Nate let go of her hand to gently touch her face. Cassie’s stomach did flip-flops. She wasn’t used to Nate apologizing or being gentle.
“I waited, Cassie. I did. I know you think I don’t get it or care, but I do. It’s just that I waited so long. Even in the past when we were kids. Jared was going to ask you to be with him. That’s why I never left you guys alone. I didn’t want to lose to him, and I still don’t. You and I were meant to be together. Nothing he can say will change that.” Nate dipped his face down to hers. Resting his forehead on Cassie’s, he waited for her to understand he was serious.
Cassie stared in shock at him. She really hadn’t expected that from him. Jerk Nate, bossy Nate, they were easy to understand. This was completely new. His blue eyes stared back, pleading with her to forgive him. He didn’t need to plead; she already had forgiven him. He was just as much in the dark about everything as she had been. Cassie reached up and touched his face. He closed his eyes and made an almost purr-like response. Cassie smiled, thinking of the tiger that had been watching over her.
“I love you, Cassie. I’ll do everything I can to show you that. Just give me a chance.” He was actually begging.
Cassie looked up at him and gave a little nod, making his face come closer to hers. Nate used the momentum to gently kiss her before stepping back and pulling off his shirt. Cassie’s eyes went wide. That was a little fast for her.
She quickly came back from her Nate-induced stupor. “Um, you do know everyone is just a room away and can hear everything you say, right?”
Nate laughed, reaching down and pulling off his socks since he had already kicked off his shoes.
“They can’t hear exactly what we say. Your aunt put spells on every room in this house. I believe she called it the “no eavesdropping” spell. You can hear that people are talking, but you can’t make out the words. Just try to hear what they’re talking about in the kitchen,” Nate suggested, standing back up and unbuckling his pants.
“What are you doing?” Cassie asked in horror as he continued to strip. They might not have been able to hear exact words, but that didn’t stop anyone from walking into the room.
“I can either strip now or walk around naked afterward,” Nate explained.
Cassie was still confused. First, he was apologizing. Then they were kissing, and now he was stripping. Nate did seem to go pretty fast from one thing to the next, but it was a bit much for Cassie. She tried to keep her eyes on his face while he stood there shirtless in just his jeans. Her cheeks warmed a bit as she accidentally caught more than a glimpse of him.
Nate had a full grin on his face as he watched Cassie.
“If I transform fully clothed, my clothing will be ruined,” Nate finally explained.
Her cheeks began to turn red. She had been a little off course understanding him. Nate just grinned more. He knew what he was up to all along. Nate stepped closer to Cassie, catching her chin and keeping her eyes up to his as she tried to look away in embarrassment.
“While I’d rather continue seeing where that kiss could have led, we can’t. They might not hear us, but I’m pretty sure Jared isn’t about to let us have any more alone time. Just because they can’t hear us, doesn’t mean he can’t feel the emotions inside of you, and I’m pretty sure if you check, he’s jealous that I can make your heart beat like that.”
Nate backed up from Cassie, never removing his eyes from hers.
“As skinwalkers, we are pretty used to being naked. I don’t mind, but I have a feeling your heartbeat will make everyone come in here if you keep looking.” Nate winked at Cassie.
Okay. He was correct; her heart was beating fast. Why did he have to be right and so cute? Cassie tried to think up a witty comeback, but she was completely tongue-tied.
Nate tapped his finger on the button of his jeans while he waited for Cassie to get that he was really going to take his pants off.
Cassie instantly turned her back to him but didn’t leave the room. She heard his pants slide off and his chuckle before he transformed. Cassie couldn’t go back in the kitchen now. Her face was completely red. Jared came to the doorway and stared behind her. Cassie turned around since Nate was already transformed. If she listened inside his mind, she could feel Nate searching for Whitney’s father and brother. Jared stepped into the room, but Nate didn’t seem to notice. She didn’t need to know what was going on to sense something was wrong.
