by Cecy Robson
“Then we’ll be in danger together,” I say, reassuring her that she’s not in this mess alone.
“What’s wrong?” I ask when she stares blankly ahead.
“Mimi said my sisters will be in danger if I go back.”
I stiffen, recognizing how scared she must be. “That’s right.”
“Does this mean I can’t go back? Ever?”
“No,” I say. I’m not trying to make promises I can’t keep. Somehow, I’ll find a way to help her. “It just means we have to figure out another way.”
It’s like her heart breaks right in front of me. “And if we can’t?” she asks.
Then stay with me and be my family so I’ll never have to know a day without you.
“We will,” I promise.
I don’t tell her what I’m thinking. I can’t. Not when the thought of losing her hurts as much as it does.
Chapter Fifteen
The run over the mountain and back to my place is quicker than our initial run to Mimi’s. Then again, we didn’t worry about an attack from supernatural insectoids on our way there.
What a day. We’re tired and hungry. As weres, our supernatural bodies will eventually develop so we can fight for days without stopping. For now, our bodies are still growing and the need for rest is as important as our next meal.
Celia keeps up. I’m not sure how. Although she was spared from the scorpion venom, the exertion and the bumps and bruises she acquired must have done a number on her. I’m starting to learn that unable to heal or not, it’s going to take a lot to bring this little kitty down.
Gemini’s twin wolf runs alongside Celia, panting and looking up at her while leaping and avoiding the hazards of the mountain terrain, as if no obstacle matters as much as her. Totally love-struck, his tongue dangles from the side of his mouth and his tail wags as he runs. My wolf isn’t doing anything close to tail wagging. Mostly, he’s raring to take a bite out of Gemini.
Celia laughs when the goofball leaps up and butts her elbow. She pets his head. “Looking for a little attention there, buddy?” she asks.
My glare cuts to Gemini. “Yeah, a little lonely there, buddy?”
Gemini grins, his face reddening when Koda and Liam throw their heads back in laughter.
“What’s wrong, Aric?” Koda says. “A little jealous there, pal?”
“Naw,” Liam says. “Not our fearless Leader, Aric. He’d have to like Celia to feel threatened.” He cuts in front of me, running backwards and trying to throw my pace off. “Do you like, Celia, Aric? Do you think she’s pretty? Do you dream that one day you’ll make pups together—”
“Liam, look out.” He whips around. I trip him before he realizes nothing is there. He crashes to the ground, kicking up dirt.
And suddenly, all is right with the world.
Celia gasps. “You tripped him.”
“No.” I grin, lying through my teeth. “That was a total accident.”
“So is this,” Gemini says. His twin zips in front of me. I leap over him. I don’t quite plant my feet as the incline drops when Gemini tackles me to the ground. We topple down the mountain, both trying to get the upper hand.
We crash into a muddy creek with Gemini’s twin wolf circling and yipping. I drag and lift Gemini into a full Nelson, using his body as a shield to keep his twin from leaping on top of me. Koda is roaring with laughter. Liam reaches us then, lifting a pile of mud in his hand. I guess what he’s going to do and duck.
Liam nails Koda in his opened mouth with a good chunk of mud. “Oops,” Liam says, laughing. “Sorry.”
Koda is spitting and drooling mud. “What the fluk, Liam?” he growls, which only makes the rest of us laugh harder.
Koda crashes into Liam, their large bodies colliding into us as we continue to fight for the upper hand. We roll to a stop against a tree, freezing when we see Celia sitting quietly on a small boulder. She smiles when she sees us, but I notice how tired she seems and I’m not alone.
Gemini’s twin trots over to her, releasing a small whine. “She needs food,” Gemini says.
I’m already on my feet. “Yeah. Let’s get back.”
Koda has Liam in a choke hold, trying to feed Liam mud. Liam’s extra-long neck makes it hard for Koda to secure his grip and Liam is doing his best to bite him. Gemini jogs over to separate them. I immediately go to Celia.
