Hidden Heart (Dark Wing Series Book 1)

by Ellie Pond

  Spencer grunted at his cousin, and they all moved forward again. The gangway opened into the grand lobby.

  “Wow, just wow.” They crossed the lobby towards the giant chandelier. Aurora glanced from Spencer to Tad—both of them appeared as in awe as her.

  “You okay?” Tad bumped Spencer’s shoulder.

  He nodded.

  Aurora’s large bag cut into her shoulder. It wasn’t the first time today that she wished she had packed less. But since they were driving to the port, she figured she could bring whatever she wanted. And Tad’s mother Lara told Aurora stories of her cruises. She convinced Aurora that more was more. With a glance around the ship, it might have been that Mrs. Larsen wanted to shop with Aurora. She loved to shop, and, with three sons and three nephews, she didn’t have anyone to go with. Still, she had a great new wardrobe—not that she would be wearing it in the construction trailer while she did the accounts.

  The rest of the guests in the lobby didn’t get Mrs. Larsen’s memo, as families and couples milled around in shorts and tank tops. She readjusted the strap to the large bag that held her swimsuit and clothes for the day. Their suitcases would come to the room around dinner time.

  “Let me take that,” Spencer said.

  Aurora handed the overstuffed bag to Spencer. As he put it to his shoulder, the white plastic zipper tore apart. Her sundress and a neon pink flip-flop fell to the ground. Aurora stopped short to pick up the items from the ground, and Tad smacked into her. Her bag sailed and then skidded along the floor, dribbling contents on the way.

  “Aurora, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see that you had stopped.” Spencer’s cousin Tad plucked her things off the floor and shoved them into his backpack. Spencer let out a growl at Tad. “Oh, turn your alpha shit off. I am helping her out. You don’t have an extra bag, and that bag is overstuffed.” Tad stared at his cousin. While Spencer was the pack alpha, eight-years-older Tad pushed back often.

  A smile spread over Spencer’s face. “Thanks, cousin.”

  Dirt circles coated her pants, but she wasn’t bleeding. She peeped up at her best friend. If this pact happened, she would be the Alpha’s mate. An Alpha in her own right, running the pack at Spencer’s side. She would bring stability to his—their—pack.

  “Are you okay?” Spencer held out his hand for Aurora to grab. His calloused fingers encompassed hers, and he brought her to her feet in an upward gush, towards him but not touching.

  “Oh, so romantic,” a girl next to them squealed.

  It must have looked like that. But no, that’s not what was going on. When she was in middle school, she thought of Spencer as handsome. She had eyes. All the Larsen boys were so attractive that it hurt to stare at them directly. Even their cousin Tad Larsen was hot in his over-cerebral way, with his brown sweater and tousled hair. This wasn’t just another vacation. Spencer’s birthday loomed over her; the conversation about the pact lay in wait for her. Aurora’s heart thundered in her ear as she pushed away from Spencer. The girls next to her giggled. Aurora scrunched up her face at Tad. He shrugged his shoulders.

  “He winked at them.” Tad pointed his finger at Spencer.

  Aurora punched Spencer in the arm.

  “Oh, you’re a strong little cub.” And he winked at her too.

  “You are the worst.” But a sense of relief flooded her; there was the humor that made them friends for so long.

  Aurora plowed into the center of the lobby that soared upward. Three levels of balconies overlooked the lobby with brass railings. And in the middle of the lobby, the famous magical chandelier glimmered. Tad headed towards a white-uniformed woman underneath the chandelier and they followed. Tad’s charm turned up as he approached. The woman met his gaze straight on, not affected at all by his dazzling blue eyes or his light brown hair that flopped in front of his face. He held out his hand.

  “Theodore Larsen, but call me Tad. This is Aurora Berry. She’s here for the gaming competition.”

  “Rebecca Vane, cruise director. We are so excited to have all of you gamers here on board. I was helping the crew set up earlier in the ballroom. It looks like you will have a lot of fun. Are you all here for the competition, too?”

  Tad shook his head.

  “Me?” Spencer pointed to himself. “I’ve never once won any game I played against her.”

  Aurora glanced behind Spencer—a woman with long blonde hair and a tall human next to her were staring at Spencer. She was used to it.

  Aurora gave Rebecca a firm handshake. Rebecca’s thick chestnut bangs hung to her eyes.

  “Just me.” A smile bloomed across her face. While the dread of the pact sat on her, the excitement of the competition almost made her forget.