She stepped forward toward the kitchen, where Jared was standing. He had been filled with jealousy, but now he was concerned. Cassie stared into the room at Whitney, who was sitting beside her aunt with her back to Cassie.
‘Cassie, I need to leave. I can’t find them anywhere. If they’re alive, I can find them. If they’re unconscious, I can find them. If they’re dead, I can still find them. I don’t know what this means. I need to go to my father, and it’s quicker for me to just stay this way. Stay with Jared,’ Nate ordered her, slipping back into old Nate. Welcome back, bossy jerk. ‘Please don’t argue with me on this one. No one can just vanish unless something else is going on. It isn’t safe.’
Cassie walked over to the front door to let him out like a house pet.
‘I’ll be back later when I find out more,’ Nate told her, stopping at the doorway with his big tiger head eye-to-eye with her. He lowered his head and butted into her, making her pet him as he stood there. ‘I get it. I know you don’t like being told what to do. I’m not trying to upset you; I just know that you don’t know a lot about the night human world. They’ve left out so much when teaching you. I will explain later. I promise.’
Cassie stared at him. He never seemed to notice before. This was a whole new Nate.
‘Whitney told me,’ he admitted. ‘I’m trying to be better about it. Let me rephrase things. For your safety, please stay with Jared. He’s never going to beat me at winning you over, but he’s the only other person I know who will keep you as safe as I would.’
“Fine,” Cassie replied while pushing the door wider. Nate walked by, rubbing against her as he passed. Cassie turned back toward the room to find Whitney standing beside Jared.
“Where’s he going?” Whitney asked, staring at Nate as he disappeared around the house.
“He needs to talk to his father,” Cassie replied, unsure how much more to tell her. It wouldn’t sound good any way that she could put it. “He doesn’t know what’s going on and needs his father’s help finding them.”
Whitney nodded as Jared guided her to the couch. She laid down, and Jared covered her with a blanket. He didn’t need to ask to know there was more behind everything. That was one thing that hadn’t changed about Jared. He was more perceptive than anyone Cassie had ever met. Whitney closed her eyes and was instantly to sleep. Magic hummed from her friend.
Aunt Maria stood in the doorway watching. She shrugged.
“I laced her orange juice,” Maria explained. Cassie shook her head. “She wasn’t going to fall asleep otherwise, and she’s no use to anyone without rest. Even I know that much.”
Aunt Maria was right. Whitney slept longer than anyone and was still tired. She barely functioned on ten hours of sleep and was nowhere near work ready on less than that. Cassie had no idea how she had been awake that long as it was.
“Go get some rest yourself,” Maria told Cassie. “I don’t think things will be slowing down anytime soon, and this might be your last chance in a while. I’ll wake you when Nate gets back.”
“Nate said to not leave Jared’s side,” Cassie told her aunt.
Maria nodded and pointed for them both to go upstairs. Cassie tried to hide her surprise. She had been told since she was ten that boys would never be allowed in her room. Even though she accidentally broke that promise when she let Nate in before she knew he was the tiger that she was friends with, she didn’t expect Maria to easily agree to Jared.
“Go get some rest,” Maria told her, shooing her upstairs. “Both of you. And leave the door open.”
Cassie smiled
as she walked away. That was the Maria she remembered. Cassie needed that. Everything around her was changing like crazy. She needed something to stay the same.
Cassie would have slept longer, but there was a tap on her forehead. Opening her eyes, she discovered it was already dusk, and the room was getting dark. Blue eyes stared back at her, and Cassie laughed. Whitney was lying in her bed like she was waiting for Cassie to wake. Groggily, Cassie lifted her head and glanced at the chair Jared had been sitting in when she fell asleep. He was gone.
“Please distract me by filling me in on all the details, and I mean all the details.” Whitney wiggled her eyebrows. “You’re my best friend. You owe me that.”
