“He might as well have said, ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’” Grace shook her head in disbelief. She had cried on Anne’s shoulder for hours. Now, with her eyes almost swollen shut, she sat in shock. Her whole life, she had been waiting for a mate. Grace had gossiped at sleepovers about it since she was a kid. It was the reason she had decided to stay close to the Pack instead of moving. She wanted every opportunity to meet the person she was destined for.
She had not anticipated being rejected by him.
It wasn’t unheard of for mates to not end up together. Hell, Grace knew that. But in her mind, her mate was going to be her soul mate. She was going to have a classic love at first sight mating. When the love at first sight didn’t happen, Grace knew that it would be love at first conversation. But the first conversation she had with her mate had been him rejecting her.
“It is a bullshit excuse.” Anne angrily dug her spoon into a tub of ice cream. “I’m sure I could make a trade with Ben and get his ass kicked out the Pack.”
Grace shook her head and winced. She had a headache from too many tears and too much chocolate mudslide ice cream.
“No, I don’t think you could promise Ben anything that would get him to banish Jack.” Grace squeezed Anne’s hand. “But thank you so much for offering.”
“You’re right.” Anne nodded sadly. “It’s much more satisfying to run him out of town.”
Grace laughed halfheartedly at Anne’s attempt to cheer her up. Anne really was the best friend a person could ask for.
“Anne, what am I going to do now?” Grace flopped on the couch. “Even after all of the time I spent running after him, it never crossed my mind that Jack would legitimately reject the mate bond.” Grace started to tear up again. It felt like her heart was bleeding. Grace could feel her wolf in the far reaches of her mind, hiding from the pain. She wasn’t sure she could survive this.
“I don’t know, honey.” Anne sighed and sat down next to Grace.
“What would you do if Ben met his mate tomorrow?”
“Man,” Anne blew out a deep breath, “I have been playing that scene over in my head for a few weeks now and I still don’t know.” She gave Grace a sad look. “It’s the risk of dating someone you aren’t mated to. If I am serious with myself, I assume we will just mate each other anyways and if we find our true mates after that, then tough luck for them. But if he threw me over right now, I’d probably set fire to his house and go to jail cackling like a madwoman.” Anne stood up abruptly. “This pity party has officially been upgraded from ice cream to tequila.” Anne went off to find a bottle and glasses.
Grace stared at the ceiling. If her parents were alive, they would have lost it by now. Her father would have gone out and killed Jack while her mom would be taking Grace to an all-male strip club.
Grace smiled at the thought. Her parents had been happily mated. They loved each other. Their personalities suited each other and one thing they had in common was their “never give up” attitude. They would have told Jack to screw himself and told their daughter to move on and find someone better. They definitely would not approve of her moping around in Anne’s apartment while Jack was out there no worse for wear.
Grace groaned. She had to live in this town with him. She had to see him every day while her soul slowly died inside. He probably felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. Grace pulled a blanket over her head as she realized that now she would be the one ducking into alleyways when he walked down the road. On top of everything else, it was humiliating.
Anne returned with cups in one hand and a bottle of cheap tequila in the other.
“I figured tonight was a night to forgo the good stuff and just get hammered.” She poured a huge shot into both glasses and handed one to Grace. “Cheers.”
Grace downed the shot in one swallow, her eyes watering.
“Damn, that was not smooth.” Anne coughed glancing at the bottle’s label. She shrugged and poured another set of shots. “Hopefully, this gets us drunk even quicker.”
Seven shots later, Grace had moved passed sad and was reaching a level of self-righteous anger she hadn’t felt in her whole life.
“It’s not fair that he just gets to walk around here like nothing happened. I spent the last year being treated like the crazy woman in this town.” Tequila splashed onto Anne’s couch as Grace pointed out the window. “If anyone else had chased their mates like that everyone would have oh’ed and aw’ed at the romance of it.” Grace snorted. “But no, half breed Grace Copeland gets herself worked up over everything! Those people don’t respect me.”
