by Lynn Howard
Shawnee and Colton rode in the backseat. Shawnee kept shooting Noah looks in the mirror. He knew what she wanted to know. Was Hollyn pregnant? Hell no, she wasn’t. He knew what would happen if she ever got pregnant; their children would be hunted even more than the Fae. And he would never put a child in danger, not if he could avoid it.
“So,” Noah said, keeping his eyes on the road. “You and Colton thinking about kids?”
Hollyn barked out a laugh and turned to look at Shawnee. “Yeah. You pregnant yet? I mean, you’re the one who wants cubs in the Clan so bad.”
Shawnee’s face went red enough that her freckles paled.
“I keep saying I’m ready to try,” Colton said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“I just want more time with Colton first. That’s all,” Shawnee said, slinking down in her seat as if trying to hide from all the attention.
“Yeah, well. I’ve only had two weeks with Noah. Maybe when we’ve been together as long as you two, we’ll think about kids.” She turned and winked at Noah.
Wow. She was actually thinking about growing a family? They hadn’t discussed it, but he’d just figured she’d ruled that out from day one.
“Whatever. I’m ready for some little Fairy babies to fill the territory. Just imagine how—”
“Please don’t talk about that when we get to Big River,” Hollyn said, turning and pleading Shawnee.
“No one else knows, Shawnee,” Noah said, his voice apparently too hard for Colton. He growled a warning and glared at Noah in the rearview mirror.
“I know that,” Shawnee said. “Did you really think I was going to blab it to everyone?”
“Just… don’t let it slip. Or whatever,” Hollyn said. “Pleeease?” she added to soften the words.
Shawnee smiled and rolled her eyes.
Carter and Luke pulled their truck into Big River ahead of Noah. Everyone was there, including a few lionesses from the Pride on the top of the hill. He didn’t know them well, but he knew enough to be happy they were getting out of the territory and hanging out with everyone.
“About time,” Nova called out as they all piled out of their trucks.
Noah and Colton grabbed some lawn chairs and their blue cooler from the back of his truck and followed Shawnee and Hollyn to the circle of people. Noah took the opportunity to check out her ass.
Once all the chairs were added to the circle and the cooler was set close enough to grab what they needed, Noah sat beside Hollyn who’d sat beside Reed.
Reed turned wide eyes on Hollyn. “He finally marked you?” he asked, his grin growing wide. “After all that talk about we make our own rules?” Reed said, imitating Noah’s gruff voice.
“Shut up,” Noah said, handing a beer to Hollyn.
“Where is it?” Lola asked, leaning forward to see past her mate, Reed.
“What?” Hollyn asked. She’d heard her. Noah could feel the spike in anxiety as she tried to think of a lie.
“Where’s your mark. I thought bears usually marked their mates so everyone could see.”
Hollyn’s mouth opened but nothing came out. So Noah stepped in. “I marked her where only I can see. Like I said, making our own rules.”
“That’s hot,” Nova said, pointing at them with her beer bottle.
“You realize that means you’re going to end up in a book, right?” Emory said with a smile and a shake of her head.
“Um, being as I’ve been forbidden to write about Shifters, don’t you think it’d be a little weird if I had some human country boy biting his girlfriend?” Nova said with a duh expression all over her face.
Hollyn laughed and his heart swelled even more. When she felt it, she looked at Noah with the mushiest look in her eyes, as if trying to tell him I love you without saying a word. Love you more, he tried to send back, even though she wouldn’t hear the words.
Everyone fell into their usual banter and jokes. Nova and Lola swapped war stories of being kept up by their daughters. Reed asked Hollyn about her bartending experience. Callie teased Micah about something he’d done the night before. The women all teased Carter and Luke about pairing up. In the meantime, the beer, Jager, and vodka flowed easily. Noah and Carter would have to stay sober to drive everyone home. That, or they’d either have to crash at one of the wolves’ homes – which none of them were big enough for the bears’ big bodies – or Shift and run back to their territory through the woods. It wasn’t always possible to call on their animals when they were inebriated. And by the look of everyone around him, they were flying past the inebriated stage and straight into trashed.
