by Sara Summers
There were hordes of people on the boardwalk and down by the beach, so many that it felt sort of surreal.
I waked past a few little shops before deciding I wanted to go in and check them out. Heading inside the one closest ones, I saw swimsuits and other clothes with the name of the beach and boardwalk on them.
The place was fascinating to me. In the Cage, we didn’t have any stores. There were a few bakeries and buildings full of boxes of t-shirts and shoes the humans had provided, but that was pretty much it.
The racks of clothes were kind of beautiful, as stupid as that probably sounds.
“Hi, how are you doing?” the girl at the register asked cheerfully. There were a few other people in the store, but none of them paid any attention to me.
“I’m great.” I think I laughed a little, in total disbelief as I looked around.
“Are you looking for anything in particular?” she wondered. The smile on her face was the realest thing I’d seen since coming to New York.
“Um,” I looked around again. “I need a swimsuit.”
I’d been swimming in two or three lakes in the Cage before, but we never had swimsuits. We’d just worn underwear, as weird as it sounds to me now.
“Well, there are plenty to choose from. The changing room is back there if you want to try a few on.” She offered.
“I will, thanks.” I smiled and turned to go look at the racks of suits.
“Oh! You’re a shifter!” the girl exclaimed. “Why do you look so familiar, then?” She wondered.
I contemplated keeping Logan’s secret and telling her I was no one, but I was tired of lying for him. If he wanted to be with me, he had to be with all of me. Including my wolf side.
So I smiled wider.
“I’m Emma Lush. Logan is my soulmate, he’s Ronan in the Deadly Prince movies. And yes, I’m a wolf shifter.”
The girl’s eyes brightened.
“You’re soulmates with Logan Lush? And you’re a wolf shifter? Did he turn into a shifter, then, too? That’s insane!” She exclaimed.
I didn’t have to look around the store to know that everyone was looking at me then.
“He did.” I laughed at the girl’s excitement.
“Wow, that’s crazy. Would it be weird if I asked to take a picture with you?” she wondered.
“I’d love to.” I smiled as she hurried around the counter and pulled out her phone. She knew exactly how to hold it to take a picture with both of us in it, which I thought was kind of an impressive skill.
“Can you take one with mine too?” I handed her my phone.
“You want a picture with me? Why? I’m boring.” She looked at me like I was a little crazy.
“Are you kidding? My brothers and I spent our childhood in the Cage staring at the walls and wondering what humans were like. I’m the boring one!”
The girl laughed.
“If you say so!”
She took a picture of us on my phone.
“Alright, I’d better let you go back to shopping or my boss will kill me. If you need anything, let me know.” She instructed.
“I will.” I promised, turning back to the store.
A few more people asked to take pictures with me, and I got pictures with them for my phone too. After the pictures, I took a bunch of swimsuits into the changing room to try them on.
I left with a white floral suit and a pair of jean shorts that reminded me of the ones I’d worn on the plane, the ones Laren had gotten rid of almost the second I took them off.
After I bought the clothes with the card Logan left me (my new friend the cashier had to help me figure out how to use it), I went back into the changing room and put them on, stuffing my jeans into the big blue purse before I left the store. I wore the flowy white top over my swimsuit because I still loved that one.
Out on the boardwalk, a few more people recognized me. I took pictures with them, and signed someone’s t-shirt. That was a little weird, especially because I had to sign it “Emma Lush”, but the guy really wanted me to do it so I did.
I took a picture of the guy with the signed shirt so I would remember the funny story; I knew my brothers would get a kick out of some random guy wanting my signature on his clothing.
When I saw another store with cute things in the window, I went inside. After getting recognized, taking pictures, and explaining a few things about shifters to one of the girls inside, I looked around.
I found a pair of big, white sunglasses that I couldn’t resist buying, along with a large, colorful purse. It was flowy and soft, unlike the clunky blue purse I’d been carrying around.
Buying that was an easy choice.
I sat down on a bench on the boardwalk after I checked out and moved all my stuff from the blue purse to the colorful one. While I was moving the stuff Logan filled the bag with, I found a pack of gum.
As strange as it was, I’d never had gum before. At least, not since I was three or four years old, so if I’d had it I didn’t remember.
I grinned and pulled out a piece, unwrapping the light green treat.
Is gum a treat? I don’t know if I’d call it that, but I’m not sure what else it is so we’ll go with treat.
Popping it in my mouth, my eyes widened as I felt the strange texture in my mouth. I chewed it, fascinated by the way it felt on my teeth and against my tongue.
Someone walked up to me while I was testing out the gum.
“Are you the girl Logan Lush is married to?” a teenage girl demanded.
I pushed the gum into the side of my mouth with my tongue and smiled, standing up with both purses in one of my hands.
“Yes! Hi, I’m Emma Lush. We’re actually not married, we’re soulmates. I’m a—“ the teenage girl cut me off when she screamed and lunged at me. “Whoa!” I exclaimed, dropping the bags to grab her arms. “What are you doing?”
“Logan is mine, I was going to marry him!” the girl shrieked and fought against my grip on her arms. I’d obviously been in a lot more fights than her.
