look around my tidy bedroom, I zipped up my bag, grabbed my wallet off the nightstand and headed for my truck. Inside I programmed the GPS to the coordinates for Potatoville. I didn't have Doc's address, I was sure someone would direct me once I got there.

I opened my cell phone and searching for Olowin's number I pressed call.

"Hello Harou, what can I do for you?"

I breathed in and out slowly. "Alpha, I need to take some time off."

"Now?"

"Yes."

There was a heavy pause and my heart beat a little faster at the possibility of him saying no. I wasn't sure what I'd do if that's what he did.

"Is this in relation to Doc?" he queried quietly.

Another breath in and as I breathed out, I answered, "Yes. Yes, it is. It's time I went to claim my mate."

The pause was shorter. "Are you sure that's the right thing to do?"

"Absolutely. He's running from stuff that no one can predict. No one, so I'm going to find him and give him a big dose of reality." And if that didn't work, I'd tie him to the bed and fuck him into submission. Whatever worked, I didn't care. I'd done without him for months. I was done existing, I wanted to live.

"Do what you need to do. If you need to talk… then I'll be here."

I breathed a little easier with his approval. "Thank you. I'll keep you updated."

A moment later, the conversation ended, and I placed my cell phone in the cup holder in front of me. Starting the engine, I looked out at the hills. "I'm coming, my little potato, whether or not you're ready." It was time.