Cassie rubbed her eyes and sat up, still expecting to see Jared standing guard somewhere in the room. He had refused to sleep and seemed to be as much on edge as Nate was. Neither of the guys would tell her what was going on, but they both seemed to know or think that it was more than just a few witches going missing in the night.
“Where’d…?” Cassie began.
“He left as soon as Nate came back. They’re taking shifts, I guess,” Whitney jumped in and explained. “So, guys now… two guys… how exciting! Let me live vicariously through you.”
Cassie saw in Whitney’s eyes that she needed to be distracted. It wasn’t just normal Whitney talk; she really needed it.
“What did John say?” Cassie asked. She had been asleep for hours, and if Nate was back, that had to mean something.
Whitney shrugged. “He said to stay here, and they would figure it out. I’m supposed to just go on with my life like nothing is wrong.”
Cassie felt her friend’s pain. While Whitney didn’t see eye-to-eye with her mother, she was still her mother. They fought a lot about almost everything, but they were best friends. Mrs. Mallory was the mother Cassie always wanted. And the fact that Whitney’s father and brother were also missing was just icing on the cake.
“And Nate?” Cassie asked, a bit more hopeful. He was the one with the direct connections after all.
“He doesn’t know. His dad doesn’t understand it either. They don’t know why they can’t talk to them or find them. It’s like they never existed.”
The tears were coming and quickly, so Cassie pulled her friend in for a hug. Her family meant the world to Whitney, even if she said otherwise at times. Not being able to find a single person in her family was scary and sad at the same time. Cassie had felt that aloneness for years without the childhood memories, which had now returned. She had always been loved and wanted by her uncle, but for eight long years, Cassie thought no one wanted or loved her.
“So please distract me,” Whitney begged with a little hiccup from crying.
“Fine,” Cassie replied, lying back on the bed again. Whitney flopped beside her as they both stared at the ceiling. The glow-in-the-dark stars were still up there from their great unsuccessful attempt at recreating the night sky four years ago.
“Did you kiss him?” Whitney asked, starting the conversation as Cassie had no idea how to.
“Which one?” Cassie asked in reply.
“Both of them?” Whitney continued their conversation of questions while deducing correctly.
“How’d you know?”
Cassie wasn’t just asking. She was curious and needed to know how not to broadcast to everyone the details she wanted to keep to herself. Well, not everyone since now with the bond—between herself, Nate, and Jared—Cassie didn’t really have complete secrets. The bond stunk, and she needed her aunt’s help more than anything now.
“If you had to ask which one, that means you kissed both of them,” Whitney replied logically.
As spacey as everyone thought Whitney was, Cassie knew otherwise. She hid behind the dumb blond jokes people said about her, but Whitney was very perceptive and just as logical.
Covering her face, she mumbled, “Yes, I kissed them both.”
Whitney peeled her hands back. “Seriously?” she asked, her eyes wide open like she was in shock at Cassie’s admission.
“Yes, seriously,” Cassie replied, flipping onto her stomach and burying her face in her pillow. It was much more embarrassing to talk about than she thought it would be.
“Come on. You can’t leave it at that,” Whitney complained to the back of her head. “You have to tell me everything. Start with what happened at the cabin after I blacked out.”
Cassie lifted up her head. She could start there. That wasn’t embarrassing. She looked at the clock. It was already late, but she was sure it was going to be later after she finished filling Whitney in.
“Snacks first?” Cassie asked.
“Already brought them.” Whitney waved to Cassie’s desk and the three bags of chips, chocolate, and two sodas sitting there.
Cassie sat up. Whitney was ready for a distraction and as her best friend, Cassie was going to provide it.
“So Jared was there in the cabin …” Cassie started into what had happened after Whitney was taken from her, giving her the version of what had happened in their time apart and filling her in on all the details. That’s what best friends were for.
