Chapter 108

Tyler POV

Interstate Highway

Adrenaline had kept me riding the edge of shifting too close for comfort. It was only sheer force of will which had kept Wynd down inside my mind. I knew if I had let up on my self-control at all, I would have lost the battle with my wolf, shifted right there in the car and who knew what would have happened next?

Werewolves weren't made for cars.

Rachel and I were a strange mixture of people on the last leg of our journey home.

Once Lewis and Windsor had gotten the Moonglow Pack car off our tail and we'd all calmed down upon realizing no second car was going to show up to offer chase---well, somehow Rachel had wound up in the center of the seat, lying against me while Lindy Campbell lay against her.

I stroked both of their hair on the drive as a means to calm everyone down.

I had to admit Lindy was a lovely girl even if I couldn't see how anyone would choose her over Rachel.

Nathan Lewis had to choose Lindy though. She was his fated mate. I knew from personal experience I could never want another female after having encountered my designated mate.

Rachel was mine. Every inch of me craved every inch of her.

Lewis would need some time to get used to how he was feeling, how he had to feel for Lindy. He would get over Rachel because he had to get over her. The idea of him pursuing Rachel when his own mate was throwing herself at him was ludicrous.

Adam asked suddenly, "Home, Boss?"

I realized we'd reached the city limits and I shook Rachel's shoulder gently.

Before we'd reconnected and mated fully, I would have said 'yes' to Adam without a second thought as to what Rachel might want to do or where she might want to go, but now? I couldn't imagine making her decisions for her without hurting her and I'd rather die than hurt her.

We had hurt each other enough for two lifetimes already. We could stand to show one another a little kindness.

"Rachel? Where do you want to go from here? Do you want me to take you home---with me to Wright House or to the apartment with Bella?"

My body had clenched up at the realization I couldn't call Wright House our 'home.'

We had reconnected -in many ways, all the ways that counted, connected for the first time- but Rachel still had her own life outside of my home. She had her music. She had Bella. She had Ethan.

Thoughts of Ethan made me clench my teeth, my jaw aching from the tension.

Ethan was going to cause problems for all of us with Moonglow Pack. As an omega, he wouldn't be able to claim his seat as head of House Campbell. The Alpha Council would have to make a special allowance for something like that and Moonglow was far too Old World for them to accept an omega male with an Alpha female at the helm.

Rachel wasn't going to let it go either. She was devoted to her brother even though he seemed determined to make the same ignorant life choices his father had before him.

I'd never caught Ethan Flores gambling outright, but I had heard enough stories from others to know his hands weren't entirely clean.

My Beta Adam hated the boy for reasons he'd never discussed with me; I'd been on edge around him ever since I'd recognized the way Adam felt.

As my closest -if not only- friend, I valued Adam's personal opinion more highly than anyone else up to now.

"We need to tell Adam where to go," I prompted Rachel.

I felt a strange aching disappointment as she sat up, her weight leaving my side as she shifted around on the bench seat.

"Wake up, Lindy. We're almost home. Do you want to go to my apartment or do you want to go to Wright House? The apartment is a lot smaller than what you're used to, but it is just us girls there: me and Bella and you if you want to go there. At Wright House, it would be Tyler and me and you. We have staff at Wright House."

Lindy rubbed her eyes with her fists in a way reminiscent of a small child; I was struck anew at how young she appeared in comparison to Rachel.

I made a concentrated effort not to think about all the reasons Rachel had grown up more than most twenty-one-year-olds.

I couldn't handle the guilt of how poorly I'd treated her for the last three years.

This time was going to be different though.

We were fully bonded this time and Rachel was all in with me. Our wolves were a perfect match and we were working on finding a way to match ourselves together as people, too.

I knew I would have to give more than I'd ever done with another person, but I was ready to do it for Rachel, for our daughter, for our future together.

"---could I go with Nathan?"

Lindy had been talking for a while. Her voice was a low whisper at best. I could tell she had frustrated Rachel to an intense degree as I, too, felt frustration with the girl as a result of my bond with my mate.

"You can't go with Nathan because he's not going to take an unmarried, unmated female home with him to his parents when you're not even here with the permission or knowledge of your father. Do you want to start a war between your pack and Full Moon?"

"No! No, no, no. I would never."

Lindy was shaking her head as tears fell from her eyes in fat, luminous drops. Her face was contorted with emotions she couldn't hold back. She looked as if she were completely lost in the moment and a part of me wanted to help her.

"Stay at the apartment with Bella. If it is alright with Rachel."

Rachel looked at me with a corner of her full lips tipped up in a mixture of amusement and confusion.

I didn't know what I was saying either.

Making plans for someone else wasn't a part of my usual daily life. I was accustomed to only thinking for myself or my company. I handled the business side of Moonrise Pack while my father lorded over the pack itself as Alpha Wright.

"If Lindy stays with Bella, she's only there with one other person who is another female. She could stay in your room so she would have privacy. You could return to Wright House with me. We can reach out to Moonglow Pack to explain Lindy left of her own choice. She's free to return to her family at any time she wants."

"Except she only has to return if she wants to, right? They can't just send someone to, to, to fetch her like luggage. She's got a mind of her own!" Rachel exclaimed, clearly more impassioned about Lindy's independence than Lindy was herself.

I wondered how much of what Rachel was saying, how much of her motivation, how much of her interest in the girl stemmed from how she'd been forced to live herself.

I decided I didn't care as quickly as the thought came to my mind.

If Rachel wanted to help some wayward girl in love with a mad Alpha, we were going to help her. I'd do what I could. Rachel deserved as much from me.

I hadn't gone out of my way for her in three years of misery we'd thought was mating.

I could stretch the limits of my usual indifference for Rachel now.

"I will put the power of Moonrise Pack behind her. If Lindy doesn't want to return to Moonglow Pack? Lindy will not return to Moonglow."

My voice was as firm as my love for my mate. Alpha Campbell would have a better chance of denting my armored sedan than he would of breaking my will.

"You don't have to do that for me! You'll get in trouble!" Lindy wailed, collapsing into Rachel's arms as if they were the sisters they looked to be.

I couldn't help wondering where this girl had come from if she wasn't the daughter of Elena Campbell. She had to have parents out there somewhere and I couldn't tell who they were at all from her scent either.

It was almost as if she had no scent of her own---like her scent was being suppressed and that was probably what was going on.

Someone had instructed Lindy to mask her scent. Probably her father. But why? All wolves had a unique scent so masking hers made no sense unless there was something particularly telling about the girl's scent which Alpha Campbell didn't want known.

Adam pulled the rental up to the curb in front of Bella's apartment, keeping the car running in a way which told me all I needed to know about his personal preferences on things.