by Ellie Pond
A year out of high school, Gunnar was going to the prom already with a group of girls. She didn’t want to know the details, but remembered every bit of that night.
Duncan’s hazel eyes hit her. “You’ll go with me.”
“I’ll take you.” Spencer said. She felt the energy in the room alter.
“You didn’t want to go to your own prom. You don’t need to take me; you’re focused on the alpha ceremony.”
“You’re my best friend and you want to go. I’ll go.”
“I am right here. I said I’ll take Aurora, Spencer.” Duncan stood from the reclining chair his dad normally sat in.
“Are you sure you’re up to it, Duncan?” Their mother hovered over Duncan, who had visited the hospital again for odd bruises on his arm.
“I said I will take her.”
Aurora looked up at him, so serious. “Duncan, you don’t have to. I can go by myself. Plenty of girls do, or in groups. It’s fine.”
“But you don’t have to go by yourself.” Spencer sat on the edge of the brown plaid sofa.
“You don’t.” Duncan took a step forward, cutting off Spencer’s line of sight of Aurora.
“You could all go as a group. That would be nice and then someone could keep an eye on him.” Their mother pointed to Gunnar, who was eating an apple over the sink.
“Me? What did I do now?”
“You’re taking five girls to prom.”
“I am going with five girls to prom; it’s not like I have five dates.”
The room all let out sarcastic ‘alrights’.
They had a great time. Mostly abusing Gunnar. But when the final slow song of the night played, she couldn’t believe that they stayed until the end. Duncan took her hand and led her to the dance floor. But this time, their bodies touched lightly. She lay her head on his shoulder, and his face sank into her hair piled on her head. His hand moved to her bare shoulder, and goose bumps rose on her arms. He pulled his head back to look at her. Duncan’s dilated eyes glowed with his wolf. He stepped out of her hold. Spencer stood next to them, with a stern expression that reminded her of the alpha he was going to become.
Even in that final awkward moment, she loved the memory of hanging with both of them: Duncan, not sick for a change, and Spencer, relaxed enough that he was able to forget the impending ceremony. The next day, she found out that Dave’s car had broken down on the way to get Jenny, and Jenny didn’t wait for him but got a ride with a lacrosse player who she eventually married. Aurora had felt guilty when she heard because it was like déjà vu. She had dreamed the same thing the week before when she was mad at him for canceling on her.
Her head jerked up. She knew Duncan had said something, but she didn’t have any idea what.
7
Little Brother
“Looking for someone?” He momentarily held her gaze. The wind changed directions, and fine hairs tore out of her ponytail and encircled her head. He saw her deep in thought and craved knowing what she was thinking about.
“What, no? What were you saying?” Aurora fluttered.
“I said that my flight was fine. That you need to try it again. You could visit your parents more often.” The hateful wind blew her scent all over him. He couldn’t stop himself from taking a deep breath. Her almond scent sank into him, and his body flared to attention.
“Me, yeah. No thanks. I am fine driving. It only took a day, and the three of us had a fun drive.”
A fun drive? He didn’t believe it.
“How many times did Tad win the alphabet game?” Duncan took a large handful of bar mix from the counter and tossed the fistful back. He should have driven with them, anyway. But Spencer wanted him to stay and do the rest of the finish carpentry on the Billings Park information center while Gunnar knocked off the rest of the items on the punch list. Gunnar was great at big picture items, while Duncan thrived on details of trim-work and cabinetry.
The five of them in the truck would’ve been too much, anyway. Especially with Gunnar. Asleep and bouncing off the sides of the truck were Gunnar’s two moods on a car trip.
“Who says we played car games?” Aurora twisted her fraying pony tail.
Duncan smirked. “I’ve been on a car trip with you, Rory. I know you and your car games. I also know my cousin, and there is no way he would let anyone else win a game.” Plus, she twisted her hair when he asked her about it, a definite tell for her.