  “We wouldn’t even try with you in the competition. We’d just lose. Remember the last time you played Duncan?” Spencer smiled and offered his hand to Rebecca, who shook it firmly. “Spencer Larsen.”

  “I am sure you and your brother will find plenty to do. We have a shifting deck, a ring, and lots of different excursions, Mr. Larsen.”

  “Cousin,” Tad said. “I, for one, am looking forward to some time on the deck with a good book.”

  “Ah, well, we have an extensive library if you run out of thrillers to read.”

  Both Spencer and Aurora laughed and eyed Tad. “Fiction. Do you even know what that is?”

  “Cousin Tad here isn’t your typical shifter, Ms. Vane. What are you reading?” Spencer snatched Tad’s bag. Tad didn’t even bother to stop his alpha. He might have been older than him, but he had learned a long time ago that Spencer respected the line between embarrassment and humor. Spencer pulled a tome out of the bag. “Migration Habits of Madagascar.”

  “Impressive, Mr. Larsen. We have several tours of the wildlife of the islands we stop at.”

  “That sounds like something I will enjoy.” Tad had muttered about being the chaperone for the cruise more than once on the drive down to Florida.

  Aurora glanced between the two men. She wondered if Tad’s mother had put him up to coming on the trip. Mrs. Larsen, Lara, had become more of a mother to her nephews since her sister moved to Arizona. When Spencer’s parents died in a car crash not long after they moved, Aunt Larsen became the glue of the pack.

  Rebecca looked at her tablet. “I see that Duncan and Gunnar haven’t checked in, yet.”

  “They’ll be here.” Spencer stuffed the book back into Tad’s bag and returned it to him.

  “Well, the ship leaves promptly at four.”

  Aurora looked at her watch. Two thirty. “I hope they make it.”

  “Me too. There won’t be anyone to abuse if Gunnar doesn’t show up.” Spencer patted Tad on the back.

  “If there is anything I can assist you with, don’t hesitate to contact me. If you want to sign up for a match, make sure you do that today as slots go quickly. Oliver Sutton will be on the Panther deck at five, after the sail away party on the main pool deck.” Rebecca nodded goodbye and approached another group of guests nearby, also under the amazing chandelier.

  “How do you think they get the crystal dragons to fly through the chandelier?” Aurora looked over at Tad. “I don’t see any wires.”

  “Maybe magnetics?” Tad stared straight up at the chandelier with Aurora.

  “They’re little dragon babies.” Spencer linked arms with Aurora.

  “They aren’t dragon babies.” Aurora craned her neck up at the artwork. There were no wires visible around the crystals. Aurora squinted at the chandelier. Parts of it glowed a faint orange, while other sections radiated a cool fuchsia tone. That might be odd to some, but Aurora saw odd colors in things often enough that she didn’t mention it to the guys. They never saw what she saw—no one did. She stopped mentioning it a long time ago. Aurora grabbed Tad’s shoulder.

  Tad shook his head.

  “Babies, Tad, little enslaved babies.” Spencer looped his arm over Aurora’s shoulder.

  Tad’s eyes widened. She shook her head and laughed. Brilliant Tad
had a few flaws of his own. But behind her back, Tad smiled too.

  “But I don’t know how they could move around like that. I can’t see any wires, can you?”

  Tad studied it. “It’s remarkable. I’ll give you that. Let’s get a drink before we head to the room.” Tad swung his pack onto his back.

  “I thought you wanted to sit and read.” Aurora studied the chandelier again before turning towards the corridor that led to their rooms.

  “I do, but nothing said I couldn’t do that with a Belgium beer.”

  “Why not? That’s what vacation is for.”

  Spencer was right, but the excitement of the competition gave way to anxiety of the impending pact. The stupid pact.

  Spencer chuckled and led them up to the deck where they found things already in full swing. Bathing-suit-wearing guests carrying small bags explored the ship, like they were doing. It wasn’t hard to tell the humans from the shifters.

  “This is why we came.” Spencer was looking around at the other shifters and back at Aurora.

  “Yes, this is exactly why we came.” But Tad was looking at the girls around the pool deck bar.

  Aurora laughed at both of them. “I would have been fine without you. But I do appreciate you coming. All of you. I know it will be fun.”

  It had taken a lot of convincing to go on the cruise. But it was Mrs. Larsen that had given her the application for the competition. Winning the Western Pennsylvania contest hadn’t been hard, but the Pennsylvania contest had been rough. For a moment, it appeared a second place trophy and not the grand prize of the cruise would be hers.

