Chapter 17

Cooper POV

Rex's flight was late getting in, and I'm already impatient to get going when I finally see him saunter in. I realize I had forgotten how forbidding he looks in person when I see him walk through arrivals. He's more tanned than before, and his black hair is now cut military short. The all-black outfit of jeans, boots and a fitted t-shirt doesn't help to soften his look, and I see plenty of people giving him wary, but admiring, glances. He looks fit and healthy compared to the last time I saw him in person and I'm so relieved.

Getting rejected by his mate nearly broke him and he had faded away to a shadow of his former self, both physically and mentally. Never a big chatterbox to begin with, he had become even more withdrawn and isolated. None of us were sure that his leaving to go traveling had been the right thing to do at the time, but when one of the elders had suggested it, we all agreed it was worth a shot.

He smirks slightly as he approaches us,