“Four, but I won three and Spencer drove, so he wasn’t playing, really.”
“He’s a loser.”
“What?” Aurora’s nose scrunched up.
This was the first time he had ever said a bad thing about his brother to her. He should have started a long time ago. It freed him. It also irked him, as much as he wanted to slam his brother. He couldn’t. Spencer was as decent as an older brother could be. Which wasn’t saying much, as most of the older brothers he knew were asses. As an alpha, though, he was fair. He didn’t use his alpha powers to make a submissive run and hide. Which wasn’t the case for a lot of alphas. But the urge to be more than Spencer had never been more evident than now. He needed her to see that the pact she had with Spencer would tear them all apart. Thinking of Aurora being Spencer’s mate made him physically ill. But that wasn’t anything new. He resisted the urge to scratch his arm where his sleeve rubbed the hives that formed the minute he walked into the cabin he shared with his brothers and cousin.
“He’s my alpha and my brother, but he’s a loser.”
Aurora stood up off of the bar stool. “Why are you attacking him? Are you drunk?”
He leaned into her space. Would she push him? Put her hand on him? He hoped so. He wanted to pull the elastic out of her hair and have her hair fly around both of them, further immersing himself in her almond and berry scent.
“No.” Maybe he was, but it wasn’t from the beer. Sitting this close to her made his wolf pace, his palms sweat. “Come on, Rory, you know I can’t get drunk. Not off of beer, not without drowning in it. If even then. Dragon Ale maybe. Bjorn shot, Troll punch, beer—no. But, no, he’s a loser, really. He thinks he can have everything. The company, the pack, you.”
He held his beer up. He still couldn’t look at her, so he gazed over her shoulder. If he looked at her, it would hurt too much. The ship was owned by a dragon, right? If Aurora and Spencer mated, he would need Dragon Ale. He put his hand up for the bartender. The small brunette shifter smiled at the two of them. He didn’t move away from Aurora and didn’t slide into the bar stool next to him to get distance from her either. He didn’t want to move away from her; he wanted to pull her to him. Have her share his stool. “Do you have Dragon’s Ale?”
The bartender—‘Rama’, read the gold name tag on her crisp black shirt—glanced at her watch. “Sure, but not until after dinner.”
“I didn’t ask for some now, just thought I might need it later.”
“Yeah, we’ve got Dragon Ale. We don’t serve it on the pool deck. You’ll need to go to a below deck bar.” She pursed her lips as if she was going to say something else but stopped. Rama looked at Aurora and back at him. “Can I get you anything?”
“A red wine.” Duncan said at the same time as Aurora, even though she hadn’t touched her mai tai.
Aurora laughed, her head tilting back, exposing her neck to him. It made him instantly hard.
“You don’t have to do this. It will be a mistake you’ll regret for your entire life. Wondering if there is someone else out there for you. A true fated mate.”
Rama placed the wine in front of Aurora.
“Thank you.” Aurora leaned across him to put her wrist out for Rama to scan her orange band. Immediately after, Rama scurried away from their conversation. She took a small sip of the wine and put the glass down in front of her. “Duncan. I’m human. Humans don’t always have fated mates. They find someone. Marry. Have a good life, or they don’t. I am not denying myself anything. I love your pack. Your family. I think of them as my family already. And I love
Spencer.”
Bile rose from his gut. His wolf clawed for dominance out of his skin. The growl bubbled up out of his core. “You love him.” The words came out like a curse.
“He’s my best friend.” Her eyes seared over him, and she paused. “I might not love him romantically. But I do love him. I love all of you.”
And that was his undoing. Of course she loved him. She was too good to not love him, to not give him what he wanted. In doing so, she would be willing to deny herself her own future.
“And you would deny yourself your own future? Having a tie to someone who could mean more to you than Spencer?” He couldn’t look at her as he said the words. She wasn’t ready to understand.
