“So?”
“So, I don’t want to be like most people to you. I want to be exceptional.” His eyes met mine with such earnest that it rocked me to my core. Embarrassed at his honesty, I looked down and worked on emptying the packets into my drink.
“You are exceptional to me,” I admitted after a pause. He smiled beatifically and reached for my hand, which I gave to him happily.
“Good,” he said, “Because you’re really special to me.”
“Oh,” I answered, quite intelligently, “Good.” He laughed.
“I can’t believe this is finally happening! I’ve only just been desperately pining for you for a whole month,” he joked.
“You have not.” I rolled my eyes in disbelief. He squeezed my hand in earnest.
“I absolutely have. I’ve been completely infatuated and you’ve been shooting down my advances and mocking me all the while.”
“Only because I thought you were kidding,” I explained, “and because I didn’t think you and I were a good idea.” I still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced. He picked up on the truth behind my sudden silence and leaned forward.
“I will tell you, Sophie. Everything. I won’t break that promise. You’re too important to me and I don’t want to lose you.”
“Can’t you at least give me a hint?” I suggested. He smiled sadly in response. “Why not? Is it dangerous?” I guessed. He bit his lip, contemplating an answer and I took his pause to mean yes. “Is it something illegal?” I whispered.
Just then, I felt a presence next to our table. I looked up to see Mark, smiling down at me.
“Sophia,” he greeted warmly, “Just the person I wanted to see.” His eyes moved down to look at my hand in Noah’s and I jerked back instinctively. Unfortunately, Noah held his grip firmly.
“Hi, Mark.” I smiled at him, all the while discreetly still trying to pull my hand away. Finally Noah released me and my hand flew back, but I swiftly placed it on my coffee to cover up the maneuver, and ignored Noah’s disapproving glare across the table. “What’s up?”
“I just had the chance to ask my mom about a position and she said she’d love to have the extra help. She wanted me to have you call her to arrange an interview.” He handed me her business card.
“That’s amazing!” I got up from the table to hug him gratefully, “Thank you so much, you really didn’t have to do that for me.”
“I did it for me mostly,” he said as we broke apart, “It’d be nice to work with someone my own age and not just the boring over-fortys.”
I laughed. “I’m sure we’ll keep each other entertained. Tell your mother that I’ll be in touch with her very soon.”
“Sure thing.” He turned his attention to Noah. “Hey man, how’s it going?”
“No complaints,” Noah replied, a little abruptly. He didn’t return the question, and I awkwardly shifted in the silence wondering if I should sit down or stay standing.
“Cool. Anyway, I should probably go,” Mark broke the silence. “Sophia, I’ll see you soon?”
“Definitely.” I smiled and nodded before sitting back down. When he was gone, I turned my attention back to Noah and found him frowning at me. “Isn’t that exciting?” I asked with a smile, “I have a job interview at Wilson’s!”
“Why didn’t you want to hold my hand in front of him?” he asked, as if he didn’t hear my question.
“The last time Mark and I spoke I told him you and I weren’t in a relationship,” I explained, “and I didn’t want him thinking I was a liar.”
“You couldn’t just tell him things have changed since then?” he challenged.
“Not at this exact moment, that’d be awkward!” I forced a laugh to try and break the tension between us.
“I don’t see why,” he paused to take a quick a sip of his coffee, “You will tell him though, right?” I squinted my eyes in response and his furrowed brows lifted. “What?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be the jealous type, would you?” I guessed.
“No,” he grumbled, “I just don’t want to keep this a secret.”
“It isn’t a secret, but it is brand new.”
“That doesn’t make it any less real. I want everyone to know as soon as possible.”
“Okay, you’re right, I’ll start handing out flyers,” I joked sarcastically. Thankfully, his playful smile returned,
“I would honestly love that.”
➹➹➹
Noah
As much as I would have loved to spend the entire evening with her, I knew the pressing issues at home needed my attention. I had run out of the middle of the pack meeting and it was important to find out what I had missed.
I drove us to the ranch, my Arrow riding the high that was the progression of our relationship. I kept looking over at her, smiling stupidly, and she kept catching me and telling me to stop.
“What are you staring at?” she said, after the umpteenth time.
“You,” I said simply, “You’re beautiful.” She blushed and turned to look out the window.
“Well keep your eyes on the road,” she admonished after a pause, “You never know when a crazy person might jump in front of the car.” I could already tell she wasn’t going to let that one go for some time.
“Yes, dear,” I complied. She looked back at me with a groan.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re dating now, you will not call me dear.” She shook her head with disgust. “It always sounds so sarcastic to me.”
“Okay we can try out some other pet names,” I agreed, “How about pumpkin?”
“Too seasonal.”
“Schnookums?”
“Barf.”
“Bumblebear?”
“What’s that supposed to be?” she laughed, “A bee and a bear mixed together?”
“Fine.” I faked a somber sigh. “We’ll keep working on it.”
“Honestly, I just like hearing you say my name,” she said, raising a shoulder as she played with the hem of her shirt. This confession brought me so much joy that I found it hard to sit still. “Wow,” she said, looking around as we pulled up in front of the Main Building, “This is the busiest I’ve ever seen this place.”
