Page 13 of Once You Go Pack
“You’re thinking too hard,” Gerri said suddenly, startling him from his brooding. “I can practically hear the gears grinding from here.”
“I just—“ He stopped, running his hand through his brown hair. “She has no idea what she’d be walking into. The council politics, the shifter dynamics, the responsibilities of a crown. And my wolf...” He trailed off, unable to voice his deepest fear.
“What about your wolf?” Lyra prompted gently.
“He wants her with an intensity that scares even me,” Cade admitted quietly. “I’ve spent my entire life learning control,learning to balance human reason with wolf instinct. But with her...” He shook his head. “I barely kept it together during brunch. If she comes to Nova Aurora, if she accepts the mate bond—I don’t know if I can be the leader the kingdom needs while feeling this much.”
This much need. This much want. This much inevitable… love.
“Oh, sweetie,” Gerri’s smile carried infinite compassion. “You think she will make you weaker. But what if she makes you stronger?”
Cade didn’t answer Gerri’s question. Instead, he set his jaw and strode toward a nearby street market, desperate for any distraction from the storm of emotions raging inside him.
If I think about Mila for one more second, I’m going to lose what’s left of my control.
“Where are we going?” Lyra jogged to catch up with his long strides.
“Anywhere that keeps my mind occupied,” he muttered, weaving between Earth shoppers examining produce stands and handmade crafts.
The market buzzed with afternoon energy—vendors calling out prices and children laughing as they chased each other between stalls. Cade tried to focus on the foreign textures and sounds, anything to quiet his wolf’s incessant pacing.
But everywhere he looked, couples wandered hand in hand. A young man pressed a kiss to his girlfriend’s temple as she selected apples. An elderly pair shared bites of funnel cake.
This is torture.
“Earth textiles are so different,” Lyra announced, running her fingers over a display of scarves. “So much heavier than our fabrics.”
“Mmm.” Cade picked up a carved wooden bowl, turning it over in his hands without really seeing it. His wolf sensesremained hypertuned to everything, hoping for Mila’s voice or scent on the breeze.
They wandered for hours—through antique shops where Gerri cooed over vintage jewelry, past street musicians whose melodies felt foreign to Nova Aurora ears, and into bookstores where Lyra marveled at Earth’s paper-bound volumes. But the distraction failed miserably. Every tick of his watch sent tension spiraling tighter through his shoulders.
She said by the end of day. When exactly does that mean? Five o’clock? Midnight?
By the time Earth’s single sun began its descent toward the horizon, painting Salem’s brick buildings in amber light, Cade’s patience had frayed to nothing. His wolf clawed at his ribs like a caged animal, demanding action.
“I can’t wait much longer,” he growled as they settled into a corner booth at a small Italian restaurant. “I’m about to storm into that law firm and demand an answer.”
“That would definitely scare her off,” Lyra pointed out gently.
“I know that!” The words came out harsher than he intended. He scrubbed his hands through his hair, fighting the urge to shift and run until his lungs burned. “But my wolf has been like a wounded animal all day. Every instinct is screaming at me to go claim what’s mine.”
Gerri reached across the table and patted his clenched fist. “Patience, dear. Good things come to those who?—“
“Don’t.” His green eyes flashed with barely restrained wildness. “Don’t tell me to be patient when my entire future hangs on one woman’s decision.”
The server approached their table, and Cade forced himself to order something from the menu without really reading it. Around them, the restaurant hummed with evening conversation—more couples sharing intimate dinners, families celebrating together, and friends laughing over wine.
What they have looks so easy. So natural. So why do I feel so overwhelmed?
Because if Mila said no, his life would be over in every way that mattered. Not just the political implications—though losing his chance at High Sovereign would devastate his pack’s standing. But his wolf had recognized her as their true mate. The biological bond was already forming and would continue strengthening whether she accepted it or not.
I’ll never be satisfied with another woman. Never be able to mate properly, produce heirs, or fulfill my duties to the crown. Everything will be ruined.
His food arrived—some pasta dish he couldn’t taste past the knot in his throat. Across the restaurant, a man fed his date a bite of dessert, both of them dissolving into laughter when she got whipped cream on her nose.
Cade’s wolf whined so sharply it made his chest ache.
That’s what I want with her. That ease, that joy, that connection.