“No, they don’t.” Anne raised her glass.
“It’s no wonder that my own mate treats me like shit. He probably learned it from the town.” Grace shook her head. The alcohol was making her less forgiving of the whispers that had gotten increasingly louder over the years.
She loved Black Bird but the town was full of bigots. They hadn't approved of June Harding marrying someone who was not her mate, let alone a human. And that displeasure had rolled over to Grace.
But Grace’s mom hadn’t let their mean words stop her. She just smiled politely when people made their snide comments. Grace was sick of smiling politely.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and while I frantically tried to connect with my soul mate, this town laughed and helped him avoid me.” Grace dropped to her knees in front of Anne looking deep in her eyes. “Except you Anne,” Grace cried, “you tracked that bastard down and got him to talk to me. I love you Anne,” Grace choked, “will you be my mate?”
“I would be honored.” Anne slurred, smashing Grace’s cheeks between her hands. “We will be so happy.” Anne jumped up swaying. “I have to call Ben and tell him.” She fumbled for her phone and moaned when the light hit her eyes. After a few tries, Anne nodded excitedly when they heard it dial.
“Hello?” Ben rasped.
“Ben,” Anne whispered drunkenly, “I’m leaving you.” She nodded to Grace. “Grace has asked me to be her mate and I accepted. I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
“Anne? Do you know what time it is? Have you been drinking?” Grace could hear the rustle of cloth from the other side of the phone. “Where are you guys?”
“Don’t try to stop us, Ben.” Anne snorted indignity. “We’re in love.” Without another word Anne hung up and threw her arms around Grace.
Grace smiled sloppily right until she threw up all over Anne.
The sun was trying to kill her. At least that’s what it felt like to Grace. Her head was splitting open and the light blinding her wasn’t helping. There was a groan behind Grace. She blinked her eyes trying to clear them.
“Never again,” Anne croaked. Grace moaned her agreement.
Using the coach as leverage, Grace staggered to her feet. Grace’s stomach did not appreciate being vertical. She barely made it to the toilet before she lost her lunch.
Lying on the cold tile, Grace didn’t bother moving when Anne stepped into the bathroom.
Her hair was greasy and the raccoon eyes her mascara had left made Anne look as bad as Grace felt. They must have gotten extremely drunk because even after a night of clubbing, Anne woke up looking like a princess. It never ceased to make Grace angry and she tried not to feel too smug at Anne’s disheveled appearance.
“Are we gonna die?” Grace’s face peeled off the tile as she sat up. She immediately regretted it and flopped back onto the ground.
“I feel like it.” Anne rubbed her eyes wincing. “The only way we are going to survive this is if we get coffee now.” Anne walked over to the mirror and shook her head at herself. “Girl, you are a mess.” Turning around she pointed down at Grace. “I’m going on a caffeine run and you are going to clean up the puke.” Anne held her hand up stopping Grace’s protests. “I am walking outside looking like this for you. I am preparing to scare away all my business for you. The least you can do is clean up the mess you made last night.”
That sounded fair to Grace.
Anne threw on a hat and left to hunt down coffee while Grace was bent over a mysterious stain on the living room carpet. At least, even drunk, Grace had the thought to spray a pretreatment on the carpet. It was practically muscle memory by now though. More than a few times Grace tracked mud and blood into her apartment after a full moon run. It didn’t matter if you were dead tired you didn’t go to sleep until you sprayed pretreatment on the carpet. Day old stains are impossible to scrub out. She had the cleaning bills to prove it.
The familiar repetition of cleaning up the effects of a wild night helped clear Grace’s mind.
In the cold light of morning, cleaning up her own vomit, trying to live through the worst hangover of her life, Grace realized that she was at rock bottom.
She had put all of her hopes and dreams into the same basket. Now, she was left with nothing but broken shells. Grace was mad at her own naivety. She had assumed that her life would begin when she met her mate and that was her own damn fault.
