Heaving a sigh, I muttered, “My book floated by itself and hit my professor in the back of the head.”
Sarah paused for a moment, thinking on what I’d said. It was a while before she muttered, “Whenever you’re ready to tell me the truth, I’ll be waiting. You still have to clean this whole house, too. Don’t you dare think I’ve forgotten. Even if you decide to go, I want this place spick and span, not a single dust bunny anywhere under any of the furniture.”
I leaned my head on the table, wanting to bang my head against it. Sarah was a wolf shifter—as I was, apparently—and Sarah couldn’t believe in a floating book? The hypocrisy was real, and super annoying.
I got up. Having a house to clean and all that, I figured I best not lollygag. I hadn’t done nearly enough earlier, before Sarah’s ten o’clock—which only turned out to be my long-lost grandfather and a boy who, in the words of my mom, liked me.
It was ridiculous, this whole thing. I wasn’t going to go with them. Just because I got kicked out of school didn’t mean I’d start making questionable decisions. I wasn’t that type of girl.
I was logical, thoughtful. Sometimes brash, yes, but this was just too…too…weird. Going with Henry, and therefore Maze, to visit the pack Sarah ran away from twenty years ago? I wasn’t the kind of person to go looking for trouble, and the Crystal Lake pack?
Seemed like it came with heapings of it.
No. I wasn’t going.
Chapter Six – Addie
Turned out, my mom could make a great bowl of Cajun chicken pasta. It was so good, so tasty I nearly forgot Sarah and I sat across from a scowling Henry and a grinning Maze. Almost, but not quite.
And it didn’t help someone’s feet kept hitting mine.
Too wide and strong to belong to Sarah. Too close to me to have come from Henry. I glared at Maze, to which he just smiled and shoveled more noodles into his mouth. I figured he was trying to get on my good side, trying to help me choose.
Well, maybe he should’ve not stuffed his wet nose into my underwear, hmm?
“This is good, Sarah,” Henry was busy saying, gesturing to his bowl with his fork. “The pack would’ve benefitted from your cooking skills.”
“Cooking is the last thing I’d do for the pack,” Sarah said, her eyes staring down into her food. She hardly looked at him, preferring to gaze at me instead, which I couldn’t blame. As a father figure, Henry definitely sucked.
Henry was unimpressed by her remark, though his facial expression did not change. “Yes, we all know you were too busy running off.” His hazel stare moved to me. “I’m surprised you kept all of this from her. Surely it would’ve been better to have filled her with lies about us from the start?”
“Unlike most of society, both human and shifter, I find it reprehensible to brainwash a child from the day they’re born. I taught Addie enough to make her own decisions,” Sarah said.
The old man made a noncommittal noise, shrugging his shoulders as he rubbed the bottom of his grey goatee with his fork-free hand. “Perhaps the smartest thing you’ve ever done, pup.”
Beside me, Mom bristled. “I am no pup. Not anymore.”
“You will always be a pup, so long as you continue to act out—”
“And here I thought this was supposed to be a civil conversation,” Maze cut in with an easy smile. It was a smile that made my stomach flip, one I could not stare at for long. The more I looked at him, the cuter he became.
I would not let my hormones—which, until now, had never acted up—influence my decision.
Sarah snapped, “This conversation is not about me. It’s about Addie and what’s best for her.”
“The pack is always what’s best for any shifter,” Henry argued. To me, he said, “The pack is your family. We want you back, pup. We need you. You’re our future.”
“Because I’m a female shifter,” I mumbled, glancing to Maze in spite of myself, “and I can pop out shifter babies.” My reply, full of snark and annoyance, stunned both men across into silence. Henry’s face drowned in pure astonishment while Maze’s skin flushed pink. Was he embarrassed because it was true?
I came to a startling thought. Had he thought about making babies with me? Already?
Oh, God.
Shifter life was so not my kind of thing.
“Of course, furthering the pack is always important,” Henry said once he regained himself. He wiped his mouth with a napkin before continuing, “But you need us too, Adeline. This life, this human existence, is not what you’re meant for.”
That’s where the old man was wrong.
“I don’t need you,” I told him. “I’ve lived my whole life not knowing you exist, and I was just fine.” Lately, well, I hadn’t been doing so fine, what with my expulsion and my friends ignoring me, but he didn’t need to know all of that. “And you know what? I’ll continue to be fine, even if I never see you again.”