  Spencer made room for her to get close to the bar and stood behind her. “What’s your poison today? Margarita?”

  Aurora looked over her shoulder with a face. “Nope, I don’t drink tequila anymore.” Her college graduation party had ruined tequila for her.

  Tad pushed his way to Aurora’s side. “Rum and Coke and two beers to go. Please.” He put his room’s ID bracelet out. “Don’t know if I like this bracelet thing. It feels like a collar. Never been fond of things trapping me in.”

  She played with her orange band.

  “You’re not domesticable, Tad, don’t worry about it.” Spencer took a beer and pushed away from the bar. “There’s a seat next to the railing.”

  Aurora and Tad followed Spencer to the railing. Spencer pulled his phone out of his pocket.

  “Auntie, is everything okay?”

  Aurora got closer to Spencer. While Spencer ran the construction company the two of them worked for, Mrs. Larsen handled daily operations. Aurora couldn’t hear anything from the other end of the phone, but Tad could. Spencer nodded throughout the call. Aurora turned to Tad. He gestured okay to her and took a sip of his beer before turning his attention to the dock below. Forklifts and Gator trucks drove the length of the pier, bringing boxes and luggage onto the ship.

  Spencer put his phone in his pocket. “She called because of the South Side project, but really she wanted to know if Gunnar and Duncan were on board yet.”

  “I noticed you said nothing about them.”

  “No need to worry her. Let’s go down to the cabin. They should be here soon.” Spencer drank the last of his beer before heading to the stairs.

  Aurora pulled out her phone and texted Duncan. Where are you guys?

  3

  Room Service

  Down the hall and up three flights, they found their rooms. Spencer opened his and Tad’s door. Aurora opened hers. Breathtaking. On the large bed sat a towel folded into giant cloth wolf origami. The king-sized headboard of the bed had wolves and paw prints carved into it. Golden curtains hung at the balcony’s door.

  Aurora tossed her broken bag on the bed and slid the door open. Their balcony faced the harbor. Little ships zipped all around larger cruise ships. To the right she could almost see the ocean. Part of her wanted to sit down on the balcony and relax into a giant blob. She sighed. Spencer turned thirty-two this week. At thirteen, thirty-two had seemed so far away. She thought he would have found his mate by now. Briefly in junior high-school, she had hoped he wouldn’t. But not anymore. He deserved someone who loved him as more than a friend. He was perfect. Handsome, kind, funny, and too perfect. Her last date happened six months ago and ended before dessert. Anytime she had a date, Spencer would find something wrong with him. Or if he didn’t, Duncan would say something so offhand, but it always made her question. He was right about her last boyfriend. Duncan had mentioned how Gary didn’t know that she was allergic to shellfish after two months. Or that she liked daisies over roses. And then Duncan walked away. It was always Spencer and her doing things together, but Duncan and Gunnar were never far behind.

  She sat on the bed. How long had it been since they talked about the pact? Maybe two years. And here they were, his birthday. She should march into the adjoining room, bounce on his bed, and say let’s get this over with. The idea didn’t appeal to her at all. She sighed.

  A loud knock on her door made her jump, and she laughed. In two leaps she reached the adjoining door and popped the lock and the door burst open. Gunnar pushed past her and bounced on her bed.

  “Hey Princess, I like your room better. It doesn’t smell like wolf piss already.” Gunnar rolled around on her bed, stopping before pushing the towel wolf onto the floor.

  “Would you stop scenting up her bed?” Spencer pushed past Duncan, who was leaning up against the door frame. The worn baseball cap he always wore was turned backwards on his head. Duncan’s eyes flashed at her before he nodded hello and ducked back into his room.

  Gunnar rolled back again and off the other side, letting himself hit the floor, before he popped up, jumping two feet in the air. He raced over to Aurora and grabbed her hand. “Have you seen our room?”

  “No, we just got here.” Gunnar pulled her into the guys’ room. The room had two beds and a large chair that pulled out into a bed. Spencer sat on the bed closest to the balcony while Tad plopped into the chair and had his book open before he was even sitting. Both of the queen beds had large wooden headboards with howling wolves on them. Aurora was walking over towards the guys’ balcony when her feet left the ground and she sailed across the room onto the empty bed.

