Page 44 of Bear's Rejected Love

“It’s all good.” She didn’t want to send her brother off with anything but goodness. “I understand. It’s hard being away from home. It’s hard being away from our loved ones. I can’t even imagine spending a single night without Corbin.”

“There’s been a few of those lately. One of these days I have to get better at flying. It would make everything so easy.”

She thought about Roan and his ability to fly, and she cocked a smile even though she should have kept it inside. Her brother was barely paying attention, luckily. He was already thinking ahead to the many hours he was going to have to spend on the road. He’d come to deliver a message so important and so full of hope that he couldn’t just give it to them by phone call.

“I can’t promise anything, but please let me know when you’ve found it. I know you will. It might take us years, but maybe one day, we’ll come home. Although… this place feels a lot like it now.”

Denver put his hand on his chest over his heart. “I’m really glad that you have this. So, so glad. Even if you never come back where you belong,” he did laugh about that, letting her know there was no hard feelings or pressure, “Then I’m glad you have this.”

“Me too.” She spilled herself out of the booth and hugged her brother hard. She had aunts and cousins scattered around the East Coast, but her brother was the closest family that she had left. “Thank you for coming this insanely long way to see me. That means so, so much. I’ll take your message home to Roan tonight, and Corbin and the girls too.”

“The offer always stands. As soon as I build us a home again, you’re always welcome back.”

Her chest hurt like she’d carved something out of it and handed it over, but it wasn’t all pain. There was goodness and laughter and joy in the rawness. “Thank you. Drive safe.”

“Yeah. I promise I will.”

Chapter 18

Tabitha

Since she wasn’t sure how Roan would react to the news of her brother trying to start up their old clan, she waited until Corbin was asleep before she walked over to Roan’s cabin. She knew Corbin slept like the dead, but just in case, she’d left him a note stuck to the inside of the door saying she’d popped out to Roan’s new cabin for a few minutes and not to worry, she’d be back soon.

The distance to his new cabin was much shorter than his old one had been. The newer constructions were interspersed throughout pretty much the same area, but the clan had a lot of land and so most of them had huge yards and lots of woods in between for privacy. It was such a nice change, going back to living amongst nature. It was what her soul needed after years in the city.

She found Roan sitting on his porch. He’d tucked himself on the steps, or as tucked as someone as large as him could be. She wasn’t surprised to find him sitting out there.

“Are the girls asleep?” She joined him without feeling uneasy, even though the knowledge she had about what Denver came to tell her churned inside of her, spiking her anxiety a little.

“They are. Honor went down hours ago.”

“Yeah. It’s already past midnight.”

“You’re not sleeping, though.” He looked at her so directly that she knew that he knew that she knew something.

“No.” There was no easy way to tell him that Denver had been there and that he’d had to leave right away. That wasn’t the hard part. The hard part was telling him about Denver’s plans. There was still a large part of her that was afraid that Roan would just decide that he needed to be alone again. That he’d decide he wouldn’t want her as his mate and would head out east. She could follow him—that was always an option. But that would mean leaving what they’d built here. She and Corbin might have only been in Greenacre for a matter of months, but it felt like home.

It was home.

She told him everything anyway, exactly as Denver had explained it to her. When she was finished, she sat in the dusky, warm summer silence. She looked to the sky. In the city, she’d been afraid of the dark more often than she welcomed it, but out here, it was peaceful and comforting. Like the blanket so many people compared it to.

“I- I don’t know what to say, Tabitha.” Roan wouldn’t look at her. His voice was husky and deep. Strained. Like the words were being cut from his body in large chunks. He refused to look at her and she wished that he would.

“Would you go if he did get the clan back together? Would you stay? There’s no right answer.”

He thumped one boot against the step, scraping it over the wood. He focused on that instead of looking at her and she felt her heart plummet.

“You should do what makes you happy.”

“Good lord, Roan!” She jumped off the step and wrapped her arms around herself.

She’d worn a long-sleeved shirt just to make sure the bugs stayed off. They were sometimes ferocious at night, devouring every living being. “I just wish that you could show that you care. Do you care?” She addressed that to the crown of Roan’s bent head, but he eventually looked up at her. He looked pained, like it was taking such a toll on him to even sit there. Like he’d rather be having any other conversation.

“I do. You know I’m no good at this. I thought I was being supportive.”

“Do whatever makes you happy? That’s not being supportive. That’s being a passive aggressive asshole.”

His forehead scrunched into a frown. “I don’t think that’s the right term for it.”

---