by Vella Day
“Some. The flapping sides were quite loud.”
“I can only imagine. Even if we had been able to tape the sides, I doubt it would have held, given the wet conditions.”
“I totally understand. What are you guys planning for today?” She didn’t want them to put their vacation on hold for her.
“We will be fishing for our evening meal.”
“Really? I brought a pole, but to be honest, I’ve never used one before.”
“Will and I love to fish. Just watch for a bit, and I bet you’ll pick it up in no time.”
Once they arrived back at her site, they cut down the slope. Her tent was down, and Will was at the stream’s edge washing it. She and Lucas joined him. “You didn’t have to go to all that trouble,” she said.
Will looked back over his shoulder. “It’s no trouble. If we don’t clean it, we’ll never get the tape to stick to the side. Can the two of you grab a corner and lift it up?” he asked.
Together, the three of them removed it from the stream and shook it out, but in the process, her pants got soaked—again. Where was a Laundromat when a girl needed one?
As if the weather finally wanted to prove it wasn’t all bad, the clouds parted, and the sun peaked through.
“Hey, look at that, will ya?” Will said with a charming smile.
“About time.”
Because the two men seemed to know how to fold a tent, she stepped back, letting them handle the two-man job. While they carried the wet tent back to their campsite, she lugged the remaining food, stove, and her clothesline. Once there, they hung her tent on a her line to dry out.
“I appreciate you letting me crash your vacation,” she said.
“We’re happy to help,” Will said.
“Lucas said you two were going fishing today. Why don’t you pretend I’m not here and do your thing?”
“Acacia has a rod,” Lucas said.
Will’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Because I’ve never fished before?”
Will laughed. “Then how about grabbing that camp stool over there and watching us for a while. I’m sure you’ll pick up a few fly-fishing tips. I’d love the company. It gets a bit tiring listening to Lucas tell me how great he is all the time.”
Lucas gave him the middle finger. “You are such a liar.”
She did love the camaraderie between the men. It was easy to see why they’d stayed friends all these years.
She grabbed the chair and followed them. Maybe she’d even learn how to fish.
Will’s head was spinning. Every time he was near Acacia, his body went wild. Having her sit on the bank six feet from him had his teeth sharpening and his facial hair sprouting.
Will you cool it? Will spoke sternly to his bear who was clawing and urging him to be closer to her.
I will stand down when you tell her that you two are mates.
She’s not ready, Will shot back.
Acacia was an independent woman, and he appreciated that. Even though Lucas and he told her they owned their own company—which she probably would rightfully conclude meant they were wealthy—that fact didn’t seem to pique Acacia’s interest. Most women would do anything to get a date with them, because all they saw were Denlar signs. Will didn’t get the sense Acacia cared about money, though maybe he’d read her wrong.
Will cast his line into the fast running stream and slowly lifted his rod, hoping to snag something. When Lucas shouted a half hour later that he caught a fish, a streak of jealousy shot through him. Will wanted to be the one to impress Acacia with the catch of the day.
Lucas lifted up his fish and swung the pole over to the riverbank. He then unhooked the fish. “Want to hold it?” he asked Acacia.
“Goodness, no. Not when it’s all squirmy.”
They both laughed. Lucas dumped his fish in the bucket of water and put a different lure on his line. To Will’s surprise, Acacia seemed content to sit there and watch them fight with mother nature. She probably had many questions about how he flicked his wrist when casting, but she said nothing.
“Sure you don’t want to give it a try?” Will asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t have any wading boots.”
Lucas stepped out of the stream. “Wear mine. I’m just about to go back and start the fire.”
“Come on,” Will urged. He’d love to have his mate by his side doing what he loved.
She smiled. “Okay. You two have done so much for me, the least I can do is contribute to dinner.”
“Fantastic,” Will said.
Lucas stepped out of the stream and took off his boots. “Here ya go. Will is an excellent instructor.”
Will set down his pole and helped her into the boots. He then put one of his lures on the end of her line. “Normally, I’d suggest you practice casting on land to get the feel of it, but I see no harm in doing it here. Don’t worry if you snag a tree limb. It happens to the best of us.”
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Will wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Where is that camping spirit?”
She laughed. “I think it drowned in the bottom of my tent.”
He loved her sense of humor. When she was ready, he helped find a good spot for her to stand in the stream. “See that deep pool of water near the other bank?”
“Yes.”
“Aim for that hole. I bet there will be a lot of fish hiding in there.” He talked her through how to fly fish and the importance of whipping the line at the right moment.
“Okay,” she said, sounding more excited than she’d been all day.
Acacia’s technique of flicking the line was quite impressive. She kept her wrist straight and even moved the rod tip back and forth in a straight line. Clearly, she’d been studying them. For the next hour, she only got her line tangled with his once.
Just when he was about to suggest they call it a day, a fish tugged on her line.
“Whoa. I got something,” she shouted.
Will set his pole down. “Slowly pull him in.”