“Hey,” I say. “Are you all right?”
She nods and offers a small smile. “I’m fine if I keep going, but if I stop . . .” She shrugs. “I’m just a little tired is all.”
I open my mouth, but she cuts me off by lifting her hand. “Before you ask, no, you may not carry me.”
“I wasn’t going to offer,” I say.
“Liar,” she says.
“Yup,” I agree, unable to stop my smirk.
We take off again, my friends yapping it up and apologizing for their actions. Me, I mostly keep quiet, watching Celia to make sure she’s okay. She starts off slow and at first, I worry that the brief rest did more harm than good. But like the trooper she is, Celia resumes her quick pace.
“Sorry about the fight back there,” I say when I see her color improve. “Weres roughhouse all the time. We’re no exception and I’m pretty sure we engage in it more than others.”
“It’s all right,” Celia says. “It’s been a stressful day and you boys look like you needed to release some energy.”
“I take it you and your sisters don’t wrestle in mud?”
Celia laughs. “No. Taran and I occasionally go at it—”
“Naked?” Liam asks, a little too enthusiastically.
I don’t know which is worse, what he asks or how my friends light up and wait for her to respond.
Celia rolls her eyes. “No, Liam.”
“Oh,” Liam says, clearly disappointed.
“My tigress, being who she is, always likes to be in control. She gets grumpy when I tether her, which, in turn, makes me grumpy,” Celia explains. “And Taran, well, a lot makes her grumpy. Sometimes we clash, even though I recognize it’s my tigress needling me and that I should be more patient. But as I mentioned, my tigress is hard to control.”
“What do you fight about?”
She smiles fondly. “Stupid stuff really. Clothes, personal space. We don’t have a lot of either and we all share the same bedroom.”
“Why?” Liam asks.
Liam’s question is fairly innocent. But Celia’s life is more complex than most. It takes her a moment to gather her words, saying only enough to answer him. “Our foster mother doesn’t have a lot of space in her house,” Celia admits. “But that’s okay. She loves us, and it shows in the way she cares for us.”
Liam is clueless most of the time, but he’s not dumb. The way Celia’s voice fades and that sadness she keeps tucked away returns. She’s done talking about her family.
Our original plan was to eat at my place, but as we reach the rear entrance to our property, I sense no one plans to stay.
“I need to make sure everyone is okay,” Koda says. He backs away, waiting for the others to join him.
Liam kicks at the soil, bringing a small piece of moss into the air that he quickly catches. “I say after you check on the fam, you come and stay with me.” He throws the piece of moss at Koda. It bounces off his chest. “Dad may need help fixing my neck, since Mom won’t be able to hold me down.”
Gratitude finds its way into Koda’s voice. “All right. I’ll be there.”
“That was some fight today,” Gemini says.
Koda grins. “Yeah. We owned it.”
Gemini glances down, his cheeks flushing. “We all did well, but I was talking to Celia.”
Koda nods, speaking to Celia. “I saw you flip and land a few times. It was—”
“Hot?” Liam offers.
Koda’s hard gaze bounces to me. “I was going to say graceful,” he mutters through his teeth.
“Oh. That, too,”
Liam agrees.
“My muscles are too heavy to do anything close to that,” Koda continues. “You don’t have that problem, Celia, even with all of your strength.”
“You do have an impressive beast,” Liam adds.
“Thank you,” Celia says, looking intently at the ground.
She’s not taken by the compliments or the attention my friends give her. They make her uncomfortable. It’s one of the reasons I like her. She doesn’t seek approval or demand everyone look at her, even though everyone does.
“We better head in,” I say.
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and lead her forward. It’s a natural response, but her tensing muscles make me think I shouldn’t touch her. Not now. I turn around as the gate swings closed with a long-winded creak and drop my hand.
