Chapter 808 Chapter 808
Rory’s head was spinning. Saying it out loud had made it all real. Blanche was gone. She watched the men carrying her suitcases inside. Everything she had built was gone. It had taken her four years to establish herself and take control of her life. Now, it was no more.
When she called her mother, she was told to go to Uncle Cooper’s—to get in the van and drive and not stop until she was there. So, she had. Of course, finding him had been harder than she had anticipated. There were no street signs on the roads here, and her GPS had sent her the wrong way twice. How did they live here with so little? There were no stores or streets, even. There was just a lot of space, trees, and rocks. She would stay because she didn’t know what else to do. There was no way she was going back to the city, even if they found the ones that were looking for her.
She watched the tall broody one carry the largest case of hers in the house. She didn’t know anything about him, but there was something broken about him. She looked at the other men carrying everything she had in this world into the house. If she remembered right, all of them were strays that Uncle Cooper’s Alpha had taken in. She looked down at her hands. Was she one of those strays now? Why had those men been looking for her? She wasn’t important in any way.
Uncle Cooper came out of the house with Gage. They walked over to the van and looked inside. She didn’t know her uncle well enough to know what all his facial expressions meant. When he had any at all. The whole time she was telling him what happened, he had the same look on his face. It was close to one her mother used to call the predator look. Where they’re locked in on one thing, and nothing would distract them from it. They stopped talking and looked over at her. Rory put her hand on the railing and squeezed it so she wouldn’t do something juvenile like stick her tongue out at them. She hated to be stared at. She preferred to blend in and be forgettable. Gage nodded to something her uncle said and then walked away. The man with the handsomely styled blond hair ran after him and then kept walking when he caught up to him.
Her whole body was tense, which made everything ache. If she was at home, a trip to the spa would help. She looked up. She didn’t have a home now.
“Rory.”
Turning, she saw her uncle standing by the steps.
“Did you want to clean out the glovebox and console?”
Nodding, she released the railing. It took effort to move. Each step felt like she had to fight her own body to make it.
“I know you feel like everything is lost right now.” Uncle Cooper’s eyes were filled with such compassion that she couldn’t stand looking into them. If she did, she was afraid she’d fall apart right here on the porch in front of strangers. “It’s not.” He pulled his hat off and rubbed his hand over his near-bald head. “Fate is a strange animal. She tears apart your world and breaks your heart only to make room for better things.”
Her gaze flicked back to him. She could see it. He believed what he’d said. “You know this from experience?” It was a snarky thing to say, and she knew it, but the words had come out before she could check herself.
He put his hat back on. There was a look of understanding on his face. “I do. I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
There was sadness in him. She could almost feel it. A sharp pain stabbed into her side. She looked away so she could pretend everything was fine. “I’d like to hear about it.” Surely, his story was worse than her own. It had to be. Why else would he leave everything behind to live most of his life here? Her mother had told her stories of her brother’s bravery working with the Alliance so long ago. There had to be a reason he’d walk away from that.
She forced her body to move down the steps.
The tall, brooding man walked by her with her suit bag in one hand like it weighed nothing. It had been a struggle for her to get that to the van when she was packing up her world.
The one with the curly hair stood by the van. Jake. She knew that from his hair. She looked him up and down. He seemed big with clothes on and not lying at her feet on his face. He walked around to the passenger side as she opened the driver’s door.
He stood with the other door open. “You doing all right?”
She really wasn’t, but it was nice of him to check on her. “I think I’m in shock, everything—” She leaned in and opened the console between the seats. “—nothing feels real right now.”
He opened the glove box and started setting items on the seat. “You should go for a long run, take a hot shower, and then try to get some sleep. Coop—your uncle said you got here in the middle of the night and haven’t slept.” She glanced to see him give her a lopsided grin. “I understand exhaustion.” His expression blanked. “Sorry about earlier—” He pointed in the direction of the bunkhouse, she believed it was called. “I had just gotten to sleep when your screech gave me one hell of a waking.”
She set some items on the seat, not even seeing what they were. “You were coming to my rescue with a frying pan?”
He snorted. “It seems so.”
She pulled Blanche’s phone out of the console and stared at it. She always put it in there because she was paranoid that if she were pulled over, she would get charged with distracted driving if it was within reach.
“It’s not yours?”
She shook her head. “It’s-was Blanche’s.”
He held out his hand. “I’ll give it to Gage.”
She nodded and handed him the phone. “I need a bag to put all of this in.”
“Oh. Hang on. There’s one in the back.”
Rory looked at the items on the two seats. It was weird, the items you placed in the car, just in case you needed them. Most of what was here had never been required. She didn’t know what they were doing with her van, but wanted nothing of hers left in it.
“Here.” He was beside her holding out a reuseable bag. She didn’t recognize it, but Blanche had done a lot of errands so it wasn’t surprising.
Leaning in, she grabbed a handful of meaningless items from the passenger seat. Jake held the bag closer so she didn’t have to turn back and forth.
When she was done with those, she straightened and brushed against his chest. A funny feeling moved through her. It was weird, but something she’d never felt before. At the same time, she felt less tense. Maybe the exhaustion was kicking in. Turning, she looked up at him. His eyes were almost the same hazel as her own, a bit greener but leaning toward grey. The expression on his face registered. He looked stunned. She backed up against the door. He probably had a mate. She may not want to be a shifter, but she did understand the dos and don’ts that went with being a part of this species. Taking the bag from his hand, she offered a brief, awkward smile. “Thanks. I can get the rest.”
His brows dropped, and his forehead creased. Cleaning his throat, he stepped back. “Yeah. No—problem.” Spinning on his heel, she watched him hurry away. He met up with the blond man and said something. Whatever it was seemed very animated as he waved his hands around. The blond man turned and looked at her and then watched his friend go into the bushes along the far side of the driveway.
Rory bit her lip. She was going to have to speak to her uncle and find out who was mated to whom so she didn’t offend any of the others.