“Little one?” He lay on the ground. “I’m sorry.”
Dani turned her gorgeous dark head toward him. Her typically dark eyes were lighter than usual, and rust-colored tear stains marred their inside corners. He closed his mouth. His ears flattened.
“It was callous of me to clean out your parents’ room without asking your permission first. It’s okay if you want to keep it the same. I can put everything back the way it was.” The silence radiating from Dani wounded him, but at least she wasn’t running away. That encouraged him, so he crawled closer. He should have remembered his grandfather’s advice back at the house and spared her this pain. Dani did seem to want him to talk, and dammit, he’d speak all day if it kept her beside him.
“This morning while you were out searching, I sent four of the wolves over to Heisson County to the east.” He stepped closer, brushing her fur with his side. “I thought it would be best if we expand our search to include the surrounding areas. I trust these men to do a thorough job.” Her ears perked up. The fur along her neck lifted in a wave. His heartbeat accelerated. He had to keep her attention.
“With that bit of business done, I rushed home because I wanted to surprise you.” He lowered his head and licked his leg. “I thought I’d turn your bedroom, our bedroom, into a play room. Toddlers need an area where they can play, jump, and put their imagination to the test without worry about breaking the grownups’
things. I figured we could purchase a few toys now, and that way when Jordan came home, he’d have everything he needs.” She whined. He leaned over and rested his head on the back of her neck forcing her to lower herself. “Don’t cry, little one. This is all new to me too. I made a mistake. I’ll learn—”
“No.” She rolled over on her back and licked the side of his face. “Y-you did everything right.
It’s me. I-I’m so scared. You make me happier than I’ve ever been, but a part of me feels like I’m failing. It all seems so useless. Nothing we’ve done has helped us find him. How much longer can we go wishing that Jordan is still alive? What if—”
“What?” He rolled on top of her and pinned her to the ground. “You’ve done more than anyone, even me. You were a trooper during our training before coming to Drover, you helped me win the alpha position back, and you search every day for your brother.” He nipped at her neck and growled. “I don’t ever want to hear you say you’ve failed. You are the strongest person I know. Jordan is out there. You know it. Don’t give up now.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Where are we going?” Dani peered in the mirror behind the visor and finger-combed her hair. She pinched her cheeks to bring some color into her face. “Don’t you want to go home and rest? You were gone all day on top of taking me out to dinner.”
“Nope.” He glanced over at her, winked and turned his attention back to the road. “You deserve a night out. We’re both going to regroup, gather our energy, and reconnect for awhile.” She popped the visor up and laughed. “Oh, I get it.”
Ethan glanced back and forth from her to the road. “Get what?”
Despite his attempt to appear innocent, the laugh lines at the corner of his eyes deepened and the corner of his mouth twitched. Her heart warmed. First he’d surprised her by taking her out on a dinner date, now he was trying to woo her. He turned off the street onto a gravel road.
She turned to study the area. The whole county was familiar territory, but she couldn’t remember if she’d ever gone down this particular path before.
He rolled down his window halfway. “I received some interesting news today.” Dani sat up straighter and held her breath.
“Jordy?”
“I’m sorry, but no.” Ethan reached across the seat, squeezed her leg, and shook his head.
“Years ago I knew an old woman. At least she seemed ancient to me. Edith Hachette was a dear friend of my mother, so she probably wasn’t up there in age like I’m remembering. When I was banned from Drover after being framed by Greggoire, I mean Loren, I asked Edith to keep a few boxes of things for me. Little things, but they held a lot of memories…good ones.” He stopped in front of a light green house, put the car into park, and shut off the engine.
Dani followed him out of the car. “What does that have to do with us coming here?”
“Bill down at the Dryer Realty told me that Edith was still alive and kicking this afternoon when I stopped by his office on my rounds. This woman is almost my last link with my childhood. My relatives are gone, the childhood friends I grew up with have taken their life mates and joined other packs. There are only about a dozen werewolves left in Drover that are old enough to remember me, and how I was back then.”