Wolves didn’t normally run during the day when the chance of being spotted by a human was higher, but we were up on the mountain, on pack grounds. I’d be safe enough. I was an enforcer. I knew the fucking rules, and they included not mating. Sure, they were my fucking rules. My job was dangerous. What kind of mate was I who killed as ordered? A mercenary. An assassin. Sure, I only finished off rogue shifters who needed to be put down, but still. There was a darkness in me that would taint Becky. Destroy her as it would surely begin to destroy me.
I really, really needed to let off some steam; otherwise, I’d be in my truck and headed back to my human mate, and that was the last thing I could do.
Hey, sugar. I’m your mate. Yeah, I’m a wolf shifter, and I’m going to bite your neck as I take you hard and make you mine forever. Oh yeah, I’m a council enforcer who ends rogue shifters with a silver bullet to the brain. Let’s fuck.
I stripped and shifted to my wolf, with fur as black as my soul, I knew that wasn’t going to work. Not one fucking bit.
5
BECKY
Well, crap on a cracker.
After tugging my mitten off with my teeth, I pulled out my cell from my purse and called in to work. As it rang, I took in the snow that had fallen overnight. Not much, but enough to add another inch to the last round. It was flipping cold out, and I stomped my booted feet on the driveway as I stared at my car.
“Talia, hey, it’s Becky,” I said when a fellow nurse answered in the labor and delivery department. “Look, I’ve got a flat tire, and I’m going to be late.”
My driver’s side tire had been slashed. It had been obvious when I’d come down the walk, seeing the car off kilter, and even more obvious when the cut was on the side wall. No nail ever punctured that part.
I needed only one guess who’d done it. Todd, my deranged ex.
Yes, Todd. Slashing my tires will definitely make me come back to you.
“That sucks,” she replied. “Don’t worry. It’s quiet now. Only one patient, only four centimeters dilated, so you’re good.”
I sighed in relief, my breath coming out in a white cloud. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I hung up, tucked my phone away and went around to the trunk to find the jack and the spare. There was no way I was driving anywhere right now, and no way I could afford a tow truck to help.
I stomped my foot on the ground again, this time in total frustration. Why couldn’t Todd just leave me alone? Sign the fucking papers and move on with his life? What guy wanted to be with a woman who didn’t want to be with him?
I’d met Todd when I’d worked as a nurse in the ICU at a hospital in Billings. It had been my second job out of school. I’d been warned about dating a doctor, but I’d fallen for Todd’s attention and charm. He’d been sweet even. Told me everything I wanted to hear. Growing up with parents who considered me their accident, I’d craved love. Looking back, it was so obvious how desperate I’d been. How stupid. But Todd had been good, though. Manipulative. Twisted. Cutting me off from friends, deciding which shifts I worked. Hell, even which department I worked in. Little by little, he’d chipped away at my independence.
I hadn’t even noticed as it happened, adapting as best I could to keep him happy. In love with me. Until he hit me. Only once. Sure, it was a dick move, but I was actually thankful for it. It was literally the slap in the face I needed to wake up and catch on to the shitshow that was my life.
He’d gone out to drink after blaming me for making him angry enough to hit me. I’d quickly packed my car with whatever I could fit and left him that night. I’d gone to an attorney, got divorce papers started.
Almost two years later, I lived two towns over and on my own, yet I was in the same fucking situation. Still married to the asshole who refused to sign. Who went before the judge and threw out all kinds of shit to drag it out. To drag out the costly expense for my lawyer. At this point, I had no doubt my bills would be putting her son through college.
I huffed and kicked the flat tire as I thought about having to pay for Todd’s school loans. Being married still meant being legally tied to Todd’s debts. It had been one thing to float him as he finished his residency while I worked, but another to pay his bills now when we hadn’t lived together for years.