“Yeah, we have three separate events going on this afternoon,” I explained as I cut the ignition. It was unfortunate timing, giving the eventful morning we had. I was exhausted, and it was only three in the afternoon.
We both got out of the car and she walked around to the driver’s side, looking up at the group of people walking into the building.
“Anything involving the horses?” she asked excitedly.
“No, we tend to offer those on opposite days unless there’s a private booking. It’s a big place, but we don’t have enough staff to do everything at once. We have to maneuver around to make sure we have enough help.”
“Guess that means you have to get to work then,” she said, looking back to look at me. Our eyes connected only briefly before I pulled her to me. The moment our lips connected if felt as if every one of my skin cells buzzed with electricity. It didn’t look like the Arrow was going to get used to kissing Sophie anytime soon.
Needing to be as close to her as possible, I wrapped my arms around her waist and more or less hauled her up against me. She let out a small noise of surprise at the sudden movement and it ran a shiver down my spine.
A two-toned whistle stole our attention from each other. We broke apart and turned to find the source of the noise. It was Milo, standing with some harnesses thrown over his shoulder and an amused smile on his face. He was surrounded by a small group of girl scouts, who looked gleeful about what they had witnessed, and their troupe leader, who looked appalled.
“When you’re done here, I could use some helps on the ropes course,” he said, raising an eyebrow. Sophie was blushing furiously, but I was smug. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and stood tall.
“I might never be done,” I announced. Sophie dug her fist into my side as the young girls broke
out into a fit of giggles. Milo shook his head at me with a laugh and motioned for the group to keep following him.
“You should go with them,” she said when I turned to face her again. I ran the back of my fingers along her cheekbone.
“But I want to kiss you some more,” I complained. She laughed.
“There will be plenty of time for that later.” She placed my hands on my chest and lightly pushed me back. I placed my hands over hers and leaned down to kiss her one last time.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” I said, regrettably moving to go after the group. I looked over my shoulder at least three times to get another view of her smiling after me.
By the time I made it inside the woods, Milo was finished running through the basic safety rules and instructions for the ropes course and was fitting the girls for their proper helmets and harnesses.
“Glad you could join us,” Milo murmured, as I started helping pass out gear. The girls giggled again but I couldn’t be bothered to feel ashamed. I felt like I was floating on air.
“Yes, well, it wasn’t easy to tear myself away,” I replied under my breath, “But I did it for you.” Cue another round of girlish tittering.
“I’m forever grateful,” he said with a laugh. Finally all the girls were set and we moved to either side of the course, guiding the girls through it one by one. It took a good hour to navigate them through all the obstacle courses. Before we could move on to the trapeze and zip lines (my personal favorite), the pack leader called for a break around the campfire for a different activity. While we waited for them to finish, I sat down on a wooden tower with my legs hanging off the edge.
Milo clapped a hand on my shoulder before plopping down beside me.
“So I take it your conversation with Sophie went well?” he asked lightly. I side-eyed him and we both broke into a laugh.
“Yeah, you could say that.” I took a sip from my water bottle. “I didn’t tell her about us, but I told her I would tell her and that was enough.”
“For now,” he finished for me, “but I doubt Sophie will accept that for very long.” The thought filled me with panic and I took a deep unsteady breath.
“I just got her, Milo. I don’t know how I’m going to bring myself to risk losing her. If only she could just be okay not knowing for a couple of weeks, at least.”
“You Arrowed on her, Noah,” he disagreed, “You could go years without telling her and the risk would still be as scary. The more time you take, the worse things are going to get. Imagine how great it will be when you’re with her and she knows everything.”
Just picturing it, my body was once again filled with joy. I couldn’t wait until the day in the hopeful future when Sophie knew and accepted all of me. I wanted her to be a member of the pack, of my family. As much as I would love for there to be total transparency in our relationship, however, I had a growing pit of fear in my stomach that realistically, a human might not be so on board when she finds out her boyfriend is a shifter.
Chapter Twelve
Sophia
The next day I showed up at Wolfblood bright and early. When we were just friends, I questioned whether the amount of time Noah and I spent together was normal. Now that we were together, the desire to be with him at all times was only amplified. I was still riding the euphoric high of our new relationship, and I wanted to revel in his company as much as possible.
By the time I pulled up to the garage he was already there, waiting for me in the UTV. I got out with a smile, gesturing to the black vehicle.
“What’s this?”
“I thought of something fun we could do today,” he explained.
“Why aren’t we taking a dirt bike?” I asked, “You promised you would teach me how to ride one.”
“I remember,” he said with a smile, “But I thought today I could teach you to ride something else.” I raced to the UTV and hopped in with excitement. We were going to ride horses! He laughed as we pulled out onto the path. “You’re adorable.”
When we pulled up to the stables, I jumped out quickly and started making my way over, eager to greet the animals. Suddenly a hand wrapped around my elbow and tugged me back. With a gasp, I was pulled against him, his lips hovering over mine.