Hollyn was cracking him up, laughing freely and joining in the ribbing. She fit in perfectly with his friends. She’d told him a few days ago that these people were the closest to a family she’d had since she was young. He’d felt her affection for them as she spoke, but he’d also felt her sadness at her loss. It was something she’d yet to tell him about. And he wouldn’t push her. When she was ready, she’d open up to him and tell him what happened to her people.
“Oh, I’ve dropped more than a few bottles,” Hollyn was telling Peyton. “When I first started doing this, I used to take home empty bottles and practice in the alley beside my apartment building. I used to get so much crap from the landlord. Even though I was cleaning up the broken glass.”
“Did you ever get cut?” Callie asked. She was snuggled into Micah’s side as the sun began to set. It was getting late in the season and the evenings were growing cooler.
“Oh my gosh. So many times. I swear I wore Band-aids for weeks when I started at my first bar.”
“How many places have you worked?” Peyton asked.
Hollyn chewed on the inside of her cheek as she mentally counted. “Ten, I think.”
“Wow. Job hopper,” Reed teased.
Hollyn tensed. “I was always on the run. I changed jobs every time I changed cities.”
Okay. She was revealing a lot. He needed to gently guide her to a different topic.
“Someone light the fire, please. I’m freezing,” Callie said, wrapping her arms around her middle.
Reed moved to grab the lighter from the grill, but Hollyn, drunk and not thinking, leaned forward. “I got it,” she said, and before Noah could stop her, reached her hand forward and called forward a flame, blowing it toward the waiting wood.
All conversation ceased. The bears looked at her with worry on their faces. Everyone else looked shocked. Shit.
“Hollyn” he said, grabbing her hand and pushing it to her lap. The flame burned him as he closed his hand around hers, but she didn’t seem phased. Of course not; the fire was a part of who she was. That was why her skin grew so hot when they made love. It coursed through her veins, just like her blood.
“What?” she asked, turning unfocused eyes on Noah.
“Holy shit,” Nova breathed out.
“Did that just happen?” Emory said.
“What are you?” Micah asked, too much growl in his voice for Noah’s liking.
Noah snarled at Micah, but kept his hand wrapped around Hollyn’s. Within a few seconds, the burn faded as her fire died out.
“Uh oh,” Hollyn said, turning her eyes up to his face. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
Noah smiled at her, but it was forced. He didn’t want her to think he was mad at her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want his friends to know. He just didn’t want them to have to carry her —
“I’m a Fairy!”
Secret.
Noah’s eyes closed and he shook his head. Maybe he’d get lucky and everyone was drunk enough they’d forget by morning.
“What the fuck,” Micah said.
Noah opened his eyes and turned them on Micah. “Problem?”
“Is she being hunted? Is that why she’s here?”
“I told you Aron brought her to me for protection,” Noah said, his muscles tensing.
“You didn’t tell us she was being fucking hunted. What happens if they come here? What happen
s if the women are home alone with the pups?”
“Well, for one thing, we have Cujo,” Nova piped in, oblivious to the riled up males staring each other down.
“And I have this,” Hollyn said, opening her free hand and producing a flame that licked high into the sky. “They won’t sneak up on me this time.”
“Hollyn,” Noah warned. Fuck. This was getting out of hand.
“What? Might as well tell them everything now. Some assholes snuck up on me and stabbed me with a needle. They drugged me because they knew I’d kick their asses.” Her smile was wobbly, her speech was slurred, but Noah could feel the anger from her kidnapping through their connection.
“Did you mark her?” Micah asked, never turning his glare away. “Did you really mark her?”
“You can smell it from there,” Noah said, his jaw clenching as his bear growled in his head. Protect my mate.
Our mate, Noah reminded him.
