by C. D. Gorri
Amber rose and touched Noah’s arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, right?”
He nodded absently. “Yeah. I’ll be here.”
*.*.*.*
Noah parked his Chevy along the side of Grunch Road and killed the engine before sliding out of the truck and closing the door. Cade and James joined him near the ditch, and all three men stared up at the nearly full moon. A wispy patch of clouds stretched across it, the light giving it a silvery glow against the inky sky, and the summer air was warm and muggy against his skin.
James, the senior shifter and lead wolf on the demon-hunting team, jerked his head toward the trees, indicating they should follow him into the woods. Dead leaves and twigs crunched beneath Noah's boots as he paced behind the two shifters. The atmosphere felt thicker in this part of the swamp, almost as if he could slice it open and get lost inside.
“It's quiet,” Noah said. “Do y’all ever hunt out here?”
“Never,” James said. “This place has bad energy. Even Odette was worried about us coming out here.”
“I’m surprised she let you,” Cade said with a wink, which earned him an irritated glare.
“My mate communes with the spirit of death. When she has a concern, I listen to her.”
Cade chuckled, running a hand through his short blond hair as he turned to Noah. “Have I told you how glad I am to have you back? This old geezer would rather stay home than go out anymore.”
“Someday, when you find your fate-bound, you'll understand,” James said.
Noah faked a laugh. “At least I'll never have to worry about having a ball and chain that heavy.”
Cade clapped him on the shoulder. “Lucky you.”
Yeah, right. His friends had no idea how badly he wanted the ability to have a fate-bound. Especially after his last conversation with Amber. Luke had interrupted them before they could finish, but that was probably for the best. Noah could never be the werewolf she needed…that she deserved…but he had to admit learning she might have feelings for him sent a thrill rushing through his veins.
Hell, it was more than a thrill. Amber reached all the way to his soul.
They trudged deeper into the woods, until Cade lifted a hand and stopped. “This is where the Grunch supposedly lived. Are your Wonder Twin powers picking up on anything? Can you sense Nylah?”
Closing his eyes, Noah sucked in a deep breath and opened his senses. The energy around him pricked at his skin, palpable and thick. But aside from the foreboding pressure in the air and the low vibration giving the area its bad vibe, he felt nothing. Nylah wasn’t there.
He tugged a flashlight from his pocket and shined the beam into the clearing. “Y'all go do your thing. I'll have a look around here and see what I can find.”
“We’ll meet back in fifteen,” James said before calling on his magic and shifting into his wolf. Dark gray fur rolled down the length of his massive body, and as his front paws hit the ground, he took off running.
“See ya on the flip side.” Cade shifted and followed James, bounding deeper into the swamp and leaving Noah alone with the sickening thoughts that had plagued him since Luke mentioned the Thropynite.
From the moment Noah turned thirteen and his wolf gene failed to activate, Nylah had become obsessed with finding a way to unlock it for him. She felt guilty being the only shifting wolf when they should have shared the magic, and she’d gone to great lengths, trying numerous experiments to reverse the outcome of his delayed birth.
When the local witches couldn’t cast a spell to help him, she’d scoured the dark web, consulting with black magic practitioners to find a way to change Noah’s fate. But when fate dealt your hand, you had no choice but to play the cards you were given.
In her research, she’d come across the legend of the Thropynite. Supposedly, if a non-shifting were held a piece, the stone would activate their dormant gene, awakening the wolf inside them. She and Noah made a pact that they would do everything they could to find it.
In her absence—or maybe before she left—Nylah must have learned of its actual existence. That was what her cryptic texts were about. It was the only explanation.
Noah grunted, switching off his flashlight and returning it to his pocket. If she got her hands on a piece of Thropynite, that would certainly be the answer to his prayers. But there was no telling what kind of trouble she might have gotten herself into trying to obtain it. Black market dealings were shady at best, downright deadly at worst, and if she’d used her status as a spy for the national congress to obtain it, she could be looking at threats from both sides.
He’d never forgive himself if he was the reason Nylah was in danger. And if the Grunch really had awakened because the Thropynite was here, then he and Nylah were to blame for the recent murders. Holy hell.
He sent a text to the last number she’d messaged him from, but he got no reply, not that he expected one. Every text she sent had come from a different number. No doubt they were burner phones, which she discarded frequently to avoid being traced.
Footsteps sounded to his left, and Noah dragged out the flashlight again, shining it into the trees where Cade and James approached in human form.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Cade said. “Did you find anything?”
A crack in a thick trunk drew Noah’s attention to the right, and he strode toward the tree. “Check this out.”
The ground beneath the branches had been disturbed recently, the grass flattened to indicate something had been dragged a short distance. James ran his hand along the trunk, peeling away a piece of loose bark as he examined the damage.
“Some kind of fight happened here,” he said before he straightened and angled his nose upward to catch the breeze. “It could’ve been anything. Bobcats, boar…hell, even gators venture this far onto dry land sometimes.”
“Yeah, and I know Nylah,” Cade said. “She’d have put up a helluva fight if she were in trouble, so she either won this scuffle, or it wasn’t her.”
