very, very strange how politely they were all talking given they’d wanted to eat him earlier. What a strange fucking life I lived.
Chapter 3
Aaron packed. Conley, Marc, and I unloaded my truck, saying it was better to take it in case someone from the pack near Avery needed it. Then we loaded up the stuff I’d sent ahead and Aaron’s belongings. Imogen slept in the cab and away from the vampires. By the time we got back on the road, I was tired, cranky, disappointed, and so many other goddamn emotions that part of me just wanted to bawl.
And then I got pissed for being a baby and wanting to cry.
But logically I knew that I wasn’t being a child. I found my mate, beaten and bruised. Our first time was in an alley, and then we were on the run scrambling to get him to safety. Except I bring him into the most deadly situation possible although it didn’t have that outcome. Yeah, I was pretty down on myself for that as well.
Then Aaron was our other mate but a vampire, which could put Imogen in danger, and I can’t hang out with my brother or even see my parents and…and…and…and fuck! It just went on and on, and the last fucking thing I wanted to do was take another several-hour drive. On top of which, Aaron looked like someone beat up his puppy when he got in his own car, not riding with us, to be moved off somewhere else.
Hell, I didn’t even get a chance to talk to him, kiss him, or even say hi. All around I was depressed, and that was not what I thought I should be feeling when finding my mates.
“It will be okay, Sasha,” Imogen whispered. I was so lost in thought and didn’t know he woke up that I veered into the other lane. Luckily it was the middle of the night, and there was no traffic, so I recovered and set the truck right. Of course, then the phone rang, and I answered it.
“Are you okay? Did you fall asleep?” Aaron’s panicked voice asked on the other end.
“Yes, we’re fine,” I said with a sigh, glancing down at Imogen’s big blue eyes staring up at me. He was biting his lip and looked so fragile I smiled at him. “I was thinking about everything and how this was not my dream meeting with my mates. Imogen said something, and it startled me since I thought he was sleeping. We’re all good, I swear.”
“I just wanted to check,” Aaron replied softly. “This isn’t how I imagined meeting you or my mates either.”
“Aaron,” I whispered but he hung up. Yeah, I knew he was hurting after everything he’d been through, too. This was such a goddamn clusterfuck! It wasn’t like I expected finding my mates would be easy, the same as any relationship. But did every damn thing have to be so complicated or hard?
“I’m sorry.” Imogen sat up slowly with his face drawn in a frown that bordered on a pout. All three of us were tired and sensitive to what was going on. I couldn’t speak for them personally, but I just felt emotionally, physically, and mentally raw.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” I said firmly but gently as I wrapped my arm around his slim shoulders and pulled him against me. “This is hard on all of us, but we’ll figure everything out.”
“You love the vampire don’t you?” He asked so quietly I barely heard him as he pulled away from me. “I–I’m scared of him. I don’t think I can get over what he is and live with him.”
“I don’t love Aaron, but I do like him. We’ve become good friends over the past week and a half. We have a lot in common, and I feel for what he’s been through. Tonight was the first time we met, and it didn’t go as I planned.”
“You didn’t know he was your mate?”
“No, we go off scent,” I answered with a shrug. Can’t smell someone over the phone!
“Then you should be with him,” Imogen whispered. I glanced over at him and saw tears trailing down his cheeks even in the dark. “I’ll go back to my realm.”
“What?” I gasped as I reached for him. “No! Why can’t I have both my