by Belle Harper
“I need a jacket,” she said as she started to dash back to her room.
Shit… I didn’t drink any whisky this morning, so I was making her cold by touching her. I didn’t even think, so lost in my own thoughts.
“I’m sorry. I was so wrapped up in things, I didn’t think about warming myself up.” I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little hurt. Not at her, just at the situation. Why couldn’t I have met her when I was human? We could have had a life together, made a family…children
When I felt her return, she reached down and took my hand, which surprised me a little surprised. Then a feeling of warmth traveled through my hand and up my arm, and I gasped at the feeling. It felt so foreign. Shit, how was she doing that? I looked down to where she held my hand. It just looked like two people holding hands, except heat was traveling up from where we were connected.
“What… Wow.” She pulled her hand free and investigated it, but my hand and arm were still warm as I raised it in front of me. It felt so strange compared to the rest of my usually cold body.
“Well, that’s new.” I didn’t know what else to say without worrying her. She just warmed me up from her touch, and that was very new development indeed.
“I think I might be a mini heater.” She chuckled, and I did too, full of nerves for both of us. I could feel her fear. I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it failed.
Oh boy…
Chapter Five
Lexi
Holy shit, oh mother of fuck… I just heated up Galen’s hand. His hand was cold, then it was warm. I was thinking about how hard it must be to hide the coldness and always having to drink to warm his blood up so he could pass as a human, and then his hand felt warm in mine.
I was seated at the table beside Ada, and everyone was talking around me. I was still in a daze from what had just happened with Galen. Like did that really just happen? Everyone was talking, discussing in some code type words what had just happened, and all I could do was stare at my hand, wondering if that was really my power. I had a power—I could warm a vampire’s hand.
That was kind of a crap power to have, to be honest. I smelled like a shifter’s mate, and I could warm up cold hands. I was a toaster. Oh wait, and I could heal vampires. Okay, that was cool, and I was so glad that Galen was still here. That I was still here too.
Ranger rubbed my shoulders as he leaned in. “Hey, Lex. Don’t over think it. You did good, okay? That is very special.” Yeah, says the guy who shifts into a gray wolf and can hear everything. That was special. Being a mini heater was not.
“Eat up,” Jett placed a salad sandwich in front of me, and one for Ada, who was looking very out of her element. I assumed that was how I looked when I first got here… Well, she had more clothes on then I did that first dinner. I smiled at that thought, which had Raff raising his brows at me. Ugh, scents. I gave him a wink. He hadn’t been here for that little show. But then he got a better look at me earlier in the bathroom.
Jack and Grayson were trying to engage Ada in conversation about school—where she was going, what she was studying. You know, things your friend should know about you. But I didn’t.
“I’m staying local, going to the community college in Port Angeles. I’ll be studying criminal justice. Not sure if I want to be a cop or what, but I need to do something, or my parents will flip. I just want to see where it goes.
“I’ll be living at home and working part time with my dad. He’s an accountant, and I think he wanted me to get into finance, but I just don’t like the number crunching. So boring. I’ll mostly just be setting up appointments with clients and filing.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’ll change my mind. I’m still young, and I have plenty of time to decide. But I’ll be staying in Watson.” She turned and smiled at me. She was staying local, and my chest felt light at that. She wasn’t leaving for some amazing college states away, with roommates and frat parties. I honestly thought she would be off to one of them, since she had the grades and the brains.
“Maybe I should look into going to the same college,” I told her. Alaric had said he would pay for me to go to college. Well, I wasn’t sure if he meant go to campus or not, but it would be nice to have friends, and maybe my grades would be good enough. She smiled as she took a bite of her sandwich, quickly chewing it to talk more.
“That would be awesome! What do you want to study?” I shrugged, since I’d never got that far. I just knew I wanted to get into college. I wanted a degree, get a good education, and high paying job. Just no idea what that job would be.
“You could join me?” she asked, and I smiled, but I had no intention of being a cop.
