It’s him.
I forgot to breathe as I just sat there staring at him. It was the same man from Clementine’s vision. It was him.
My heart flipped over in my chest and my body felt as if it were bolted to the chair.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe.
Mate!my wolf howled appreciatively in my head.
All I could do was gawk at the man until he scowled at me, pushed his chair back and stomped off, leaving me staring in a stupor as he left the bar.
Everything inside of me screamed to go after him, but I couldn’t move.
It took more than a few minutes to regain control of myself. Fortunately, the ladies I was with were still cackling about their shared memories and didn’t seem to have noticed the monumental, life-changing experience I’d just had.
He hadn’t looked happy to see me. Maybe that was a good thing. I still had time to get the hell out of here and continue my journey to safety in Westin Pack.
I sucked back the last of my drink and then cleared my throat.
“This has been fun, but I’m getting tired, so I’m just going to go now. It was really nice meeting you all.”
“Hold up. Go? Go where?” Lily asked.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m good at taking care of myself.”
She frowned.
“My guest room is filled with holiday decorations I’ve been sorting through. I’m sorry. I can call and see if Luke will start moving them out for me. I’ve been in a downsizing mood lately.”
“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Lily blurted out.
Sydney laughed. “No, hon. That would be something you do. Normal people can just want to clean up clutter in their house without being pregnant.”
“You can stay with me,” Peyton offered. “I can have Kenneth bunk in Parker’s room and you can sleep there. That is as long as you don’t mind kids. I have three of them.”
I’d never really spent any time with kids, at least not since I was one and even then I wasn’t great with them, but a bed to lay my head and get a safe night’s sleep before the next leg of my journey sounded a lot better than another night on the cold hard ground.
“It’s better than the clinic,” Lily admitted. “That was going to be my suggestion. Sorry, but even though we’ve moved into a much bigger house when we finally took over the Alpha house, there’s still not a lot of extra space with all my pups and their stuff.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want to put anyone out.”
It seemed crazy to me that they’d even offer. Who does that? That was a good way to get robbed blind or murdered in your sleep. No one meets someone and says, “Come on over and stay at my house with my mate and my pups.” Was she insane? Were they all insane?
“I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Trust me when I warn you that when Pey sets her mind to it, there’s no changing it. This is happening. Just accept it.”
“This is insane. You know that, right?”
“Maybe for a city girl, but around here folks look out for each other,” Ruby explained.
Before I could even process all they were saying, I was being escorted out and shoved into a black SUV.
“This is how people go missing—forever,” I pointed out.
Peyton laughed. “You watch too much TV.”