"I may be your second chance, Wade, but I will not be your second choice."
Reeling from the death of his mate, Alpha Wade tried everything in his power to bring her back to life. So consumed with raising her from the dead, he almost missed his secon...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
FOR hours, I watched the trees zoom past in a mix of green and brown. Despite the miles and miles we had driven, each and every tree looked the same. They were all large pine trees—one identical to the other. If the blinking clock on the dashboard had not inched forward with each minute, I wouldn't have noticed how long Alpha Wade and I had been on the road.
A heavy silence hung over us, and neither one of us had been eager to break it. Instead of focusing on the rising tension between us, I focused all my attention on my surroundings.
Not many other cars inhabited the road we were traveling, and it had been hours since I last spotted a mile marker anywhere. There was no clear evidence as to where we were going until Alpha Wade took an abrupt turn, slowing the speed of the car down.
Squinting my eyes, I tried to see if we were close to anything besides the surrounding trees when a little wooden building appeared in the distance. A bright blue sign reads REST STOP.
The parking lot in front of the rest area was mostly vacant besides a scrawny man and his golden retriever walking around the grass beside the building. A gazebo nestled to the far right of the rest stop where a few wooden benches were scattered.
When Wade pulled into the nearest parking spot, he cut the engine and muttered, "Stay in the car."
"What?" I scowled as my hand outstretched to unbuckle my seatbelt.
"Stay in the car," he reiterated. Before there was any room to object, he got out of the car. While walking back to the rest stop, his eyes on me, he held his hand out and dramatically used the car key to sound the lock—even though locking the car would serve no purpose.
Huffing, I crossed my arms over my chest after having rubbed my neck. My neck still itched insistently, but I had grown used to the sensation. My feet were placed on the dashboard, and I stared intently at the frosted glass door to the rest stop. Focusing my attention, I tried to listen to what was happening inside. Prepared to encounter sounds I would not particularly like to hear, I was surprised to be met by silence.
I couldn't hear anything.
This must not be a normal rest area, I concluded. I mean, I should have figured as much since Alpha Wade did not seem the type to waste time on a car journey for a bathroom break.
Looking around, the man with his dog peered in my direction but then quickly turned his back when our eyes met. A few moments later, he started to head in the opposite direction of the rest stop, leaving me completely alone.
Drumming my fingers on the car's door, I sat up, removing my feet from the dashboard. In one fell swoop, I unlocked the car and strode to the entrance of the rest stop.
Just as I was about to reach for the door, Wade popped out from behind it. When he saw me a few feet away from him, he did not look surprised. Rather, he looked like a parent would when they were disappointed with their disobedient child.
