Page 35 of Run Free

“Better crazy?” I asked.

She smiled and hugged me tight. “I did find you, so I guess you could say the best kind of crazy.”

I kissed the top of her head and hugged her back as she tried to stifle a yawn.

“Come on, time for bed. You need sleep,” I said.

She gave me a cute pout but another yawn told me that was exactly what she needed most.

Clara

Chapter 20

The next morning the elephants were reunited in their new habitat and despite a few hangovers, the feeling of accomplishment and celebration continued. For the first time in I couldn’t remember how long, I was sad to see a mission come to an end.

Gage and I had three additional days after saying goodbye to our team to figure out our new path in life. Dave was sticking around until the Verndari secured an approved buyer for the park, but aside from hiring locals to care for and feed the animals there was nothing left for us to do.

On our last morning at the zoo, we still hadn’t come up with a plan.

“Gage, we can’t just stay here forever. It’s time to leave,” I reminded him for the thousandth time. “Let’s just go to my home and we can figure it out there.”

“You know how I feel about packs, Clara,” he stubbornly told me. It was true—we’d been over it so many times it made my head spin. I still didn’t understand why. He wouldn’t open up to me about his past or his experiences in a pack.

“If you aren’t going to explain why, I don’t know how to fix it.”

“You can’t fix this. Let’s just pick a city and get a hotel, then we can relax and figure it all out,” he tried to reason.

“I have a perfectly good house and bed at home. I’ve been gone for nearly a month. I want my own bed. Just because it’s in pack territory doesn’t mean we have to deal with any of them,” I pointed out. “Plus, we’d be saving money.”

He scoffed. “Have you seen the paycheck they gave me? That’s more money than I’ve seen at one time in my entire life, Clara. We’re going to be fine.”

I sighed. My head was starting to hurt from arguing with him. We hadn’t really talked about anything else in days, just fought over where to go when we left.

“Look, Gage, I’m tired. It’s been a long emotional and physically draining month and Dave is already talking about the next one. I never know how much time I have between jobs, but I want to go home. I don’t know how else to say it. I want my own bed. I want my house. I want my family. I want you to meet my family. You can stay at the house and never leave if that’s what you want.”

“It doesn’t work that way, Clara, and you know it. I’m not from your pack. I’d need to seek council with your Alpha and be given permission to even come into his territory. It’s a huge pain in the ass. Let’s just go enjoy someplace new and exciting.”

I picked up the phone and dialed my brother’s number, putting him on speaker.

“Clara? Hey. Is everything okay?” Thomas asked.

“That’s Clara?” I could hear his mate, Lily, say in the background. “Give me the phone.”

“Knock it off, slugger. She called me, let me see what’s up first,” he said.

“Sorry. Apparently you haven’t checked in with Lily since you left, and she’s been worried sick about you.”

I had been ignoring calls from my family for the last two weeks. I hadn’t been ready to fully share my news, even though I was certain Lizzy had already clued them in.

“Have you talked to Elizabeth?” I asked.

“No, is something wrong?”

“Shit, she didn’t tell you?”

“Tell us what?” Lily asked. I could tell by her voice Thomas had given up and put me on speaker.

“I met my true mate,” I said.

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