“You’re right.” Noah jerked his head toward his truck and trudged back to the road. Nylah was tough; she could take care of herself. He wouldn’t have been worried about her at all if not for Amber’s initial empathic premonition of trouble.
And a nagging feeling in the back of his mind said he was the reason for all of it.
Chapter Eight
Amber glanced at the clock and drummed her fingers on the bar. Where the hell was Noah? She’d convinced Kaci to come in early and cover her shift, and now the man had the nerve to stand her up after their conversation was cut short yesterday morning? So not cool.
Her feelings for Noah weren’t just bubbling to the surface; they’d reached a full-blown boil, and she’d be damned if she’d let a miscommunication come between them again.
She’d been thinking about it all day, rolling every scenario she could imagine around in her mind, and they all led to one conclusion. She needed to be up front with Noah. Just lay it all out, tell him how she felt, and demand…in a nice way…that he be honest about where they stood. What did she have to lose?
Her best friend, for one thing. But keeping her feelings for him bottled up was eroding her psyche from the inside out. It was best to rip off the duct tape and spill it all. If he didn’t feel the same and their friendship didn’t survive, then it wasn’t as rock-solid as she thought.
“Are you okay?” Her sister-in-law, Macey, rested a hand on top of hers, stilling her incessant drumming. “You’re lucky your nails are short, or you’d have dug holes in the bar by now.”
Amber bit her lip and fisted her hand. “Why don’t men say what’s on their minds? Why do they make assumptions and then shut down?”
Macey laughed. “I think they probably ask the same questions about women.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Noah?”
She looked at the clock again. “He should be here by now. I think I scared him off.”
“He doesn’t seem like the type to scare easily.” M
acey swiveled in her seat to face her, resting an elbow on the bar. “What happened?”
“We were talking yesterday morning before our meeting with Luke, and he—” Amber’s gaze snapped toward the door as Noah sauntered in. He wore jeans with a tight gray t-shirt, looking sexy as hell.
One corner of his mouth lifted into a crooked smile as he caught her gaze, and she willed her frantically beating heart to slow. All but one lock of his auburn hair fell perfectly into place, the errant strand curving down across his forehead, drawing her attention to his deep brown eyes. Damn. The lid was off the pot, and she was boiling over.
“Not scared after all.” Macey gave her a conspiratorial wink before sipping her beer.
As Noah made his way toward Amber, she slid off her stool and met him halfway across the floor. She needed to start this conversation as soon as possible, before she chickened out, and here in the bar, with a dozen second-borns and non-were mates as witnesses, was not the place to do it.
“Hey.” His smile widened as she approached.
“Let’s get out of here.” As she clutched his hand, his magical energy joined with hers, shimmying up her arm and hitting her heart with a jolt. She froze, her head spinning as the feeling of change for Noah that she’d felt this morning intensified.
His brow furrowed. “Everything okay?”
Something was about to change as soon as she confessed her feelings. Hopefully it would be for the better. She shook her head to chase away the dizzying sensation the premonition caused. “Yeah. We haven’t hung out in forever, so I thought we could grab a six-pack and head to the park.”
He hesitated, glancing at the bar before looking into her eyes. “Okay. My truck’s two blocks away. I’ll drive.”
They stopped by a convenience store to pick up some Blue Moon beer before heading toward City Park. She smiled as he stopped in the lot and slid out of the truck. She’d only said, “the park,” yet he’d known the exact place she meant. How many times had they come out here as teens, lounging beneath the massive oaks, drinking beer Amber had swiped from the storeroom when her mom and dad ran the bar?
Noah opened the door and grinned. “What?”
“I was thinking about the time Nylah bumped me with her shoulder. She didn’t know her own strength yet, and if you hadn’t used your power to catch me, I’d have fallen into the lake.” She stepped out of the truck and shut the door.
He shook his head. “Yeah, but I couldn’t control it, remember? I threw you back into the bramble. By the time we untangled you from the mess, you were seething.”
“I wasn’t that mad.”
He laughed. “Yes, you were.”
“Okay, I was.” But she got over it. She could never stay mad at Noah.
They made their way to an arched stone bridge and stood at the top, overlooking the stream below. Noah opened a beer and handed it to her before getting one for himself and clinking the can against hers.
“We’ve had some good times out here, haven’t we?” he asked.
“We have.” She turned around, resting her back against the railing. He stood next to her, still facing the water, close enough that she could smell his woodsy, masculine scent. Her stomach fluttered, and a slight nauseating sensation rolled through her core.
“Noah, I wanted to talk to you…” She looked at him, and he rubbed his chest, his face pinching with pain. “Are you okay?”
He rolled his shoulders, stretching his neck. “I’m fine. What did you want to talk about?”
“Us.”
He raised his brow. “What about us?”
“Yesterday, you said I’d relegated you to the friendzone.”
“Ah.” He turned around, matching her posture. “It’s okay. Really.”
“It’s not though. I don’t want you to be in the friendzone.” She held her breath, anticipating his response.
“Well.” He blew out a hard breath before taking a swig of beer. Then he opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but he clamped it shut again.