“First things first,” he murmured before pressing his mouth to mine. Yeah, the horses could wait a moment. I raised myself on my tiptoes as I kissed him back happily.
“Hi,” I said when he leaned back.
“Yeah, you skipped that part,” he responded with a smile.
“Oh, was I supposed to have greeted you by now?” I asked, mimicking his comment from our first real conversation. He laughed and wrapped his arm around me.
“Come on, a shíorghrá,” he said, as we started walking toward the barn.
“That’s a new one,” I commented, wrapping an arm around his back, “What does it mean?”
“’Dear’.” Oh, that was a bummer. I thought it sounded nice.
“Really?”
“No, not really.” His arm tightened around me and I lightly pinched his side. We walked into the barn and I was happy to see Liath Macha’s dark head peering out at us over the latch door.
“Hi, gorgeous!” I greeted.
“He’s handsome,” Noah protested. I rolled my eyes.
“He’s that too,” I agreed. Noah handed me some apple pieces to feed him and I laid them flat on my palm, offering them up to the horse’s mouth delicately. He went and retrieved Liath Macha’s tack and I went through the routine of grooming him, allowing us to get reacquainted. I remembered most of what I had to do and only needed verbal help from Noah once or twice.
“Ready to ride him?” he said, when the horse was all brushed off.
“Me?” I asked, my voice high-pitched, “I thought you said there were only a few horses that accepted rides from strangers.”
“You’re not a stranger, Sophie,” he asserted, “Besides, Liath Macha trusts you.”
“I don’t know, Noah,” I confessed. This was Noah’s horse; I had assumed he’d be the one riding him.
“Tell you what,” Noah offered, “I’ll keep him on a lead rope and we’ll walk the trail slowly. There’s a beautiful view at the top that you’re not going to want to miss.”
He showed me the different aspects of riding tack, and where to properly place the pad and saddle. When he was all fitted and the straps were tightened, he then showed me the different parts of the bridle, and instructed me on how to coax Liath Macha into opening his mouth for the snaffle bit. Finally the horse was fit and ready to ride, and I walked nervously with Noah as he led Liath Macha to the entrance of the trail.
“If you’re tense, he’ll be tense,” he reminded me, “Don’t be nervous. I’ll be there every step of the way.” I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat and he kissed me quickly with a laugh. He helped me mount him and before I knew it, we were off down the trail.
At first, I couldn’t get over how high up I was, or how it felt to have a living creature beneath me, carrying me down the path. Noah was a steady guide and Liath Macha kept in step with him, never once moving ahead or falling behind. The rhythm of his movement was soothing and I became increasingly more comfortable. As I relaxed, I was able to enjoy the surrounding scenery more.
The nature trail was gorgeous. The grass and trees surrounding us were a lush green and the sky ahead was the most perfect blue. I looked around, trying to take a long-lasting mental picture. We travelled thoughtfully in silence until Liath Macha let out a loud snort, his attention focused on something in the trees. Noah pet his neck gently and we continued walking.
“What does that sound mean?” I asked curiously.
“When horses make that sound it means they’ve seen something and they want to know if it’s dangerous.”
“What did he see?” I looked over my shoulder to peer through the part of the woods we had passed.
“Probably nothing,” Noah consoled, “Keep your eyes forward, Sophie. Liath Macha can sense
where you’re looking. When you ride him on your own, he’ll be able to detect which direction you want to go just from the shift in your body and a slight pull of the reins.”
“Where did you learn all of this?” I asked, impressed.
“My dad,” he said softly, “He loved horses, and spent nearly every moment of the day at the stables. He was much more interested in the animals than the business side of the ranch. It was his love for the animals that led him to the decision to open up the ranch for tourism in the first place. He wanted to share the experience.”
I realized then that I didn’t know much about Noah’s father. The only time he mentioned him was when he said he had died, and he didn’t go into details. I felt guilty; I had mourned my mother to him in plenty of conversations and not once had he really spoken to me about his dad.
“Noah,” I began gently, “How did your father die?” He was silent for a moment and I felt nervous. “If you don’t mind me asking, I mean,” I clarified.
“I don’t mind,” he insisted, not looking at me, “It’s just that…I don’t know how he died. One minute he was there and the next he wasn’t. It was so sudden.”
“He wasn’t sick?”
“No, in fact he was extremely healthy. None of it made any sense. There was no explanation why his heart stopped beating.”
“I’m so sorry, Noah.” I chewed on my lip. “I guess that’s just how it happens sometimes.”
“Not in my family,” he declared. I could tell it was bringing up some negative emotions, and I wished I wasn’t on the back of a horse so that I could take him in my arms and hold him.
“I’m really sorry,” I repeated, “That must have been so hard. With my mom, I at least had months to prepare. You didn’t have any warning.”
“Losing a parent is difficult either way,” he disagreed. We stopped suddenly and I looked around us with a gasp. We had entered a clearing at the top of a hill, and we were surrounded by the most gorgeous view of the ranch below us. The sun shined over the top of mountains and the lake water glistened below.
Arrowed (Arrowed Series Book 1) Page 9