“If you want to be a cop, Lexi, I could take you for a ride along in the cruiser. In the front seat, this time.” Nash sat down at the end of the table. I ignored him, like I’d been trying to every other day, and took another bite of my yummy sandwich.
“Rude much? You don’t have to be an asshole, you know.” I looked up at Ada and saw her…staring down Nash. Oh fuck. I pulled on her hand to get her to look at me, to break this stare off they were having. She was wary and a little skittish of everyone here, but she had no problems taking on Nash like that. He was the alpha’s eldest son, would be alpha of the pack one day, and I didn’t want her to go head to head with him right now.
“I’m sure she’s ridden in the back of many cop cars,” he deadpanned, and I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t in the mood for this. Asshole.
“Hey,” Ranger, Raff, and Jett all said in unison. I loved that they were defending me, but I could do that. I didn’t need them to be fighting Nash for me, he was trying to piss me off and I honestly didn’t know why.
“The backseat is better than riding next to a pig.” I replied with the sweetest smile on my face. Jack covered his mouth, and at first, I thought he was upset, but then I could see the glint in his eyes. He was trying to stifle his laugh, but the others didn’t care as they openly laughed. Nash didn’t say anything as he stood, his chair legs scratching along the white tiles made my skin crawl. His face was all serious again as he stomped off without a word. I knew he would’ve said something if Ada wasn’t there. I was just surprised he left.
I felt a little bit guilty for calling him a pig, but he started it and that was a low blow. He didn’t have to say that in front of Ada. What did he expect me to do…roll over and show him my belly? Hell no. I fought fire with fire, and he should’ve known that by now. I would never bow down to him.
“Okay, let’s do something fun. I think Mav might even crawl out of his dark hole and make an appearance.” I looked over at Ranger and raised my brows. He was here? Maverick came back, and he hadn’t come to see me? My chest felt tight, was he avoiding me?
“I should go home. My parents will be wondering where I am. I texted them, but they want me to come spend time with my aunt and cousins, who are visiting for spring break.” I stood up with Ada and hugged her.
“That’s okay, maybe tomorrow? Or just text me when your free, we can hang out. Maybe go swimming?” She smiled and nodded.
“Hell yeah, just no more scaring the shit out of me. Okay?” She gave me a small smile before she turned to leave.
Galen appeared beside her, and at first, I thought he was going to walk her to the door. But the way he looked at me, I could see it. No, no he wasn’t going to do it… He glanced to Alaric, then looked down, his eyes not meeting mine.
“You are not compelling her.” He shook his head slightly and let out a deep breath as he looked up, his hands in fists by his side, his body was tense.
“Please, no.” He looked over to me, his eyes pleading as if he was saying sorry, that he didn’t want to do this either.
“No,” I yelled at Alaric, my voice pleading with him now. This was total bullshit. They had said they wouldn’t do this. This wasn’t fair.
“Wait, is compelling a real thing you can do?” Ada asked, more curious than scared. I grabbed her hand as I glared at Galen. He looked Ada in the eye and nodded, his
dark curls bouncing on his forehead, but he wouldn’t make eye contact with me. He knew I would be pissed off. He said it. He said he was going to and they all tried to convince me otherwise.
“I don’t want to. Fuck, I’m so sorry.” It was barely a whisper, but I heard the hurt in his voice. He knew this would hurt me and yet he was still going to do it.
“Hey, this is bullshit. You promised. Father, you said this didn’t have to happen.” When Alaric said nothing, Ranger stood up to his full height against Galen. He was larger than him, but Galen still held more power. Though the one who held all the power here was Alaric. He was alpha, and I would never forget that or forgive him for this.
“Alaric thinks it’s for the best that I compel Ada, only so she doesn’t speak about us and about last night to anyone outside of Pack Kiba. For now.” I was angry. I fisted my right hand at my side and squeezed Ada’s hand with my left. That was not what I was promised.
