The Silverback's Christmas Bride (Holiday Mail Order Mates Book 6) Read online

  There was a tap on his shoulder. Dottie had made her way around the table to his side when he wasn’t looking. “I think I’m going to leave.”

  Wyatt looked at Blair and Macy. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  He was sure he had heard her wrong. She’d been happily involved in the conversation just a moment earlier. She looked okay and didn’t feel hot to his touch, but she might have gotten ill suddenly.

  “I don’t really feel like being out tonight. I’m sorry. I think I’d much rather be at home right now.”

  “You can’t leave already,” Jen said from Wy’s other side. “I really must have heard wrong.”

  “I think I need to,” Dottie said apologetically. “I just want to go home.”

  Reluctantly, Wyatt left the bar and walked her back to the car. He didn’t know what was going on, but it couldn’t be good. He hoped she wasn’t getting the flu or something. But she didn’t exactly look sick. Something wasn’t adding up here.

  “Did I do something wrong?” he asked her quietly.

  “No,” she snapped. “Stop asking me if you did something wrong all the time. I’m just having a bad night. I don’t feel so good, that’s all.”

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  She sighed, exasperated. “I’m sorry. This isn’t about you, Wyatt. Sometimes things are about me too.”

  He bit back the need to apologize and nodded. He had obviously done something to annoy her. Things had taken such a violent turn that he wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to make her angrier.

  “I’ll have you home in no time,” he promised as he unlocked the car door.

  “My parents will be here any moment,” she said, looking down the block.

  Wy’s stomach dropped. “Your parents?”

  “They’re just two minutes away. There’s no point in ruining your night when they can come and get me.”

  “It won’t ruin my night to take care of my girlfriend. I’m not going to have a good time without you. The only reason I came out tonight was to introduce you to everyone.”

  “I already called them,” she said, looking at the ground.

  “Dottie.” He took her hands. “If something is wrong, please just tell me. You’re acting really strange. You were having a good time just a minute ago.”

  A car pulled up next to them, and Dottie’s dad rolled down the window. “Hey, Wy. You coming home with me too?”

  Wyatt looked at Dottie, and she shook her head. “No, just me, Dad.”

  She kissed Wyatt and got into the car. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.” He wanted to talk more, but he didn’t want to push her. She obviously wasn’t in the mood to talk to him.

  Mr. Hart gave him a look and shrugged before driving off.

  Wyatt wasn’t sure exactly what had transpired, but he must’ve done something terrible. Even though she had said she was fine, Dottie didn’t seem fine to him. He would have to get to the bottom of this tomorrow.

  His night was ruined. He shot a text to Jen to tell everyone he was sorry for leaving and headed home himself.

  Chapter 13

  “So, how was your night?” her father asked as they pulled away from the curb.

  Dottie opened her mouth and closed it without saying a word. She was having a hard time collecting her thoughts. They passed a whole block lit up with brilliant Christmas decorations without her saying a word.

  “Was it a nice time?” he asked, trying again to get an answer out of her.

  “It was… It was an all right time,” Dottie said, searching for words.

  “I never thought the bar would be a good place for you,” her dad said. “There’s so much noise, and you can’t really connect with anyone.”

  “I’ve gone to the bar before.”

  “And you hated it every time.” He changed the radio to a Christmas station. “You can’t make new friends at the bar. It isn’t a place to foster deep friendships. It’s just for drinking and surface conversations. Two things you don’t really love.”

  Dottie chewed her lip. “That’s true.”

  They didn’t need to say anything else for the rest of the short drive. She listened to the music and tried to center herself. She suddenly felt like she was going to burst into tears.

  It was just a bad night. She didn’t know why she was getting so emotional about it. Wyatt hadn’t been unkind to her. She just didn’t like being at the bar. That wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

  Except that Wy loved the Brazen Bull. It was his favorite place to hang out with his friends after work and on the weekends. He was a regular there. The bartenders all knew his drink order before he even spoke. If she hated being at the bar, she wouldn’t be able to hang out with Wy as much anymore.

  They were still in the very early stages of a possible relationship. Once they had been dating for a month or two, he would want to get back to his regular hobbies and his life outside of their cozy couple bubble. She didn’t want to ask him to choose between her and the bar, but she could see where this was going.

  It also worried her that she still hadn’t gotten a text from him. He always texted her after she left to make sure she had gotten home all right. She hadn’t meant to leave in such a sudden way. She’d wanted to gently explain why she was leaving and make a quiet exit, but it had all become too much too quickly. She had needed to leave in a hurry, and she was too upset to talk with him about it.

  She didn’t know which was worse: the thought of Wy being sad at the bar because she’d left, or that he might be having a great time now that she was gone. Maybe now he was dancing and drinking and talking with all of his friends and having a super great time. Maybe she had ruined his good time by being so awkward and no fun.

  “Are you still hungry?” her father asked as he pulled into the garage. “You didn’t eat much before you left, so we saved you a plate just in case.”

  “I could use some food,” Dottie admitted. “That one drink I had is going straight to my head.”