“Ooh,” Maze spoke, dimples appearing on his face. “Harsh.”
“Your mother’s spirit was always misplaced. I hope you decide differently,” Henry said, shooting a quick glare in Maze’s direction. “Ignore the pup. He’s only excited because I brought him over his brother. So far, he has not impressed me with his eloquent speech.”
Maze gave a nod, as if he agreed with him. “Harsh again,” he said with a grin. “Let’s move the conversation to a better topic, yeah?” His dark eyes lingered on me, and even though Henry had just insulted him, he acted like nothing was wrong. Did wolves not argue with their elders? Seemed stupid, considering how much of a jerk Henry was. “Is there anything you want to know about the pack? Odds are, you’d hang with me over the old meanie, here.” He flicked his thumb in Henry’s direction.
Hanging out with Maze seemed both a terrible idea and something that intrigued me. He seemed funny and nice enough…not to mention how he looked when he had nothing on. His body was—
No, bad Addie, I told myself. I was only half shifter. I wasn’t going to go crazy for the first wolf my age that crossed my path.
Henry spoke, “Why don’t you and Adeline clean up, hmm? While Sarah and I retire to the living room.” He got to his feet, not waiting for anyone to respond, not even Sarah, who was supposed to be okay with it. He wandered around the corner of the kitchen, past the stairwell, and into the living room.
I looked at Sarah, whispering, “It’s fine. The quicker we do this, the quicker we can get them out.”
“Hey, heard that,” Maze quipped. “I’m sure Henry heard it, too. We have pretty good hearing, you know.”
Sighing, Sarah said, “He’s not lying.” Without saying another word, she trailed after the old man, leaving Maze and I to clean up the dishes and whatnot. Definitely not a favorite job.
I went for my plate and then my mom’s, scraping the leftover bits into the trash can sitting in the corner of the kitchen. Spending time with Maze would not change my mind. I would not soften into a pile of goo, would not feel my legs quiver just because he was attractive. His looks didn’t matter. Not even a little.
“So,” Maze spoke, and I jumped. He stood right behind me, too close. He wasn’t even carrying any bowls, only staring at me like I held all the answers. Or, well, all the questions. “What do you want to know?”
Coughing, I moved around him. I wasn’t the kind of girl who got all brain-dead at the sight of a pretty boy, even if he was oddly muscular. The ab game was strong on him. A solid six pack…something I should not think about, not while I was alone with him in the kitchen.
His abs were not the only nice thing on him…
Whoa, okay, I had no idea where that thought came from.
I managed to say, “Nothing.” I rinsed the two bowls in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher.
“Liar,” Maze said, leaning on the counter beside me, propped on his elbows and puffing out his chest like he was the baddest wolf around. “You’re curious. I can tell, and I don’t blame you.” He looked around the kitchen, at the pictures hanging on t
he walls. “I don’t know how you survived without a pack. Call me a sissy all you want, but being away from them, even for a few days, makes me feel empty.”
I met his eyes. The chocolatey color was deeper than I remembered it, warm and inviting. If I stared into his eyes much longer, I’d lose myself in them.
How stupid and cliché.
Turning away, I said, “Missing them does not make you a sissy. You’re allowed to have feelings and miss them.” Shaking my head, I mumbled, “Good to see some things are universal between humans and shifters. Men afraid to show emotion.”
“Only certain kinds of emotion,” Maze spoke, suddenly—and again—very close to me. So close I could feel his breath on my shoulders, hot and warm, making me feel…confused.
Was it my—what did Mom call it? My inner wolf, wanting to be unleashed?
Hmm, no. It was probably just the Cajun spice, working its way through my system.
I felt my inner will hardening, and I inhaled as I turned to face Maze. He stood less than a foot from me, tall and imposing for a boy who had to be near my age. He held himself confidently, more confidently than any boy I’d seen before. Even with those muscles, I would not be swayed. Even under his chocolatey stare, I would not waver. I’d already decided I wasn’t going with them.
“Look,” I said, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I’m not going to fall for it. I don’t want to go with you. The pack might be your family, but my mom is mine. Why would I want to go visit strangers who just want to use me for my uterus?” Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but once it came out of my mouth, there was no taking it back.
