“She’s not going to hurt you, and she’ll hurt anyone who comes near you. Well, unless you want that person near you. Like me.” He glanced over at me.
“First of all, why would she do that? Second of all, how do you know I want you near me?” Of course I did, but that didn’t mean I was going to admit it.
“As to the second, I think it’s obvious. You are sitting in my truck.” His lips twisted into a smile, and I had the sudden urge to kiss the smile off his face.
“True, but how did she know that?”
“She knows things. I wouldn’t linger on it long.”
We drove further away from the center of town until the road became gravel. “Ok, then the first part. Why would she hurt anyone who came near me?”
“She likes you.” He pulled into a sand parking lot and turned off his truck.
I made no move to get out. “Why? I mean what if she changes her mind?”
“She likes you, and she likes me. Also she likes my mom. So you have a triple level of protection.”
“Yet she’s a children’s librarian. I mean being fierce and a children’s librarian don’t go together.”
“Have you met the kids in this town?” He raised an eyebrow.
I thought about the teenager who ran into the street without looking. Was he being serious or joking? Not being able to read him on this kind of thing was throwing me off.
He laughed. “I’m joking. She’s crazy about kids, and she’d never hurt any.”
Good. That was a relief.
He got out and walked around to my side of the truck. He opened my door before I could.
“Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” He held out his hand.
I accepted it, despite not being one for those kinds of gestures. He seemed to be doing it out of desire or upbringing rather than to impress me, and that made it better.
I stared out at the dark water in the distance. At least if I was in the boonies I had access to the ocean. “It’s really pretty out here. I get why you like it.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Oh really?” I couldn’t imagine what he found even prettier.
“It only gets better.” He walked to the end of the parking lot and onto a wooden boardwalk that rose over the sand dunes.
“And we have time before the storm?” Running from a thunderstorm didn’t appeal to me, especially when there was nowhere to take shelter.
“We’ll be fine.”
“So you say.” I had already put a lot of trust in him, but eventually I would hit my limit.
He turned around to look at me. “We’re going to be fine, and this view is worth it.”
“Ok. Then you can answer some more questions for me.”
He chuckled. “Ok, what else do you want to know?” He started walking again.
“Can you tell me more about the book?”
He stopped short. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about mating.”
I didn’t want to talk about mating. Even the mention of it stressed me out, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get lots of other questions answered. “Can’t we talk about the book without getting into the whole mating thing?”
“Maybe, but I mean the whole purpose of the codex is to reveal information about the future of our line, and in doing so it give hints as to pairings.”
“Give hints how?” This was news.
“I don’t really know.” He started walking again.
“You’ve really never looked? How is that possible? If it were me, I would have looked the first chance I had.”
“It’s not going to have your name or anything.” He picked up his pace.
I hurried to keep up with him. “It wouldn’t have my name anyway. I’m not the right one.” I waited for his answer.
“Ok. It wouldn’t have any name. Just hints.” He stepped off the walkway onto the sand.
“Clues… like riddles or something?”
“I wouldn’t know.” He started down toward the water. The beach was long, and I assumed it was low tide.
“But your mother looked?”
“Evidently. Somehow it led her to you.”
“Which is weird.” I still didn’t get it.
“My mother is a determined woman.”
“I can tell.” I respected strong women, and I appreciated her taking a chance on me—even if it was for the wrong reason.
He stopped midway down to the water. “I’m sorry about your computer.”
“You’ve already apologized.” I didn’t want to talk about it because that meant talking about what I was upset about to begin with. The messages he’d found.
“But I feel awful. I should have been more respectful. I just saw the message and…”
“It’s over.” I looked out at the waves crashing against the shore. Watching them relaxed me.
“Is it?”
“Yeah. I told you, I forgive you.” I pulled my eyes from the waves long enough to notice the sky darkening.
“I mean with the professor.” His voice was low, but it was heavy with questions.
“We weren’t involved.” Not in the slightest. I wouldn’t have dated him even if he hadn’t been my boss. He was creepy, and pushy, and everything I didn’t like in a guy.
“I know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just mean is he still bothering you? Has he messaged you again?”
“Why does it matter?” I asked suspiciously. “I got another message, but I never replied. It’s weird. He never tried to smooth things over while I was there.”
“Yeah, strange.” He looked down the beach.
I now knew he only averted his eyes for a reason. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.”
“I need to know.” I walked to his other side so I was in his line of sight.
“My mom’s taking care of it.” He looked away.
I stood on my tiptoes and took his head in my hands. “Excuse me?”
“She is going to take care of it.” Even with my holding his face he tried to look away.
“What does that even mean?”
“It means he’s not going to bother you anymore.”
I released him. Was I crazy? Forcing him to look at me? “It’s fine.”
