Page 32 of Mated Exile

There has to be a way to do it without succumbing to the darkness inside me.

Pulling out my phone, I scroll down to the group chat and send a short, single message:Let's take today to rest and heal. I'm heading into town to run some errands. Let me know if you want to help out.

A bubble from Finn is the first one to pop up and resolve into a message.Do you mind a little one-legged help hopping around you at the grocery store?

I snort.Most of what I'll be doing is shopping for my new stray puppy. Bastian needs clothes and... everything.

More than one message pops up at this, one of them from Roarke, another from Lance. The latter's resolves first.How long will the stray be sticking around?

Considering Bastian, I admit to Lance and the group,I don't know. But I'm not going to kick him out. Not until I know he has a home to return to. A real home this time.

Kieran texts,There are other places in town where he could stay.

Before I can respond to that—and finish fuming at my screen—Roarke texts,He should stay with Delilah. If and when the vamps show back up again, she could use some muscle around. He's proven his worth.

Respect for him creeps into my chest, along with a kind of resignation. It's good that Roarke isn't turning this moment into a pissing contest, but I have to admit, I was hoping for at least alittlejealousy. Especially because I get the sense that he's restraining himself around me, like he's holding back half of what he wants to say and do.

Then Roarke adds,Also, he's a puppy. If he steps out of line he can be neutered.

I roll my eyes at that, then text back to the group,What happens to Bastian is my business, since he's my friend. Got it?

Responses pop up, all in the grudging affirmative. Feeling smug, I ask them,Which one of you is the tallest? I could use some help picking out Bastian's clothing. I'd take him with me but I think he needs some time to recoup before he's dragged in front of crowds of strangers at the square.

I expect Lance to be the one to text back in the affirmative, but instead it's Roarke.I'm six foot five. I can help you shop for him, since we're almost the same height.

Kieran's teasing response to that is,Pretty sure the puppy clocked you by half an inch or more.

Roarke responds,I slouch.

Snorting, I tell Roarke,Meet me at the square at noon. We can have a measuring contest later.

Finn, of course, gets the last word in.A measuring contest I would win. Unless—you're not talking about height, are you?

We all respond back with series of groaning gifs, eyeroll emojis, and from Kieran, more than a few daggers that suggest what he thinks ofthatparticular suggestion. Putting my phone away, I stare out into town—and pull my car keys out of my pocket.

It's time to go face the people who once turned their backs on me, and find out if this place can ever truly be my home.

Fourteen

Delilah

Irun a few errands before Roarke shows up to the town square, dipping into the local hardware store, the garden center next door, and a small bookshop. All are run by werewolves, most of whom I recognize, and I don't clock any hostility from them—but neither do I get the long-lost welcome I was hoping. At best, they give me a few sympathetic words about my father, and I re-up my promise to hold a wake as soon as the house is in working order.

As I head out of the bookstore with a bag full of old pulpy sci-fi paperbacks, I can't help but wonder if and how the reception to me will change once they know what I am.

Hybrid.It's hard not to dwell on all the revelations Niall dropped in my lap, or the ways in which they change my childhood memories. So many things come into stark light now: my mother expecting me to refer to her by her first name, my father's warnings about the perils of witchcraft, and how Queenie hovered over me after I had my first period, asking me again and again if I feltdifferentsomehow.

They were all expecting me to change into a monster one day.

I don't feel like a monster, but I do feel out-of-place here in Juniper, despite everything. So I resolve to spend more time in town after this shopping trip is over, and nail down a date for the wake. Between now and the Summit, I want to get to know the pack as best as I can—and discover as much as possible about my own powers.

Snuggled between the mass market paperbacks in my shopping bag are two slim books about witchcraft, one on kitchen witchery, and another on white magic. Neither are enough to raise brows in my direction, but I'll probably need to do the rest of my research on theotherside of my bloodline out-of-sight of prying eyes.

Thankfully there are websites that cater to the more innocent side of witchcraft, so I should be able to order all the books I might need fairly easily. Those books, together with my father's research into the curse and the journal Niall dropped off with me, will hopefully help me break the curse in time to avert another alpha taking over the pack during the Summit.

After that, I hope to finally set down roots here in Juniper, and earn my place in the pack by being the savior it desperately needs. Surely they can't deny me if their first introduction to my hybrid nature is that monumental.

It's a big gamble, but I refuse to tuck tail and run away. Just because I'm different doesn't mean I don't belong here.

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