She looked somewhere around thirteen years old, so I was pretty sure that even if Logan hadn’t been my soulmate, she wouldn’t have had a chance with him.
“Bailey!” a middle-aged woman exclaimed, hurrying toward me and the girl who was trying—and failing—to assault me. “I’m so sorry. She’s had a crush on Logan Lush for the past few years, when she saw you…” the woman trailed off, grabbing her daughter around the waist. “I’m sorry.” She apologized again.
“It’s okay.” I smiled like I understood, though I had no idea how anyone could be in love with a person they saw on TV. “Hi, Bailey. I’m Logan’s soulmate, so you can’t have him, but if you want you can have this purse.” I held up the blue purse. “He bought it for me and put stuff in it, so he touched it.” I offered.
Bailey stopped fighting her mom.
“Really?” she asked.
Honestly, I was at the point that I probably would’ve offered her my soulmate himself if I didn’t think that would mess with her.
“Yep. I don’t need it.” I handed her the empty blue purse.
“Thanks! You’re pretty cool.” She looked up at me with admiration in her eyes.
“You don’t have to give her that. It looks like an expensive purse, I’m sure you’d rather keep it.” Bailey’s mom hurried to push the purse back toward me.
“Mom!” Bailey glared at her.
“No, it’s really okay. I’m not going to use it, it’s all hers.” I smiled.
“Thanks!” Bailey said again, and then hurried away before I changed my mind.
“Thank you.” Her mom said, appreciative for her daughter.
“It’s not a big deal. Where I come from, everyone gives away what they don’t need.” I shrugged.
The mom noticed my cotie, and her eyes flew open.
“You’re a shifter?” She asked, like she couldn’t believe it.
“Yep.” I smiled.
“Wow. I thought shifters were cruel and selfi
sh.” She stared at me for a minute, like she was waiting for me to become cruel and/or selfish.
“Some are. Most aren’t, though. We’re like humans in that way.” I sat back down on my bench as she walked away.
Bailey came hurrying back a few minutes later.
“Can you take a picture with me and my bag?” She checked.
“Sure.” I smiled for a picture, and then the girl hurried away again, clutching the purse to her chest like it was her prize.
I pulled my colorful bag over my shoulder and walked a little more of the boardwalk, stopping when I reached a group of people who looked around my age playing beach volleyball. I’d played a little volleyball in high school, and playing on the beach sounded like fun.
The team on my right was all girls, the one on the left all guys.
“Hey! Can I join in?” I asked.
“Our team is full, sorry!” one of the girls on the team said.
One of the guys stopped and lowered his sunglasses.
“You look familiar.” He stared at me for a second while most of the others kept playing volleyball.
“My soulmate is Logan Lush.” I shrugged.
“You’re a shifter?” He lifted his eyebrows.
“Yep.” I hoped that wasn’t a deal breaker, because it would be nice to have some fun and burn some energy playing volleyball. After sitting around for the last day and a half, I was dying to get a little exercise.
“Cool. You can be on our team.” The guy agreed.
“Sweet. Thanks.” I smiled and kicked off my shoes, dropping them and my bag on the sand.
I noticed my driver sitting on the bench I’d been seated on earlier, and figured Logan must’ve had him following me for some reason. I didn’t think much of it, though, because I didn’t care.
Loving the feel of the sand between my toes, I tossed my top on my other stuff and joined the guys’ team, ignoring the glares from a few of the girls on the other side. I was having the time of my life, and I wasn’t going to stop because of a little hatred.
Eighteen
The ball fell toward the sand at what felt like rocket speed, and I lunged to hit it. One of the other guys did the same, and we crashed into each other. He landed on top of me, with sand all over both of us. The ball hit the ground a few inches in front of us, and everyone waited to see how I’d react.
I don’t know if they thought it was my first time getting tackled by a guy or what, because I swear they were waiting for me to yell or scream or something.
I, of course, laughed.
The guy looked relieved when I did.
“Well, we sure messed that up.” I grinned as he got up and offered me his hand.
“No doubt.” The guy grinned back as he pulled me to his feet. “Next time, I’ll stay out of your way.” He winked.
“Good call.” I agreed, the smile on my face 100% real.
The volleyball game continued, and less of the girls were glaring at me that time around.
It felt good to smile and have fun with a bunch of strangers, but it made me miss my family. Volleyball was good and fun with the group I had, but it was much more fun with my family. Artie would do commentary while he “played” on one of the teams, Cody and Tanner would have a competition to see who could get more points, and my parents would be on opposite teams just because they liked to compete.
It was fun to be in New York, but it was much more fun to be back home, in the Cage.
I’d only been gone two days, and I already missed it like crazy.
Before I left the volleyball players, I asked everyone to take a picture with me. They obliged, and I had a cool picture of the whole group of us. I don’t know why it felt special to me, but it did. I liked feeling like a part of something again. I missed that, even after being away from my pack for less than 48 hours.
I walked down the boardwalk again, toward the Ferris wheel and the other carnival-type rides. My parents had told us about carnivals and fairs, and it was kind of exciting to me that I’d get a chance to ride some rides at one.