  Before she’d left the house, she’d been too nervous to eat anything. Her mother had told her to have something small, but Dottie hadn’t heeded her warning. She was regretting that now. That could have been the reason she’d been feeling so strange at the bar. She wasn’t used to drinking mixed drinks.

  “You can go get changed, and I’ll warm up your food.”

  “Thanks, Daddy.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for coming to get me, too.”

  She slowly made her way upstairs with a heavy heart. She was ready to get out of the dress, take off all of her makeup, and wind down for the night. The longer she was away from the bar, the better she began to feel. She was still very upset about Wy, but at least her mind was clear. She could think straight again.

  Once she had eaten and the food started soaking up the alcohol in her system, she knew she’d be ready to tackle whatever damage she’d done by leaving in such a hurry.

  When she got downstairs after changing, her mother was waiting in front of the oven.

  “Almost all warmed up,” she told Dottie. “We have some soup, too.”

  “Tomato?” Dottie asked hopefully.

  “You know it,” her mother said with a smile.

  Her father was already tucking into a reheated slice of pizza.

  Dottie got herself a bowl of soup from the steaming pot on the stove and sat across from him. She was ravenous. As she had predicted, the more food she ate, the better she felt.

  “Your father tells me your night didn’t go so well,” her mother said.

  “It did not.” Dottie kept her eyes on her bowl. She felt so stupid. It had been a simple night out with her boyfriend and some new friends at the bar. Yet, somehow, she’d managed to turn it into a disastrous evening.

  “You want to talk about it?” her mom asked as she slid a slice of pizza onto a plate for Dottie.

  Dottie shrugged. “Not much to say.”

  “Even though I’m not Wyatt’s
biggest fan, I do think he’s a nice boy. I’m sure whatever he said, it wasn’t on purpose.”

  “He didn’t do or say anything wrong,” Dottie said. She took a small bite of pizza. “It was more like… it wasn’t right. The whole night wasn’t right.”

  “What do you mean?” her dad asked.

  “It’s hard to explain. He was having such a great time with his friends and everything, and I just… I wasn’t.”

  “Was someone mean to you?” her mother asked.

  “No. Everyone was very nice. I just felt like I didn’t belong there. I felt so weird and awkward. I didn’t have anything interesting to say and felt so out of place.”

  Her mom frowned. “You always have something to say. You’re a very interesting woman who talks a mile a minute.”

  “I told you the bar wasn’t the best environment for her,” Dottie’s dad pointed out. “She felt out of place because it wasn’t for her.”

  “It wasn’t just that.” Dottie put her bowl in the sink and leaned against the kitchen counter. “It was more like, I didn’t belong in the group. Like, everyone was being nice, but there was just something off about it all. It’s hard to explain.”

  “Like with Wyatt’s group of friends?” her mother asked. “Honey, how do you really feel about him? I’m not asking to start a fight or anything, but I’m worried. If this is how you feel after one night out with his friends, maybe everything isn’t as it seems.”

  “I really like him. I’m just not sure I love him,” Dottie said quietly.

  Her mother nodded sagely. “There’s nothing wrong with having a romance for the season. You can have a very nice winter romance, and then, when it’s over, we can just leave. No one will be hurt or feel bad, because these things happen all the time.”

  “I don’t know,” Dottie said. “I don’t think Wyatt feels that way.”

  “He’ll understand. He’s a shifter too, after all.”

  She knew what her mother was alluding to. If her animal wasn’t sure of it, then it wasn’t meant to be. But Dottie wasn’t sure what her animal wanted anymore.

  She couldn’t tell if she was just ignoring all the signs or if her animal was fond of Wy, but he wasn’t her true mate. She wished she had another shifter to talk to. One who didn’t have a stake in the game. But all of her friends back home were humans too. It would be too strange to talk to any of her shifter cousins about it because they weren’t close like that.

  “We were matched through LK Brides,” she argued. “That has to mean something, right? Maybe I’m just having a bad night.”

  “Or you’re coming to your senses,” her father said. “Just because you go on a few dates with someone doesn’t mean you have to marry them. I think Wyatt is a very nice man, but there’s no need to get so serious so quickly. Give yourself some time to figure out what you guys want to do.”

  “Or maybe just tell him that you want to keep it casual,” her mother suggested. “I mean, I would argue that since your animal isn’t sold, he isn’t your mate. But I know you and your father really like him. It’s better not to break his heart before Christmas.”

  Dottie walked to the window and looked out at the yard. She couldn’t look at her parents as she spoke. She didn’t want to see how disappointed they were in her. She should have listened to them from the start. They had told her to take it slow and not get too serious, and she hadn’t heeded their warning. She was going to hurt Wyatt just in time to ring in the New Year with a broken heart.

  “It’s hard for me to be sure,” she admitted. “I feel that way too sometimes. But I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I don’t want to hurt him.”

  Her mom wrapped her arms around Dottie’s shoulders. She pulled Dottie in close and kissed the crown of her head. “I know you don’t want to hurt him, honey, but it would be even worse to hold him back from finding his real mate. This is when you’re going to have to figure it out on your own, and quickly.”

