by Mia Harlan
The hurt dissipates, replaced by warmth. Warmth that dies a sudden death when Nole’s eyes zero in on our linked hands. “Mate?” he growls, his face darkening with barely contained rage.
He takes a menacing step toward me, but Cash gets in his way. One second, he’s next to me. The next, his hand is gone, and he’s standing between the bear shifter and me. I don’t even see him move.
Nole growls and shoves him aside. Cash hisses, showing teeth, and I place a gentle hand on his arm to stop whatever he’s about to do. He calms down, but it has the opposite effect on Nole.
“Every day for a year, Violet!” the bear shifter shouts, his face filled with rage. “Working next to you, telling you everything. About my mother, my brothers, my life. And this whole time, you were what? Laughing behind my back while you were screwing that guy?”
“I wasn’t. I’m not!”
“We just met yesterday,” Cash adds calmly.
Instead of looking relieved, Nole looks like he’s been slapped. “Let me get this straight. You spent a year pretending to be some old lady with me, and you met him yesterday and he’s good enough?”
“W-what—?”
“Don’t play games with me, Violet! I saw you throw yourself at him. I saw you shift!”
“Nole, no,” I hiss. “Please, keep your voice down.”
“Keep my voice down? What? Afraid someone will find out, and you’ll lose your precious job? Good to see what your priorities are.”
“Please! You’ve got it all wrong.”
“So you haven’t been going around shifting into a young girl and screwing—”
Cash flicks his wrist, and suddenly the room goes silent. Nole’s lips move, but no sound comes out. His face turns red with rage, and I think I’m going to be sick.
Cash flicks his wrist again, and the moment sound returns, I rush to explain. “Cash and I aren’t hooking up. We haven’t even kissed.” My checks flush. Because we probably would have, if it wasn’t for my wonky powers.
“Like I’d believe anything you say,” Nole snaps. “You’re a liar and—”
Cash flicks his wrist again, and everything goes silent. The moment he ends the spell, I whisper, “Nole, please. Just let me explain!”
“Explain what? That I wasn’t good enough to be your mate? That you told him, but you never told me?”
“M-mate?” I ask, gaping at him.
Nole’s only response is a scowl. “Well, I guess you really did pull the ultimate prank, Violet. My brothers would be proud. Not that they would be cruel enough to go this far.”
“It’s not a prank.” I feel my lower lip tremble.
“Really?” Nole demands, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Well, come on. Let’s see it, then.”
“See what?” I ask, trying to hold back tears.
“See you shift. See what you really look like.”
I hesitate, but what’s the point of hiding when he already saw me shift once?
I let go of my magic, and Nole’s eyes widen. For a split second, he just stands there, taking me in. His eyes roam over my messy hair and plain face, down to my baggy, shapeless clothes. I don’t look great—or all that good, even—but when he growls, I feel a moment of hope. Maybe Nole finds me attractive, even if only a little. Maybe I can get him to forgive me.
“You’re a fraud,” he spits instead. “And a liar.”
I flinch.
“Nole, I had no choice,” I plead, keeping my voice down. “And you have to promise you won’t tell anyone.”
Nole just shakes his head. Then he turns and walks away.
“Nole, please,” I cry after him, but he doesn’t look back.
Chapter 17
Nole
I storm out of Violet’s apartment and charge toward the stairwell. The same stairwell where I hid when she’d shifted for her precious blood mage.
Who knows how long I stood there, frozen, my mind and body like cement. Was it five minutes? Ten? Thirty? Would have been all night if I hadn’t heard footsteps echoing faintly from downstairs.
Then it was like a storm had started brewing in my chest: anger, betrayal, then images I couldn’t shake. Violet shifting into a younger woman. Violet pulling her lover inside. Violet stripping for him. Violet fucking him. Violet letting him have his fill of her hot, young body—a body she never let me see.
How could she lie to me all this time?