When I stopped at a booth selling bracelets with names embroidered in them on the way to the rides, a suspicious-looking guy walked up next to me.
I looked around, to make sure there were enough people that he wouldn’t try to attack me or something. I didn’t really want to fight someone off, especially if the guy had some sort of weapon. No amount of wrestling with my brothers had prepared me for a knife fight or a gun fight.
He was wearing a black hoodie pulled down on his forehead and sunglasses, so I couldn’t really make out much of his face, but I hoped he was friendly under his sketchy disguise.
“Emma. E-M-M-A.” I spelled my name out to the man selling the bracelets and smiled at him. He told me he needed a second to find the right bracelet, and he searched through the loads he already had made.
I tightened the ponytail on my head, spinning around quickly when the suspicious guy spoke to me.
“Emma Lush?” he asked. When he didn’t smile or take off his glasses to talk to me, I got a little worried.
“Why do you want to know?” I was more cautious this time.
“No reason.” The man looked away.
I glanced around, hoping to see my driver around somewhere. He was a big guy, maybe he would try to help me out if I got into trouble.
While I was looking around for help, the guy grabbed my colorful bag and took off running.
“Hey!” I yelled, chasing close behind him. I was very fast after running so much in wolf form, and I realized I would actually catch him as I covered the ground between us. I knew I had to catch him, because I’d need to text the driver when I was ready to go.
I reached out to grab the guy’s shirt but before I could grab him, my driver showed up out of nowhere. He launched himself at the sketchy guy, tackling him and my bag to the ground.
Stopping abruptly, I gawked at the driver and the thief on the ground.
The driver got up and handed me the bag.
It took a few seconds for me to finish gawking and take my purse. When I pulled it over my shoulder, the driver grabbed the guy and held his hands behind his back.
“What are you? Some kind of security guard?” I asked, following the driver as he walked my attacker across the boardwalk.
“It doesn’t matter.” The driver’s expression was stony.
“You just took that guy down, I’d say it definitely matters.” I protested.
“There are a lot of people who want to take what the Lush’s have built. I’m here to stop that. If you weren’t married to Logan, this guy wouldn’t have been interested in you.” He sort of skidded the question.
“So more of a bodyguard than a security guard, then.” I shook my head. “I had that under control, I would’ve gotten my bag back if you gave me three more seconds. You can tell Logan that I don’t need a bodyguard. I could’ve just shifted and bitten the guy or something.”
I followed behind him as we walked into the boardwalk security office.
The woman behind the desk looked up when we came in.
“Back again already, Arthur?” the woman sounded bored.
“Yep. This one actually got the bag.” My bodyguard nodded. The woman came around the desk and handcuffed the thief’s hands, towing him down a hallway and out of view.
“Paperwork’s on the counter.” She called out as she was leaving with the thief.
Arthur, my bodyguard, grabbed a clipboard and scribbled a few things on it.
“Other people have tried to rob me since I’ve been here? How many?” I demanded, folding my arms.
Arthur didn’t respond, but the woman security guard walked back into the room in time to hear my question.
“Six.”
“What?” my eyes flew open wide when I heard that. “So seven people tried to steal from me today? There’s no way, that’s ridiculous.” I protested.
“Your husband is famous, Miss Lush.” The woman security guard shrugged.
&nb
sp; “It’s Emma, and he’s my soulmate, not my husband. It’s different because I didn’t choose this.” I glared at Arthur. “You could’ve told me you were here following me around to protect me. I would’ve saved you the trouble and not come at all.”
“This is my Job, Emma.” Arthur said, matter-of-factly. “The more people I catch the better I get paid. This is how I make money.”
“Well you have a terrible job, then.” I shook my head as I walked out of the security office. “And I’m a construction worker, so I’m allowed to say that.”
“You’re a construction worker?” Arthur lifted an eyebrow, walking beside me as I headed toward the large parking lot he’d parked the car in.
“I was before I got swept off my feet into Logan’s nightmare family.” I muttered. “Now I have a soulmate who loves his mom more than he loves me and apparently strangers want to rob me every six seconds. We had a party last night, and you know, I would rather spend all day sweating on the roof of a house than go to another party for two hours.”
Arthur’s expression was so hard to read that he probably could’ve passed for a rock.
“You don’t want to live like a celebrity, then?”
“Not even a little.” I sighed and sat down in the passenger seat as Arthur took the spot in front of the steering wheel.
“You’re supposed to sit in the back.” He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.
“You’re my bodyguard, not my chauffer. I’ll sit in the front.” I stared him down, waiting for him to argue.
He just shook his head.
We drove off back toward the Lush’s house, and I looked at the clock. It was 5:30, but I had no idea what time Logan would get back.
“How far is it to the nearest forest?” I wondered.
“Three or four hours, depending on traffic.” Arthur, at least, wasn’t afraid to talk to me.
“Dang.” I leaned back in the seat. When I realized there was a good chance Logan wouldn’t be back until late at night, I sat up again. “We could go anyway, I’d still have time to run for a little while before we have to be back.”
“No, I’m supposed to have you back by 10.” Arthur shook his head.