Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“Hang on. Hang on, Audrey.” Boyd tried to block my way, but he seemed smart enough not to touch me.
I spun, glared. “Step back, Boyd. I really don’t want to see you right now.”
“Just give me a minute to explain.”
I shook my head. “I knew it was too good to be true. I knew a guy like you had to be pretending if he was interested in a woman like me. I was right. So was Karen.”
Boyd pushed my door shut when I opened it. “That’s not true,” he insisted, keeping his hand on the top of the door. “I told you, Audrey. It was fate. I felt it at the arena. I knew it then. I’ve known it all along. You’re mine.”
I shook my head. “I’m not yours, Boyd. I’m not anybody’s. You knew what I wanted all along, and you used it against me. I was as easy as all those buckle bunnies, wasn’t I? Now step out of my way. I have to get to work.”
Misery washed over Boyd’s face, but after a moment, he opened my car door and stepped back.
“I don’t want to see you again. And don’t call me.” I got in and slammed the door.
“Wait, Audrey!” he shouted, but I’d already started the car. I drove away.
I sure as hell wasn’t watching in the rear-view mirror to see what he would do.
I’d been a fool, but it was over now.
Boyd Wolf was already history. I would find someone else. Someone normal and kind. Maybe dorky like me.
Someone human.
Christ, I didn’t know a breakup could hurt this badly. I was so stupid. I should’ve just fucked him in the med room at the arena. Been one of those women who had a little ride on Boyd’s huge dick, then pulled up their jeans and walked away. They’d get an orgasm from him but keep their hearts intact. I’d been so much worse than them, and I’d judged them harshly. I’d fallen for him and that made me the dumbest of them all. I pulled in at the hospital and dropped my head to the steering wheel, giving into the sobs that had choked my throat the entire drive.
23
BOYD
Fucking fuck. If I’d thought I was a screwup before, it was nothing like what I felt now. Disappointing Rob was par for the course. But hurting Audrey Ames? The female I wanted to spend the rest of my life with?
That cut like a fucking knife through my chest.
I sat in my truck, my thumb hovering over the screen of my phone.
Don’t call me, she’d said.
She hadn’t said don’t text.
Me: I’m sorry. Let’s talk.
After five minutes, then ten, nothing. “Shit!” I shouted. It didn’t make me feel any better. She wasn’t going to respond. I could show up at her office, but that wasn’t the place to talk. I couldn’t disrespect her like that, in front of her patients or office staff, no matter how much I wanted to explain.
Should I write her a letter? A good old-fashioned letter? I could get the words out right, get them down on paper, so she could read them again and again until she believed me.
What was required in this situation that would make everything right?
I wish I fucking knew. I couldn’t fix what happened to my parents, and it seemed I couldn’t fix this.
Would it help to tell her about fate? About how my wolf picked her, and he only picked one female. The way we mated for life?
Or would talking about wolf stuff just annoy the fuck out of her right now? I’d only heard the tail end of what Karen had said to her, and I could imagine the rest. She was poison to the pack, and I had to deal with her, too.
I started to type another text, then deleted it. No, a text wouldn’t do because I wasn’t a teenager. I couldn’t fit all of what I wanted to say using my thumbs on my cell. A letter. I needed to get it all in a letter. Hell, I’d write her a thousand letters if I could just figure out what to say. And for that, I needed to go home, sit down and get my shit figured out where she was concerned.
What did I want? Me. Not the pack. Not what Rob would do or want or expect.
I slammed my fist into the dash, cracking it. Funny, it didn’t feel as satisfying as I’d hoped. No, doing my usual irresponsible things felt wrong right now. Including that run I’d taken last night to avoid talking to Rob, even if that meant telling him to fuck off.
It was time to man up and solve my fucking problems.
I started the truck and drove home.
AUDREY
The universe was looking out for me because I ended up with three births and stayed at the hospital until two in the morning. I had no idea what was in the water or the weather nine months earlier, but the population of Cooper Valley had exploded the past few weeks. It was good to see young people and growing families in the community, but it was a reminder of everything I didn’t have. When I got home, I found an envelope on my doormat with my name neatly scrawled across the front. I looked around, but all was dark and quiet. A dog barked in the distance, and I instantly thought of it being a wolf.