The whole time at dinner, I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. There’s so much I want to say to Amelie, but I can’t get any of it out. I let my control slip outside on the deck with her, and I have no doubt she felt my need. Keeping my shit together with her being so close is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Having the stone has made me feel connected to her, but I don’t know why she doesn’t feel it with me.
Kami walks Amelie out to her car, and I watch her leave. She said goodbye to me before walking out the door, and that’s it.
“You’re angry,” Colin says from behind me.
I growl. “Not angry. Frustrated.”
Kami comes through the door with a big smile on her face. “That went well. You two talked for a long time outside.” When she focuses on my face, she leans against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed. “But you’re not happy about that.”
I finish off my beer and toss the bottle into the trash. “Nothing happened when we were together. I kept waiting for the signs to show on her end.”
Colin slaps my shoulder. “You have to be patient.”
Easier said than done. I’ve known for a while that she’s my mate, and the need to be near keeps building. It makes it worse knowing I can’t physically touch her. She doesn’t know me well enough to give me that right. I keep thinking that if I can just touch her, she’ll know she’s mine.
I keep my focus on Kami. “Why can’t you just tell her I’m her mate?”
Kami shakes her head. “I’m not getting in the middle of that. She said she doesn’t want to know and that she wants nature to take its course. I respect that. Now, if she comes to me asking, then I’ll gladly tell her. Besides,” she says, stepping toward me, “it’s not that easy. My brother and Faith fell in love before the signs even happened between them. It doesn’t just happen because you want it to.”
Colin stands next to her. “Then, you have ones like us where one hates the other. I wanted it, but she didn’t.”
Kami elbows him in the side. “I didn’t hate you. I only thought I did.”
Groaning, I run a hand through my hair and turn away from them. “What the hell am I going to do? I want to get close to her, but if Knox and Kara come here, it’ll put Amelie in danger.”
“Speaking of the Channons,” Kami says. I jerk around to face her, and she blows out a sigh. “I’ve been tracking them, and Kara is still in Chicago. Knox is in North Carolina. So you’re good right now.”
I scoff. “They’ll come. It might not be in the next couple of days, but it’ll be soon. I know them.”
Colin’s eyes blaze. “And when they do, they’ll regret it. Not that you need it, but you have the pack looking out for you.” He drapes an arm over Kami’s shoulder, pulling her close. “If only you and Amelie could mate before they do. You’d both be strong enough to take them down without a sweat.”
With the way the world works, it won’t be that simple. “If they come, I’ll have to stay away from Amelie. I can’t let them know what she means to me.” I head for the door and open it wide, the cold wind hitting my face. “But keeping her away is a torture all in itself.”
“It’ll work out, Zayne,” Colin assures me.
I glance at him over my shoulder. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
Once in my car, I drive back to my house, and when I get out of the car, I look out at my land. In the morning, when the sun comes up, there’ll be a vast field surrounded by the forest with some of the Teton’s tallest peaks in the distance, covered in snow. Most of the others in the pack live near each other, but I wanted to be away from everyone. That’s why I bought over three thousand acres and had a house built from my own design. I didn’t know it at the time, but my closest neighbor through the forest is Amelie. Taking off my clothes, I toss them on the front porch and shift into my wolf.
He knows where he wants to be, and that’s precisely where I’m going.