This time the anger that was getting her heart rate up was directed at herself. It hurt like hell to have her mate reject her but it hurt a hell of a lot more realizing that she had held herself back for nothing. She should have moved years ago. She should have dated all of those men who had caught her eyes over the years. Instead, she had kept close to home and kept herself unattached all in the hopes that one day her mate would sweep her off her feet.
Not anymore.
Grace’s hands ached with unspent energy. The headache be damned, Grace was going to get her life started right away. She went into Anne’s storage closet looking for boxes. Grace didn’t pay attention to the sound of the door shutting. She just kept throwing packing boxes into a pile.
“Do you want to tell me why you’re making a mess?” Anne stood, arms folded, leaning against the door.
“Yesterday was the final straw.” Grace threw a roll of packing tape onto the growing pile of cardboard. “It’s my own damn fault waiting around for life to get started.” She whipped around furious. “Look at us. You haven’t found your mate but you’ve got a successful business and a man who adores you. All I have to show is a partially finished online degree and a sad one bedroom apartment.” Grace picked up as many boxes as she could and stomped past Anne. “I can’t even show my face in my own home town anymore. And maybe that’s for the best.”
Grace walked out the front door towards her car and started loading boxes into the back seat. Anne followed her out, standing back and watching Grace fume.
“It’s time I grew up and moved on. I’m done with living the life I am.” Grace headed back to the house for the rest of the boxes.
Anne put her hand on Grace’s shoulder.
“Let’s move your stuff to the store’s backroom until you get settled.” And without a single question, Anne put on her workout clothes to help Grace close up her apartment.
Anne convinced Grace to sit down for a moment once they got to her apartment and make a plan. It wasn’t the most thought out plan but Grace was excited about the future for the first time in a long time.
She was going to move to her parent’s old hunting cabin. It was on the edge of Black Bird. It was run down and needed fixing up but it was something that she could claim as her own. She would have to rebuild it on her own but she didn’t mind. It would be the first step in her journey to reinvent herself.
Fueled by righteous indignation and espresso, it only took till sundown to pack up Grace’s apartment. Boxes were stacked in the living room next to the furniture that was going to be sold. The cupboards were bare, the bathroom empty, and the closets only had old shoe boxes in them. Grace had thrown all her clothes into two suitcases while Anne packed all of the pictures and books. Grace convinced Anne to donate almost everything. Grace didn’t want to see it again. Everything else was going into the storage room of Chic Chick. Anne offered to break the lease with the landlord in the morning. Everything was set to go. The two women were sitting on the couch waiting for Ben to arrive to drive Anne home.
They sat in silence holding each other’s hands. Grace’s mind was on her cabin, thinking about what lay ahead of her. Anne sipped on a glass of wine, her eyebrows drawn in thought.
“You should have done this years ago.” Anne said breaking the silence. “You should have done this when your mom died.” She swirled her wine absent mindedly. “I know you have your reasons for sticking around town but I think you can do so much better than just putting up with everything. It makes me so happy to see you with this much fire in your belly. You were never the polite, whipping girl you’ve pretended to be for these idiots. I’ve been praying for you to snap for years.” She gave Grace a sheepish smile. “I may have been pushing you to do it.”
“If by pushed me to it you mean supported me even when I was acting like an idiot, then yes, you did.” Grace bumped Anne with her shoulder. “I might need more pushing to keep this attitude up. You think you’re up for it?”
“Oh hell yeah, this will be a blast.”
Ben walked in while Anne and Grace were hugging each other tightly. He walked over and sat down next to Anne.
“I’ve got some of the men ready to move your furniture tomorrow. You sure about this?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“You are pretty far out of the town in the cabin. I’m sure Anne has told you about the rogues in the area.” Grace nodded. “Make sure to be on your toes. I’m sending someone out there tomorrow to install new locks.”
“You don’t have to do that, Ben.”
“Yeah, I do” His tone brokered no arguments. “For Anne’s peace of mind if nothing else.” Anne rolled her eyes. “Don’t hesitate to call if anything happens. I’d rather send someone out there for a false alarm then for you to deal with an intruder on your own.”
