Chapter Three

His father never told him how much paperwork an alpha had to sort through. It seemed he was always one stack behind. Miles sighed and straightened, rolling his head on his shoulders in a circle to try to loosen the tension. Then he lifted his arms over his head and bent side to side, and several pops cracked up and down his spine. Needing a break, he pushed away from the desk and stood. The clock on his phone told him it was almost midnight. Time to go to bed.

He shut down his laptop and turned off the desk lamp, but just as he pulled the door closed behind him, the landline phone rang.

"Damn it," he grunted under this breath, and marched back into his office. The landline was mainly for those wolves who lived on the outskirts of Shadowhide Pack land and shunned most technology. Plus, there wasn't a cell tower out there. He picked up the receiver. "Yes?"

"Alpha Kenneally?"

Miles frowned, not recognizing the feminine voice. "Who is this?"

"Is the reward for information still available?"

Everything in his body froze, unsure he heard correctly. "Excuse me?"

"Um. The reward."

He shook his head trying to move his sluggish thoughts. Surely that didn't mean … could it be, after all this time?

"Yes," he replied. His heart thumped heavily in his chest. "It is."

"She's here, in my pack. I've debated if I should call but I need the money. I can tell you where after you send the reward."

His heart took off racing like a fucking Thoroughbred. "I need proof."

"Of course. I can send you the picture I took today."

Miles rattled off his cell phone number and then waited. Moments later, he received a text and when he opened it, his knees almost gave out. Circe. After fifteen years, he finally laid eyes on her again. She was still beautiful with her brown hair cut shoulder-length and her dimples flashing in her cheeks. She walked with two men. Jealousy filled him and he wanted to rip the mens' heads off. She belonged to him , not to them.

"Hello?"

He'd forgotten the unknown caller and picked the receiver back up. "Where is she?"

"What about my money?"

"Text me where to send it." A moment later, his phone buzzed again. He opened the message and quickly transferred the funds. "Now, where is she?"

****

"Good evening, Circe!" Esmeralda called out.

"Hello," she called back.

People greeted her and she waved back. Although it was Friday night, only a handful of tables were filled. Almost immediately she'd been accepted in the Sheridan Pack. School had started and she loved teaching the shifter children. It was completely different from the human world. There she had to hide and be very careful about what she said, but in Sheridan she didn't have those restrictions. For the first time in years, she could relax about her nature.

Esmeralda walked over with iced tea and placed it on the table. "Here's you go, sweetie. Want the special tonight? My world-famous meatloaf."

"World famous?" she asked.

The older woman kissed her fingertips and held them up. "I swear by the grace of the High Luna."

Circe snorted. "Okay. Yeah, sure. I'd love the meatloaf dinner."

"Coming right up."

She quickly walked back toward the kitchen. Circe unlocked her phone and brought up a game to play. It was mindless entertainment but sometimes it was just what she needed. A different way to relax. The diner door opened and a family walked in, and as soon as the little girl saw her, she squealed and broke free of her mom to rush over to Circe.

"Miss Tolliver!"

Circe turned off her phone and smiled at the little girl. "Hello, Jayme."

Jayme thrust out her doll. "I got a new dolly."

"Very nice." Circe smiled as the little girl's family came over to collect her. "Hello."

"Good evening," the mom said. "Sorry she barged over."

"No problem at all. I always like meeting new dollies."

Jayme hugged her toy tightly.

"I hope you have a wonderful evening, Miss Tolliver," the mom said. She grabbed her daughter's shoulder and steered her back to their table.

"You too, thank you."

"Bye, Miss Tolliver!" Jayme called back.

"See you Monday, Jayme."

A moment later, Esmeralda placed her plate in front of her. "You certainly are good with children. But I guess you'd have to be in your profession."

"It definitely comes in handy."

She came into the diner a few nights a week to eat supper. Cooking for one was slightly pathetic. Years ago, she had tried dating without success. It wasn't fair to the men she'd had dinner with, because they could never live up to the memory of Miles. Even the few males she'd had sex with were a disappointment, so she gave up. Part of her was bitter that Miles got to live his best life with the beautiful woman he mated. The other part hoped he was happy.