“Is it? The guy made it nearly impossible for you to get a job—albeit I’m glad you ended up here, but still, it’s wrong on so many levels.”
“But why should your mom be involved?” That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?
“She likes you, and you were wronged. She doesn’t put up with things like that.”
“What’s she going to do?” I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to know. I hated my ex-boss, but that didn’t mean I wanted anything too horrible to happen to him.
“He will live through it.”
“Live through it?” I froze. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“Don’t get upset. She isn’t going to hurt him, but she is going to make sure he doesn’t pull something like that again. Maybe you are out of that situation, but I’m sure he’ll have plenty of other young women working for him.”
“True.” And I never wanted something like that to happen to anyone ever again.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering if I should feel guilty.”
“Why should you?” He appeared completely confused even though it was obvious to me.
“Someone is going to go through hell because of me.”
“The same person who put you through hell.”
“Why did you tell her? I’m surprised you’d want your mom to take care of it…” I crossed my arms.
“I didn’t tell her.”
“Then Delpha?” I didn’t need another reason to be annoyed at my new roommate, but I was running out of possibilities.
“My mom already knew. She knew before you got here.”
“Oh.” Is that why she hadn’t asked for a reference? I’d assumed she’d been as desperate to
fill the position as I was to find one. “How much did she know about me before I got here?”
“My guess is a lot.”
“Your guess?”
“Ok. I know. She found you for a reason.”
“But I never told anyone. Not even my parents because I didn’t want them getting involved.” I never wanted anyone to find out. The plan was to get a new reference and move on.
“They don’t know?”
I walked further down the beach. “No.”
“Then how did you explain not getting a job? With your grades…”
“There aren’t a million library jobs open right now, but I couldn’t even find a volunteer position. My parents figured out it was a reference problem, but I let them think I didn’t do a great job.” I stopped walking right before the line where the water hit the sand.
“Wow. That must have been hard.”
“To let them think so?” I shrugged. “Not really. Like I said, it was better than them getting involved.”
“Would it really have been so bad if they got involved?” He asked with what seemed to be genuine curiosity.
“Yes. Bad for all of us.”
“Care to elaborate?” He walked down the beach horizontally.
“Not really.”
“Please.”
“They would have freaked and threatened to sue or something. I didn’t need the drama.” I walked with him, enjoying the cold wind more than I expected. It was salty, and seemed to be full of whispers of possibilities.
“Gotcha… I think. And you really didn’t tell anyone else?”
“Trying to figure out how your mom knew?” I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the cold wind blowing off the ocean.
“No, trying to understand how you didn’t have a single person to trust.”
“I’m lame.”
“No.” His face paled. “You’re not.”
I started walking ahead, completely uninterested in continuing our conversation.
“Mattie?” He caught up with me.
“Yes?” I looked over at him.
“You don’t really think that about yourself. Do you?”
I sighed. “It’s pretty much the truth.”
He stopped, taking my hands in his so I’d stop too. “No, it’s not.”
“How would you know?”
“Because I do.”
“You barely know me.”
“I barely know you, yet I know you better than anyone. It’s weird. It’s crazy. And I’m kind of sort of okay with that.” He looked deep into my eyes. “Are you okay with that?”
I nodded, and he leaned in, his lips crashing into mine. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me against him. His kiss was hard, demanding, but his lips were soft and warm. He pushed for access to my mouth, and I gladly gave it, soaking in the salty yet sweet taste awaiting me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, needing him closer. I wanted to stay inside that kiss forever, to forget about the rest of the world.
The sound of thunder in the distance had me stepping back. “Wow.”
He grinned. “Wow is a good way to describe that.”
“Uh, we should get back to your truck. I heard thunder. The storm is here.”
He grinned even bigger. “Oh yeah? Is that your concern?”
“Pierce.” I didn’t want to argue with him. I wasn’t sure I could.
“We can’t turn back yet.” He took my hand and led me further down the beach.
Twelve
Pierce
I could still taste her lips. They were so sweet and velvety soft, and I wanted them against mine again. I wanted her in my arms in any way possible.
She was right about the looming storm, but I wasn’t ready to turn around, not until we reached the lighthouse. If we had to ride out the storm up there we could.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” She spoke softly.
“What doesn’t?” I looked down at our entwined hands. She’d made no move to pull her hand away.
“That kiss. I mean it doesn’t mean I want to get involved or anything.”
“So walking on a secluded beach hand-in-hand and kissing me doesn’t mean anything?”
“No.” She pulled her hand from mine and bent down. She dipped her hand in the water. She kept it there, waving it back and forth.
I watched her for a few moments before interrupting. “We’re almost there.”
“Oh.” She stood up and shook her hand to dry it off. “Great.”
