You Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 3)

Chapter 25: Indigo Moon

Garrett

I’m starting to question the wisdom of my decision to bring Jeannie with me for this, but I think the real problem is that I’m still questioning the wisdom of even doing this in the first place. And yeah, I probably should have run it by my brother first before I scooped up his mate and plunked her in my truck, but screw him anyway. He never asks me before he does anything, and Jeannie is an adult.

He hasn’t even bothered to tell her the truth yet, so he doesn’t get to lay claim on her like that yet. And yes, I know that’s a bullshit excuse. I’m using it anyway.

The truth is, I didn’t want to come alone, and I was considering asking Gabe to come with me, but that loser isn’t even answering his phone. And then when I really got to thinking about it, he’s the last person I should bring for this. I just don’t really have any other friends, not any that aren’t connected to him anyway.

Even Jeannie is connected to him, obviously, but she’s the one who showed up on my porch wanting to talk to me. I’m basically doing her a favor by bringing her. I mean, she still hasn’t said what it was she wanted to talk about, but that’s understandable. I surprised the hell out of her, and she’s probably wondering if this is a good idea as much as I am.

Which is why I should probably try explaining it to her.

“So, do you remember how I told you I’ve been talking to a girl who seems promising as a potential mate?”

I glance over and see her nod her encouragement for me to go on, so I do.

“Well, her name is Leslie, and she’s the daughter of Indigo Moon’s Alpha.”

I tell her all about how our parents were in cahoots to get her and Gabe together not long ago, and can’t help noticing how that makes her tense up. Either he’s finally told her, or she’s starting to tune into their connection enough to get reflexively jealous at the thought of him with any other girl. That seems like a good sign for him.

“Well, he was never interested, but she did like me, so we’ve been talking for a few weeks,” I tell her, hoping it will soothe her jealous heart.

I can’t be having any of that if I’m going to take her there with me.

“But then suddenly, she stopped texting me back a few days ago,” I go on explaining. “And it was sudden. I mean, we were in the middle of a conversation that had started in the morning, and then by lunchtime, nothing. I didn’t know what to think of it until I woke up to a text from her this morning, and she explained that she isn’t interested in seeing me anymore and has decided to cut off communication with me. She wouldn’t say anything more than that.”

I glance over to see Jeannie’s reaction to that, but I can’t read her expression. Not while I’m driving, anyway.

“That seems odd, right?” I ask her, wanting her to confirm that I’m not crazy for thinking it. “Like there’s more to the story that she’s just not saying?”

Jeannie picks at the material of her shirt and twirls the bottoms of her hair a bit as she seems to be thinking it over, my agitation and anticipation steadily growing as I’m waiting for her to say something. I fear that she’s about to tell me she thinks I’m nuts and making this trip is a stupid idea.

“Honestly? Yeah, that is odd,” she agrees with me a moment later. “And I can’t help wondering what caused it. Somebody must have done or said something to her, and it kind of seems like she has feelings about it that she’s not sharing. Like maybe that’s why she’s giving such a vague explanation, because anything more would dredge up those feelings.”

“Exactly,” I exclaim, sighing with relief.

I’m not crazy. Jeannie is a reasonable person, and she agrees with me.

“So, I decided I’m going to drive over there and make her tell me to my face whatever is going on. I need more than just a couple dismissive texts before I can accept it and just walk away.”

“What about that agreement that your parents were working on? Wasn’t mating with one of you part of that?” she questions next, and I’m glad she did.

All I cared about when I saw those texts was the fact that yet another potential mate is casting me aside. I wasn’t looking at the bigger picture like that.

“You’re right,” I agree, snapping my fingers with the realization. “Thank you for reminding me. I need to ask about that too. Although, I suppose with that in mind, I probably should have cleared this trip with my mom first.”

“Should we call her and tell her now?”

Ugh, no. The last thing I want to do is run this impulsive decision past her and have her tell me that I’m being reckless, or overreacting, or whatever else she might say. I’ll make sure that whatever I talk about with Leslie stays between me and her, and if I get even a hint of there being a larger problem, my mom will be my first call.

“No,” I decide firmly. “I’m not going to let this turn into a big deal when it doesn’t have to be. I’m just going to speak with Leslie and figure out what’s going on, that’s all.”

“Okay,” Jeannie says agreeably, and she doesn’t even say it like pretty much anyone else would have, with that hint of judgmental questioning to it. She just agrees, trusting me to have it handled.

Well, that’s kind of nice. Maybe she was the best pick to bring with me after all.

I realize as we’re nearing the Indigo Moon border that I never did give Jeannie a chance to talk to me about whatever was on her mind earlier, mostly spending the whole trip talking about my stuff and telling her about Leslie and Indigo Moon. I’ll have to make sure to give her another opportunity to talk on the way home. She’s been so supportive that I might even owe it to her.