“Is she going to be danger to the Pack?” Micah asked.
“Micah, calm the fuck down,” Gray said, rising slowly to stand between the two men.
Noah watched as each guy whispered something in their mates’ ears. They each stood, rounded the chairs, and urged Hollyn back and away from the circle. His bear didn’t like them taking her away from him. But his human side knew they were trying to protect her.
“She’s in my territory,” Carter said. “She’s under our protection.”
“She’s here, isn’t she?”
“Micah,” Callie said, staying closer to Micah than the rest of the women. “You thought I was going to be a threat, too.”
“And me,” Nova said.
“Pretty sure he thought that about me, too,” Peyton said.
“Well, you are kind of scary,” Emory said from behind Noah.
Tristan glanced in his mate’s direction and shook his head. He didn’t say much. They’d all learned last year that he stuttered and feared being judged. Even though they all accepted him just as he was, the dude still rarely spoke more than a word at a time.
“Calm down,” he said, presumably to Peyton.
If Peyton felt Hollyn was at risk, her wolf would charge out of her and go after whoever the perceived threat was, and ,currently, that threat was Micah.
“We’ll leave,” Carter said, putting a hand on Noah’s chest to keep him from moving forward.
“Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time?” Nova said. “You always pick fights with everyone. Can’t we just have a good time for once? I don’t see any asshole standing in the woods ready to start shit, do you?” Nova said, putting her hands to her eyes and pretending to scour the woods. Noah was pretty sure even if someone was standing in the middle of the field, she’d be too drunk to see him clearly.
Micah’s eyes finally flicked over to Nova, then moved over the group of women waiting to see if there’d be a full out brawl. Shame flashed through his eyes as he sought out his own mate.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. The glow in his eyes faded and he lowered to his chair.
“We good?” Noah grumbled, his bear still aching to get out.
Micah nodded once; a muscle ticked in his jaw. He was fighting his already volatile animal. If he Shifted, there was no way Noah could keep his bear in his skin.
“Why can’t we ever just have one normal get together,” Nova grumbled as she retook her seat next to Gray. Her butt was only halfway in the seat when a small cry came from inside. “Great. You woke up Rieka. Good job, guys,” Nova said, glaring at Noah then Micah.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry,” Micah and Noah grumbled at the same time.
Noah hadn’t noticed the baby monitor sitting at Reed’s feet. For a brief second, Noah had been so freaked out by Hollyn outing herself and the possible fight with one his own damn friends, he’d forgotten all about the pups living there. Rieka was a few months shy of three and little Grace would be one next month.
Maybe Micah was right. Maybe it was too dangerous to have Hollyn around Big River. Carter, Luke, and Colton already pledged their fealty and protection, as did Shawnee. But that didn’t mean he needed to bring her to the wolves’ territory. What if? What if someone did find her? What if they were able to track her here? The women would fight, there was no doubt about that, but they’d have to protect the babies. He couldn’t live with himself if anything happened to any of them, especially the little girls.
And now, every single person sitting there knew what she was, knew what kind of magic she held.
“So you didn’t really mark her, then,” Micah said.
“Dude! We really doing this again?” Reed said, his usual laid back and playful manner fading and replaced by anger.
“Not an accusation. Just a question.”
Peyton still stood close to Hollyn. She had never sat after everything calmed down. Which meant Tristan stood with her.
“Scent,” Tristan said. “Covered her.”
Noah glanced over the back of the chair and nodded at Tristan. “Yeah.”
“Can’t mark her,” Tristan said, looking up at Micah. “Poison.”
Peyton’s eyes instantly flashed to their glowing aqua color, red rimming her pupils.
“No one poisoned her. She’s safe,” Callie said, trying to slow Peyton down before she exploded into her psychotic wolf. She even tried to stand, but Micah shook his head and pulled her back down. Callie was one of the few people in the Pack who Peyton’s wolf wouldn’t attack. The theory was that her wolf saw Callie as weak, as needing protection.
