**BOOK FOUR**
Reuben is running. Running from a life he never wanted; one he never fit into.
Eli is chasing. Chasing a future he is desperate to call reality.
After Reuben's rejection, Eli thought he'd never see his mate again. However, when repo...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I wasn't sure how many times I'd fiddled with my outfit in the mirror. It wasn't as if I was fixing something—if anything, I was probably messing something up, but I couldn't help it. My nerves were shot through the roof. It's just Eli, I kept reminding myself. I'd been out with Eli before, but this time was different. It mattered more.
"Reuben, are you ready?" I heard Eli call out and I took one last look at myself in the mirror before taking one last deep breath and responding.
"I'm ready! Did you take care of everything you needed to?"
I could hear him hum in affirmation. "Willa is at Maia's place and I made sure to let everyone know I was busy today so we should be good."
I walked out of the room and there he stood. My eyes trailed down Eli's figure, taking everything in from his neatly brushed back hair—a large change in comparison to the normally wild style I was used to seeing—to his black shoes. He wasn't necessarily dressed up, but it was still a surprising change since I was used to seeing him in a random T-shirt and jeans.
"You look nice," I told him as I closed the gap between us. Eli smiled and his eyes seemed to light up.
"So do you," he replied.
For a brief moment, neither of us said anything, but it wasn't uncomfortable. We took each other in, admiring how we each dressed and, if he was anything like me, fighting the growing urge to skip the date altogether and disappear back into the bedroom.
"Do you have everything?" Eli finally broke the trance we seemed stuck in.
I nodded. "Yeah, we can head out."
Eli offered me his hand and I easily took it. We headed outside and he asked, "How do you feel about walking? We can take the car, but I figured you might enjoy getting to see more of the pack."
"Let's walk," I agreed, causing Eli to grin as he pulled me along.
I didn't bother to ask where we were going because I knew he wouldn't tell me. Instead, I suggested, "Let's play a game."
"A game?"
"Same one as last time," I told him. "We ask each other questions."
"Alright," he easily agreed. "I'll go first. Let's start easy. I don't think I asked, what's your birthday?"
I had to laugh at the question. Out of everything he could've asked, he asked that. "December 28th."
His eyes lit up. "You're a winter baby."
"Yeah, what about you?"
"March 15th," he responded.
I made a mental note of that.
"Okay, second question. If you could go back and relive one moment, what would it be?" He questioned.
I didn't have to think much about it. "There was this one year, I think I was in the eighth grade and snow fell causing Tyson and I to stay out of school. It was supposed to be a small storm, but we ended up being out for days. I remember we spent the whole time outside building snowmen, having snowball fights, making snow angels—everything and then we'd go in and make hot cocoa. It's one of the moments I look back on fondly."
