He put his fingers to his nose, pinching it as he thought. “I’d advise you to get a different lawyer if you go that way. Preferably someone with a Pack background, you’ll be dealing with both human and werewolf law, potentially.”
“I understand. Put about a million into the new business as startup capital, no leases longer than a year. I’ll advertise for a manager first and let him hire his team. I want this company up and running by spring.”
“All right, you’re the boss here. Just stay safe, Ella. Make sure you hide your involvement in all this, they need to see it as a run of bad luck not an attack, or they’ll come after you hard.”
“Damn right. I don’t want them to know who is behind this until they are on their knees before me.”
*********
“I can’t believe you’re tossing me aside like this.” Mark had tears in his eyes as we sat in the back booth at Mel’s Diner. Telling him had been as heart-wrenching as I had thought, maybe more.
“I’m just so conflicted right now, Mark. I can’t move forward until I figure some things out.”
“What is there to figure out? I love you, you love me, we’re all one big fa-mi-ly…” He finished it in a Barney voice, causing me to crack up. “We have a good thing going, Ella. You’re going to have my baby, we have our lives ahead of us together. Why throw that all away on a guy you don’t even know?” He reached across the table and held my hand in his. “I’m offering you everything you need.”
I leaned back, the tears were starting now for me too. “I’m not throwing it away, Mark. I’m just putting it on the shelf for a while.” I took a drink of my coffee, even though it was only five in the afternoon, I was ready for bed after the disaster last night. “I feel like I’m in the middle of a tornado. Everything in my life is flying apart, and there’s nothing I can do. My parents, my pack, my school, my baby, my revenge, my love life? It’s all too much.”
He stroked his thumb over the top of my good hand. “I can help you with this, ground you in something.”
“You’re part of what I have to figure out, Mark. I mean, you are a great guy, I’ve always liked you. When you showed up in the hospital, I knew I could trust you to help me.” I turned my hand over and grasped his fingers. “Then that night in the hotel. Looking back, I shouldn’t have.”
“Why? That was the best night of my life!”
“Well, first because I probably got pregnant since we didn’t use protection, but more because I made love to you for the wrong reason. I wanted to forget the rape, and I used you for that. I moved our relationship forward so fast I don’t know how to catch my breath now without stopping it.” More coffee. “I’ve told you before, my whole life I’ve believed there was a mate out there for me, someone made just for my, my perfect other half. I didn’t do anything with you because I was waiting for him to show up. Last night he did.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t find your mate now?”
“Apparently, he still could. It was him, he came to me in wolf form right after you drove away.”
“Well, did you accept him? Are you leaving me for him?” He let my hand go, his anger evident as he sat back.
“I don’t know. He smelled me, he could smell US, I’m sure he knows I’m pregnant, too. He didn’t shift, he just ran off. I could feel his pain to my bones, Mark. I hurt him so bad, and I don’t even know who he is.” The faucets were full open now, I had to switch from tissues to napkins to keep up. “I have to know, Mark. It’s not just me, I owe it to him to either be his mate or reject him, and I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do. I need time to figure it all out.”
His shoulders slumped. “I’ll give you time, Ella, but I’m not going to watch you with another man. I can’t do that.” He reached into his wallet and tossed a few bills on the table. “Don’t ever doubt that I love you and I want you, Ella. Figure out what you want, because you shouldn’t look back on our time and wonder if you did the right thing.” He got up as I dropped my head to my arms on the table.
“Mark?” I turned my head to see him. “My first prenatal appointment. Do you want to come?”
“Of course, I’ll always be there for our baby. I’ll pick you up at eight.” He turned his back on me and walked out.
I poked at my food for a while longer before I gave up and drove home. I stopped at the grocery store for my go-to food when I’m feeling down, Kemps Cow Tracks ice cream. Don’t judge me, I love the mint and the chocolate chunks. I grabbed a spoon and headed for my bedroom with the quart.
I was only a few bites in when Marge knocked on my door and came in. Seeing me in sweats on the bed with a big tub of ice cream pretty much tipped her off as to my mood. “Ella, do you want to talk?”
“Bring your own spoon,” I said. She pulled her hand out from behind her back, the spoon in place. “I smelled it after you came through the kitchen.” She sat next to me and dug out a chunk. “How did Mark take it?”
“He’s not happy, but he’s giving me my space.” I dug out a big spoonful and stuffed it into my mouth, I was rapidly approaching brain freeze territory. “He doesn’t want me to regret choosing him, but he’s mad I’m pushing him aside for a guy who I don’t even know the name of.”
“Well, at least he knows about mates. I’m hoping he contacts you, but what if he doesn’t? Are you going to try and find him?”
I nodded while swallowing more. Brain freeze. I panted through my mouth for a few breaths to try and thaw out. “I have to, if nothing else I need to reject him so he can move on. I just never thought, you know, as a human, that he would affect me as much as he did.” I smiled as I thought back to the tingles in my arm as I touched his fur.
“Luna designed it that way, you’re not meant to be apart from your mate. What are you going to do?”
I took another bite, slower this time. “I’m going to track him down while I research the three remaining Packs. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to Carol. If it is someone from her Pack, she can find out for me. It would have been one of the people sent to attack me when I left the Johnson Pack lands, and it would be a strong male around my age. There can’t be that many left, especially since I met almost all the unmated Alpha children and none of them were it.” I gestured towards the office down the hall. “I’m going to turn the office into the operations center for my revenge. I’m going to hire some humans to look at the business side, and some werewolves for the Pack side.”
She looked at me, her spoon hanging out of her mouth as she thought. “OK, then the first two people on the job and Mabel and I.”