“No one poisoned me, Peyton,” Hollyn slurred, turning in her chair to look at Peyton who stood sentry over. “You can relax. I don’t think I can handle Cujo tonight.” She smiled up at Peyton, but it looked forced. In fact, Hollyn wasn’t looking all that great. She looked a little pale, as if maybe she’d had a little too much to drink.
“You okay?” he asked her, leaning into her space a little to whisper in her ear.
“Yep. Dandy.”
“Uh oh. Looks like we got ourselves another lightweight,” Reed teased.
Hollyn scowled in his direction. “I’m not a lightweight. I just forgot to eat today.”
Shit. He hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t eaten. He’d been too busy worshipping her body. He hadn’t eaten, either, but that was normal for him. No food in her belly and a shit ton of booze; no wonder she was so drunk.
“Nova got drunk at Moe’s once and Shifted. She went after someone she thought was an asshole,” Reed explained to Hollyn.
“He was an asshole,” Gray said, looking up at his house. His mate still hadn’t come back outside. Now that Noah had Hollyn, he understood the need to always have her nearby, always needing to touch her, always needing to see her face.
As Hollyn nodded as Reed told her the story, his own stomach began to churn with nausea. And he knew it wasn’t from alcohol. He’d barely had anything to drink. And since Shifters didn’t get sick, that meant…
“Excuse me,” she said in the middle of Reed’s story and lunged to her feet.
She swayed and Noah jumped up to keep her from falling face first into the fire and escorted her away from everyone else. When she was far enough away, she doubled over and grabbed her hair in one fist. Noah stood by, rubbing small circles on her back. Nothing came up at first. She just stood there, panting heavily.
A sharp pain hit his stomach, the roiling kicked up, then Hollyn double over again, vomiting in the drying grass.
“Ohhh!” everyone said, turning quickly to keep from seeing the disgusting show.
He didn’t quite feel the puke coming up, but he felt every single second of misery Hollyn felt. She tilted her head to look up at him and caught him with his arm around his stomach.
“Warned you,” she said, then turned quickly when another wave hit her.
As much as he loved every second of being magic bound to Hollyn, this was something he hoped he never had to go through again. And then another thought hit him: If they ever
decided to have children, would he feel the labor pains, too? Maybe there was more than one huge reason to refrain from parenthood.
Chapter Eight
Hollyn woke to Noah sitting on the side of the bed, his hand pressed against her forehead. Peeling her lids back, she groaned when the bright light made her head throb.
“Yeah. Sucks,” Noah grumbled in his gruff voice.
Opening her eyes again, guilt hit her hard when she got a good look at Noah. He looked like hell. And he hadn’t drank. He was getting a front row seat to Hollyn’s hangover.
“I’m never drinking again,” she muttered as she rolled over and pulled the pillow over her head.
“If you’re working today, it’s time to get up. Unless you want to work in your birthday suit.”
Hollyn lifted her head and looked down at her naked body. “Did we…”
“No. You were too drunk. You just stripped naked, smiled wide, then collapsed onto the bed.” His lips twitched as he held back his amusement.
Hollyn groaned again, this time out of embarrassment. Had she attempted to seduce Noah and passed out instead? Or had she just gotten naked for bed? She never slept naked. She always made sure she was covered enough in case she had to run.
“Sorry,” she mumbled and sat up. Shit. The room spun no matter how hard Hollyn tried to focus on the dresser across the room.
“Do you remember anything from last night?” Noah asked, handing her a glass of water. “All of it," he said when she took a sip.
Hollyn down the glass of cool water. It helped a little, but she needed a whole bottle of Pepto Bismol and a few handfuls of Tylenol. “A little.”
Noah studied her for a minute, his eyes narrowed.
“Do you remember starting the fire with your magic then telling the entire group you’re a Fairy?”
As he spoke, she felt his fear grow with each syllable. If those people were his friends, if he trusted them as much as he said, why was he afraid of them knowing.