“You will regret that. I think the cabin might be infested with spiders.” Grace joked.
“I don’t care. Just call.” Ben looked over at Anne. “We will close up the apartment.” He got up and gave Grace a hug. “I’ll see you around.”
Grace and Anne hugged quickly before Grace practically ran to her car. She sped the whole way through town. Once she hit the dirt road leading to the cabin she started to sing. This was going to be fun.
Jack trotted under the trees. The night was cool and clouds were beginning to roll in. It smelled like rain. There would only be a few more nights like this. The temperature would drop soon and bring the snow soon.
Jack loved roaming the woods as a wolf. He could hear all of the animals doing their best to hide from him. He could hear the small stream that made its way to the glacial river that ran through Black Bird territory. He wasn’t a fan of Pack runs but he could wander the forest by himself every night.
After the run in with Grace he had called Derek, told him where he would be patrolling and shifted. Jack’s wolf was not happy with him. While the wolf couldn’t take over completely, he made sure Jack roamed in a circle that just happened to include Grace’s apartment building.
Consciously, Jack turned to the outskirts of the border. He could smell the Tate twins in this section of the woods. It was faint, as if they had passed through yesterday. Their scent trailed out of Black Bird and into Monroe Springs, the Pack to the east.
Jack wondered if Ben or the Alpha in Monroe Springs knew that Ezra and Ezekiel Tate were creeping around. He made a note to bring it up when he saw Ben next.
As he walked the border, Jack noticed no signs of any rogues. There were a few teens that needed their asses handed to them for leaving Black Bird, but no unknown wolf had come close enough for Jack to sense them.
With no immediate threats, Jack’s mind wandered. Back to Grace. He was doing them both a favor by denying the mate bond. In Jack’s experience, nothing good had come from mating a stranger.
His parents had met by accident at a multi Pack gathering. His mom, Veronica, was an only child from a middle class family in Texas. His dad, Beau, was from a huge family in Louisiana. In any other circumstances, they wouldn’t have been on each other’s radar.
But they were fated mates. And fated mates meant they were destined to be together. Jack couldn’t help but snort.
They couldn’t have been more different and for the next thirty years, they made each other’s lives, and in turn Jack’s life hell. His mom resented his dad for taking her away from her family and the relative ease of their lifestyle. His dad was never able to get past the fact that his mom only wanted one child.
The hate ate them up. Jack grew up watching his parents whittle down to bitter people. Jack’s mom started drinking. Jack’s dad started sleeping around. They fought constantly. The shitty trailer they lived in got shittier. They ignored Jack as best as they could and blamed him for their problems when they couldn’t.
It was a nightmare: going to school in dirty clothes, being too embarrassed to play with his friends after school, not having enough money for food because his parents drank their meager paychecks.
At sixteen, Jack ran away. He couldn’t keep living with his parents. He went long wolf for two years. It was the only reason he survived. Traveling from town to town, taking odd jobs here and there gave him a chance to see what life should be like. It was eye opening.
By accident he ended up as an apprentice to a do-anything-and-everything contractor. Mr. Hammond hired Jack from a parking lot to help finish a fence but ended up convincing Jack to stay for years. Jack learned everything he knew from that man. Not only about working with your hands but about life. Mr. Hammond was the closest thing to a father figure Jack had. Jack loved him and he thought Mr. Hammond loved him too. In his own way.
But he didn’t love Jack enough though. Crotchety Mr. Hammond was not immune to the mate fever. At fifty years old, the man met a woman while on vacation, his mate, and never came home. He asked Jack to pack up his house, hired a realtor to sell it and never looked back.
It was just another example of how mates made people lose their minds. And it was the final piece of evidence Jack needed to swear them off forever.
Grace Copeland was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen but she was not worth going through what his parents went through. She definitely wasn’t worth the betrayal Jack had felt when Mr. Hammond had left.
A little pain right now would be worth it. Jack just needed to keep reminding his wolf that.