Gemini and Koda exchange glances. I’m not sure if they’re upset that I touched her or that I let my arm fall away. And then there’s Liam, giving me a double thumbs up. At least Liam thinks I’m doing something right, unlike the rest of us.
“By the way, cool underwear, Celia,” Liam tells her.
“Excuse me?” she asks.
Liam beams. “Your underwear,” he repeats. “I saw it when you flipped, kicked, and did that split. A little distracting, but awesome all the same.”
“What?” he asks, when the wolves and I glare at him. “I like Wonder Woman.”
“Goodnight, Liam,” I say.
The sun had started its descent about a mile or two away. Like us, it seemed ready to end the day. On the mountain where I live, the best place to catch the sunset is on the terrace. As we walk up, bits of red and orange poke through the long branches, giving us a glimpse of what’s to come.
I want to urge Celia forward so we can watch the final traces of light fade into the coming night. But her steps are slow, and her heart is heavy. I think I should make her laugh. Except, I’m a guy and not a very mature one.
I give Celia what I think is a playful nudge. With my wolf on edge following the fight, that show of affection is a lot harder than I intend. Celia falls on her side. The look on her face is comical, but neither of us is laughing.
“Did you just push me?”
“Ah. No?” I offer.
She kicks her legs in an arc and flips up into a standing position.
“Wow,” I say.
She crosses her arms. “Is that all you have to say?”
I’m not wowed by her ability. What I am is blown away by her.
Celia is in a dress—a dress whose skirt raised up to give me another look at her lean legs—made strong by a beast she can barely control, who spent the day fighting alongside me and for us—and she just flips up—after I push her—and doesn’t even go for my throat. Another female would be gnawing on my esophagus right about now.
“Aric?” she presses.
“Sorry?” I offer.
“For pushing me? For knocking me to the ground? Or for embarrassing me? You kind of did all three there, wolf.”
Like an idiot, I smile. Seriously, that’s all I’ve got.
Celia stares at me, her parting lips reflecting her shock. “You really aren’t good with girls, are you?”
“Nope.”
She places her hands on her hips. “I see.”
She barely gets the last syllable out when she drops to the ground and sweeps her leg under mine. I don’t just fall. My legs kick out and up, turning my normally smooth movements clumsy and dropping me like a newborn fawn.
Celia laughs. I almost do, too. I catch myself, pretending to be hurt.
“Ow,” I moan, tightly clutching my ribs.
Celia hurries to my side. “I hurt you?”
I scrunch my face. “My beast is tired from battle and from everything he had to do to repair my crippled body.”
I’m exaggerating the truth. Sure, I had some damage, but I was nowhere near crippled. I slowly relax my face, enough to be able to see Celia and to keep up my appearance of pain.
Her long hair falls to flutter against my shoulder and worry puckers her brow. Her eyes, man, I can look at those beauties forever.
“Aric,” she says, her voice a gentle purr that strokes my skin in a lazy caress. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea weres could be injured like this from just a fall.” She lifts my hand, clutching it between her breasts.
The warmth spreads between us and my eyes open and good gawd, why didn’t I try this sooner?
Her gorgeous face consumes me. I’m barely able to form a single thought beyond kissing her. But then she bites down on her plump bottom lip and I know I’m done for.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she stammers. I don’t think she’s embarrassed. I think she’s speechless, like I am.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, either,” I rasp. I motion behind her. “That push was supposed to be a love tap.”
“A love tap?”
I groan. Way to ruin a moment.
“I meant tap. Just tap—a nudge.” I groan, frustrated. “I was trying to be affectionate.”
The corners of her mouth lift and she shakes her head like I’m the most pathetic male in the world, maybe because right now, I am. Around her, I’m clumsy and can barely string more than a few words together.
And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“There are other ways to show affection,” she says, her sweet words stalling my heart.
She’s close enough for me to lift up and kiss her. I think it’s what she wants. I lick my lips, tilt my head to the side and . . . completely lose my nerve.
