by Sara Summers
“Stealth mode?” I grimaced. “That sounds like something a kid would say.”
“Well, I hang out with a lot of kids.” He reached up to his neck, massaging it for a second. “Look, this isn’t ideal for either of us, but it’s the only way you can really hide from Steven.”
I analyzed him for a few seconds, trying to decide if I trusted him or not.
While the answer was a solid “no”, he was right. I didn’t have any other option, at least not another option that I liked.
“Fine.” I nodded.
“Good, let’s go.” He led me to his car, which was the only one left in the parking lot. It was a mom car; a silver SUV with plenty of seats.
“We can’t leave until after the luncheon. Marley needs my support at least for a few more hours, and it’ll take Steven that long to find me again. Even if he does, he’ll think twice about attacking an entire Grizzly pack.” I folded my arms, expecting him to argue.
“Alright. We’ll leave after it’s over.” He agreed.
We both slid into the car.
“How did you get your car here?”
“I left it here the first time I followed you.” My mate said. “Haven’t needed it since then.”
“Why do you care so much about protecting me, anyway? It’s not like you owe me anything.” I analyzed him once again.
“I have my reasons.” He turned on the radio, sufficiently ending the conversation. The only words we said to each other through the whole car ride were when I gave him directions to Marley’s house.
Chapter 2
“Wait, what’s your name?” I paused to talk to my mate, who was making the punch I’d instructed him to.
“Jordie.” He didn’t stop mixing.
I went back to cooking, not saying anything because I had no idea what I was supposed to say. I still hadn’t looked at my cotie since it had changed, but neither had he. I guess we were both just sort of avoiding admitting to ourselves that we were mates.
I popped the big metal pan loaded with a mountain of cookies into the oven to warm them up, then leaned against the counter.
Marley walked in through the garage door a minute later, tear streaks staining her cheeks. I gave her a hug, and she murmured,
“Thanks.”
When she saw Jordie still stirring fruit into the drink, she raised her eyebrows.
“Is this your mate?” she asked, a bit taken aback.
“What?” Leah stepped in behind her, standing on her tippy toes to get a look at Jordie over Marley’s shoulder. “Dear heavens, that man is attractive.”
“He can hear you.” I reminded her, though a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
“So can I.” Ty grabbed her around the waist. “And I don’t share, so don’t even think about it.”
Leah rolled her eyes.
“Like he’d be interested in me. Sav’s the only girl he’s got eyes for.”
“He can still hear you.” I folded my arms, biting back that same smile.
“Who are we talking about?” Brooke, the lion shifter of our gang, walked in behind Ty. Jazz (the cheetah) was at her side. “Holy heck, Mar, who is that beautiful man? Can I have him?” she jumped up on the counter beside where I was still leaning.
Marley smiled, so I figured that the teasing was acceptable. If it helped her, it was alright.
“I think Sav already claimed him.” Marley said. Jordie still hadn’t turned around, so I was afraid he was a little upset with our teasing.
Brooke opened her mouth and then shut it, looking put out.
“Not fair. I want one.” She complained, and all of us laughed.
“Your time will come, grasshopper.” Jazz patted her shoulder, and I grinned.
The last of our girls who had been able to come walked through the door; our otter, Kennedy, and our human, Bree. Bree had a baby belly, having gotten knocked up at college on accident.
“Why is Brooke a grasshopper this time?” Kennedy pushed her way through the rest of us, going to the other side of the kitchen.
When she saw Jordie, she gaped.
“Who does he belong to? Can I borrow him?” Her eyes lit up. Of course, she was teasing. I hoped Jordie realized that, but I wasn’t going to kill the mood by saying it out loud. Marley needed all the laughter she could get.
“Panthers don’t share well, remember?” Leah grinned at the girls, and we all busted up laughing.
“It was one time.” I protested, while laughing. “Excuse me for being hungry.”
“I refuse to laugh while you get the sexiest panther in the world and I’m stuck waiting around for some smelly lion. Not fair.” Brooke shook her head. “I want another try.”
“Another try at what?” Jazz laughed. “Birth?”
“Yes.” Brooke held her head high. “I’m tired of waiting.”
“You’re nineteen.” Bree pointed out. “That’s hardly an old woman.”
“Leah’s had her mate for four months!” Brooke gestured to Leah and Ty, who were holding hands. “It’s unfair.”
“I’m with ya.” Marley murmured, nodding her head. I could see her struggling to hold back more tears, and I knew she was hurting. Grizzly packs worked in families, which meant that with her dad’s death she had inherited an entire pack, even though she had no one to run it with. If anyone needed a mate, it was Marley.
It took a second for our group to recover. We were all hurting with her, though we couldn’t imagine how she felt.
“Really, though, Sav. One night?” Kennedy shifted the topic of conversation back into the lighthearted-zone, and I smiled.
“I’ll settle for an hour.” Brooke raised her hand.
“30 minutes.” Kennedy countered.
“10 minutes.” Brooke smiled dangerously.
“5.” Kennedy grinned.
