The Silver Dagger

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He couldn't feel her anymore through their bond but he still felt a tingle of recognition when he finally spied her in the group of people flowing out of the exit. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered. His wolf wanted to run up and lay at her feet until she accepted him as her mate again. He wanted to hide, but he made his arm move when her eyes finally scanned in his direction. Her expectant gaze turned to confusion, but she didn't frown. That was good. It only took her a few seconds to maneuver around all the other people milling about and reach his side.  He braced himself for the scent he most feared - that of hers and Nate's intertwined from a sealed bond - but it wasn't there. They'd spent two weeks in Yellowstone together and hadn't mated? It felt like the sun was shining for the first time in two weeks. Maybe he still had a chance.

"Cliff, what are you doing here? Where is my aunt?"

"Her car broke down. She called Alpha Wayne. He sent me. Can I take your bag?"

"No, I'm fine. Are you here to take me home? I need to get back to school."

His wolf whined in his head. She would have let Nate take her bag. "I know. I'm going with you. Alpha Wayne has assigned me as your guard for now."

"I don't need a guard. We caught the Scots and I can take care of myself now."

"They still want the dagger and you're the future Alpha."

From her look, he could tell she didn't want him there.  She opened her mouth and he cut her off. "Don't argue. He's my boss. I'm just doing what I was told. If you want someone else, just tell him, he'll understand. I'm not exactly the friendliest guy in the world."  Telling his wolf to shut up about how they wanted - no needed - to protect her, he spun around and headed for the door.

Instead of running up to his side and trying to make him smile the way she would have done when they were little, she stayed behind him the whole way to the truck. He unlocked it, then turned to her.

"You can put your bag in the bed behind the cab. It should be fine there."

"I'll just keep it at my feet."

He gritted his teeth and stomped around to his door, again telling the moaning wolf in his head to shut up. Her phone dinged as she was buckling her seat belt. He saw her smile when she looked at the screen and knew it was Nate. He should have punched the guy when he had a chance.

"How's Nate?"

She looked up from her phone with a smile that made his wolf want to snuggle with her and him want to punch Nate even more. "Fine."

He nodded toward the phone. "You should tell your aunt you arrived."

"I already did.  That's who just texted me." Her face softened. "Thank you for coming to get me, Cliff. I know this can't be easy on you. I'll tell Alpha Wayne to send someone else if you want. Does he know about us?"

"No."

"Are you completely recovered from the silver?"

The concern in her voice only made him angrier as his wolf whined about how kind she was. He focused on getting out of the parking lot before he answered. "Mostly. How was your flight?"

He saw her shrug out of the corner of his eye. "It was okay. I bought the ticket so late there were no window seats. The guy I sat next to let me take pictures out his window though."

His wolf perked up his ears.  "You bought the ticket? Your mate didn't?" He hated that word.

"He offered to."