Chapter 87

Ashlynn POV

Today is the day that Alpha James arrives, and with him, Shawna. I'm looking forward to seeing her, seeing her growth. I am hopeful that she has recovered from her trauma and has been able to move on, or at least to move forward. I'm looking forward to sitting down with her and finding out how she's truly been doing. Speaking on the phone isn't the same as looking someone in the eye while they speak. As I move around the clinic, tidying up everything from the day, I hear the front door open. "Hey Aslynn, you in here?"

"In the back," I holler back as I recognize the voice of one of the ranch vet techs.

Garrett comes around the corner, a letter in his hand. "This came for you."

I dust off my hands on my jeans and reach for the letter, thanking him. He stands watching me intently as I stare at the envelope, a mirage of feelings flittering across my face. "You okay?" he asks.

"What?" I look up. "Oh yes I'm great." I break the seal on the envelope that is marked certified. "Who signed for this?" I ask.

"Cody, he told me to bring it straight to you."

I pull out the thick stack of papers and unfold them, butterflies in my stomache. "It's the deed to the land I bought," I say with a smile.

"You bought land?" he asks. "You don't like it here or something?"

"Of course I like it here. I bought five acres from the old man." We call the man who owns the land that backs up to the pack lands and this ranch "the old man", because he is old and nobody really knows his age or his name. I actually know his name now that I've bought this land from him, but I refrain from sharing.

"I didn't know he was selling," Garrett says as he rubs the back of his neck. Does he have any more for sale?"

"Uh, I don't know. Why?" I ask.

"Well," he pauses. "My wife is pregnant again and we have a house in town, still on pack land but in town." He's not telling me anything I don't already know. I stare at him waiting for more. "We are outgrowing our house. There isn't really anything bigger available so I was thinking of getting some land myself but nothing is close to the pack land that is for sale. I don't want to be to far away. That's when things get dangerous."

What he means is that werwolves, when living to far from their kind, can find themselves in bad situations. A man with a family wouldn't want to leave them alone while he was gone to work all day if they weren't on pack land. "I tell you what," I say as I rest my hand on my hip. "I will talk to him. Give me a few days."

Garrett's smile beams. "Thanks Doc." He looks around the store room. "Did supplies come today? You need my help putting this stuff away."

"Sure, I'm almost done but both of us working on it means we can go home sooner." We get to work unpacking the supplies of ace wraps and syringes, then move to the vaccines that need put in the refrigerator. We are done in thirty minutes and there is still an hour left in our work day.

"Why don't you cut out early," I say. "Go home to your mate and pups. There's nothing left to do here."

"Isn't Alpha James coming in today?" he asks.

"How did you know that?" I ask.

"Everyone has been talking that he's here with that she-wolf that was rescued a year ago, and the protector that was with the Alpha then. They are participating in the Full Moon Run. Seems odd, doesn't it?"

I shrug. "Maybe some would think that, but she was from this area you know. Her old pack isn't far from here. Maybe she just wants some familiarity."

"I would want to be as far away as possible from a place that caused me so much pain. Wouldn't you?"

I think about my home back in Oregon. I loved that place. In spite of the things that my father had done, I don't think my mother even looked at the actual place itself with bad thoughts, only the man. "I don't know Garrett. I think it's people that can make something feel awful, an actual place not as much. It's her decision and she has her reasons, who are we to question her?"

Garrett just grunts and picks his keys up off the shelf in the back corner. "Well I'm taking you up on my early release," he says with a laugh. "See you tomorrow." He takes off out the front door, it closing softly behind him. His words leave me thinking about Shawna and what her reason is for coming back here. Her actual pack is only two hours away by car and she shouldn't have bad memories about that place, but here, although it didn't actually happen on our land, it's where she was brought for treatment and then for the trial. It's got to feel surreal, even painful. I hope it doesn't trigger some sort of emotional breakdown or trauma for her. None the less, I'm happy to see my friend and I can't wait to hear about her new life and her romance, if there is one, with Michael.