Betrayal courses through me until I can hardly breathe. My mate chose another man over me. My mate could have had us both—could have been with me for months before she met Cash—but she didn’t want me. I wasn’t good enough. I was just her assistant. I was just a joke.
Did she laugh at me every day? Mock and ridicule me behind my back while my heart broke? While I was forced to watch her age? While I spent every night worrying that one day soon, she’d die, and I’d lose my Violet?
I picture her: gray hair, wrinkles, walker. The Violet I thought she was. My friend, my mentor, my mate. The Violet whose memory I planned to carry in my heart forever.
Did I imagine everything we’d shared? The laughs? The heart-to-hearts? That feeling of peace whenever we worked side by side? I must have, because none of it was real. Just a trick. An illusion. The ultimate prank.
I guess now she’s having the last laugh.
I suddenly need air. The stairwell is too small, too narrow. I can’t shift in here—the walls would crumble. That or I’d get stuck, weighed down by actual cement.
If Violet lived a few floors down, I’d jump through the window at the other end of the hall to get out of here. That’s how desperate I feel. Instead, I’m forced to run down four flights of stairs, feet pounding, sounds echoing, while the walls close in around me.
I feel trapped. My lungs constrict. I think I might never breathe again. Then, I finally break free. Push out the front door and stumble onto the nearly empty street.
The sun’s just starting to set, and I race through the dusk, letting my feet carry me. I haven’t a clue where I’m going until I find myself in front of Jewels Cafe. Where my older brother, Wes, lives in an upstairs apartment with his mate, Amber.
“Nole? What’s wrong?” Amber gasps when I throw open the cafe door. Bells jingle wildly above my head. I’m surprised the glass doesn’t shatter.
“Is Wes here?” I demand, looking around wildly. “I need to talk to him.”
Except my brother’s obviously not there—at least, not downstairs. Neither are Amber’s other two mates—Chase and Julian. There’s only one customer: a witch, floating cross-legged above one of the tables.
She casually pulls out a blue plaid scrunchie from the front pocket of her overalls, completely unfazed by my presence. “Boss man’s just finishing up one last job,” she says as she ties her brown hair into a ponytail.
“Zoe’s just waiting for him to come back so she can take the van,” Amber adds.
“You work with my brother?” I demand.
Zoe nods. “He’s mentioned you before.”
She doesn’t say if it was good or bad. She doesn’t explain. She just floats there, watching me. Amber does the same thing, minus the floating, from the other side of the counter, while I stand awkwardly in the doorway.
I’m not really sure what to do with myself. Sit and wait? Go home, shift, and tear apart some rotted logs? See if I can get into Club Vee with a fake ID and get wasted?
What was I thinking, coming here in the first place? It was such a stupid idea!
Even if my brother was home, why would he give a damn about my problems? He rarely visits anymore. Never calls or texts. The only time I ever see Wes is here at the cafe, and it’s always the same bullshit small-talk. How’s work? Gone fishing lately? You should stop by for dinner... not like it ever happens.
I’m not even sure why I came looking for him. Is it because after our mom died, he was always there to comfort me? Because he was the one I ran to whenever my chest hurt and I felt like every part of me was breaking?
Today, losing
Violet—knowing that I never had her in the first place—feels like that. And it turns me into some pathetic little kid who needs his big brother.
“I should go.” I spin around and head for the door.
“Stay,” Amber says gently. “I can make you your favorite. A honey latte with extra whipped cream.”
I start to shake my head, but then nod instead. Because I need to drown myself in something, and what they say about bears and honey is true. Unless that bear is my brother Wes, which doesn’t really count. The rest of us love the stuff.
The moment Amber sets the drink in front of me, I take a huge sip of pure heaven. She added a few extra spoonfuls of the sweet elixir, and for a split second I start to feel better. Of course, that’s when my chest constricts, and I realize nothing will ever be okay again.
“Wanna talk about it?” Amber rounds the counter and settles on a bar stool next to me.