  “What the hell, Gunnar?” she said as she bounced onto the empty bed, laughing. Gunnar was always like this: fun, unexpected. And they enjoyed being annoying to each other. It was how he showed he cared. She gave it right back to him, often. Aurora would tell him he stank like a wild dog when in reality she couldn’t scent a thing.

  “It’s only fair, I stank up your bed. You can stink up mine and Duncan’s.” He threw the cover over her side and knocked his wolf towel onto the floor. And then he picked up a pillow and rubbed it on her head.

  “Stop,” came Spencer’s muffled voice through the blankets.

  Aurora thrashed through the mound of blankets and pillows, giggling for breath. Every time she found her way to the top, more piled on top of her.

  “I said, stop. How do you expect me to sleep there now?” It wasn’t Spencer, but Duncan. Aurora stopped laughing. She pushed the last of the pillows off herself. Everyone was staring at Duncan in the entryway from the bathroom.

  “Sorry, Duncan. I didn’t realize I stank so bad.” Aurora wrangled through the blankets and got off the bed.

  Duncan said nothing but his stare told her everything. He didn’t want her anywhere near him. All right then, she would steer clear. He had been giving her this message for months. They had always been friends—after all, they were the ones who were in the same grade at school. That was the whole reason she and Spencer were friends. He walked out of the room.

  “What a stick in the mud. But now that I know that pisses him off, I will have to bottle you and torment him with it. You’re my secret weapon, Princess.” Gunnar picked her up again and tossed her on the bed. But this time, she didn’t laugh.

  “That’s enough, Gunnar.” Spencer held up his hand for her to take. “You okay?”

&n
bsp; “No problem. He seems to be in a funk.” Aurora smoothed down her hair. She straightened her shirt on top of her skinny jeans.

  “He’s had PMS for months.” Tad looked up from his book. “Get your suit on; let’s hit the pool deck. I want to read in the sun. Plus, I’m out of beer until our luggage gets here.”

  “You packed beer?” Spencer had grabbed his bag and was heading for the bathroom.

  “Didn’t you? I am not paying $9 a bottle for a beer when I can drink IC light for $2 a can. That’s just stupid.”

  “You’re weird.” Gunnar threw a pillow at Tad. He caught it and threw it back.

  “Get changed, Aurora.” Tad pointed a finger at the adjoining door.

  “Yes, sir.” She saluted. They all liked to tease Tad for being older than they were.

  * * *

  Aurora closed the connecting door. A knock came right after she closed it.

  “Don’t go up to the deck without us,” Spencer said through the door.

  “Okay.” Aurora dumped her open bag onto the bed. She searched though the small pile. No bikini top. She knocked on the door.

  “Who is it?” Gunnar said in falsetto.

  “Open the door, Gunnar,” Tad said. Then there was a loud thud and Tad opened the door and held her bathing suit top out to her. Gunnar sat on the floor next to the door.

  “Thanks.”

  Gunnar rubbed his shoulder before he stood up. His suit was already on. “Almost ready, Princess?”

  “Is she almost ready? Gunnar meet Aurora; Aurora, this is Gunnar. No, she’s not ready. It will take her another half hour.” Tad sat back in the chair.

  “Right, I’ll see you up there.” Gunnar pushed past Aurora and out to the hall through her room.

  Aurora closed the adjoining door, her bikini top in hand. One-piece suits never fit her. They would cut into her shoulders because of her height or sag at her bust. Aurora stripped off her pants.

  Who cared what Duncan had to say? She should march back into their room with her bathing suit and rub herself all over him and his bed. Gulp. The thought of doing that made her excited in all the wrong ways. He was Spencer’s brother, and Spencer would mention his birthday pact with her. She was sure of it. He had told her to pack a special dress for his birthday dinner. Once they mated, he wouldn’t have his fated mate. His wolf would accept her and, once they were together, that would be it. He wouldn’t even know his fated mate if they ran into each other. Mates were for life, fated or not. They would be good together; he cared for her. They talked all the time. And she loved him—she loved him like the brother she considered him. But she could change that. His dark hair and intriguing mismatched eyes, not to mention his giant muscles, made other girls drool. And he was tall—something she always liked—but not as tall as Duncan. His shoulders were broad, but not as broad as Duncan’s. But that was only because Spencer did most of the designs for the jobs for their family construction business. Duncan ran the crews. He worked beside the other men on the construction site. And as he worked with the crews, she might have watched him from the office trailer, a little. Anytime she got up to run to her car for something, or just to take a walk, he was there. He would ask if she needed something and then disappear.