Page 92 of To Challenge a Wolf

Rhett didn’t respond. She waited a full minute, staring at her dark phone screen. Then she stormed into the dining room.

“Will you look at this! He sends me away, tells me we’re over for good, goes dark for three days, and now—this!” She opened the thread and thrust the phone at Blaine. “Thisis the communication level I’m dealing with, and there’s not even anapology!”

Blaine glanced at the messages, then handed the phone back. “You don’t have to respond.”

“Oh, yes I do. I’m going to come out with the moral high ground here.”

“You already have it.”

That was a fair point. Her phone buzzed against her palm.

Rhett:Special delivery.

She let out a growl of rage to challenge a wolf’s, and then she typed with fury pulsing in her ears.

If you dare to send me flowers, I’ll drive all the way to TN and dump them on your doorstep. I mean it, Rhett. You can’t fix this with a stupid cliché, and I’m insulted that you think you can, and just stop texting me because I’m NOT giving you my address for all the flowers in Illinois so just stop.

She was breathing as if she’d been out for a jog, deep, strong breaths that indicated exertion but not difficulty. It wasn’t difficult after all. He’d done the work already of breaking them apart. She was only holding the line, holding onto her dignity.

Rhett:I’m in Chicago.

Twenty-Three

He ought to call her, put an end to this ridiculous texting battle, but he didn’t know how to say what needed to be said. Not over a phone. He had to see her face. He had to smell her moods as they shifted, know in the moment if he had any chance at her forgiveness. While he sat in Trevor’s truck and waited for her next text, traffic at a standstill entering the city’s outer edge and Trevor silent behind the wheel, he pulled up his thread with Malachi and read the alpha’s most recent message again.

Malachi:I can speak only from my own experience, but I will say this: when April came into my life, I was forced to face the fight inside me. It was a different fight than yours, but we have the fight in common, and we each have a mate who was brought to us as a good gift, who won’t stand by and watch us struggle. Listen to your mate, Rhett. If she’s anything like mine,she understands you to a depth that’s hard to believe, but she’ll never use it against you.

It was the longest text Rhett had ever received from the alpha—or from any fellow wolf. A few weeks ago, he’d have rolled his eyes and sent a sardonic reply. Today his wolf heart throbbed at the message. He longed for it to be true. But hope felt dangerous.

Still no response from Vivian. She had every reason not to want to hear his voice right now. Or see his face. He’d told her he didn’t feel anything. He’d believed his own lie with every fiber of his being, every blip of the wiring in his brain that was even more faulty than he’d imagined it could be.

Less faulty today than yesterday, though.

His phone lit up. Vivian’s text held no message, only an address with a link to the phone’s navigation app. His thumb punched Start Route with such force he thought for a moment he’d cracked his screen. The map sprang to animated life. He minimized it and typed a quick response, then an afterthought when the first seemed lacking.

I’m 47 min away.

Thanks, Viv.

Her reply popped up under his before his phone had a chance to go dark.

Vivian:You’re assuming I’ll be there.

Forget Malachi’s lofty thoughts on fate; Vivian wasn’t April, wouldn’t bring softness to the day of Rhett’s reckoning. But that was why she washismate and no one else’s.Bring on the stinging quips, Viv. I can take them. I can take anything.

But that last thought was no longer true. One thing Rhett couldn’t take: if Vivian refused to see him. If she sent him away from her.

She had every right to do exactly that. And she might do it. She didn’t need him. She had no reason to want him after what he’d done. Entirely his own fault if his mate rejected him for good.

The thought was like a volley of arrows to his wolf heart. He pressed his knuckles to his chest. How couldfeelingsshow up in his body like this? Did normal people—people who weren’t programmed to shut them all down—experience emotions in their bodies all the time? Would he have to get used to this? He growled. He’d been clenching his jaw for hours, and his head was starting to ache. He forced his teeth to unlock.

“So,” Trevor said. “Do we know where we’re going?”

“Yeah. Less than an hour. I’ll navigate.”

“You seem a little better.”

“Compared to the other fevers I’ve had in the last week, this one’s not so bad.”

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