CHAPTER 2
Cassie and Whitney had stayed up way too late Sunday night to be excited to go to school Monday morning, not to mention that their week had gotten off to a rough start even before that. They both showed up for their first day back tired, but happy to be there. It was strange to be back in school and more surreal than anything else had. It was like everything just picked up where they left it after homecoming, but not. Everything was bathed in a new light for Cassie, who had all her memories returned, and as such no one knew how to act around her.
Jared had been serious about going to school. It didn’t take long for Cassie to see that he didn’t need to be in her classes. From his notes and quick answers, she doubted he needed to be in school at all. He hadn’t missed learning, just didn’t do it in a traditional school building. He was quite the student, even if he hadn’t been in school for eight years. That didn’t deter him at all. In fact, he was a model student. There on time and ready to pretend to learn in every class. He did his best to be beside Cassie every chance he got.
Needless to say, the kids at school didn’t know how to react to the six wendigo that had enrolled. Jared was there, along with several younger ones who had always wanted to go to high school. Ryder opted to not join Jared in his new pastime, and that was fine with Cassie. While at times he seemed normal, something was just beneath the surface with Ryder, and she didn’t trust him. Actually, more than the trust issue was that he scared the crap out of her when he had tried to eat her over a week ago. He did apologize for that, but Cassie still preferred to stay away from him.
Life went back to as normal as it could be, and Cassie and Whitney just had to wait. By Friday, they were exhausted from the school week, but more so from worrying. The clan and coven still didn’t have any explanations as to where the missing witches were, and Whitney’s brother and father weren’t the only missing skinwalkers either. Nate assured them that they were doing everything they could and Uncle John confirmed this, but Cassie still worried. How could people just disappear?
Cassie finished packing her backpack to head home for the weekend when she got the telltale sign that Jared was approaching. The hallway got quiet, and people moved way out of the way like his wendigo night humanness was contagious.
“Need a ride home?” he asked. It didn’t seem to bother or register to him how strange people acted while he was around.
“Nope. Whitney offered already since she’s staying with us still,” Cassie added, emphasizing still.
She didn’t blame the wendigo like many in town did, but she was worried what it meant, especially with the guys not telling her anything and staying on constant watch. Her life was easier when Jared and Nate got along, but it wasn’t a good sign.
Jared sighed. “I promise you, Cassie, the wendigo don’t have them. I’d know, and I would never keep that from you. We’re doing ju
st as much to find them as the skinwalkers are.”
Cassie looked up at him. That surprised her. It really wasn’t the wendigo’s problem. Everyone said that Whitney’s mother escaped with them initially, and confirmed Cassie’s support of Jared as innocent. The wendigo weren’t to blame. They had no idea where or when she disappeared. Jared didn’t need to help, but he was. No matter what people said about the wendigo, Jared wasn’t bad.
Once Jared stopped, people began to move and talk again around them. It was like everyone was waiting to see if he was going to attack someone and no one wanted to be his target. Students were really concerned since they didn’t understand what it took be turned from a skinwalker into a wendigo, but it was still silly to Cassie.
“What a traitor,” Jess hissed to a friend as she passed and glared at Cassie.
It didn’t take long for everyone in the school to find out that Cassie was mated to both Nate and Jared. It was bad enough when it was just Nate, and now with Jared, the girls in the school hated her even more.
“Any plans for the weekend?” Jared asked, casually leaning against the lockers next to Cassie as she zipped up her bag, completely ignoring the girls and their anger. Jared was good at everything; it just all melted off him.
“Besides writing that paper for English?”
Jared appeared surprised, like he had forgotten about it.
“Which you could write in your sleep,” Cassie added. “You seem to have all the answers up there in your head.” Cassie smiled as a thought came to her. “Do you think it would be considered cheating if I just happen to glance inside your head during the next test?”
Cassie was an average student in most of her classes, and with all the time spent not in school or studying lately, she was falling behind.
“I don’t believe that’s expressly against the rules.” Jared grinned back at her. “But I should probably tell you that by doing that you’ll learn nothing. Doing the work is what teaches you.”
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