Chosen

37

The dirt pathway was familiar and foreign all at once. I had walked this same trail from the pack house many times before, and yet it had been so long since I'd traversed this track that it almost seemed... different. Or perhaps, I was different.

I wished Rykor was next to me. Part of me felt that maybe I wouldn't be quite so out-of-sorts if he were by my side. Maybe I'd feel like the confident female I'd become in his presence. Another part of me knew this was something I had to do alone, that I wouldn't really be that 'confident female' if I needed to use him as a crutch.

Bleh, who wants to be a confident, independent female anyway? I thought glumly as I made my way closer to my destination.

The Shack.

Really, it had been my idea to see Travis alone. Rykor had given me a look that clearly showed his desire to accompany me, but I'd held firm, telling him this was simply something I needed to do on my own. So, I couldn't be upset that I was now on my own, exactly as I'd requested.

Alpha Reynolds' words stopped us, Rykor and I turning to face him together. He was wringing his hands in front of him before leaning heavily onto the desk, as if to stop his fumbling. "Have you told Travis yet?"

Rykor stiffened next to me. He had told me he hoped we'd just have to see Reynolds and announce our Mating to him, and then we could leave. I'd explained to him that I needed to tell Travis in person, but Rykor was loathe to go near the man who held the title of my true Mate.

I squeezed his hand and spoke to the other Alpha at the same time. "I have not, yet. I will be telling him now."

Reynolds nodded, seeming to relax. "Good. That's good. You should go see him."

I agreed and turned to look at Rykor. His gaze was already on me and he looked as though he was about to argue against letting me go alone. I placed my other hand on his chest, my eyes not moving from his.

"Please." I didn't need more words. Rykor let out a grumble of dissatisfaction, nodded and dropped my hand.

"I will wait right here. You will come back here when you're done." It wasn't a question, but at the same time I knew it was. And that was when I knew that Rykor wasn't upset about me seeing Travis; he was worried I'd decide not to return to him. Rykor was scared that if he let me go, I would leave him.

I left my hand on his chest, right over his heart. "Yes. I will come right back to you." I will always come back to you, I thought, and I knew, somehow, he could hear me.

I fully intended to keep my promise. I would go to the Shack and tell Travis about my decision, and then I would return to Rykor and we would go see my parents together. This was the only confrontation I wanted to do without him; after this, I never wanted to leave his side again.

The Shack came into view and a wave of nostalgia hit me. It was bittersweet. Despite being happy in the decision I'd made to be with Rykor, I had once strived to make a life for myself here. I'd planned a future – though, admittedly, it wasn't a very exciting one – and thought I'd live the rest of my life out in this place. While it had never truly been home, I'd been determined to find my happily ever after inside the walls of the dilapidated, crumbling Shack.

And I had, technically. Just not with its occupant.

I wasn't sure whether or not to knock. Travis wasn't expecting me as far as I knew, though perhaps Alpha Reynolds would have told him I'd be "returning" today. If he had, the information hadn't prompted Travis to meet me at the Pack House, although he may have just assumed I'd come back here, to the Shack, and resume the same boring, monotonous life we'd shared previously.