Acacia drew her rod back so fast that the fish flew out of the water. If Will had been watching her catch instead of her, the fishtail wouldn’t have slapped him in the face.
“Whoa,” he shouted as he grabbed her line.
Acacia’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”
He was embarrassed more than anything. “Don’t worry, I’ll live. Do you want the honors of taking him off the hook?”
She shook her head. “No way. I don’t want to drop it.”
Acacia was a delicious mass of contradictions. He removed the fish and dumped it into his bucket. “I think it’s time to clean and cook these big boys.”
Will helped her out of the stream. When she leaned on his shoulder while taking off Lucas’ boots, that one touch had his bear rejoicing.
“That was fun,” she said. “Thanks for insisting I give it a try.”
“My pleasure.”
They headed back to the kitchen area where Lucas had a roaring fire going. “What can I do to help?” Acacia asked. “I’ve never cleaned fish, but if you show me how, I can do it.”
“I’d be happy to show you,” Will said. “Afterward, maybe we can convince the master of lighting the fire to show you how to build one using wet wood.”
“I thought you were going to show me,” she said.
“I can do that.” Will located a frying pan, turned it over, and opened a pocketknife. “First, we have to cut off the head and tail.”
Acacia nodded. “Seems like a good place to start.”
“Then we slice it down the middle of its belly, open it up, and remove the spine like so.”
Acacia leaned over and watched his every move, which made him happy—happier than he’d been in a while. Lucas had been the one who was going through the relationship blues, but Will had been restless too. Meeting Acacia had elevated his spirits.
“You’ve done this a lot before, I
see,” she said.
He chuckled. “Yes. There are a lot of lakes around Edendale. It’s a very calming pastime. You should come with me the next time I go.” He held his breath, awaiting her response.
“I’d like that.” She nodded to the fish. “Are you going to pan fry it?”
“Nope. I’ll wrap each fish in aluminum foil and grill it over the fire.”
“Sounds awesome.” She stood. “I can’t wait to taste it.”
And he couldn’t wait to taste her—when the timing was right.
Chapter Six
Dinner had been amazing. Not only had it been fun to sit around the fire and exchange stories, the baked fish was cooked to perfection. Acacia couldn’t remember eating a better meal. Naturally, the three of them debated who had caught the bigger fish. By the end of the meal, they had Acacia laughing so hard with their stories that she almost wanted to thank the cub for tearing up her tent.
After finishing their meal, Will suggested they set up her tent before it turned too dark to see. With great care, they explained what a ground cloth was used for and how to elevate the edges with sticks so the water would run under the plastic instead of over it. While Lucas regaled her with the fine art of ground cloth laying, Will strung the rain fly over the tent.
Once Will finished, he picked up one of the metal rods that would be used to construct the tent. “Acacia, want to give me a hand?”
“Sure.”
He handed her one end. “Next time you plan to do this, you need to place the poles around the opening first.” She’d already told them how it had taken her many tries to get it right.
Despite her almost stabbing him with one of the poles, they managed to build her new home in no time.
Lucas disappeared and returned a moment later waving a roll of two-inch wide tape. “Not sure if the material is dry enough, but I’m going to try to patch that big hole.”
These men were the best. Once her tent was ready to go, Acacia said she was calling it a night. “Thanks again for helping me with everything.”
“Do you want me to pump you some clean water in case you get thirsty during the night?” Will asked.
“That would be great. It’s one more thing I should have investigated before camping.”
“No one figures everything out on the first try. Trust me.”
Acacia followed Will to the stream, in part to learn how this water-filtering pump worked and in part to talk with him.
He squatted in front of the stream, stuck one plastic tube in her bottle and dangled the other end in the water. He explained how the tube passed through some kind of charcoal filter before entering her bottle. He pumped the handle to draw the water from the stream.
“I know you two came here to get away from your work, but just so you know, you don’t need to babysit me. I’ll be okay if you want to go hiking again.”
“Nonsense, you being here is a good distraction for us.”
That gave her some relief. “Nice to know.”
Will removed the tubes and handed her the clean bottle of water. “Here you go.”
Could he get any nicer?
That’s because he’s your mate, came a voice out of nowhere.
Acacia stilled and looked around but saw no one. It didn’t sound like her sisters or her mother. Could it have been Fate? Acacia had never been contacted by her before. Holy crap!
“You coming, Acacia?” Will asked, sounding concerned that she hadn’t moved.
“Yes.”
Once back at camp, she grabbed her toiletries, found a secluded location far up the path to prepare for a long night. When she returned, she called out to them. “Goodnight!”
“Night,” they responded in unison.
Her next task would be to figure out if she and Will really were destined for each other like that voice claimed. Acacia hoped it hadn’t been a figment of her imagination because she wanted it to be true.
“You seemed preoccupied,” Lucas said as he stirred embers in the fire.
“I am. It’s Acacia,” Will whispered. “I know she’s my mate, but…”
“There’s no but about it. You better not be getting cold feet. You’ve talked about finding your mate forever. She’s gorgeous, funny, and charming. Why would you doubt it?”