“He’s not for sale.” I rolled my eyes. “You’ll just have to keep waiting.” Even after running from him so long, the idea of being soulmates with someone as attractive as Jordie was appealing. Being soulmates meant I was the only girl for him, and that idea was definitely more appealing after getting a good look at him.
Someone knocked on the front door and Marley stiffened. It was time to go back to reality, and her whole pack would want to talk to her.
“You’ve got this.” I whispered, assuring her. Marley nodded and then headed over to answer the door. The girls dispersed, spreading out through the house so it wouldn’t feel so empty.
“Lee, can you grab the cookies out of the oven?” I checked, making my way back to Jordie, who had to pour the punch into a big plastic thing with a spout on the bottom. It was a two-person job.
“Of course.” She grabbed the oven mitts and got to work.
“Here, let’s get it in there.” I unscrewed the lid before looking at Jordie. When I looked at him, I noticed his eyes looked a little watery. “Are you okay?” I was almost scared. Panthers are pros at concealing their emotions, at least, all the panthers I had met.
“Yeah, fine.” He blinked, and the water disappeared.
I frowned, but helped him get the punch into the container.
We sat at the dining table with Ty and Leah through the rest of the open house, chatting with each other and making small talk with the other members of Marley’s pack that we’d met before. Jordie didn’t say much at all, dodging Leah’s questions admirably well.
When it was finally over, Marley nibbled at a cookie.
“Thanks for coming, guys.” She gave all of us a small smile.
“We wanted to be here.” Bree assured her, stepping forward to give her a hug.
“Do you want to talk about the YouTube channel?” she asked. I knew she just wanted a reason to go up to her room, which was probably the only place in the house that didn’t remind her of her dad.
“Yes!” Leah exclaimed. “I have so many ideas.”
“Alright…” I glanced at Jordie, then met Leah’s eyes.
“But boys have to stay down here.” She quic
kly amended. “Sorry.” She shrugged, planting a kiss on Ty’s cheek before leading all of us upstairs.
We closed the door in Marley’s room, and everyone’s eyes immediately focused on me.
“So?” Kennedy demanded. “What happened?”
“Oh.” I pursed my lips. “Steven was going to kill me until Jordie popped out and saved me. Apparently he hasn’t been stalking me, he’s been following me to protect me. Steven’s followed me everywhere I’ve gone, and Jordie has followed too to make sure he doesn’t hurt me.”
“Then why wait until now to step forward?” Jazz frowned.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I guess because Steven finally caught up to me. All I know is that if Jordie hadn’t been stalking me, I would probably be dead.”
“Wait, what are you going to do? If Steven can follow you anywhere, where will you go?” Leah looked even more worried than she had on the drive to Poulsbo, and that was saying something. She had been pretty worried.
“We’re going to drive to Jordie’s place, wherever that is.” I admitted. Everyone stared at me.
“Hey, it’s kind of romantic.” Bree put in. “Unbelievably attractive male follows also attractive female around for her protection. That could be in a movie.”
“Yeah.” Kennedy nodded. “Like… Twilight.”
Our whole group groaned.
“We told you no more Twilight jokes four years ago, Ken.” Bree complained.
“Hey, I saw an opportunity and had to take it.” She grinned. “At least Ty isn’t trying to win Savvy over or anything, then it’d really be like Twilight. Panthers being the vampires in the situation, of course.”
“I’m slitting your throat tonight if I hear one more reference to that movie.” Brooke slid her finger across her throat, making what was supposed to be a cutting sound.
“Go ahead and try.” Kennedy smirked.
“I think it sounds more like Beauty and the Beast.” Jazz studied her fingers. “Though, that man is the sexiest beast I’ve ever met.”
“Ooh, I like that one.” Brooke nodded. “The Sexy Beast takes our Black Panther Beauty to his evil lair, where they proceed to fall in love and have a billion gorgeous little panther babies. I’m feeling a movie in the making.” She said.
My mood darkened at the mention of babies.
Leah noticed, and she took over the room.
“Okay, enough about Sav. Let’s get to talking about the channel. Cozy and I have been getting a ton of requests and questions from viewers all over the world, and we’re planning a series of videos about each type of shifter. We need you to answer their questions.” She looked around the room, and everyone nodded.
“What do they want to know?” Brooke wrinkled her eyebrows.
“Do shifters have periods? Do they give birth in animal form? Do they have a craving for raw meat? Does their mate mark feel funny? Is touching their mate mark a turn on?” Leah started going through the questions, and we all grinned.
“This is good.” Marley had a faint smile on her face. “This is why we created the channel, isn’t it? To answer questions and tell stories?”
“Exactly.” Leah nodded. “It’s finally started going the way we want it to, and now we just need to keep getting it out there and helping it to grow.”
“I can post it on my blog.” I offered. “I won’t be traveling much anymore, but I still have a lot of traffic to the website.”
“That would be great.” Leah agreed. “Everyone, get ready for a bunch of interviews with Cosette between her photoshoots.” She said.
Our group nodded.
“Anyone have anything else to say?” Kennedy looked around the room. “No? Then let’s get back to those guys.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“Those guys are taken.” Jazz reminded her, and Kennedy shrugged.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy looking at them.” She grinned.
