Page 39 of Ethan
“You too?” I asked.
He nodded. “A kid fell down an embankment trying to chase fireflies, apparently. Got found by a hiker who flagged Cooper down. He’s bringing her into the clinic.”
I exhaled a curse. “That kid’s gonna give someone a heart attack.”
Ethan was already starting the car. “You going to the woods?”
“Yeah. I’ll check around the north trail, see if the kid dropped anything. Maybe there’s a scent,” I said.
Ethan hesitated, then looked at me, frustration softening into something else. “Rain check?”
My mouth twisted into a grimace that felt more disappointment than irritation. “Yeah. Of course. Pack first.”
“Always,” he said, then glanced away like he didn’t want to admit he was just as disappointed.
There wasn’t time for anything else. No kiss, no lingering look, no teasing nudge of flirtation. Just duty. Ethan drove back to the pack compound.
Once we arrived, I got out of the car and gave him a parting wave. “Be careful.”
“You too,” Ethan said.
The woods weren’t kind this late at night. The temperature had dropped, and the moonlight only filtered in through broken slats of trees, casting uneven shadows across the undergrowth.
I shifted to my wolf to cover ground faster, nose low, ears high.
Connor’s scent was faint. Too faint for my liking, but it was there. I tracked it past the edge of the trail, further down toward the stream that cut behind the southern edge of the territory.
I moved fast, slipping past brush and fallen logs, my paws kicking up dirt and leaves. I didn’t care about the brambles snagging my fur or the chill cutting through the damp air.
All I could think about was the look on Ethan’s face when he answered that call. He’d been professional, focused, but with that sliver of worry in his eyes.
He’d been about to take me home. And instead, here we were.
Maybe that was part of the deal, being part of a real pack. Life didn’t wait for perfect timing. You didn’t get to pick when people needed you.
But I couldn’t deny I wanted that stolen evening back. Just a few hours where it was just the two of us, without responsibilities clawing in from every side.
I found one of Connor’s sneakers half-buried in the mud near the stream. I howled to any nearby wolf as a warning, and headed deeper in that direction.
Eventually, the kid was found. Another enforcer caught his scent near the tree line and coaxed him out with a granola bar and a stern look.
I didn’t see him, but another pack member updated me that he was fine.
By the time I made it back to the pack house, it was almost sunrise. I was muddy, scraped up, exhausted and still thinking about Ethan.
Wondering if he was okay. Wondering if he was thinking about me too.
I didn’t want to push. I remembered Carter’s voice again, calm and maddeningly smug.Give him space. Let him come to you.
Still, I couldn’t help hoping. Maybe the night hadn’t been completely lost. Maybe it had just been postponed.
By the time I made it back to the pack house, the adrenaline had worn off and everything ached. My legs, my back, even my ribs from where I’d scraped against a rock on the trail.
I smelled like sweat and mud and a bit of pine sap, which wasn’t exactly the seductive aura I’d hoped to carry around Ethan.
Not that tonight had gone how I’d imagined. I stripped off my dirty clothes just inside my room and made a straight line for the shower.
The hot water stung over a few scrapes I hadn’t realized I had, but I let it wash the night off me, hoping it’d take the disappointment with it.