Instead, I playfully swipe mud on the tip of her nose. “You mean like this?”
She crinkles her nose in the cutest way possible and wipes her nose clean. “Or like this.”
I’m too taken with Celia to see her hand coming at me. I make a face when she smears mud across my right cheek. “Aw, man,” I say, laughing. “I’m going to get you for that one.”
She’s already on her feet, backing away. “You’re going to have to catch me first, wolf.”
Celia takes off with me in close pursuit. She’s not as fast as she was earlier, the strain of battle slowing her down. But she’s still faster than me. Thing is, I’m determined to catch this little feline and sometimes that’s all the incentive a wolf needs.
She sprints up the incline toward the house, running between the trees instead of taking the path. I should be telling her to slow down and to take it easy, or at least remind her that it’s been a rough day and we need to rest and replenish our calories.
Instead, I run faster, encouraging her to quicken her speed. She thinks she knows where she’s going, but she doesn’t know this land like I do.
I cut right and then left at the barn, snagging Celia by the waist and spinning her. Her arms wrap around my neck and the world as I know it slows.
“No fair,” she says, pretending to pout.
Her hair flows behind her and the bits of sunlight that remain cast a shimmer across her eyes. I smile. “Totally fair,” I say.
I stop spinning and lift Celia into my arms. She kicks her feet as I walk to the back of the house and hop up the steps leading to the terrace. Given how strong she is, she could easily break free. I’m only holding her enough that she doesn’t fall.
I carefully set her down when we reach the top. She smiles up at me, taking my hand and allowing me to lead her to the edge. I get my wish and watch the sunset with Celia wrapped in my arms.
The last streaks of red and orange vanish into the mountains, the sky proclaiming the day is done. Darkness encases us and the first few stars blink before we speak again. I should have taken her inside long before this, offered her a hot meal to beat back the cold the night brings, and water to settle the thirst making my voice sound raw. But these moments with Celia mean everything to me, and for the time being, the only peace I can offer.
My attention falls to our carefully clasped hands. It doesn’t matter that we come from differ
ent worlds. We fit as easily as the moon among the stars.
“There’s a dance at the end of the month to celebrate the Harvest Moon.” I pause. “It’s kind of a big deal around here. I think humans would refer to it as prom. We dress up and celebrate in the big hall.” I look at her then. “Will you go with me?”
There are skinwalkers prowling our borders and natural disasters awoken by dark powers. We fought off a supernatural spell that sent scorpions to sprout from the ground like cabbage.
Bottom line. I’m a young male, holding a pretty girl close enough to kiss. Evil be damned. All I can think about is kissing Celia and taking her to prom.
Her lips part the way they do when she’s surprised. “I don’t know if I’ll still be here,” she says.
Yeah. About that . . .
My thumb passes between the grooves in her knuckles, the motion littered with all the grief I feel when I think about her leaving me. “I get it,” I say. “But if you are, will you go with me? We can figure out shoes and a dress for you later and—”
“I would love to,” she says, cutting me off with just a whisper.
The day my grandfather passed away was a moment I’ll never forget. He died clutching my grandmother, who had died mere seconds before him. He didn’t want to be without his mate, a gentle were who often told me she never knew happiness until she met Grandad. That memory is seared in my mind forever. It showed me what it is to love and how some just need each other to breathe, to smile, to live.
This moment with Celia is like that memory and one I pray I’ll never forget.
I release her hand and draw her to me, my arms around her as the moon bathes us in its glow and the last of the birds fly home.
Chapter Sixteen
Last night was the best night of my life. Yeah, yeah, I get we almost died that afternoon. Still. It was amazing. My parents had come home while we were at Mimi’s. Dad started up our generator enough so the power on the first floor would work and Mom could restock the fridge. Dad left another note, saying they’d be back by the end of week. He also asked about Celia.
No. He didn’t know who she was or probably what she was. I passed by your room, he wrote. New friend?