Chapter Four

Evan slept like hell. He’d been unable to shut off the part of his brain that told him he was making a mistake by mating Tris. He wasn’t a guy to go back on his word, and he’d made a commitment to her, but this was different.

By the time the sun rose, he’d made up his mind. He wasn’t going to mate Tris. Auden had gotten in his head and given him a lot to think about, but more than that was the nagging feeling that he would be making a huge mistake if he didn’t wait for his soulmate. In the middle of the night, he’d had the thought—what would happen to his soulmate if he mated someone else? Would she be doomed to live alone for her whole life, or would she find someone else, never quite feeling like she was with “the one?”

He grabbed a cup of coffee, then dressed in jeans and a dark T-shirt. At Tris’s trailer, he knocked several times but heard no answer from inside. The door was locked, so he didn’t think she or her uncle were in there. Which begged the question—where had she gone and why hadn’t she texted him? Deciding she’d probably headed to the alpha’s on her own and forgotten he was going to pick her up, he headed in that direction.

Tris wasn’t outside of the alpha’s trailer, which was where he thought she’d be waiting for him.

He walked up the wooden steps and knocked on the front door.

After a long moment, it creaked open, and Alphonse stood in the open doorway.

The first thing Evan noticed was that Alphonse’s shirt was splattered with blood.

And his eyes were wolf amber.

Evan took a step back, dread washing over him. Alphonse grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him inside. He let go, and Evan tumbled to the floor, his back slamming into the wall.

The front door slammed, and Alphonse snarled.

“Get up, pup. We’ve got much to discuss.”

 

* * *

 

Lark had a blind date Friday night. It was her least favorite thing in the world, but her sister had promised that the guy from Lance’s office was “perfect for her,” and Lark hadn’t been able to come up with a feasible excuse to not go. Aside from the fact that Dove had yet to pick someone that was even close to what Lark was looking for in her forever guy, she seemed to think Lark wouldn’t be happy until she was married.

But Lark was happy.

A little lonely sometimes, but happy. She and her sister were really close, even if Dove tended to try too hard to set her up on blind dates. It was just the two of them now. Her father had taken off when she was little, and she had no clue where he was, and her mother had died in a car accident right after Lark had graduated from high school. She’d lived with Dove for a little while until she was able to afford a place of her own.

The date had gone horribly from the start. Gene—who she’d nicknamed Mr. Tall Blond and Full of Himself—was slimy like a used car salesman. He leered at her, made several overtly sexual comments to the server who’d looked at Lark with pity, and then told her he thought she should cover the whole bill.

“The date was your sister’s idea,” Gene said.

Lark rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it was, but how about you pay for your own food and I’ll pay for mine.”

He dropped a few bills on the table and stood. While she counted out the bills to cover her part and also leave a nice tip for the poor server, he tapped his foot and sighed.

Lark stood and shouldered her bag.

“Shall we?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said.

She followed him out of the restaurant, and he’d had the gall to turn to her and ask if he could go home with her. “Just for a quickie, I have to get home before my roommate does, or he’ll take the good parking spot.”

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. The guy had a crap lot of nerve to ask her for sex. He hadn’t even paid for her meal!

“What? Why not?” he asked.

“You’re not my type.”

“So? I’m talking about sex, not getting married. Get over yourself.”

“No, you get over yourself. Have a nice night, or don’t, I don’t really care.”

She walked away, listening to him sputter his annoyance at her, tossing a few b-words her direction as if the word had some kind of power to incapacitate her.

She sat in her car and texted Dove, who called her picky and ridiculous.

He was perfect for you.

No, he wasn’t. Do you think I like guys who are self-absorbed and spend the whole date talking about themselves, make me pay for my dinner, and then ask me for a quickie? Because that’s the kind of guy he is and I definitely don’t like guys like that.

There was a pause, and then her sister texted, Fine, I won’t set you up again. Sorry I’m trying to stop you from being a spinster.

Instead of replying with anything smart or sarcastic, she sent a GIF of a baby rolling her eyes.

She didn’t hear from Dove after that. Which was okay. She’d see her tomorrow when she picked up Rayanne for the zoo trip, and she was sure she’d hear from her in person about what a lousy thing it was to let a catch like that idiot go. Thankfully, her sister wasn’t in charge of her dating life, and Lark was certainly not going to agree to any more blind dates, period.

It had been a sucky night, but at least Dove wasn’t going to play matchmaker anymore.

Thank freaking goodness.