“What in the world are you talking about? And what the … what the hockey sticks are you looking at? If you’re going to spout all this nonsense, you could at least look at me.” She turned around to see what he ogled. Her hair flung and smacked his arm.
“I can’t.” Duncan’s restraints snapped.
“What is going on, Duncan? We’ve always been friends—that hasn’t changed.”
“It’s changed for me.” And he looked at her. He felt his light hazel brown eyes change to his wolf’s. His eyes were naturally the color of his wolf’s, but when his animal paced inside him like it did now, they glowed. It was his tell when his older brothers knew they had pushed him too far.
He put his hands on his navy swim trunks and turned so he faced Aurora. With a swift motion he put his hand around her back and tugged her to him so she stood between his legs, their noses almost touching. Reaching up, he rubbed his thumb over her lip and pushed down on it.
“What are you doing?” she whispered as he pulled his thumb back. Her hand grabbed his arm like she had done it all her life. Where she touched him sizzled; it felt as if her touch could brand him. He rubbed his hand over her bare shoulder, like so many years ago, and goose bumps appeared. Aurora’s eyes changed from brown to blue. That had only happened one time before, and it wasn’t something he told her or anyone about. It was something he wondered about on their prom night, but like so much of that night, he had convinced himself he remembered it wrong.
8
Night Swimming
His hand on her back trailed down her spine. She held her breath; his slight touch encompassed her. Aurora gazed at him, and before she could lean forward to take his lips, he pulled back a little and then leaned in to her and whispered into her ear.
“Your pact—it’s the most fucked up, stupid thing I’ve ever heard. You’re someone else's mate.” And with that he pushed away from her and charged out of the pool bar, disappearing behind the crowd of families at the pool.
Aurora sat back down on the stool. She touched her lip. What the heck was going on? Her legs shook. She wanted to run after him and tell him he was being absurd, but she couldn’t make her feet move. Couldn’t think, really. She wasn’t someone else’s mate. She was human. Sure, humans and shifters were a thing. But not in her case.
Her hand gripped the edge of the bar. She sipped her wine and hoped no one saw their interaction. A quick scan of the pool deck eased her conscience. None of the guys were in view. Being someone’s mate never crossed her mind. Many times, the guilt of Spencer missing out on a fated mate made her want to tell him no. The bar stool wobbled as she sat down.
“You okay?” Rama asked.
“I’m not sure. What just happened?”
“Ah, I meant with the drink. But if you’re asking about the hot wolf shifter, I think he’s into you.”
“What? Duncan likes me?”
Rama put her bar rag down. “You really don’t know?” She shook her head. “Humans. I get that you can’t smell him. But it’s surprising he could walk. Let alone that fast. You have eyes?” Rama glanced at her and gasped. “Oh,” Rama cleared her throat and twisted the bar rag around her finger.
Aurora’s eyes were tearing up again, and she rubbed them. They hadn’t bothered her in such a long time. She squinted at Rama. The sun peeked in under the bar’s canopy, outlining the bartender with a green halo.
“What are you? Oh. It just came out. Please don’t tell my manager. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I hate when people ask me.” Rama straightened her shoulders before crouching in front of the wine cooler, bottles clinking as she rummaged around.
Aurora glanced back at where Duncan had disappeared and then over to Rama, who placed another wine in front of her.
“I didn’t order another.”
“I know. It’s on the house. I’m sorry for being so forward.” Rama pushed it closer to Aurora with a sigh.
“Forward? I’m human. One super-confused human. You think he likes me?” She took a small sip of the wine. Did he like her, or did he want a mate of his own? He almost kissed her—or rather, she almost kissed him.
“For sure. He had that whole protective territorial vibe surrounding him the moment you appeared. And before that, he was sitting here in a mood. The moment you turned up, his attitude went all sexy wolf.”
A ping went off inside Aurora’s head. She didn’t like the idea of Rama calling Duncan a sexy anything. But he was. And he was a free shifter at that. He could date whomever he wanted. Aurora rubbed her eyes.