She looks on with wide-eyed wonder as the Indigo Moon guards approach my truck, noting that they don’t even bother hiding what they are even with not yet knowing who I am. They run over to us as wolves and then shift, standing there naked as they interrogate me.

Luckily, the guards don’t give me any trouble because they’re used to seeing me around here. But after they wave us on, I can’t help chuckling at the curious, embarrassed blush all over Jeannie’s face. She’s still not comfortable with the nudity part of hanging out with shifters.

“They’re not worried about us being unauthorized humans because their pack borders are set so far back from the road,” I answer her earlier question. “And you never saw them, but there were other patrols out closer to the road who would have stopped us if they didn’t recognize my truck. But my truck is registered with this pack as an authorized vehicle, so they never bothered us.”

“It’s registered so you can come visit Leslie?” she wonders next. Always so curious.

“Well, no. It’s registered because our packs are allied, and we do a lot of trading with them. I make a lot of those supply runs, which means I come here at least once a month. It’s part of my job.”

“Oh.”

I don’t know why, but she sounds pleasantly surprised, and maybe even impressed. But we’re approaching the visitor parking area near the packhouse and I’m paying attention to the guy directing me where to park, so I never get a chance to ask.

“So, there’s something you should know,” I tell her quietly as I help her down from my truck. “And I just now realized it, or I would have made a point of telling you sooner.”

“Okay,” she says, giving me a curious and questioning look, but waits patiently for me to say more.

I’m not used to someone like her, so it always throws me off that she doesn’t give me any attitude or pushback. Stella would have gone off on me for waiting until now to say something that is obviously important, and Gabe probably would have punched me for being so dramatic.

“You’re Gabe’s mate,” I reveal to her in a rush, still quietly enough for it to be semi-private. “He didn’t want to tell you yet because he didn’t want it to influence how you felt about him as you were getting to know each other, but in order for me to take you in there with me,” I point ahead to the packhouse in front of us, “I’m going to have to tell some people who you are, and I didn’t want it to catch you off-guard.”

I see emotions flash across her face, but I couldn’t say which ones. They’re not the ones I expected though. There’s no surprise or outrage, and she pretty quickly moves on to just accepting it.

“Yeah, Gabe told me last night.”

“He did?”

I know he had a date with her last night, but I didn’t realize he was planning to do that. It must have gone really well, well enough that he felt secure in telling her the truth already. And I’m glad for it, but I can’t deny the pang of hurt that hits me when I realize he never told me. Not even a text or anything.

She nods, and I shrug in an attempt to convince her as well as myself that it’s not a big deal.

“That’s good, so this won’t be as awkward as I feared then,” I tell her, nodding at the omega holding the front door open for us.

“Stick close to me and don’t wander off. I’m not about to face the wrath of my brother for losing his mate on our little field trip here,” I whisper, giving her a teasing smirk.

What I’m not saying is that they’re not as used to humans around this pack as back home. They’re not unfriendly to them per se, but they are more of a novelty, and I can’t predict or promise the reactions she might receive. I’d much rather keep her in my sights than not.

-

-

Jeannie

Some of the wolves of the werewolves of this pack are much closer to the surface than I’m used to back at New Horizon. I don’t know if it’s that the people here aren’t as good at controlling them or it isn’t as important to them to keep their wolves suppressed, but I can sense most of the beasts around me. I’m guessing Garrett knew that too, and that’s why he wants me to stick close to him.

I’m not afraid, though. Even if the wolves around here aren’t kept on as tight of a leash, they still won’t hurt me. In fact, they’re curious about me. They’ve probably never felt a “human” the way they can sense me.

Even Alpha Lewis, who at first seemed annoyed that Garrett brought an unexpected visitor, and a human no less, seemed to warm up to me quickly. I don’t trust him though. His wolf is at odds with him, and the longer I stood near Alpha Lewis, the more it felt like his wolf was reaching out to try to tell me something.

The looks and the smiles Alpha Lewis gives, they seem friendly, but they never quite reach his cold, hard eyes. I don’t think he’s a nice person, though he seems pretty good at pretending to be one. And what’s worse is that Leslie, his own daughter, is scared of him. Or at least her wolf is.

Even though Alpha Lewis pretty quickly agreed to let Garrett see Leslie and have a chance to talk to her, he’s watching them. I can feel it. His wolf is nearby, and he’s worried for his daughter, and his daughter’s wolf is terrified of her father.

