Chapter 35: What We Want

Emma looked around at the people passing by her. They stood in the parking lot of a real estate agency hoping they’ll find an apartment. She tried not to gape at the humans who passed by. There were so many of them.
“It’s a little daunting,” Dex said, standing beside her.
“I miss the woods already. Even Fang City wasn’t this, uh, busy.”
“Humans tend to pack into cities.” He put a hand on her back. “Shall we?”
“Sure. This person will help us find an apartment?”
“I’m hoping.”
He didn’t sound positive, but she followed him into the squat storefront office. Pictures of houses were posted in the windows on either side of the door. “Money is a big deal here.”
He looked at the prices, then grimaced. “Yeah. Hopefully, we can get something safe.”
They were wolves. They’d be safe here. At least she hoped. Humans weren’t a threat. They’d probably run away screaming if she or Dex shifted into wolf form.
A bell above the door dinged as they opened it. A woman with long blonde hair poked her head out of the doorway in the back. “I’ll be right with you.”
Emma nodded and smiled. “Okay.”
“Have a seat at the desk.”
The desk she mentioned had folders piled on it. Two chairs were situated on one side of it. Dex indicated for Emma to take the one closest to the wall. He sat on the other one, resting one foot onto the other knee.
The woman came out of the back wiping her hands on a towel. “Sorry about that. I’m Hannah. What can I help you with today? First home?”
“We’re just looking for an apartment.”
Her frown blossomed then disappeared. “Sure. An apartment.” She shifted around her folders then came up with a book. “Here are our current rentals. Some of them need first and last month’s rent. Some just need the security deposit.”
“Not a problem,” Dex said as he slid the book to himself.
He opened it and Emma looked over his arm at the pictures.
“They go from least expensive to most expensive. Most landlords want a credit check.”
Emma didn’t know what that was, but the fact that Dex stiffened made her think it wasn’t a good thing. Dex closed the book. “We’ll get back to you.”
“Nothing there you like?” Hannah asked.
“Not in our budget.” Dex rose. “Thanks for your time.”
He led Emma out of the building. They stopped by his truck.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.
“We have no credit history. She’ll look us up and we don’t exist in the human world.”
“what do we do?”
“Last time I was in the human world, I found a room posted on a bulletin board in a grocery store. We passed one on the way here. Let’s take a walk.”
The grocery store was as bustling as the street had been. So. Many. Noises. Emma didn’t know where to look and she wanted to cover her ears. It was all so maddening. Would she get used to it? Because of their acute hearing wolves lived much quieter lives.
Dex took her hand and led her to a board posted with papers. He took one down. “Let me call this place.”
Back at the truck, he dialed the number. When he hung up he said, “We have an appointment in twenty minutes to see the place.”
It was a room in a house. Dex knocked on the front door and an older man with no hair on his head and close-cropped beard opened it. “You the couple I talked to on the phone?”
“Yes sir. I’m Dex. This is Emma.”
“I’m Josh. You married.”
“Yes,” Dex said without hesitation.”
Emma just kept quiet. She might say the wrong thing.
The man pointed outside. “The apartment is over the garage. Go around to it and I’ll meet you there with the keys.”
Emma looked around the neighborhood. Kids played on the sidewalk, but she could still hear a lot of noise. The city wasn’t far away. Trees lined the driveway leading back to the two-car detached garage.
“This looks promising. If he’ll take cash we’re in,” Dex said.
Emma nodded. She was leaving this up to him, but if she hated it, she’d speak up. The man appeared with keys and unlocked a door. He led them up the stairs to the second floor. “No partying. No loud noises or music after ten.”
“That isn’t a problem, sir.”
The loudest they ever were was during sex. Emma smiled at that.
“I’ll take cash. Prefer it actually. You can go month by month. This isn’t how I pay my mortgage.”
“Okay. We can accommodate that.”
The man looked them over then pointed to the apartment. “Look around, but no funny business. I’ll be right here.”
The steps led into the living space. A bedroom was off to the right with a bathroom connected. Emma took a look at the shower. It was cleaner than the hotel room. Dex looked at her. “What do you think?”
“I’m okay with it.”
Dex strode back to the man. “We’ll take it.”
“I’m not going to have gang members showing am I?”
“No, sir. We aren’t gang members,” Dex said.
Emma found it funny how deferential Dex was being to the man. He could bite the man’s face off in wolf form, but Dex acted as if the man held the keys to the world. She guessed it was the way of the human world.
“Okay, then. I need the first month’s rent.”
He told Dex the price and Dex pulled out some cash and handed it to him. The man handed them the key. “I won’t come in without warning you unless I suspect you’re doing something illegal in here.”
The man waved and left them. Dex hugged Emma. “We can lay low here for a few months.”
She looked around. “It’ll be fine.”
They spent that evening making dinner together. In the mornings, they slept in. By the fourth morning, Dex was out of bed before Emma. She found him scouring the newspaper. “What are you doing?”
“I need to find a job.”
“A job? We have plenty of money,” Emma said.
“It’s not for the money, I need something to do.”
A few days later, Dex was pacing in the small space. Emma looked up from her book. He’d applied to a few jobs, but hadn’t heard back from any of them. “What’s wrong?”
“This place is driving me nuts.”
“You just haven’t gotten used to it yet.”
“In Wolf Woods, I was someone that everyone looked up to. I had a purpose. I love you, Emma, but I think I need more in my life.”
She put her book down. “What do you mean?”
She’d been enjoying the lack of responsibility for a change. She didn’t have to jump every time Dex cleared his throat. She didn’t have to worry about what Dex though. He cherished her, unlike Lucien.
“I’m an Alpha without a pack and I think that is a dangerous thing.”
“Okay. So what is the answer?”
He sat on the coffee table in front of her. “I think we need to go back.”
She knew it would come someday. She had expected it to be a month or two from now. She trusted Dex. “Okay.”
“If we’re going to start our lives together your divorce has to have the permission of your Elders.”
“Agreed.”
He was right. They couldn’t just pretend the rest of the wolf world didn’t exist. They had to face up to their problems. “Leaving seemed like a good idea at the time, but I’m not sure it was.”
“Okay. Then let’s go.”
He blinked. “Right now?”
“We can’t do the drive in one day so we might as well start now and stop on the way. Give Josh back his key.”
Dex smiled. “You are a woman of action.”
“It’ll take me fifteen minutes to pack.”
Dex laughed. “Okay. We’ll go now.”
They were on the road half of an hour later. Emma wasn’t excited to be returning but she knew that by going back she could finally be free of Lucien. And that’s all that mattered. Dex would be back with his pack and she’d be a Luna. He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I love you, Emma.”
“I love you, Dex.”
He kissed her hand as he drove. “I promise this is the right move.”
“I still trust you, Dex. We’ll make everything right and have a bright future together.”
He just smiled.