Page 42 of Predator

I was expecting that argument. The ‘we’ part of it, too. This isn’t the first time that Eleanor insisted on acting the role of ‘chaperone’ for me while I watched her back. Of course, she ended up unconscious on the rope bridge, earning a few wrinkles around her eyes when she woke up again, and I point that out to her, too, before she gets any ideas about coming with me.

She shakes her head, curls bouncing wildly. “I didn’t say I was going with you. I’m sorry, Fallon, but I’m only safe as long as I stay on pack land or neutral territory. Kirk would kill me if I risked squaring off against the witches.”

He wouldn’t. The delta wolf would probably go nuts if he knew his human mate was thumbing her nose at the witches. She has her perks, but also seventy years of keeping her distance from the wolves’ enemies.

That’s a relief. I’m not so sure what I’m going to have to do to get Jeannie out of the coven house. Assuming Marie has a reason behind this little ‘chat’ she’s so insistent on, I’m betting she’s trying to push my hand. Did she finally realize that the curse hasn’t quite broken yet? All it would take is one of the witches trying to leave Winter Creek and time catching up to them.

She has to think it’s my fault. Everything I was led to believe said that, once I bonded to Lucas, the curse was over. Done with. And while I chose to take him as my fated mate because I honestly believe he’s the ‘one’ I’ve spent years searching for, I can’t pretend that breaking the curse wasn’t a big motivator in banging him out in the woods last full moon.

Not because I was looking to leave. The opposite, really. I wanted to stay. I wanted to be with Lucas, and because I love him, I hated knowing that he suffered twice a month. Even before I knew that Lucas was the feral, my heart broke for the broken beast in the woods. I wanted to help him.

And I did. He doesn’t feel the call to transform into that thing whenever the Luna is in control anymore. So the stasis spell is still going on. So we’re still basically stuck in time. I feel bad for Eleanor and Kirk—and, okay, even Jade—because they want to leave if only for a little while.

Maybe this is what I need to do to get the rest of the pack their freedom...

“I know. I’m not asking you, too?—”

“Good. But you know you can’t go alone. The males will be back before you know it. I’ll stay here, you go with them… I’m just asking you to wait, Fallon.”

I can’t. Doesn’t she understand that I can’t?

It’s not just because Marie has Jeannie, either. I wish I could be all magnanimous and say, oh, yes, I’m risking my own ass for a woman who made snide comments about the size of it. Yeah, right. I love Jeannie, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have an ulterior motive to head out for the coven house immediately.

Lucas won’t let me. Case in point: he refused to allow me to come along on the search for Jade. He says he trusts me, that he knows I can take care of myself, but I don’t think either of us believes him. Why would we? The first time we met in this life, I was tied to a freaking tree. I couldn’t escape, and if he hadn’t been able to regain control over his beast, who knows what would have happened?

Especially since I slipped in my own blood, panicked, and passed out the moment he freed me from the rope.

Talk about being a damsel in distress, huh?

I understand why he’s so overprotective. Even if I was a kickass wolf shifter like the others, just being his reborn fated mate would be enough to have him treating me with kid gloves. I get it. It irks me, but I get it.

This is my chance to prove myself. And, sure, maybe ol’ impulsive Fallon is rearing her head, too stubborn to see the possible consequences of her reckless actions, but time’s ticking, I have the cloak slung over my arm, and Jeannie needs me.

“I’m going.”

“You can’t?—”

I show my teeth to Eleanor. It’s not even something I meant to do, but maybe if I treat her like a wolf, she’ll understand that I’m doing this. I’ll make it up to her later if I frighten her, but?—

She giggles. “Okay, Jade.”

Damn it. I’m dead serious about this, and she’s amused. I don’t think she’s laughing at me, though. Oh, no. I know what she’s doing. She’s trying to keep the conversation going, distracting me until I either agree to stick it out until Lucas and the others comes back or change my mind entirely about rising up to Marie’s obvious bait.

And maybe if Eleanor hasn’t mentioned Jade, it would’ve worked.

In one motion that’s probably not as fluid as I hoped, I settle the cloak over my shoulders. “Tell me this, Ellie. Would you keep on trying to stop me if I was Jade?”

If I was a regular she-wolf who isn’t Lucas’s mate?

The humor disappears from her expression. “Fallon?—”

I snap the cloak at my throat. Reaching behind me, I cover my blonde hair with the red hood. “I’m a shifter now,” I tell her, punctuating the statement with a small growl in the back of my throat. “I’m not prey anymore. I can be a predator, too.”

“Oh, hon, I know?—”

Maybe she does. “When Lucas comes home, you can tell him where I’ve gone. Hopefully I’ll beat him back, but if I don’t, he’ll know where to find me. Tell him… just tell him that I need to do this for our happily-ever-after.”

Eleanor furrows his brow. “And he’ll know what that means?”

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