“I knew they weren’t going to just let you leave.”
“Maybe we should have snuck out in the middle of the night.” He shook his head. “I could never do that.”
She squeezed his fingers. “I know you couldn’t, which is why you’re you.”
“It won’t be easy for them. They’ll have to be trained. Cullen and Gabriel are taskmasters. Then there’s the constant fear of being blown up by my father.”
“Yes, there is all that.” She cleared her throat. “But there is also having you there, having a real leader, having a chance at a real shifter life, having something to fight for instead of just fighting.”
He shook his head. “Don’t romanticize it.”
“I’m not.” She stopped walking. “Are we really going to Joe’s or did you make that up?”
“We’re really going to Joe’s.”
“Okay, then we need a car unless you want to walk all day.”
He laughed, some of the joy that had vanished reappearing in his gaze. “Good call. If it’s just you and me going back to Maine, we can fly. If it’s more than us we’ll need to drive anyway since we’ll never all get on the same plane.”
“Should we go to the car rental?”
She knew where that was. Every time Zack had destroyed one of his cars, she’d had to go rent him a new one while he picked out the next one to buy. In the meantime the rest of the pack took the bus everywhere they went, since all of their money went to Zack, Cole or Nero.
“Do you have a driver’s license?”
“I do, but I don’t have a car.”
Where was Michael going with this? The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she realized her mate was up to something.
“Great. Let’s go to where we can get a taxi.”
Without another word, he pulled her down the street.
* * * *
Hours later, she still couldn’t believe what had happened. Michael had bought her a car. She sat in the front seat of it, gripping the steering wheel; still unable to believe he’d done that.
She hadn’t even known you could walk into a car dealership and walk out with a car the same day. Evidently you could if you paid cash and you bought one that was already on the lot. Her hands shook on the steering wheel as she pulled it into a space outside Joe’s store.
“I’m still without words.”
He grinned, the same satisfied smile he’d been giving her since he’d marched into the place and picked out a car for her. “I think it handled really nicely. You do like the color don’t you?”
She did. It was silver. Having never thought to own a car, she found she liked everything about it instantly, down to the position of the cup holders. “Are there are a lot of cars on Westervelt?”
“None, actually. We don’t have roads. We leave our cars in a lot we own on the mainland.”
Gasping, she gripped the wheel tighter until it felt as if her hands might bleed. “You want me to leave it somewhere? What if someone takes it?”
“It’s a covered, monitored lot. As far as I know, no one has ever had a problem with theft. Not too much of that going on in rural Maine. However, if you’re concerned, let me reassure you that the insurance on it will replace it if it’s stolen.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You have to understand, no one has ever bought me anything…and this is huge.”
“Hey, there.” He pulled her across the center console into his arms. “It’s okay. This is just the first of many gifts.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to buy stuff for me. You just have to be you.”
“Buying stuff for you is me being me.”
It was the same argument they’d had at the car lot.
Her wolf panted inside of her. Don’t make him mad.
If most people had to fight their wolves for dominance, she had to argue with hers not to make her more afraid than she should be. It was a strange circumstance, considering she’d never been that brave to begin with. Now, however, she had Michael’s soul to strengthen her.
Michael undid his seatbelt. “Let’s go inside.”
Scarlett sighed, leaning her head against the window.
Michael paused as he raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s going on?”
“I really don’t want to leave the car.”
He laughed, one loud “ha” that vibrated through the car. “Scarlett, I had no idea when I got this for you that you were going to have separation anxiety about a motor vehicle.”
“Make fun if you must but…”
He interrupted. “Oh, I must.”
“Fine.” Turning off the engine, she opened the door and stepped out. Using the remote control on her keychain, she locked the car. Then she locked it again. And again.
“Are you going to get OCD about this?”
Oh no, you’re making him mad. Her wolf hid her face under her paws.
She grinned. “My wolf thinks I’m making you mad.”
He shook his head. “She’s going to have to get used to my teasing you.”
“What are we doing here, anyway?”
With all the excitement of being taken to the dealership and then bought a car, she’d neglected to ask him what he wanted to do at Joe’s. Personally, she’d hoped to be done with this place now that the proprietor was dead. Her hands still shook a little bit and she hoped the occurrences of her withdrawals would cease soon. Although, she supposed it could be much worse. She wasn’t stuck at home vomiting or shaking under the covers.
I’d like to go home.
Her poor wolf. Maybe they were going to have to attend some sort of counseling together.
Michael answered her question as they walked through the front door of the shop.
Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that Michael broke into the shop by pushing at the door until it gave way.
“I don’t like how much he knew about the death of that witch.”
Scarlett remembered Joe had briefly spoken about the witch the Westervelt Wolves had killed. Michael still felt a little ill about it.
“It bothers you that you ordered her death.”
He sighed. “It doesn’t bother me she is dead or that I had to order her death to save Tristan. No, what bothers me was that it was one more bloodstain. Thirty-five years ago more than half my pack was butchered because of a curse. At some point, the bloodshed has to end.” Looking at her, he rubbed his nose. “That’s why I can’t be Alpha. Because I would say ‘enough’ and an Alpha never can.”
For her part, she was glad he wasn’t. “You’re Alpha enough for me.”
Pulling her into his embrace, he kissed her. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
They walked together, stepping over the broken glass that now littered the floor.
“Looks as if the group wasn’t satisfied with just killing Joe. They made a mess of the whole thing.”
“It was smart actually. The cops will think robbery.”
A thought dawned on her and her stomach fell. “Are we going to find Joe’s dead body?” She closed her eyes, trying to stem off the nausea at the thought.
“No.”
She exhaled and opened her eyes. That was a relief. “How do you know?”
“Use your nose. Do you smell rotting corpse in this building?”
Taking a deep breath, she extended her sense of smell as far as it went. There were a lot of disgusting things in here, rotting food, urine and somewhere on the street someone had puked but no dead body.
Michael kept speaking. “You’ve always had your ability to scent. The rest of the things you inherited when you got your wolf you’ll have to get used to but not that. If you learn to trust yourself, you’re ten steps ahead.”