Being back on pack lands, as well as being around shifters once more, settled her soul like nothing else. The cat shifters had brought a small sense of normalcy during the full moon, but she realized now how much she'd missed being around her own kind.

She finished her dinner, paid her bill, and waved at Esmeralda as she left. Crickets chirped through the night and a cool breeze lifted the ends of her hair. Streetlights illuminated the sidewalks. Circe was glad she lived close to Main Street, so she could walk and enjoy the evening. She hurried up the steps to her little house and unlocked the front door. It wasn't until she was already inside and had taken a step into the living room, that she realized she wasn't alone. Fear spiked through her and she shifted her fingers defensively into claws.

"Who's here?" she growled, letting some of her wolf seep into her tone.

A dark shadow shifted in the kitchen. His scent hit her all at once, letting her know who it was that had broken into her home. Her claws retracted and her arms fell limply at her side.

"Hello, Circe," Miles said.

All she could do was blink, wondering if he was a figment of her imagination. Or some sort of hallucination. Maybe Esmeralda's meatloaf had mushrooms, and she was now tripping. That might be better than having to face the man she could never have.

"Nothing to say?"

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked, stumbling over her words. " How are you here? And why?"

"You're seriously asking why I came to confront my runaway mate?"

"I am not your mate."

"You damn sure are," he snapped.

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She shook her head and turned on the lamp next to her recliner. "I'm not hashing this out with you. If that's all you came here for, you can turn around and get the hell out."

He stepped from the shadows, and she got her first look at the man Miles Kenneally had become. The boy had turned into a rugged mountain of a man. Muscles rippled under his Henley. His black hair cut ruthlessly close to his head. Scruff peppered his jaw. Fire flashed in the dark depths of his eyes, briefly turning them amber as his wolf pushed to the surface.

He was angry.

Well, so was she.

"Go home to your mate, Miles."

"I don't have a mate."

"I'm sorry," she said, although she didn't mean it. She wasn't sorry in the slightest. Actually, the vindictive part of her was rather satisfied he wasn't happy.

"No, you're not."

"You're right. I'm not."

He drew in a deep breath, chest heaving in anger. "You left me."

"You left me first!" she yelled back. "Did you honestly think I would stay around and watch her live the life I was supposed to have?"

He ran a hand through his hair, pulling the strands into a shapeless mess. "Everything fell apart after you left."

"It's not my fault you lost your precious little alpha female."

"I lost you !" He shook his head. "You were supposed to be there for me. I thought you loved me."

"You're unbelievable. Let me put this into perspective. What if it had been me, marrying another man? Fucking him. Having his babies. All the while, you're in a house waiting for scraps of affection. Knowing that when I left you, I was going back to him."

He growled low in his throat and his wolf flashed in his eyes.

"Don't like that thought, do you?" she demanded. "Yes, I loved you, but I loved myself more. I had to leave because it was the only way to save myself. If I had stayed, I would've ended up hating you. And me."

Silence fell between them. Oppressive and full of regret. She knew the time for them was long gone. Any love she had died a long time ago.

"This is my pack now," she said coldly. " My home. And you're not welcome in it."

"You're still my mat e— "

"Don't," she interrupted. "My eighteen-year-old self would've loved to hear that, but she's gone. I found a path to travel, and it isn't with you. We were over a long time ago, so go back to your pack. Be their alpha. And forget about the girl you fucked over for them."

He took a step closer. "No. I've searched fifteen years for you. We're not through, Circe."

Emotions swirled through her in a tornado of pain and regret. She might have lied to him but she couldn't lie to herself. She still loved him, but he wasn't good for her. Taking a deep breath, she reached for that sense of self-preservation once again. Needing to sever the fragile strand that still linked them together.

"I, Circe Tolliver, rejec t— "

He lunged and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Don't you say those fucking words. Let me prove to you that we can still work. That our bond is still there, because the only fact I've come to know in the past fifteen years was that you are the only thing that matters. I still love you. I still need you."