I don't care if that meant I'd have to run you down and force the shift myself. I wouldn't rest until I got you back, and that's something you'll figure out about us. Wolves? We don't give up. Not on our own."
"But I'm not - "
I didn't let her finish the thought. "You're my mate. That means you're ours. Maybe that's just as my neighbor and a part of this world we're trying to make, or maybe that means more. I don't know, because that's your decision to make, but either way, you're still ours."
"If only it were that easy," she breathed.
"Then help me make it that easy?" I begged. "Stay. Let's worry about the rest later, but please don't leave us?"
CHAPTER 51
Ian was standing way too close to me, looking too beautiful to be real when my darling daughter tromped in the front door, making us both jerk back. The wine in his glass sloshed, missing me only by a few inches. I yelped, and the entire moment was over. He tilted the glass up, drained what was left, then grabbed a paper towel to clean up the mess.
I stood there and let him, because I was thinking about what he'd said. All of it. And he was right. The problem was that I was too, and I didn't know how to make those two things fit together. He was throwing the paper towels away when Gabby decided to help me out in her own way.
"Hey, Ian?"
"Yeah?"
"I know you and Mom are broken up and all, but can Trent still pick me up from rehearsal after school? And maybe help me practice? We start working on the play right after Thanksgiving."
He missed most of that, fixating on one part. "We are not broken up."
"Well, you're not together. Still, can he?"
"Yeah, Trent would love to, but you have to make sure it's ok with your mom." Then he paused. "Wait, you got the part?"
She grinned. "Yep. Olivia saw the results when I was out sick, and Mr. Bell has me transferring into drama for next semester. I'm totally going to be the Cheshire Cat - which is even funnier, now."
"I knew you could do it." He walked around to clasp her shoulder, but kept going. "Talk to your mom about it, but if she's fine with it, I know Trent will be. I'm gonna go let him know you got it."
The door was barely closed behind him before Gabby groaned and flopped onto the stool at our bar. "I told him that already, but I knew he didn't hear me. That poor guy is a complete mess."
"Ian?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, he's crazy about this woman, and she's being an idiot because her daughter made a mistake. Now she's taking it out on everyone, including the guy who busted his ass to help when he didn't have to."
"That is not what I'm doing," I told her. "And we're not broken up. I just don't know how a relationship between us can work."
Gabby scoffed. "God, I think you need some drama classes, because you suck at lying." Then she dropped both elbows on the counter between us. "Ok, real talk time. Mom, you know I asked Roman to bite me, right?"
"So I heard, and that was a stupid thing to do. I'm still trying to figure out a proper punishment for it."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Let's agree to put that on hold for a second. Did you ever wonder why I wanted to be a wolf?"
I hadn't. If I'd even thought about it at all, I would've assumed it was the excitement of it all, finding out there were still secrets in the world and wanting to be a part of it. Except that Gabby had never been the foolish and whimsical kind of child. She'd been more of the wheeler-dealer, always going for the angle that got her ahead.
"Why did you want to be a wolf?" I asked, knowing that was what she wanted.
"So you couldn't take this away from us. So we'd finally belong somewhere. I mean, you were really happy here, and then you met Ian and the guys, and it just got better. And yeah, I knew all about the alphas and betas thing. Roman told me. But you needed me to tell you it was ok first, so I did. Granted, Ashley was pretty smooth with the movie."
Of course she'd known. What else would I expect from her? "So you knew I was dating