This entire situation was insane. He couldn’t imagine a way out of their predicament. If people from both towns intended to get nasty, they were in for a lifetime of pain. And he didn’t want that for Laurie.
If his parents didn’t need him so badly at the resort and Corbin wasn’t needed as a deputy, he’d say fuck it and move his new family as far away as possible. But that wasn’t an option. Too many things were in the way.
Even though it didn’t seem Laurie was easily going to get a job in either town, they needed to stay and see this through. Surely after a few weeks the rumors would die down, wouldn’t they?
Hell, the problem was they weren’t rumors. They were all true. He had indeed mated with not one but two people, and indeed one of them was Native American and the other was half. There was no refuting those truths, and if the townspeople, both shifters and humans, wanted to get nasty about things, there was no stopping them.
They lived in small-town America. There were still small-minded folks in small towns.
“You okay?” Laurie asked, setting her hand on his thigh.
Instantly he switched his attention to his mate. His cock stiffened. Now wasn’t the time, but there was no telling that to a newly mated wolf. He nodded. “Fine.”
“Uh-huh. As in super-duper okay with all this. Walk in the park,” she mocked.
What could he say? Things were a disaster. And he couldn’t see a way to fix them.
Laurie sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. She squeezed his thigh and inhaled deeply. Suddenly, she sat up. “Pull over.”
“What? Here? Why?” He glanced at her and then back out the windshield. They were in the middle of nowhere between the two main towns. It was dark. Really dark. Not that they couldn’t see fine in the dark, but why?
“Just do it.”
Zach watched for a side street and finally made a right turn on a gravel road that led to someone’s remote house. He shut off the engine. “What’s this about, baby?”
Laurie popped off her seatbelt, scooted away from him, and opened the cab door. Before he could say another word, she jumped down and stepped away from the truck.
“Laurie?” She was making him nervous. He whipped open his door and rounded the truck in two seconds, following her farther into the brush. “What are you doing?”
She didn’t respond. She stopped moving at her breakneck pace several yards from the truck, set her hands on her hips, and spun in every direction for a minute, as though looking for something.
The spirits?
Suddenly, she whipped off her coat and then grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged it over her head.
“Laurie?”
She still didn’t look at him or speak. Instead, she stripped off the rest of her clothes and shifted right in front of him.
“Shit,” he muttered as she roamed away as though in a trance. Zach quickly followed her lead, left his clothes on top of hers in the snow, and assumed his wolf form. He hit the ground on all fours and dashed to catch up with his mate.
“Baby? You’re scaring me. Where are we going?”
She glanced at him and then looked forward again and kept moving. Her pace increased until they were at a full-out run.
Zach easily kept on her heels, deciding to let her do whatever it was she felt necessary without interruption.
She ran hard, dodging trees and jumping over downed logs and branches. As though she had all the stamina in the world, she didn’t let up her pace.
Zach was in excellent shape. Meeting her step for step wasn’t a problem. Worrying about her state of mind was another story. Was she hoping to encounter a spirit along the way? Or maybe she needed to blow off steam. This would certainly do it.
Finally, she stopped dead in her tracks. She didn’t move for long moments, staring straight ahead and then turning in a circle just as she had in human form before dropping her clothes.
When she sat on her haunches and met his gaze, his heart beat faster. “Laurie. Baby. Talk to me.”
She surprised him by shifting into human form. It was fucking cold. Snow was on the ground. She was naked. With her hands on her hips, she spun around again. And then she shouted into the night air. “Where the fuck are you now? Come out. Face me. What do you want?”
He knew she was addressing the spirits. And she was magnificent in her anger. Her body was on high alert. Her nipples beaded. Adrenaline leaked from her pores, enticing him with its smell. He’d never wanted her more.
He shifted next to her and breathed heavily as his cock grew stiff and jutted out. He could see his breath. He couldn’t feel the cold.
Anger wafted off his irate mate. Sexy. So fucking hot.
He couldn’t blame her for her frustration. Hell, he felt it too.