“Actually, that’s a great idea. Like, if it doesn’t hurt, then I’ll do it. You can all trust me, but I can’t promise I won’t accidently slip up. Sometimes I get talking…”
She looked at me and gave me a sad smile. I didn’t want to tell her I didn’t trust her with all of this. I did, but what happened if someone forced her to tell them, or she saw one of the Kiba boys and blurted out that they shift into wolves for the whole school to hear? Not only would that get her into trouble, but people would think she was crazy.
“It doesn’t hurt,” was all Galen said. Ranger was still mad and started pacing back and forth beside us. Raff held my shoulder, trying to calm me. I guessed he could smell I was angry. I didn’t even need to say anything for any of them to know that.
“Is it like in the movies?” she asked, and I nodded. I really didn’t know, since I’d never seen him do it to anyone and he couldn’t do it to me. But I also didn’t want to tell her that she was the only one in the room that this would work on, since shifters couldn’t be compelled either.
Galen stood directly in front of her, and Ranger was muttering things under his breath that I couldn’t hear, but everyone else would’ve been able. He was close to Galen, watching… I guess I was curious to see this too. I watched as Galen’s eyes turned dark, and Ada tightened her hand in mine. I squeezed it back, letting her know it was okay. I’d stop him if he did something like wipe her whole memory.
“Ada, you will not speak to anyone about what you saw last night,” Galen said in this strange voice, all calm and steady. When he didn’t go further, Ranger spoke up.
“You can’t stop there. She won’t be able to talk to us at all.”
Galen continued, “You can only speak to those present here today, and Pack Kiba members. But only if it is safe to do so…” Galen hesitated, I guess waiting for further instruction from Alaric, but Ranger grabbed Galen by his sweater.
“That’s enough,” Ranger demanded. I could feel the power in the room. It was rippling in waves now, and I felt my chest tightening like all the air had left and all I could feel was tingling against my skin.
“Stop,” Galen hissed. I startled from the sudden change in Galen. I knew he would never hurt me, and he seemed just as upset as we were about all of this. He was mad and on edge. Ranger was really pushing him.
“Ranger,” Alaric warned, his voice just as powerful in the room, I could see the way Ranger’s shoulders sunk at the weight of his fathers alpha tone.
“No, this is bullshit—”
“I said. Stop. Talking.” Galen was really mad at Ranger. There was a pause, nothing happened and we all just waiting for Alaric or Galen to say or do something. Eventually it was Alaric who spoke.
“That is fine, Galen. That should be enough,” Alaric finally called out. Galen closed his eyes and dropped away from Ada, and that was it. The feeling in the room lessened and I felt like I could breathe again as Ada smiled.
“That wasn’t so bad. It was actually really cool. This way, you know I can keep the secret and help Lexi too.” I hugged her. I didn’t want to let her go, but her parents and family were waiting for her at home, and that sounded really nice to go to.
Jett offered to walk her to her car. She turned and wiggled her brows and winked at me. I chuckled and just shook my head. She’d probably get herself a shifter boyfriend before the end of summer. Hell the end of spring break.
Chapter Six
Lexi
Jack and Grayson needed to get back home, but they promised that they would come over during the week and bring the boys, all three of them. I would get to play with Josh, and we could even watch his cartoons in the movie room. I was betting he’d love that. Maybe they would let him watch one of those Batman action movies, or that Avengers one, not that I was into them or had seen any, but I’d reckon he would love that.
Ranger was acting weird, and I wasn’t sure if it was because Alaric made Galen compel Ada and he was still mad, or that Maverick wasn’t down here.
We were waiting for him. Jett had gone up and spoken to him after Ada left. He let us know that Maverick was coming down, and just to give them a few moments. I couldn’t wait to see him, I wanted to hug him and make sure he knew everything was okay.
We were going to watch a movie of my choice…again. Ranger didn’t even tease me when I said I wanted to watch The Kissing Booth. I’d heard it was one of those movies you had to watch, plus…romance movie, with my three boyfriends…and Galen. Maybe some kissing…maybe some touching? I really needed that after last night. I just wanted to get back to normal.
