Midlife Wolf Captured My Heart (Fated To The Wolf #7)

18. Dakota

18

Dakota

D akota drove home with a heavy heart. The familiar streets of Angel’s Creek did nothing to calm his mind. He had told Sadie that he wasn’t planning on staying in Angel’s Creek much longer, and in spite of the pain he felt, he knew that he had been right to tell her the truth. It had always been the plan, and she knew it.

As he drove, he replayed the conversation in his head. Her disappointment had been evident but it wasn’t unexpected. He had an idea that she hoped he would stay in Angel’s Creek. Dakota had never hidden his intentions and never even hinted that he would stay. This town was just another stop on his journey. It was a place to hang out while his exhibition was happening in Albuquerque and where he could do the preliminary research for his next book.

He rubbed his face with his hand. Even though he had been honest with Sadie from the beginning, telling her he planned to leave soon was harder than he thought. He heaved a huge sigh, frustrated at the conflicting emotions that warred inside of his mind.

“Heaven, help me, I am starting to fall in love with her.” He was startled to hear the words spoken aloud. “As a matter of fact, I may have already fallen for her. I know that she loves me, too.”

The problem was that this love, no matter how profound, wasn’t enough to change who he was. In his soul, he was an adventurer. The idea of staying in one place made his heart explode. Just thinking about staying in Angel’s Creek permanently, or any place for that matter, made him feel as though the walls were closing in on him, suffocating him.

He pulled into his driveway. Dakota walked into his house, imagining that Sadie was with him as his mate. For a brief moment, he thought what life would be like if he stayed. A steady job, home, and a family with Sadie. Shaking his head, he banished the thought. That kind of life had never been part of his destiny.

Dakota stood in the hot water of the shower, leaning against the cool tiles. His heart broke because he couldn’t stay, but he loved Sadie and leaving her would mean leaving a part of himself behind. He wondered if all the wonderful memories he would have of their time together would be worth the pain.

He fell asleep that night dreaming of Sadie and imagining himself holding her in his arms.

The next morning came all too soon. A restless night had left him feeling more exhausted than when he had gone to bed. If he only knew how much that woman would turn his world upside down, he would have stayed away from her.

No, you wouldn’t, you liar, he thought. You wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

After several cups of coffee, he settled down to work on the book. He got a bling letting him know that he had an email. It was from Zac.

Hunters are definitely in the area. They killed two shifters who weren’t attached to a clan and were simply living their life. Be on high alert. I cannot stress enough that you should never shift alone. We don’t know how many hunters there are. The word from other packs and clans is that they are targeting alphas, but will kill anyone.

Dakota groaned. For the most part, he was a “live and let live” person. However, there were some people who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as others.

He reread the message and then deleted it. Even though he wasn’t in Angel’s Creek, he had always received emails from the pack over the last couple of decades. Once in a while, he read them just to see if there was anything interesting going on. Usually, though, he deleted them. Now, he might start reading them just to see what was happening in the area. Dakota assured himself that he had no intention of reestablishing ties with his hometown.

“I wonder if Sadie and I will keep in contact after I leave. It would be nice to hear from her, but on the other hand, it might be painful for her.” After a second, he added, “And me.”

Dakota was getting restless, so after a couple of sandwiches, he packed up his gear and headed up the mountain. He wanted to shoot some more pictures and maybe make a collage for Sadie.

The crisp mountain air filled his lungs as he scanned the landscape. A beautiful mountain bluebird landed on a branch right in front of him. It seemed to be curious about him. Dakota moved slowly as he removed his lens cap and steadied his camera. He swore that the bird was posing for him as it tilted its head to one side and then gave him a profile shot.

“Thank you, Brother.” Dakota spoke softly because he didn’t want to scare the bird away.

Over the next hour, he managed to get shots of the pinyon jay, dark-eyed junco, mountain chickadee, and Swainson’s hawk. He got a great picture of two rabbits playing with each other, a very curious chipmunk, as well as several other animals. Pleased with the photographs he managed to get, he thought he might head home. He could stop off at Hobby Lobby craft store because they usually had some pretty awesome frames.

His mind thought about a book he could create based on the pictures he’d taken in the area. People in New Mexico would be interested, but so would those interested in biology because they were always interested in learning about different animals that weren’t in their area.

He grinned when he remembered being in Wyoming with a colleague. The man had never seen antelope before and was like a kid because he was so excited.

“I could offer the book free to the subscribers of my newsletter that my publisher writes and sends out. People love free stuff and it could get more people signed up, which meant more publicity, not only for me, but also for the animals and their causes.”

With a million ideas racing through his mind, he set up to take one more picture. A twig snapped behind him. He dropped his camera, so it hung by the strap. He quickly replaced the camera lens and whirled around.

His heart raced and he looked around, trying to figure out the best exit strategy if he needed one. Two men and a woman stepped out of the copse of trees.

It was almost a replay of his encounter with the first three men. “What are you doing here?” a tall man with blond hair asked.

Dakota sighed and shook his head. He held up his camera. “Taking pictures of the wildlife.”

“Why?” the woman asked.

