The Mates of Monsters novel Chapter 55

He lets me know when we're crossing the border and points to the brush. I squint then notice the figure hidden behind layers of wood-a guard. "There's another on our left," he says.

The two wolves watch as we pass, moving from our land to no man's land, as I've heard my father call unclaimed territory. Rogue wolves, humans, bears-anything is free to wander here, maybe even the things my father warned me of since I was old enough to walk. Living in the mountains, in dense forest and haunting solitude, beings far scarier than the typical flesh and blood are whispered between children and warned by parents. My father told me not to go out alone, not too far from the land or too late at night. He said there are creatures that not even we can fend off.

I knew the traditional rules: if you hear screaming, crying, voices, your name-come home. If it gets too quiet-come home. If you feel a stalking presence-come home. Shift and don't look back.

"Up here," David steals my attention and motions ahead. The ground transforms from packed dirt to sheets of rock, angled and smoothed by the wear of the world. I pick up my pace as the distance disappears and is replaced by blackening sky. The rock structure beneath our feet cuts off and hangs over the land, a diving board fit for a giant to cannonball into the trees far below. David eases me from the ledge.

"My father."

My eyes mimic his gaze. Along the other end of the cliff lays a large, brown wolf, similar in color to David's but a hair lighter. David tells me to wait here as he walks over to talk to him. I suppose Ken won't be giving much of an answer back.

I cross my arms and hold myself, unable to hear David's words but able to see his mouth move. He pats the wolf's back and his father merely peers up at him before settling his head between his front legs against the earth. I breathe in the cooled night air and wonder how his father must feel without his mate, without Anne.

He roamed the world-lost-no longer himself. He left his life as Alpha behind and then what? What did he do for those two years out there alone? It's evident that his time as a nomad-as David put it-wasn't to enjoy new cultures or see the world or take a vacation from his years of hard work. What if he simply roamed with nothing else to do but run from the pain of a broken home?

What would this place be, to me, without David? I'm sure I would run from it too-the constant reminders, the empty bed. Without my mate, living in that house would be like living in one of my nightmares for the remainder of my days.

Ken's wolf heaves itself up on tired bones. David watches as he ambles back into the trees, assumingly heading to his guest house, keeping his promise to David.

David makes his way back to me, but I worry myself when I consider the day that he doesn't.

I walk to my parent's guest house after breakfast to give them the official Brigette-guided tour, but when I get there, my mother tells me my father is tied up on the phone. His muffled voice sounds from upstairs, behind a closed door. "He just needs a moment," my mother assures me and sits us in the living room for the time being. "We can chat until he's done, can't we?"

"Sure," I say and lean back against the chair, still held upright by a well-stuffed pillow.

"Actually, there was something I thought we should talk about. I thought now would be a better time than ever."