Page 55 of Bred Mate
“Ellie isn’t here,” I tell her.
“Interesting, given you reek of her.”
“I haven’t had a shower today,” I say bluntly. The woman clearly has wolf senses. She already knows what she is dealing with.
She makes a slightly put off expression.
“She’s an animal, you know that,” I remind her.
“I know no such thing.” The woman bristles. “I take it you share this wolf delusion. That’s unfortunate.”
“Delusion?”
I knew that the woman wasn’t going to be right in the head. Even the limited information Ellie gave me suggested strongly that she was not a good mom. Leaving a baby in a swamp rarely indicates a high standard of maternal instinct. But realizing she doesn’t even acknowledge her wolf side is something else. It happens from time to time in our kind. Not every person wants to be a person. Not every wolf wants to be a wolf. It’s not easy being an outcast species in a world full of people.
“Delusion,” she says firmly.
“Alright. Well. I don’t know where Ellie is right now.”
I’m trying not to say too much. I’m tempted to ask her what the fuck her problem is, and why she abandoned her kids for a decade, but of course if I do that I’ll have to listen to a cascade of complete bullshit and I’m not really interested in what is inevitably going to be her delusional rationale.
“That’s okay. I’ll wait for her.”
“No, I mean, she’s not in the city. And you cannot wait for her. It’s not an option.”
Her brow quirks just a fraction. “Is there a reason you’re being so inhospitable?”
“You hit me with a bottle and broke it over my head. I’m not inclined to welcome you into my home. You can leave your number. I will give it to Ellie when I see her, and she can choose if she wants to use it or not.”
I am being very reasonable these days. I barely recognize myself.
“The door is behind you,” I add.
Baldwin sweeps the front door open just as I say the words, emphasizing my point.
Margaret, vicious secretary, wolf in denial, and mother of my mate, sniffs once then turns to leave.
“It’s bad luck not to offer hospitality,” she says as she leaves. “I hope it doesn’t backfire on you.”
I watch her leave with that manipulative little parting shot. She really is a piece of work.
“Baldwin? Put a tail on that woman. I want to know where she goes, and what she’s doing.”
“Very good, sir.”
CHAPTER 12
Ellie
I am in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t feel as good as I thought it would, but that’s because it’s not my territory. It doesn’t smell like my territory. Doesn’t feel like my home either. The birdsong is different, the animals behave slightly differently, and even the insects look a little dissimilar. I am in my element, and still somehow completely out of it.
And I am grieving. My territory is gone, crushed beneath the tracks and buckets of machinery designed to destroy hundreds of years of natural growth in seconds.
I am still feeling guilty, for running, for raising my brothers in a swamp, for not being happier that Connor gets his juice boxes.
To top it all off, I’m starting to feel a little nauseous.
I manage to find places to stay in many of the stilt houses abandoned in the bayou. There’s so many old places left to decay by the people who used to live there. There are no jobs, nothing to do; they had to sell up and run off to one of the cities or maybeanother state. There’s decay in the air here. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I’m tired of feeling like my life is falling apart one inexorable piece at a time.