“Because I’m a photographer. That’s what I do,” Dakota said flatly.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he studied the trio. He stood his ground because he wasn’t going to show an ounce of fear, unless they made a threatening move and he had to run.

There was silence and then the shorter man, with shaggy dirty blond hair smiled. “I know him. He’s Dakota Higgins. He is a famous wildlife photographer, and he’s a member of my pack.”

Dakota could feel the tension drain out of his body and seep into the ground away from him. He smiled and nodded at the young man. “You’re a member of the Nightshade Wolf Shifter Pack?”

“Yep. I’m Jimmy White. It’s an honor to meet you, and in your element even.” He stuck out his hand for Dakota to shake.

His companions looked confused so Jimmy explained. “He is a wildlife photographer. He’s written several books and been on tons of documentaries.”

The other two nodded and smiled like a lightbulb suddenly came on.

The woman held out her hand. “I’m Hailey. I’m from the bear shifter clan. This is George, from the dragon shifter clan.”

George offered his hand. “We’re the scouts on duty right now. I’m sure that Zac sent out a message letting everyone know that hunters are in the area.”

“I got the email this morning. I figured they would ignore me since I’m just a photographer.”

Hailey shook her head. “This particular group of hunters has been known to kill humans. They are pretty vicious. Plus, they have cameras up so if you’ve shifted even once, they would know you.”

Jimmy cocked his head to one side. “You are the one who may have already encountered the hunters, aren’t you? You got a picture of one and sent it to Zac.”

“Guilty as charged. I don’t know if they were hunters, but they weren’t polite.”

“How much longer are you going to hang out on the mountain?” George asked.

“I was going to take one more picture, but you scared my model away, so I’ll head back now.”

“Be careful,” Hailey said. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

“All of you, as well.”

Dakota walked back to his truck on high alert. He was accustomed to the ordinary noises of mountains and the woods, so he didn’t jump at every single noise. “People who suck the joy out of the simple things in life should be put on a giant miserable island together.”

He thought about Charred Cove Island and grinned. It would be amusing to see how long a group of hunters would last on an island full of bad-ass shifters.

Sadie texted him that afternoon and suggested they shift and go for a walk. I know of a different place besides our usual mountain we could go. It’s protected.

Although he still wasn’t sure about how safe anyplace in the area could be, he replied, Sure. Sounds good.

A few seconds later, his phone buzzed. Meet me at my place around four.

He pulled into the driveway right at four. She was waiting in her car.

“My friends, Conner and Beth, own a huge ranch outside of town. There is a huge wooded area. They said that we could shift and wander around if we wanted to. It’s more than a hundred wooded acres, so it’s big enough to get some exercise in. It’s also well protected.”

“Conner. He’s the alpha’s brother.”

Sadie grinned. “Yes. He was in the rodeo for years but finally settled down recently. He and his wife bought several hundred acres on the outskirts of town.”

They still looked around for cameras and anyone lurking around before they undressed and shifted. Dakota was amazed that he was able to shift a lot quicker and easier than normal. Maybe he had just needed practice or maybe it was Sadie.

Their walk was a lot more relaxing because he was relatively certain there weren’t hunters lurking around. They would tend to stay off of private land – not because they respected people’s properties but because there wouldn’t be many, if any, shifters to kill.

After about an hour, they headed back. They shifted and dressed.

She tilted her head at him and smiled. “How about dinner at my place. Nothing fancy. I was thinking sausage gravy and biscuits, eggs, and ham.”

“I love breakfast for dinner. I’m in.”

He cooked the eggs and ham while she made the biscuits and gravy. Working together felt comfortable. Dakota decided that he could almost get used to a domestic scene like this – almost.

“Your homemade gravy is the best I’ve ever had.” He smirked. “So are the biscuits.”

She made a face at him because he saw her pop open the cans of butter-flavored biscuits. “Nice job on the eggs and ham.”

“A man on the go has to know how to make scrambled eggs and warm up ham.” After a couple of bites, he looked at her curiously. “What are your plans for the future?”

She put down her fork and steepled her hands. “To be honest, I haven’t thought long and hard about it. My biggest goal before was going to college and getting a position as a media coordinator or a librarian at a public library. Obviously, I accomplished those. Since I love books so much, I thought about writing one. You reminded me how much I love researching, so I might find a topic I love and write a book. Or, I love the fantasy world with magic, witches, faeries, and other magical critters. I might just create a whole new world, make up a few new creatures, and create a supervillain that the whole world hates. My hero would be a woman – probably a female witch. I have friends who are witches and I adore them, so I might just base my characters on them. There will also have to be wicked witches.”

“What about a family?”

“There’s never been anyone I would consider mating with until…” She smiled at him and asked, “What about you? Have you ever thought about life after traipsing through the wild blue yonder capturing animals on your camera?”

“Not until I’m so feeble that I can’t walk and camp out in the wild. I’m hoping that I have a good thirty or forty years left. I guess after that I’ll just wither away and die.”

“You’ll always have a home in Angel’s Creek.”

“I know.”

They finished dinner and he loaded the dishwasher while she stashed the leftovers. She turned around and smiled at him. His heart melted and he couldn’t resist pulling her toward him and wrapping his arms around her.