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“Yeah, you made quite the commotion.”
He looks away sheepishly. “I couldn’t help it.” Fingers tightening around the steering wheel, he grunts. “Everything in me said I needed to stake my claim.” He visibly relaxes his fingers, fanning them out as if he’s trying to wrangle himself under control. “How did you get away, anyway?”
My heart thuds with a pang. I don’t like thinking about Sean’s wolf. “I forced Sean to shift. He must’ve been able to stay in control for a while because Sean said he was able to track me through him. I wasn’t thinking.” I shake my head. Had I stayed human, Sean wouldn’t have been able to find me.
“You had to. Our wolves are faster,” Nathan reassures me. “Fun fact, I can also track you in wolf form.”
I brighten. “Yeah?” Evidence keeps piling up. Fate may pair us together, but she isn’t the end all be all. We have our own control.
Sean fell victim to the mindset that he still had to play by the pack’s rules to be completely free. He was wrong. Ignorant. There are a lot of pack members who aren’t being told the whole story.
“So, this means the Rejected Mate Academy is a crock of shit,” I growl.
“Another way to keep us all in line.”
If we weren’t running for our lives, I’d have Nathan go to the academy right now so we could tell everyone there’s another way. Nathan and I can talk to each other in our wolf form, just like mates. He can track me. We feel the bond like fated mates. Jealousy. Possessiveness.
If that’s the case, what else are they lying about?
“I see that look on your face,” Nathan says. “Wait until we get somewhere safe before you start overthrowing governments.”
I snicker. “This place better exist. I’ll live with you in the woods if I have to, but I’d much prefer a bed.”
He bites his blood-stained lip. “I think there’s a lot we don’t know. I won’t even be surprised if this place actually exists, and they know the same things we now do. Plus, you’re not giving me enough credit. Even if we have to live in the woods, who says I won’t build us a bed?”
“Just a bed?”
“What? You want a roof too?”
I squeeze his hand. He checks the mirror again, but so far, we’re in the clear. I stare straight ahead, wondering what’ll happen to us. We’re together, so that’s what counts, but this is much bigger than us at this point. We’re talking about our whole lives being a lie. Everyone at Greystone Academy deserves to know the truth.
Nathan and I are walking, talking evidence that this world is so much more than we’ve been told. It’s like we’ve been restrained our whole lives, and we’re now getting to see everything in perfect detail.
“I’m glad you waited for me,” Nathan says.
As if I had another choice. My heart beats with his.
From this point forward, Nathan is my everything. Above pack. Above others. Even above myself.
I have a feeling our story is far from over, but whatever happens, we’ll go through it with the other by our side.
Together.