But Leslie herself seems cold and entirely too formal with a man she’s been flirting with and pursuing up until now. Garrett showed me some of her texts on the way over, and the aloof, closed-off girl standing over there with him is not the person I expected to find after reading them. Something is upsetting her, and she’s even more bothered that Garrett is here to see it.

“Garrett, you need to listen closely because I’m only going to say this once,” Leslie tells him, crossing her arms over her body to show just how unapproachable she’s feeling. “I’m not interested anymore, and I don’t want to talk to you. I found somebody else, and we’re going to be mated next weekend.”

I wish I was closer to them so I could reach Sebastian better. Most of the time, I have to touch Garrett to feel him. He’s not like these Indigo Moon people who leave their wolves so close to the surface.

But he wanted a little privacy to talk to Leslie, which is understandable, so he left me sitting at a patio table across the way from them. He can still see me, and he probably thinks I can’t hear them, but I can. I’m trying not to eavesdrop, but it’s impossible. I feel so bad for him, and I want to know what her excuse is.

“What changed?” Garrett demands. “We were just talking the other day, and everything seemed fine. You were supposed to come running with me next weekend.”

“Yeah, well, like I said. I found someone else, and he’s a sure thing, so I don’t see the point in wasting anymore of my time with you.”

“He’s an Alpha? From which pack?”

“Of course he’s an Alpha, and all he needs is a high-ranking mate from another sanctioned pack to take over his father’s position. All he needs is me, basically. It’s none of your business which pack he’s from or who he is because I’m none of your business anymore.”

“Leslie, I just … I thought we had something. And I’m an Alpha too, so it’s not like he can give you anything I can’t. I just … I don’t understand what happened, and why so suddenly.”

“Look, Garrett. You’re an Alpha, but so is your brother. So are all your brothers, and some of them are already mated. We found out just last week that even Gabe is now, so the odds of you becoming Alpha just became slim-to-none. And no offense, because I mean, you’re a good guy and all, but your Alpha prospects were what I liked most about you.”

“So, that’s what this is about. I’ll have you know that just because Gabe has a mate now doesn’t make him most likely to become Alpha. He still has a lot of hoops and hurdles to jump through, and he was telling me just the other day that he’d back me as Alpha if it comes to it. I still have a chance.”

“Yeah, well, this other guy is definitely becoming Alpha now that he has me, and it’s happening next weekend.”

She sighs, finally unwinding her arms and holding out a hand to touch Garrett’s arm.

“I’m sorry it had to be this way, but you have to understand that I can’t gamble on a maybe when this other guy is a guarantee. And besides, if your wolf was going to accept me, he would have done it already. Just be happy for me, Garrett. Against all the odds, I finally found somebody who can make all my dreams come true.”

“Yeah, well, I hope you two are very happy together,” Garrett bites out bitterly, shaking off her hand and turning to start walking away from her.

“You’re a good guy with a lot to offer,” Leslie calls after him. “You’ll find someone else, I know it.”

He doesn’t turn around or try to say anything else, and she doesn’t follow him. She watches as he marches his way back over to me, stopping just in front of my chair to reach down and grab me by the elbow.

“Let’s go,” he insists gruffly. He’s being a little rough, but it’s understandable. I know he’s upset, and probably just wants to get out of here.

The friendly guy from an allied pack who showed up here is gone now, along with all the smiles and chuckles he had for the Alpha on our way in. He’s on a mission now, and it consists solely of making it to his truck before he breaks down. At least, that’s Sebastian’s mission. He doesn’t want to look weak in front of Leslie or her father.

“It was nice to see you again, and to meet you, Jeannie,” Alpha Lewis calls out on our way back through his packhouse. “I’ll see you next week as usual, Garrett. Tell your mother I said hello.”

“Will do,” Garrett calls back as cheerfully as he can muster at the moment.

“And you tell your mate that we’ll be expecting an invite to the ceremony,” Alpha Lewis adds for me, his eyes finally sparkling with genuine merriment.

“I will,” I answer him, not really knowing what else to do. I’m not even completely sure what he’s talking about or why that’s the one thing he said that he actually meant.

Once we’re outside and headed to the truck again, I hear Garrett grumble under his breath, “Of course he’s happy now. He never liked the idea of me with his daughter anyway.”

I don’t have anything to say that will help him, so I choose to just keep my mouth shut. I’m guessing that since he decided to bring me along, he didn’t expect it to go like this. I’m actually wondering if he thought that seeing Leslie in person would somehow change her mind, though I still don’t know why he would have brought me for that. I guess maybe he just needed a friend, but I can kind of sense that now he wishes I wasn’t here with him.

And I don’t blame him. The last thing I wanted last night after I left Gabe was for anyone to see me or try to talk to me, and I bet Garrett is kind of feeling like that now. The best I can do is sit here and try to quietly have his back.