Well…what was recently normal.
I nestled into Raff’s lap, his arms wrapped around me. I watched Ranger mess around getting everything to work and started up the popcorn machine. I was in love with the popcorn machine, and after living here I didn’t think I could ever not have a popcorn machine. Popcorn was the best.
“Hey, how are you doing now?” Raff asked. I didn’t really want to be asked that over and over, so instead, I turned in his arms and kissed him. I felt like I hadn’t kissed him in forever. Yet, it was only last night. He was so good at kissing, and it always thrilled me a little to know I was the only girl he’d ever kissed. His tongue swept over my bottom lip before he nipped at it. He smiled down at me when I pulled away.
“I take that as good.” He winked, then that kiss just wasn’t enough. Raff smiled as I turned in his arms and straddled him.
“I’m so much better now.” This was helping me to forget everything. I ran my fingers through his hair, messing it up a little. He chuckled deep in his chest, and I could feel that right through my body. “Mmm…that felt good.” I rubbed myself against him slowly, and he growled lightly as he gripped my ass.
“Stop teasing me,” he whispered, but I knew he didn’t mean that when that devilish smile appeared. God, he was gorgeous. I leaned down and captured his mouth with mine.
Every time I kissed Raff, it always felt magical, like that feeling you get from your first kiss—the butterflies, the racing heart. I got to have it over and over again with him. The way our bodies moved, it was like we were so in sync with one another. His hand traveled up my back and cupped the nap of my neck, wrapping his fingers in my hair. He pulled my head back to get better access to my neck, and I moaned. God, I was horny. I didn’t think I could ever not be horny around Raff. Around them all.
A throat cleared, and the haze of lust around Raff and I broke enough to see Galen and Jett standing next to a very troubled looking Maverick. His hands were in his jeans pockets, his body hunched over and barely meeting my eyes with his, which were covered by some of his hair.
“Maverick.” He looked like a wounded animal. I jumped up out of Raff’s lap and went straight to him. When his green eyes met mine, I could see they were rimmed with red, like he hadn’t slept. When he didn’t move, I pushed my hands through his arms and wrapped my arms around him. Oh, Maverick.
I felt his hands slowly wrap around me, then they tightened, and I could feel his heart racing. His head rested on mine as
he breathed me in, and it made me smile. I didn’t like seeing him like this. He was usually so put together. I felt his lips on my forehead and knew I needed him to come and lay down with me, with all of us. I needed them all surrounding me, close.
“Let’s make a nest of pillows, and we can all snuggle.” I did think about the fact that Galen might not want to do that. He’d been close to us before, but the for past week, he had been missing. Plus the whole kissing and ‘I love you’ still hung in the air. We hadn’t spoken about it. Yet. But Maverick moved to grab some blankets, Galen grabbed more pillows, and I was so happy. Jett came and sat down beside me, and I laughed.
“Yeah, that spot is taken,” I teased as I pushed him away. He rolled away onto the floor, holding his hand over his chest with a look of mock hurt on his face, and I laughed. It felt good, we would forget all of this and move on like nothing happened. Everything was feeling right again. Raff quickly took his place and hugged me, Galen lay on the floor, his head practically in my lap, and Maverick was on my other side, holding my hand. Now we were just waiting on Ranger.
“Ranger, what are you doing?” I could see him pacing now, and it was a little unlike him. His head was down and his hands were twisting together nervously. Everyone was here, we were ready, and the popcorn was popping, but Ranger was acting so unlike himself. He did take the compelling thing badly, and I never checked in with him after. I was upset with Galen, for lying but I knew he didn’t have a choice. I thought Ranger was upset on my behalf. But maybe he was upset for not being told the truth by his father.
“Hey.” I got up and went to him. He watched me, his eyes glassy, tears threatening to spill. Fuck.
“Hey, it’s okay. Talk to me.” I ran my hands up his chest and touched his cheek lightly. He opened his mouth, then closed it, but he didn’t say anything.