“Yeah.”
“Must have been big.”
“What?”
“The influx of people to Green Creek who all needed their cars worked on at the same time.”
I glared at her.
She smiled serenely back at me.
“Dozens of them,” I said.
“You’re upset.”
I stopped walking and fisted my hands at my sides.
“It’s okay to be upset,” she said.
“I’m not upset,” I growled at her.
“Of course not,” she said. “You’re only avoiding your pack, and when you do see us, it’s like you despise us. Not upset at all.”
“I don’t despise anyone,” I said.
“That certainly can’t be true. There are many people out there to despise.”
“Elizabeth—”
“We don’t blame you.”
I blinked. “For what?”
“Blaming us.”
I took a step back. “I don’t—”
“It’s okay if you did. Or do. I don’t know that I wouldn’t if I was in your position. It’s certainly a proper place to rest your grievances.”
I hung my head.
“After all,” she continued, “if you’d never heard of wolves, none of this would have happened. If we hadn’t come back to Green Creek, you never would have met us and your mother would be sleeping in her bed. Or, rather, I hope she would have been, because you can never really know what might happen. Life can be funny that way.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“Because someone has to,” she said. “And since Joe’s not here, I need to be the one to do it.”
My anger flared, a bright and burning thing. She felt it, if her eyes widening slightly meant anything.
She said, “He didn’t want to leave you, Ox.”
I laughed bitterly. “Really. Because he sure as hell left pretty damn quick for someone who didn’t want to leave.”
“He didn’t—”
“Don’t tell me he didn’t have a choice,” I snapped at her. “Because he did. He could have chosen us. He could have chosen….” I didn’t want to finish that thought, because it would have made it all the more real.
But Elizabeth knew. “He did choose you, Ox,” she said, ignoring the anger in my voice. “Or have you forgotten that? He gave his wolf to no one else. Only you. It’s only ever been you.”