I glance over my shoulder, to where Zoe is still floating cross-legged over a table, and shake my head.
“I could just wait outside,” the witch says, floating to her feet.
“Don’t do that. I’ll go.” I start to get to my feet too.
“Nah, you’re staying.” Zoe says, pushing open the door. “I could use a smoke, anyway.”
“But you don’t smoke,” Amber calls after her. Then her eyes widen and she shifts... into her witchy friend.
It’s exactly how Violet shifted. One second, she had gray hair and wrinkles, and the next, she was suddenly my age.
“A chameleon,” I mutter, shaking my head. “How did I not know?”
“Of course you knew I was a chameleon.” Amber stares at me incredulously.
“I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Then who?” Amber looks around, as if another chameleon might magically appear.
“Violet.” I tell her and instantly feel a wave of guilt. Because even though she betrayed me, I can’t get her pleading face out of my head, begging me not to tell a soul.
“I don’t think I know her.” Amber shrugs. “The only Violet I’ve met is—”
“The librarian.” I groan and run a hand through my hair.
“That’s impossible. Wes said she’s a skunk shifter.”
“She’s been posing as one. Promise you won’t tell anyone? She doesn’t want people to know.”
“Why not? Are you sure it wasn’t a chameleon pretending to be Violet? Even I could shift into her if I tried. Just not for long.”
Amber’s form flickers, and when I see Violet’s familiar face, I feel a moment of hope. Hope that my gray-haired mate is still out there somewhere. Hope that the girl my age was just an impostor. Hope that it was all an elaborate prank and Violet hadn’t lied to me for all those months.
Except one look at Amber and I know she’s not Violet. Just like I knew that the younger woman in Violet’s apartment was.
“It was her,” I say resolutely.
“I know you think that,” Amber says as she shifts back, “but before Juli and I were mates, he could never tell if it was me or not. I played so many tricks on him back at the academy.” She laughs. “I actually kind of miss it, not that I’d trade being his mate for the world.”
“So he can recognize you when you’re shifted now?”
“Every single time.” Amber pouts.
“Because he’s your mate?”
She nods.
For a few seconds, I stay silent. Finally, I tell her the truth. “I’ll always recognize Violet.”
Her eyes widen. “She’s your mate?! How long have you known?”
“Since the day we met.”
“But that was ages ago! Why didn’t you say anything? Does Wes know?”
I shake my head. “Nyle and Neal do, but I made them promise not to tell anyone.” Because I was ashamed that my mate was old. Because I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me. Because I knew she was dying, and I was going to lose her either way.
Except all of it was just a big, old lie!
“So she just told you that she’s a chameleon?” Amber asks.
“Fuck, no. I saw her shift.” I growl, anger resurging. “When I left work, I saw some creep helping her across the street. Standing too close, looking at her in a way he had no right to. Thought he was some opportunistic asshole out to rob an old lady. So I followed them. Just to make sure she got home safe.”
“Is that why she shifted? Because he tried to hurt her?” Amber gasps.
I shake my head. “No. She shifted to hook up with him. Because they’re mates.”
“So you’re both her mates?” Amber asks.
“Yeah, except she rejected me. She only wants him.” Pain shoots through me, and I feel like punching a hole through something... probably not anything in the cafe, though, or my brother would have my head.
“Nole, I’m so sorry,” Amber says, which only makes me want to break everything in sight.
I hate pity. Hate the way the other bears looked at our family after Mom died. Hate the way kids at school started treating me. I never should have come here in the first place!
“Is she with him because he’s closer to her in age?” Amber asks.
It takes me a second to realize she’s talking about the fucking blood mage. “Hell no. Turns out Violet is really my age. If that’s even her real name.”
“Your age?” Amber gasps. “What did she look like?”
I have no trouble picturing her, knowing full and well her face will be permanently etched in my mind. Perfect, kissable lips. “Dark brown hair,” the same shade as the wood in our old fishing boat. “Brown eyes,” the color of my favorite branch halfway up my oak tree. “Pale,” but in a way that summons images of her by the lake in a large straw hat, letting me lather sunscreen all over her.
