Six

Veronica

My level of apprehension grew exponentially with each second ticking by as Ryker marched us onwards to the waiting vehicle, lugging both his bag and mine without so much as breaking a sweat as we left the clinic.

He hadn’t uttered a single syllable to me since our mild spat this morning, but the phrase “If looks could kill, I’d be dead right now” had persevered in intermittently sprouting up in my mind with the level of the intensity that I had seen burning behind his carefully cultivated façade when others were nearby.

I kept waiting for him to shatter the silence as we trudged on, but it never happened. He did not look fuming per se, but something was clearly weighing heavy on his mind, making me squirm as the endless possibilities rocketed through my brain.

I had all but resolved on crawling into the backseat for a nice, long nap the entire trip home when my plans were instantly squashed as the car came into view. It was a tiny two-seater convertible, which looked barely big enough to hold the both of us, let alone someone with Ryker’s huge 6’5” frame.

I already felt like my skin was crawling with my wolf’s persistent pushing throughout the day to claim our mate. I did not want to add fuel to the fire with the accidental touches that always accompanied any small space.

“You have got to be kidding me. You can’t pick a different vehicle?” I barked out, grounding to a halt on the right side of the car as he popped the latch to the trunk.

“Believe me, I tried. This is literally the only vehicle that your brother can spare that will make the trip. Jax has a lot of catching up to do still. If you recall, the bears launched their attack here, and most of the damage from the war occurred in this territory, as a result.”

Ryker’s words washed away the snarky retort that had been on the tip of my tongue as I resigned myself to a miserable night.

I took several deep inhales of fresh air before pulling open the vehicle door and plopping down onto the smooth leather seat while Ryker put our bags in the trunk.

I adjusted my seat as far back as it would go, which wasn’t nearly as much as I had been hoping, and rolled over until I was facing the window, laying back with my eyes sealed shut just as the driver’s side door cracked open.

I held my breath as the engine roared to life and the wheels began revolving down the bumpy road. Ryker had not said a word up until this point, but my clenched fists signified that I knew it would not last for much longer.

As if the thought had summoned the very action itself, Ryker’s sonorous voice reverberated in the next beat, “We need to talk, Veronica.”

A shiver raced down my spine as my wolf surged to the surface, immediately intent on anything our mate had to say as I shot up into an upright sitting position with her unexpected charge.

I gave up on my pretense of sleep then, realizing that it had been a foolish attempt to begin with. I knew that it was past time for the two of us to revisit our history together, as much as the idea terrified me.

Who knew? Maybe I would finally get the answers that I had been so desperate for two years ago, but one thing I promised to myself in the moment was to lay all of my cards on the table once and for all.

Yet, I fought to find the best way to relay what I needed to say. I stalled for time, volleying back at my mate as I avoided his long limb resting a few measly centimeters from my own extremity on the center console, “About what, Ryker?”

“Don’t play dumb, Ronnie. It doesn’t suit you.”

His offhand comment pissed me off faster than an army of angry fire ants spilling out of a freshly disturbed anthill. My emotions were running higher than usual under the circumstances, so my next statement came out sharper than I intended, but conveyed my point, nonetheless.

“Fine. You want to talk? Start talking then. You were the one who walked out on me, remember?”

I could not control the slight hitch in my voice as I ended my sentence with my eyes downcast and my hands tightly clasped together in my lap.

I scrunched in on myself while trying to take up the smallest amount of space possible, not to mention the added bonus that I couldn’t reach out to caress his tanned skin in my current position as my wolf wanted.

I took in his fist white knuckling the steering wheel and the pregnant pause that filled the car as I glanced everywhere but into his molten eyes, which I could feel searing a hole into the side of my head.

Right when I thought I had succeeded in getting Ryker to drop the subject for the time being, he spoke up in a soft tone, surprising me when he said, “I never meant to hurt you, honey.”

He paused, relaxing his vice-like hold on the steering wheel as he reached out to rest his massive palm on my thigh before he went on, “I had been struggling being back home with the memories still assaulting me at every turn, and I handled the situation poorly. It’s easier for me to cope with now, but I can’t promise that I won’t lash out occasionally. For what it’s worth, I am sorry for any pain that I have caused you.”

I darted my eyes up in shock at his intimate touch in the middle of his soliloquy, but I was taken aback by the sincerity that I read in his expression as he delivered his heartfelt apology.

Furthermore, I could not deny the sparks of electricity that I felt emanating from where he gripped my thigh so casually, like he had every right to do so.

He let his hand fall away when I looked up to meet his eyes for a split second before he redirected his mesmerizing orbs to the road ahead of us again, but the damage had already been done.

I felt another sliver of the ice encasing my heart crack and splinter off with his endearment, and the low thrum of electricity persisted in the charged space, in spite of us no longer being connected physically.

It was the first time that he had called me anything other than my given name or a stupid nickname, and my wolf’s coaxing voice in my head helped to soften the shield that I had erected to protect myself.

I was not surprised to learn that his past had played a role in his departure the morning after, but it didn’t change how I had felt waking up alone after losing any sense of stability in my life so recently beforehand.

I did not respond for a long moment, taking several deep breaths as I decided how to reply and renewed my determination to try to see things from his perspective while still keeping true to my own promises to myself.

The car continued forward at a steady pace, and I noticed that the road was mostly straight as my eyes zoomed around, which explained how Ryker had been able to get away with the extended eye contact prior.

When I was sure that I would not say something that I would regret later, I cleared my throat, drawing his attention as I answered, “I appreciate the apology, Ry. I understand that it was a difficult time for you, but it wasn’t exactly easy for me either. Who's to say that you won't run off again at some point in the future?”

“Ronnie, I know I messed up, but I’m not going to keep apologizing. All I am asking for is one chance to fix things. You and I both know that Luna intended us for one another, and I’m not giving you up. You are mine.”

My heart picked up speed double-time with his growled assertion, still a niggling of doubt managed to linger. The first hint of hope began to take root in my mind, growing like a weed without my permission, but I knew that there would likely never be a better time to tell him everything.

Even so, I could not help my physical reaction to my nerves, and it was only made worse by the fact that I knew that he could hear all the minute changes in my breathing and heart rate with his enhanced senses.

I had almost psyched myself up to spill everything, but as I gazed up, his posture noticeably stiffened into a familiar position.

Something had happened, that much was obvious by the fury that I felt radiating off of him in waves, but his next words chilled me to the bone as I comprehended how close I had come to being in peril before.

“Asher found the elders from the Eastern Territory near the gas station that you stopped at on your way to the Northern Province. He said it looked like they had been mauled by a sleuth of bears.