Chapter Twenty-Two
Evan paced in front of Paula’s den. He was back to human and dressed, anxiety through the roof. He wanted to see Lark. He needed to see her. He had so much to tell her, so much to explain. But Paula had made it clear—Lark didn’t want to see him and she was not going to let Evan into her house.
He was stuck out front, pacing and worried.
All he knew from Paula was that none of Lark’s injuries had been life-threatening; the worst was a pulled muscle in her shoulder. He was thankful for that.
But damn, he wanted to get in and see her.
Hold her.
Tell her he was sorry.
A scream rent the quiet.
Lark!
He rushed into the house and straight to the patient room, bursting into the room and finding his soulmate thrashing on the bed.
Afraid she was going to hurt herself, he carefully restrained her and said her name.
“Evan, you’re not supposed to be here,” Paula said, rushing into the room.
“She needs me.”
Lark’s eyes opened, and she gasped, her gaze wild for a moment and then focusing on him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Um, yeah? Are you? You screamed.”
She seemed to remember she was mad at him because she pushed him away and wiggled herself up to a seated position with a groan. “I’m fine. I had a bad dream, I guess.”
He straightened and kept his wolf’s pitiful whine to himself.
“How are you feeling, Lark?” he asked.
“That’s my line,” Paula said.
“I’m fine,” Lark said. “I also said I didn’t want to see you.”
“I know. But I want to talk to you.”
“Well, I wanted to be on a date with a guy who wasn’t a liar.”
That stung. Shit.
He glanced at Paula, who nodded and left the room. He grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it up, sitting with a sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s ingrained in us from birth. We don’t tell anyone about being a shifter. We don’t talk about it out in the open. And we sure as hell are careful around humans.”
She tried to cross her arms but winced and dropped the injured one to her lap. “I hate lying, Evan. Not only did you lie to me, but now you’re asking me to lie to my family. And what am I supposed to do about Rayanne?”
“What about her?”
“She loves this place. She loves Auden and Jess and the birds. Hell, she’ll probably want to work here when she grows up. Of course, she probably wouldn’t be allowed because of all the secrecy, and that would be hard for her. I don’t want to bring her here again. She won’t understand, and I won’t be able to tell her because, again, lies.”
“I’m sorry, Lark.” Evan scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry you’re in a difficult position, and I’m sorry that I had to keep a secret from you.”
He rose to his feet, his wolf whining. She didn’t want him around, and he wasn’t going to be even more of an asshole to her by forcing her to be with him.
“You think of it as lying, but I don’t. I had to withhold what I am for the safety of my people. But trust me when I say that I thought every second of every day about telling you, breaking my people’s laws and just laying it all out there. I didn’t know you’d be in danger with me, and I...hell, I haven’t even told you why you were in danger in the first place. But I assure you that you’re safe here.”
“I don’t feel safe.” Her voice had gone low and devoid of emotion. She wouldn’t look at him, and his heart cracked.
“Well, you are, I promise. I wanted to tell you, Lark. You’re my soulmate, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know you hate me, but I hope you’ll be able to forgive me in time.”
“Are you going to take me home?” She turned her head slowly, and he drank in her features.
She had cuts and scratches on her face, a bruise on her cheek, and a busted lip. It broke his heart that she’d suffered and been terrified.
“I’m sorry, Lark. I can’t.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry when you could take me home, but you won’t. I don’t want to see you. Get out.”
She turned her head and twisted her upper body so she wasn’t looking at him. It felt like she closed a door between them.
How the hell was he going to fix things?
* * *
Alphonse stared out the windshield of the pickup driven by Forrest, one of his trusted males. The fifth-wheel camper was towed behind them, and they were the lead vehicle in the caravan. Their group was nearing New Jersey and heading for the abandoned cabin his males had found. Everyone from the pack was with them, save for the few males he’d had to kill because they tried to stand up to him. He was sorry to lose the numbers, but not sorry to get rid of people who didn’t support him.
He didn’t need that kind of negativity. And he didn’t need anyone thinking they could rise up against him.
Forrest cleared his throat. “Any word?”
“No.” Alphonse was waiting to hear from any of the males who were camped out in the Pinelands. The last he’d heard, they were tailing Evan and a female he had feelings for. It wasn’t his niece Tris, which made him wonder if the young male had actually planned to go through with mating Tris in the first place. He didn’t know where Tris was, but he bet she was inside the park.
The problem was that he hadn’t heard from any of his males in the last few hours. They’d just taken down the security following Evan and were about to take him out. Alphonse had decided that the young male could just simply die, him and whoever the female was. He clearly wasn’t going to help Alphonse break into the park, so he was useless now. But that didn’t mean he’d get a pass and get to live a nice and happy life.
Alphonse let out an irritated sigh as the phone went straight to voicemail. Again.
“Something’s wrong,” Forrest said.
Alphonse didn’t bother to glance at the male. He thought the same thing anyway.
“We’ll find out what happened when we get to the cabin and set up.”
The area around the cabin was wooded, so while several of the trailers and campers would fit around the cabin, most would have to be parked along the back road.
“When we get settled, send scouts out to find our males,” Alphonse said.
“Where should we start?” Forrest asked.
“The park.”
* * *
Lark couldn’t sleep. Or, rather, she could sleep but she couldn’t seem to stay asleep once her eyes closed. She kept thinking about Evan, kept missing him. She missed the way he looked at her, like he couldn’t breathe right if he wasn’t around her. She missed the way he smelled, all male and dark spices.
Hell, she just missed him.