He stabbed a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I’m so out of my element; I can’t think straight. I mean, when I’m near her, the animal inside of me threatens to show himself. Several times now, my teeth have sharpened, and the growth on my face would scare anyone.”
“How about telling her how you feel? If she is your mate, you have to break it to her at some point.”
Will shook his head. “You might be human, but you’ve grown up around my idiosyncrasies. You understand what it’s like when I shift uncontrollably—or at least you’ve been with me often enough when it has happened.”
“You sound as if Acacia won’t understand.”
“What if she doesn’t?”
Lucas tossed the stick he’d been holding into the fire. “What if she does? I’m not saying to tell her right now, but you need to make your move soon.”
“I know, but I don’t want to fuck it up.”
“From the way she looks at you, she’s waiting for you to take the initiative.”
Will slapped his thighs and stood. “You’re right. I’ll figure out something. Thanks.”
“Anytime, buddy.”
As Will walked past Acacia’s tent, he noticed her light was on. She’d told him she liked to read before bed. While he’d love nothing more than to pop his head in to check on her, it would be best to wait until tomorrow to see if they could connect on a deeper level.
Damn wind. Acacia really wanted to hear what Will and Lucas were talking about as they sat around the campfire. She swore she heard Will mention something about mates, and that excited her to no end.
Unfortunately, they didn’t stay at the campfire for long. Moving her, fishing all day, cooking, and then setting up her tent might have tired them out too.
She clicked off her headlight and set it near the entrance in case she had to get up and pee. If only she’d thought through these things while back home, she might have chosen another vacation option.
No, wait. Good thing she hadn’t. If she had, she wouldn’t have met Will. Okay, that was as close to proof as she needed to show her that he was the one for her.
Acacia closed her eyes and leaned back. While the sleeping bag wasn’t completely dry, without the wind whistling through the flap, it was a lot warmer than last night. As much as she wanted to relive the day’s events and figure out how to approach Will, her tired body finally gave into sleep.
Acacia had no idea how long she’d been dozing, but she’d convinced herself that the swishing sound was merely the rushing river water and nothing sinister. When that annoying sound stopped and started again, she woke up.
Her heart beat fast the moment she realized what was in the tent with her—a snake. Acacia bolted upright. She might be immortal, and as such couldn’t die from any kind of bite, but the pain would be highly unpleasant—assuming this snake was poisonous.
Her flashlight was at the end of the bed, but she was too afraid to reach for it. As slowly as she could, she pulled the sleeping bag up and over her shoulders to minimize its target. The dang thing was only two feet from her face!
Seconds passed. Okay, enough was enough. The promise not to use her magic didn’t take into consideration this terrible creature. The tape holding the flap had come undone, which was probably how the snake had gotten inside. Acacia had to do something. Choice one was to teleport out of there. But to where? It wasn’t as if she could go to Will’s tent. He’d really freak if she just appeared. Her second choice was to do a spell to make the snake leave, or better yet make it disappear. Too bad she couldn’t remember the last time she’d needed to do something like that. Magnolia was the one who would remind them which was the best spell. When Acacia and her three sisters were together, their
power was substantial. Individually? Not so much.
“Nice snakey. You don’t want to bite me. I won’t taste good.”
Great. Now she was reduced to talking to the little villain. Think!
Acacia then remembered a spell to make a person sluggish and fall asleep. That could help in this case. Keeping her eyes open should she need to move if the snake attacked, she hummed a bit to lull the snake to sleep as she mentally said her spell. When the snake slithered toward her, she tried another spell. And another. The longer she remained there, the more irritated it became.
Damn. Why was this happening? She was a goddess. One of the spells should have worked. Okay, enough was enough.
After waiting another few minutes for the snake to leave, she’d had enough. She unzipped her bag once more and retrieved her flashlight. After flicking it on, she shone it right into the snake’s eyes. If she’d been him, she would have left. But did it leave? No.
If it wouldn’t go, she would. Maybe he’d get the hint. Grabbing her jacket that was at the foot of her bag, she dragged it on and stepped outside onto the cold dirt.
“Time to go,” she whispered to the snake. “Come on.”
She counted to ten, shivering the whole time. Shit. Damned thing wouldn’t come out. As much as she didn’t want to bother Will, she needed his help. Carefully walking over to his tent, she called out to him. “Will? Are you awake?”
He cleared his throat. “Acacia?”
“Yes. Can you help me? I have some kind of snake in my tent.” She was pleased with her calm delivery.
Will unzipped his tent and looked out. “A snake? Did it bite you?”
“No. I can’t tell if it’s poisonous. Even if it’s not, I don’t think I could sleep with it in there with me.”
“Then I better find a home for it.”
“Thank you!”
Her wonderful knight stepped out of his tent wearing only a T-shirt and boxers. He might not be naked, but her imagination didn’t have to stretch far since he was sporting a serious sleep hard-on.
He rushed over to her tent without donning shoes or anything. She followed him. He peeked inside. Even though he had good shifter vision, she slipped him her light.