She’d officially ripped off the duct tape. She might as well keep the confession flowing. “My feelings for you have changed, Noah. I can’t be near you without my stomach fluttering; I think about you all the time when we’re apart. I’m falling for you…for my best friend. Is that crazy?”
He set his beer can on the railing and faced her. “Amber…”
The fluttering in her stomach rose to her chest, coming out as something between a sob and a laugh. She should have kept her mouth shut. It was months ago when he thought she shut him down. He’d probably gotten over it and moved on. It was stupid of her to think, after all these years, their feelings for each other would bloom at the same time.
She nodded and set her can next to his. “It’s okay. If you’re not falling for me too, just tell me. We’ll go back to being friends, and we can pretend like this conversation never happened.
He held her gaze, and a strange look formed in his eyes. “I’m not falling for you.”
Her breath caught, and she swallowed the lump that crept into her throat. “Okay.” That six-month deadline seemed a lot more ominous all of a sudden.
He tucked her hair behind her ear before resting his hand on her shoulder. “I fell a long time ago, and I never got back up.”
Her heart couldn’t decide if it wanted to stop or beat right out of her chest. Her best friend had fallen for her, and she for him. Pressure built in the back of her eyes, her throat thickening as another sob-laugh threatened to escape. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? You know what? It doesn’t matter.” She took his face in her hands and kissed him.
He froze for a moment, and she almost pulled away. But before she could chide herself for jumping the gun, he slid his arms around her waist and kissed her back. A low moan escaped his throat as he tugged her tighter against his body, and when he coaxed her lips apart with his tongue, she couldn’t help but lean into him and revel in the feel of his embrace.
That wasn’t so hard, was it? She glided her hands over his shoulders and down his back, memorizing the way his muscles felt beneath her palms. His body was warm and hard in all the right places, and the coarseness of the scruff on his face contrasted with the softness of his lips.
He slipped his hand beneath the back of her shirt, and though it was rough from work, his touch was a gentle caress. With a deep inhale, he gripped her hips, first pressing his pelvis into hers and then gently pushing her away. “We can’t do this.”
She touched her fingers to her swollen lips. The taste of him lingered on her tongue, and she wanted more. “Should we head back to the truck?”
“No, I…” He raked a hand through his hair before fisting his hands on the bridge railing and staring up at the full moon. “I mean we can’t do us.”
“Did I move too fast? I figured, since we know each other so well, we didn’t need to wait for our second date to kiss.” She let out a nervous laugh, trying to lighten the mood.
He gripped the edge of the railing so tight his knuckles turned white. “Don’t get me wrong. That kiss was amazing. You are amazing, but I can’t… You shouldn’t waste your time with me.”
“Who says I would be wasting my time?”
“I do. Everyone would if we started dating. You were right when you said I wasn’t interested in your alpha blood, but your alpha blood is the reason you shouldn’t be interested in me.”
“I don’t understand.” Well, really, she knew exactly what he was getting at, but she wanted to hear the words from him. Surely he didn’t believe what he was hinting.
“You should mate with a shifting wolf.”
Damn. He believed it. “Tell me why you think that.”
“You know why, Amber.”
She shook her head, lifting one shoulder in a dismissive shrug. “No, I don’t. Please explain to me why you think you…or anyone else…knows whom I should mate with better than me.” The words came out sharper than she’d intended, but she was done hiding her irritation about th
is subject. Noah, of all people, should have understood that.
“Your firstborn will be a shifting wolf who will hold rank in the pack. He should have at least one shifting parent.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you’re not wolf enough to make up for my inadequacies. Is that it? That I won’t be a good mother without a shifter telling me how to raise my kid? Do you hear yourself?”
“That’s…” He winced and rubbed his chest. “No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“What are you saying then? I’m listening.”
“You deserve a fate-bound. That’s something I can never be for you. I wish I could. I’d give my soul to be able to shift, but since my wolf is dormant, I… You deserve more.”
“The only person who feels this way is you. Even my mother asked about you the other day, dropping a not-so-subtle hint that you would make a good mate. So if there’s something else, you should say so because I’m not buying what you’re selling.”
“Don’t you want to experience that kind of unconditional love? Isn’t it worth waiting for?”
“I see. Now you’re saying you can’t love me unconditionally without magic sealing our fates. Plenty of people—werewolves included—find their happily ever afters without a fate-bound.”
“I know. You’re right…”
“And I’ll tell you something else since we’re on the subject of fate-bounds. I would never take a shifter as my mate unless his wolf claimed me, and guess what? I know every shifter in the pack, and not one of them has had even an inkling of a bond forming with me…not even the caveman my dad set me up with. I refuse to take away a shifter’s chance at finding his fate-bound. They’re all more interested in my status than my good looks and charming personality anyway.”
He grinned. “You’re awfully cute when you get on a roll like this. You always have been.”
She narrowed her eyes. “No one—not you, not Luke, and especially not my mom or dad—is going to tell me whom I should be with. I will mate with a werewolf before my thirtieth birthday because I have to, but that were does not have to be a shifter. It probably won’t be, but if you still think I’d be wasting my time by dating you, then say so now.”