Rubbing at her tired eyes, she struggled up to a seated position and sighed. If only she could go home, she could pace in her apartment in peace and maybe have a good, pitying cry.
A soft knock sounded, and she glanced at the alarm clock on the table by the door. It was a little after eleven at night.
“Yes?” Lark called.
The door opened, and a pretty blonde woman peeked in. “I’m Tris. Can I come in?”
“I guess?” Lark pressed the button on the bed to turn on one of the overhead lights. “Do you work with Paula?”
“No.” Tris closed the door quietly and leaned against it. “I wanted to talk to you about Evan.”
“I’d really rather not. I’ve gotten quite the earful from him, the alpha, and Paula.”
“Did he tell you about me?”
“Nope.”
Tris hummed. “Well, he saved my life.”
Lark’s curiosity was piqued. She let her defenses down and looked at the woman. She seemed to be about her age, curvy with dark green eyes. “So you’re down here, you must be a shifter.”
“I’m a wolf. Evan came to stay with my pack in Virginia because he was hoping to find a mate.”
Lark stared at Tris, who started to fidget.
“I thought you people believed in love at first sight.”
Tris’s eyes narrowed, and she frowned. “Oh, right. So yes, our people find a mate a few different ways. What you’re talking about—love at first sight—we call soulmates. It’s an instantaneous connection that’s felt by both people. Wolf males are...well, they don’t like to be away from their soulmates; they’re really loving and cuddly, and sweet. Even the jackass ones.”
Lark snorted.
“But our people will also find a mate by asking their alpha to choose one for them, like an arranged mating, or just choosing someone they like and getting mated. Some shifters will get together to have a child but not stay together.”
“So Evan and you are soulmates?” Lark’s chest hurt, and she hated the fact. She resisted the urge to rub the space over her heart.
“What? Oh gosh no, not even a little bit. You’re his soulmate, his one and only.”
“Then why couldn’t he tell me what he is?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but we’re forbidden from sharing our secret with humans unless they’re our marked mates.”
“Marked?”
“Males bite their females during sex to mate them. It’s like a wedding ring you can’t take off.” Tris looked thoughtful. “Evan couldn’t tell you what he is without mating you, and he’s not the sort of male who would bind you to him like that without being in love with you. Even if his wolf definitely was telling him to.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged, looking a little more relaxed. “Our beasts can be pretty vocal when it comes to mating. When he met you, he knew you were it for him. Did he tell you how much it hurt him to not be able to tell you the truth?”
Lark nodded.
“It really did. But back to my original point, he and I talked about getting mated and starting a family. It took my old alpha four months to say yes to even going on one date. But that night? There were zero sparks. Like I felt nothing in my lady parts toward him and my wolf was snoozing the whole time.”
Lark chuckled, but then sobered. “So how did he save your life?”
“My old alpha—Bernard—was killed by my Uncle Alphonse. Alphonse kidnapped me and kept me in the alpha’s home, forcing Evan to come back home and betray his people to keep me safe. I knew that Evan and I weren’t meant to be together, but I also knew that he wasn’t going to abandon me. He’s a really honorable guy.”
“You’re here, so obviously you got free? Is your uncle dead?”
“Joss sent people to break me out of the house and bring me here, but Alphonse is still alive. I have no idea what he’s doing, but he’s definitely going to come after me and Evan. The males that came after you two were part of Alphonse’s pack and they were not good people. But, the park is a safe place, and Alphonse doesn’t know about the underground living quarters, so that’s a bonus. I haven’t even left the wolves’ private area yet; it’s all so different.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt by your uncle, but I’m glad Evan and his people were able to help you.”
“See?” Tris smiled. “He’s a good guy at heart, I promise you. I understand why you’re hurt, and you have every right to feel that way. But if you look past your hurt, you’ll see he was doing it to keep you safe.”
“Me?”
Tris gestured to the room. “He didn’t want to put you in this exact position. Telling you before your heart was his would mean the alphas wouldn’t let you leave.”
Lark pursed her lips and then blew out a breath. “I get it, I do. I just hate it. I feel betrayed and I hate that I feel that way.”
“Love is hard.”
“I don’t love him.”
Liar, liar.
“Oh, okay,” Tris snorted. “You love him a little. And he would’ve told you the truth of his shift before he mated you, and then no one would’ve doubted you’d keep our secret. Love is powerful. It holds secrets close.”
“Alfie said that because I’m Evan’s soulmate that makes me part of the pack. That’s like family?”
“Exactly. So we’re like sisters. I never had one, so that would be neat for me, but I heard you have one.”
“I do.” Lark rolled her neck and sighed. “I think I’m going to try to get some more rest.”
“I hope I helped give you some perspective.”
“You did, Tris. Thank you for coming to talk to me.” Lark swung her legs back up to the mattress and then said, “Why are you up so late anyway?”
“Restless, I guess. I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t feel settled, and I’m not sure it’s about my uncle.”
“I hope you figure it out.”
“Me too. Sleep well, Lark.”
“Thanks, Tris, you too.”
When she was alone again, Lark turned off the light and laid back on the bed. She adjusted her pillow so she wasn’t putting pressure on her sore arm, but she could admit that it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had when she’d arrived. The pain pills and tea were doing the trick.
Closing her eyes, she considered what Tris had said. She wasn’t jealous of Tris and whatever had been between her and Evan before he came back to New Jersey. That was obviously over. But Lark did pity Tris. It must have been so scary to go through what she did at the hands of a relative. And she’d given Lark some perspective on Evan.
She had a lot to think about.