  Dottie held back tears. That was the last thing she wanted to hear. She couldn’t figure it out on her own—that was the problem. She just wished there were someone to tell her what to do. She didn’t want to have to make this choice on her own. She didn’t trust her own instincts, at all.

  She’d thought Wy was so perfect when she first met him. This had happened in the past, but this time he was actually a nice guy. Just maybe not the guy for her. She didn’t know how she was going to decide any of this.

  Chapter 14

  It had been three days since the club, and things were still strange with Dottie. Wy didn’t know what he had done wrong, but she seemed angry with him.

  Maybe angry wasn’t the word. She wasn’t yelling and screaming at him. She wasn’t saying much at all. She seemed lost in thought whenever she was around him and wasn’t smiling as much as she used to.

  Disappointed? Maybe she was disappointed in him and the way he was acting. He had never been in this situation before. He didn’t know how to gauge her feelings, and he didn’t know what to do. Usually, the girl told him she didn’t like him as soon as she figured out for herself what was wrong with him.

  He had never been in a relationship this long before, but it seemed like maybe Dottie was seeing what was wrong with him too. If he didn’t break it off with a woman he was seeing after a few dates, they would be the ones to do it, and it would be a big deal. He had never seen this quiet sadness. Dottie must have really liked him. Whatever was wrong with him had made her very sad. Or disappointed. He almost wished she would yell at him and tell him it was over. At least he would be out of this miserable uncertainty.

  His gorilla was still sure that Dottie was his mate. It desperately wanted to mate with her again and be near her, but he didn’t know how to fix this. Whenever he tried to talk to her at work, she kept dodging him or said she was fine. Today, he was going to try something different. He was going to talk to one of her friends. Her only good friend besides him.

  He found her during lunch eating alone. “Jen, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure.” She patted the empty bench next to her. “You know I love talking to you, buddy. What’s up?”

  “Can I ask you something about Dottie?” He didn’t know how this was supposed to work, but it felt weird talking about Dottie like this. It felt like he was going behind her back.

  Jen pulled out her compact and looked at her lips. She wiped some lipstick off the corners. “Sure. What exactly do you want to talk about?”

  “Has she said anything to you? About me, I mean.”

  “Anything like what?” Jen pressed her lips together and wiped off her teeth.

  “Is she mad at me or something?” Wyatt asked bluntly.

  Jen’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “Not that I know of. Why? Is something wrong? She has been a little weird these last few days. I was sure I had done something wrong at the bar. Is she being weird with you too?”

  “Yeah, she hasn’t really talked to me in two days. This will be the third if we don’t speak today at lunch.” Wy looked around but didn’t see her car anywhere. “Have you seen her around?”

  “I think she left,” Jen said quietly. She sighed. “I thought it was just me. I could have sworn I saw you guys taking yesterday.”

  Wyatt shook his head. “We did, but we haven’t talk-talked. I mean, like, outside of work and stuff. This is not like before. We’ve been hanging out every single day, and now we hang out never.”

  Jen tipped her head to the side. “We need to get back to work. Want to walk with me?”

  “Sure.”

  They headed down the hall toward the elves’ workshop.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Wy,” Jen sighed. “This is so weird. It’s like she’s a whole different person now. This couldn’t be some kind of shifter thing, could it?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Did something happen at the bar? Because that was when she started to get weird with me. I thought I had offended her somehow.” Jen blushed. “I
don’t always get along with women well. I’ve been kind of awful, actually, and I’ve been trying to be better. I thought maybe I had done something to hurt her without knowing.”

  Wy marveled at her. “That’s how I feel too. But I’m sure it was something I did. She left the bar quickly and didn’t even let me drive her home. She said that she wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Did you guys argue about anything?”

  “Not at all.”

  “I’m sorry, Wy. I don’t think I’m going to be much use here.” Jen patted him on the arm. “You’re going to have to talk to her.”

  Wy wanted to ask her if there might be something he had done, but he bit his tongue. It was probably annoying to ask a friend if you were unlikable. It might give her ideas. Jen seemed to like him, and he didn’t want to bother her with his issues more than he already had. They were at the Toy Shop, anyway, and he didn’t want to talk about his personal issues in the Toy Shop in front of his coworkers.

  If Dottie had left, she had gotten back quickly. She was already in her space on the line. She had chosen to work across the shop from Wyatt and Jen for the second day in a row. He waved to her, and she gave him a small wave back. But she didn’t smile, and she didn’t look too happy, either.

  It didn’t make him feel great, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. They had gotten a new shipment of toys and needed to set them up in the workshop before the next round of kids came through.

  “You know, this job is going to be over soon.” Jen grabbed a handful of trains and toy soldiers and took them to her space on the fake conveyer belt.

  Wyatt nodded. “I know. There’s only a few days left.”

  “I’m really going to miss working here and all my coworkers,” Jen said as she grabbed more toys. “I bet a lot of people feel the same way that I do.”

  Wyatt bent and took some toys out of the bag. “I’m going to miss everyone too. This is the nicest job I’ve ever had. I am going to be happy to go back to working with my other friends, but working with you guys has been very nice. I’m glad we got to know each other better.”