“There are plenty of other chameleons in Silver Springs...” Amber mutters.
And she’s right. I’ve met other chameleons before. Why did it never cross my mind that Violet was one? “I should have known.” I moan, burying my face in my hands. “There must have been clues. Why didn’t I notice something was off about her?”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Nole. You had no way of knowing.” When she sees I clearly don’t believe her, she adds, “I was just wondering if she was someone I knew.”
“From the academy?”
“No. My sister, Adelyn.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister. Why would she be—”
“She wouldn’t. Addie’s powerful enough to pull it off, but she’s probably off at a fancy academy somewhere... or working at the agency with my mother.”
“You don’t keep in touch?”
Amber shakes her head. “She didn’t want me around. Not until I fixed my wonky powers. But no matter how I tried...” She shrugs.
“Your powers aren’t wonky,” I tell her.
She shifts into a troll.
“Well, not that wonky,” I amend.
Amber snorts, and I smile.
“So... do you know why Violet’s been posing as an old lady?”
“Probably so she could keep her stupid job.” I start to scowl. “Do you know how much librarians get paid? A whole lot more than library assistants, that’s for sure. I bet she doesn’t even have her degree.”
“You need a degree to be a librarian? I thought you just needed to read a lot of books.”
I snort. “You need a master’s degree. Violet kept saying I should apply to college and get mine, and I was going to do it. For her. When she died... in her memory.”
“That’s really sweet...”
“It was stupid!” It was all a fucking lie.
Violet never cared about me, my education, or my future. And now she’s back at her apartment, fucking that stupid blood mage, not sparing me another thought.
Picturing them together—picturing my Violet shifting into that hot, young woman just for him—fills me with rage. I need to get out of here. Before I go on a rampage, destroy everything in sight, and end up in Silver Springs Penitentiary
. Or worse, piss off my brother and his mate by damaging their cafe.
How does Wes survive here? How does he not miss home?
There’s a reason bears live out in the forest. If I destroy a few trees, my brothers will tease me over it—but if I’m lucky, they look like hairy motherfuckers and I’ll be the one laughing.
Laughing. I don’t know if I’ll ever laugh again. How could she do this to me? How could she spend a whole year around me and not care that I was her mate? How could she reject me when she’d accepted him?
One fucking day. She’s known him for one day and she brought him back to her place. She’s known me for a year—used me for a year... I helped her get groceries. I walked her home. I worried about her, day and night. And it was all a fucking lie.
“I have to go,” I tell Amber, jumping to my feet.
“I’ll tell your brother you were here,” Amber shouts after me, but I’m no longer listening.
Chapter 18
Violet
The next morning, I wake up with one strong arm wrapped around my waist and a hard, male chest pressed up against my back. Which would be a great way to greet the day if my face wasn’t stained with tears and the blood mage and I weren’t fully clothed.
Snuggling into his warmth is comforting, but it doesn’t make my heart hurt any less. Nothing has—not the cookies Violet baked me last night to cheer me up. Not even pizza. All I could think about through it all was the anger in Nole’s voice, the hatred in his eyes, and how he claimed I was his mate.
Deep down, I know it’s true. I’ve always had feelings for him, ever since the day we first met. Should I have trusted him more? Should I have told him the truth? Should I go find Liam and tell him before it’s too late? Before he hates me the way Nole does? Not that it matters, since I’ll have to leave town once Violet’s gone. Better to not get attached—to anyone—including Cash.
I swallow hard and slip out of bed, careful not to wake Cash. I take a quick shower and change into baggy, black dress pants and a shapeless black and white cardigan that reminds me of a skunk. Granny Wear at its finest. I don’t bother with makeup—I left it all behind when I went on the run—but I spend a few minutes on my hair, which I haven’t done in months.