Marley and I rolled our eyes, following at the back of the line as we headed downstairs.
“Hey, I know I’m leaving soon, but call me if you ever need to talk to someone, okay?” I checked.
Marley nodded and gave me a small smile.
“Thanks.”
“I’m sorry for everything you’re going through, but you’re strong enough to handle it.” I promised.
“I hope so.” She shook her head. “And I hope my mate shows up soon. I can’t play Alpha and Omega.”
“I hope so too.” I said, and then we reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Bye, Mar.” All the girls crowded around her, each taking their turn to give her a hug. “Love you, girl. Text if you need anything.” They each assured her.
“I’m serious.” I gave her a final hug and looked her square in the eyes. “If you need to talk about anything, I’m here for you.”
“I know.” Marley nodded.
“See you soon.” I promised, then followed Leah and Ty outside. Jordie was right behind me, not that he said anything.
“Good talking to ya, man.” Ty and Jordie did the bro-slap thing that I would’ve sworn was saved for high-schoolers. “Be good to Sav.” Ty told him.
“I will.” Jordie nodded, taking me back to his soccer mom car.
“Bye.” Leah gave me a big hug. “I don’t have to tell you to call me.” She teased.
“You know I will.” I rolled my eyes, giving her a little smile.
“If you don’t, I’ll hunt you down.” She said, serious.
“I know.” I shook my head at her, then shooed her away. “Go get yourself some Alpha time.” I smirked, and she wiggled her eyebrows.
“Believe me, I will.” She grinned, getting in her car while I got into Jordie’s. “Bye, Sav!” She yelled as Ty pulled the car out of the driveway. “Love you!”
“Love you too!” I shouted back, then rolled up my window and turned to look at Jordie. “Where are we going?”
“Long Lake, Michigan.” Jordie watched the road, not showing the slightest bit of interest in me.
I put my feet on the dashboard and folded my arms over my stomach.
“Is your family there?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He stared out at the road in front of us.
“Why did you move there?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Do you even know the answers to my questions?” I glared at him.
“Of course I know the answers. You just don’t need to.” He focused on the road like looking away would be death of him.
That’s how the rest of our drive went, all 35 hours of it.
Chapter 3
When we finally pulled into a parking place at what I assumed was Jordie’s apartment building, I wanted to kiss the pavement. That was the longest car ride of my life.
Jordie grabbed my carry-on and his duffle bag while I pulled my backpack over my shoulder, and then he led me up a flight of stairs. The morning air was icy cold, and since it was 5 AM, there was no sun to warm us up even a little.
He unlocked the door, and I followed him inside.
The apartment was small, but it was nice enough. It was a little old fashioned, but it felt homey. The stove and other appliances looked ancient, and though the couch looked well-worn, it also looked comfy.
I followed Jordie into the only bedroom in the apartment, and he put both our suitcases on top of the bed.
“I have to go to work in an hour, feel free to make yourself at home.” He gestured to the apartment and then walked into the bathroom. I followed behind him, stopping him from shutting the door.
“Wait, how do you have a job? You said you’ve been following me around since we almost met at the coffee shop, and that was like, eight months ago.” I frowned.
“My boss understood.” He shrugged. “Finding your mate is like maternity leave for guys.” He tried to shut the door again, but I held it firmly open.
“What’s your job?”
“I teach second grade at the elementary school down the road.” He tried to shut the door, but
once again, I held it open.
“Can I at least go to the bathroom before you shut me out?” I pushed my hair behind my ear.
Jordie nodded, opening the door and then stepping out.
After showering and grabbing a protein shake that I assumed had to be expired, Jordie grabbed the keys and headed to the door.
“Were you even going to say goodbye?” I asked.
“Uh, bye.” He gave me a little wave before leaving the apartment. He locked the door as he left.
Part of me wondered if he ever planned on coming back.
I spent the day writing up a blog post with an excuse about why I wouldn’t be traveling anymore, but assured my readers I’d still be posting every now and again. When that was done, I divided my time between Pinterest and Instagram.
I could only handle so much social media in one day, though, so a few hours later I had nothing to do but clicking around on my computer, bored.
When I was bored on an airplane, I would usually read a book or watch a movie, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
By clicking around, I happened to end up in my documents, which reminded me of something I used to do but hadn’t been feeling up to over the last few months:
Writing fiction.
My fingers paused on the mousepad. Should I click on one of the old documents? Read it? Delete it?
I hesitated.
On one hand, I had nothing else to do. Writing was a hobby I used to love, so why not get back into that? On the other hand… that was opening an entirely different part of my brain that I hadn’t used in ages.
Plus, I’d never written professionally, but I had written a lot. I learned a few things about writing through my experience.
Mainly, I learned that it required you to be completely honest with yourself. Any kind of art depended on that, but for me, writing fiction was particularly demanding of honest. I couldn’t find my words if I didn’t acknowledge who I was, first.
That knowledge stopped me from opening any of the documents. Did I want to be honest with myself? Did I want to know what I was thinking or how I really felt about everything going on in my life?