“I am sorry.” Rama inspected the bar rag she held and looked away from Aurora.
“What?”
“I didn’t mean to call him sexy. I keep sticking my foot in my mouth. I have that problem.”
“You’re right though. He is sexy.” She sighed. What the heck was going on?
* * *
She took her time on the walk back to the other side of her deck. Tad and her bag sat where she had left them. Tad’s head hung over his book, his eyes closed beneath his sunglasses. His hand rested on the top of his book, keeping it open. She leaned over to see what he was reading. It was the Madagascar primate book from earlier.
Aurora debated bumping into his feet on purpose to wake him but decided against it. She sank into the gold and white striped cushioned deck chair instead.
“You need to jump in the pool.” Tad peered at Aurora over his sunglasses.
“I am not that warm. But thanks for the thought.”
“It wasn’t a suggestion, Princess. You need to wash that stink off.”
“What?”
“You need to wash Duncan and that stink off of you before you attract attention you aren’t interested in. Unless you are interested.” He sat up, pulled his sunglasses down, and peered over them at her.
“What the heck are you talking about?” Aurora sat up in her chair, too. Had everyone lost their minds?
“You smell, to be frank, juicy, and you stink of Duncan. Is that specific enough for you? You need to jump in the pool, little Princess, before Spencer gets back.”
“Juicy? I don’t …”
Tad took off his sunglasses—all the way off—closed his book, and motioned to his groin. “Juicy. And you reek of Duncan. And the two together aren’t going to go over well with my cousin, who is about to have a birthday and take you up on your pact.”
“I do not.” Aurora swung her legs over the side of the deck chair and sniffed her arm. Even being around them her whole life, she found their heightened senses hard to remember.
“Yeah, you do. You might not want to move around if you're not going to dip in the pool. And don’t act like you don’t know what pact I’m talking about.”
Holy crap, the pact was common information to everyone? It had been a secret. How long was it out? When they left Pennsylvania two days ago, Mrs. Larsen gave her an extra-hard hug and told her she loved her like a daughter, and good luck. She assumed it was because of the game competition, but maybe she knew about the pact, too.
“Does everyone know?”
“What do you think?”
Aurora stood up and sat back down. “Everyone?”
“All the family, most of the pack. Everyone likes you, Aurora, they would accept you as their alpha.” He waved his hand aroun
d. “Seriously, stop moving around. It’s more than I can stomach.”
Her pulse thumped at the thought of being an alpha. Since the guys’ mom had died, Tad’s mom acted as the other alpha, since Spencer didn’t have a mate. Auntie Lara Larsen was the woman everyone went to with their problems. That would be her. She would be the glue, and Spencer would keep things in order, make sure that the pack ran fairly. He was already doing that. She would be the kindness, the voice of reason and love. She stood up but sat down again.
“Princess, you need to stop doing that. Now you stink of Duncan, juiciness, and fear. A horrible trio, if you ask me. Especially if Spencer comes over here.” Tad pointed to where Spencer was talking to a group of shifters on the other side of the pool deck.
“Crap.” Aurora stood up, dropped her cover-up, and with three bounds jumped into the pool. She hadn’t planned to get her hair wet, but what did it matter, anyway? The water felt great, but her hair clumped up in her hair band. She pulled it out, taking a clump of wet hair with it. Diving under the water, she swam the length of the pool. This pool only had a few middle-school shifter children in it. She surfaced again and wondered how long it would take to get rid of her “stink,” as Tad had put it. She glanced back over to Tad. Spencer stood over her chair, her wrap in his hand. His blue eyes were wide, and his usual smile was missing. He dropped her cover-up, said something to Tad, who pretended to read again, and strolled in the direction of the bar. He didn’t seem upset. But at this distance, it was tough to gauge.
She hadn’t done anything wrong. But she wondered how Spencer saw it. She and Spencer weren’t even together, so it didn’t matter. Only it did.