Page 21 of Fetch Me A Mate (Shifter Mates of Hollow Oak #1)

DIANA

A nger made Diana's hands shake as she drafted the winter events schedule.

The inn would be booked solid through New Year's if she had anything to say about it.

Weekly story circles, holiday workshops, seasonal celebrations that would keep the parlor fires burning and the guest rooms full.

Fall was already among them, so it was time to think ahead.

She refused to let this morning's humiliation derail everything she'd built.

"Knock, knock," Twyla called from the front door, carrying a basket that smelled of cinnamon and chocolate. "Brought reinforcements."

"If those are your stress-relief muffins, I'll take a dozen."

"Chocolate chip therapy specials." Twyla set the basket on the reception desk and studied Diana's face. "Heard there was some excitement this morning. Early visitors."

"Something like that." Diana kept writing, her pen moving across the paper with mechanical precision. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Right. That's why you look like you've been chewing nails."

Diana set down her pen and looked up. "How much do you know?"

"Enough to know those weren't ordinary business associates." Twyla settled into the chair across from the desk. "Enough to know Rowan's got history he hasn't shared with you."

"Apparently he's got lots of things he hasn't shared.

" Diana picked up a muffin and broke it apart without eating.

Diana thought about the way Rowan had looked at her last night, the plans they'd made, the promises he'd given.

Then she thought about his cold voice this morning, the way he'd dismissed her like she was nothing more than an inconvenience.

She wanted to question Twyla, for her to tell her what she knew, but the other part of her wanted it to come from Rowan.

Then, the front door chimed again. Miriam entered with her knitting bag and a determined expression.

"Afternoon, ladies. I brought tea and my favorite fountain pen." She set both on the desk beside Diana's papers. "Figured you might need proper tools for whatever you're planning."

Diana gestured at her schedule. "Holiday celebration the second week of December. New Year's Eve party with champagne and dancing. Winter solstice storytelling circle. Valentine's weekend romance package."

"Ambitious." Miriam uncapped the fountain pen and handed it to Diana. "What about staff?"

"I'll hire locals. People who want this place to succeed."

"People who won't disappear without explanation," Twyla added pointedly.

"Exactly."

Miriam pulled out her knitting and settled into the parlor chair. "Mind if I ask what happened this morning? Whole square's buzzing with gossip about strange men and raised voices."

Diana's pen paused over the paper. "Rowan had visitors. They wanted to discuss his future plans."

"And those plans don't include Hollow Oak?"

"From the way it sounded, no.”

"And you believed him?"

The question caught Diana off guard. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because last night he looked at you like you hung the moon," Twyla said. "Because he's spent weeks working on this place like he planned to live here forever. Because men don't usually invest that much time and care in temporary situations."

"People change their minds."

"Do they? Or do they get pressured into saying things they don't mean?"

Diana set down the pen and looked at both women. "What are you implying?"

"I'm implying," Miriam said gently, "that pack politics are complicated. That sometimes wolves have to choose between what they want and what keeps the people they care about safe."

"Pack politics?"

"Those men this morning weren't business associates," Twyla said. "They were shifters. Dominant ones. The kind who don't take no for an answer."

Diana felt pieces clicking into place. Rowan's recent tension, his excessive security preparations, his reluctance to make concrete plans for the future.

"He was protecting me."

"Maybe. Or maybe he was protecting himself. Either way, the result's the same." Miriam's needles clicked steadily. "Question is what you plan to do about it."

"What can I do? If he wants to leave, I can't force him to stay."

"No, but you can make sure he knows he has a choice." Twyla reached for a muffin. "That he has a place here if he wants it."

Diana looked at her carefully planned schedule, at the future she was determined to build with or without Rowan's help. But underneath the anger and hurt, something else stirred. Concern for a man who might be trapped by circumstances she didn't understand.

"He could be in danger, couldn't he?"

"Possibly," Miriam said quietly. "Depends on what he's running from and whether it's caught up to him."

"Then I should?—"

"Should what? Chase after him? Demand explanations?" Twyla shook her head. "Wolves need to handle their own business, Diana. But they also need to know they're not alone."

Diana picked up Miriam's fountain pen, testing its weight. The ink flowed smoothly across paper, dark blue and permanent.

"What would you write?" she asked.

"Something simple," Miriam suggested. "Something true."

Diana thought for a moment, then began writing on a fresh piece of paper:

Rowan - This is your place too, if you want it. Whatever's happening, you don't have to face it alone. - Diana

She folded the note carefully and tucked it into an envelope.

"Where will you leave it?" Twyla asked.

"His truck. If he's planning on leaving town, he'll find it when he loads his tools."

"And if he's not really leaving?"

"Then maybe he'll understand that some offers don't have expiration dates."

Diana sealed the envelope and wrote his name across the front. Her handwriting looked steadier now, more determined.

"I need to ask you both something," she said. "If Rowan's in the kind of crap that brings dangerous people to my doorstep, am I putting the inn at risk by getting involved?"

Miriam and Twyla exchanged a look.

"Possibly," Miriam said finally. "But you're already involved, dear. The question is whether you're willing to fight for what you want or let fear make your choices for you."

"I didn't come to Hollow Oak to play it safe."

"No, you didn't." Twyla smiled. "You came here to build something worth keeping. That includes the people who matter to you."

Diana looked at the envelope in her hands, at the simple message that said everything and nothing.

This morning she'd been humiliated, dismissed, treated like she didn't matter.

But underneath Rowan's cold words, she'd sensed something else.

Desperation. Fear. The kind of protective instinct that made people push away the things they cared about most.

"He matters," she said quietly.

"Then make sure he knows it," Miriam said. "Before it's too late to tell him."

As afternoon faded to evening, Diana walked out to the square where Rowan's truck sat parked beside the inn. She slipped the envelope under his windshield wiper, pressing it flat against the glass.

The anger was still there, simmering beneath the surface. But it was tempered now by understanding and something deeper. Love, maybe. Or at least the recognition that some people were worth fighting for, even when they couldn't fight for themselves.

Back inside the inn, she returned to her planning. If Rowan chose to stay, she'd have work ready for him. If he chose to leave, she'd have built something strong enough to survive without him.

Either way, she'd belong here by choosing to. Just like she'd promised herself she would.