I didn’t dare try to take her hand back again even though I wanted to. I wasn’t going to throw our obvious connection in her face. She already knew it was there whether she was ready to admit it or not. It was a lot to take in, and all I could do was hope she’d eventually realize it—preferably in the next few weeks.
We continued down the beach until we reached the end of the shore line where the towering old lighthouse stood. She stared up at the grey-stone lighthouse that had been a fixture of Willow Harbor since its founding.
“Over here.” I knew the lighthouse was beautiful, but there was more to see. I started to walk around the tower to the farthest side. We had to walk on wet, black rocks to get there. I gladly steadied her when it looked like she might slip.
I carefully led her to the large rock that jutted out the furthest.
“Wow, this is gorgeous!” Her eyes lit up.
“The same level of wow as the kiss?” I teased.
“This is a different kind of wow.”
“Better?” I wasn’t teasing this time. I needed to know.
“Different.” She looked out at the water.
The sky darkened, heavy storm clouds quickly moving in to cover what was left of the sun.
“Uh oh.” She looked up at me. “Can we make it back?”
I shook my head. “Not before the storm hits.”
“Then what do we do?” Her expression darkened, mirroring the sky above. “Don’t ditch me, okay?”
“Ditch you?” Why would she even ask that of me?
“You could get back to your truck easily. I mean you can turn into any animal.”
“And you really think I’d leave you out here? Alone?” The insinuation burned. I wouldn’t leave anyone out here, let alone Mattie.
“No.” She answered immediately. “I’m just noting that I’m kind of at your mercy.”
There were several replies I could give, but none seemed like a particularly good idea. “Ever been inside a lighthouse?” I nodded to the towering structure behind us.
“No.” She shook her head. “Are we really allowed in there?”
“Who’s going to stop us?” I smiled.
“Maybe we can make it back.” She wrapped her arms around herself.
A bright flash of lightning followed seconds later by a loud clap of thunder had her jumping.
“Come on.” I took her hand and helped her over the rocks back toward the lighthouse. The waves were crashing higher up, and the rocks were soaked.
She stood close to my side as I unlocked the door with a key I always had on me and held open the door for her to enter. She looked inside warily. “It’s awfully dark.”
“Of course it is.”
She frowned. Evidently that was not the right answer. “Just because you can see in the dark, doesn’t mean I can.”
“I’m aware. Wait.” I pulled out my cell phone and clicked on the flashlight app. “Does this help?”
“Marginally.” She looked inside again. “You go first.”
“Ok.” I stepped inside, and thankfully she followed. I closed the door tightly behind us just as the rain picked up.
“This is spooky.” She gazed around the base of the lighthouse.
It was spookier than she knew, but I knew nothing inside would hurt us.
I handed her my phone. “Want me to go first?” I pointed to the spiral staircase.
“Yes.” She gripped my hand tightly in her left hand.
“Ok.” I smiled at her quick decision. “Stay clos
e.”
She nodded, and I started up the iron staircase, that thankfully had been up kept enough to use.
I glanced behind me. Instead of holding onto the railing, Mattie was running her hand up the stone wall. I didn’t blame her. The railing didn’t feel all that sturdy.
“Are there any windows in here?” She squeaked from behind me.
“There are a few, but they lost their panes years ago, and they are covered over now.”
“Lovely.” Her voice had a nice, sarcastic edge to it.
“There’s a window at the top.”
“At the top.” She was directly behind me, and my body was quite aware of her nearness. “And how much further is the top?”
“Quite a few steps.” I couldn’t pretend otherwise.
“Oh.” She let out a slow breath.
I took a risk. “I can carry you if that’s easier.”
“What?” Her scream echoed off the walls. “Are you crazy?”
“I was just offering.”
“I am not weak.” She gritted her teeth.
“I never said you were weak, but you didn’t seem excited about all the stairs.”
“I’ll show you how I feel about stairs.” She stepped around me and started up ahead. “See if you can keep up,” she called back.
I stifled the laughter that wanted to come out. I knew laughing wouldn’t work for me. She kept up a fast pace at first, but then she slowed down. Luckily, we were almost to the top.
She stopped suddenly on the next landing as light trickled in through the port hole window.
“Ok, this is seriously cool.” She leaned up against the window and peered out. “Seems we just beat the rain.”
“Can’t you hear it?” I’d heard it pounding since we closed the door.
“No.” She frowned. “Wait, let me guess. You have super hearing too.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“How much are you an animal when you’re, uh, an animal?”
“I have animal senses—I take on their characteristics, but it’s still me. I wouldn’t hurt you even when I’m a bear, or a lion, or anything. I maintain my humanity, more or less.”
Shifter’s Fate: Willow Harbor - Book One Page 11