“Our pack isn’t like that. We’re one of the good ones,” Maze said.
“You’re saying there are bad packs out there?”
“Bad for females like you, yes. If you stay here, with your mom, you’re putting both of you in danger. She’s, no offense, old. She only has a few years left as a possible mate for roaming wolves. But you? If a pack ever gets wind of you, knows you’re unclaimed—”
“Unclaimed?” I echoed, not liking the way it sounded.
“Yeah, you know, unmated.”
My eyes shut. This was so not the conversation I wanted to have. Mates and claiming.
Maze went on, moving closer to me, his hand brushing against my arm as he swiped some of my hair over my shoulder, “If another pack, or even a lone wolf, finds you, they could take you and keep you. They might not give you a choice.”
Not liking how I kind of enjoyed the way his touch sent tingles down my arm, I stepped away. “I’ve been fine this long.”
“You’re always fine, until you’re not.”
I shook my head, even though his words were true. “That was deep, Maze. Very deep.”
“I could go deeper,” he offered. “That…came out wrong.”
I laughed. Sheepish was a cute look on him, that was for sure.
God, I couldn’t really be debating on this, could I? Going with them, checking out the pack, it wasn’t a possibility, was it? I blamed Maze for my confusion. No matter how often I said I wasn’t the kind of girl who swooned, here I was.
I practically fell over my own feet I swooned so hard.
Darn it.
Maze had his head cocked, much like he did when he was a wolf earlier. His dark eyes ate me up, and suddenly I felt so self-conscious. Not a feeling I was used to having. “Your laugh sounds like music. I love it.”
A little intense, a whole lot of weird.
I muttered, “Flattery will get you nowhere with me, wolf boy.”
“Wolf boy, is it?” Maze smiled. “I’m growing on you, aren’t I?”
“Like a fungus,” I said, wanting to smack myself. Like a fungus was not a cool comeback. It was nerdy and kind of embarrassing. “So, how long have you been looking for me?”
Maze finally got to work with the pots and the pans Sarah had used to cook the meal. “Henry never stopped looking for your mother, which totally ticked off Forest.”
“Forest?”
“Our alpha,” Maze explained. “Forest said not to go after you, but…we’ve lost a few of our pack, and he’s been busy dealing with it, which gave Henry the time to really focus on finding you, I guess.” He helped load the dishwasher, not even wiping off his wet hands before he grabbed one of mine. I was too taken off-guard to yank my hand back.
And he was so warm. Did shifters run hotter than humans?
“We need you, Addie, in more ways than one. The pack will love you, and you’ll love them. And once your wolf is free, once you feel how amazing it is to run with nothing but the wind and the moon on your back, you’ll know you belong with us.”
“I…” It was all I could say, the only word my stupid tongue could formulate.
Maze was so serious, so…close. Every part of his face was perfect. Not a single acne scar, not a pimple or a blemish. His cheekbones were high, his chin square. The earnestness in his voice made me shiver.
What were these feelings? Was it because he was a wolf? Would I feel like this in front of any shifter boy? And if that was the case…how was I supposed to control myself? I didn’t want to pop out any babies but, well, I did want to try a few other things.
Oh, God. Were those my thoughts? Not once had I ever had thoughts like that. They were completely unwelcome.
“Please,” Maze said, still holding my hand. His was rough and coarse, a strong hand, and I wondered what it would feel like as it touched my neck, cupped my face, and pulled me in close as he… “One week. Give us one week, and if we can’t convince you to stay, you can come back here. You can go, no questions asked.”
“But,” I said, slowly feeling myself crumbling under whatever power he had over me, “what about my mom?”
“She’s an adult. She’ll be fine on her own, at least for a little bit. She’s welcome to come with you, but…”
I nodded, knowing Sarah would never go back to the pack that had forced her to run away with my father years ago. What if the same thing happened to me? What if I fell for someone who wasn’t a wolf? Would they run me off, too? Although, with the way I reacted to Maze, falling for someone who wasn’t a wolf seemed almost impossibly far-off.
With what Maze had said earlier about roaming wolves, would my mom really be okay on her own? We’d been okay for this many years, but you never knew.
“You already have a suitcase full of clothes,” Maze added.
The dreamy, swoony feeling did not leave me, even as I remembered him sticking his wolf nose into my underwear. “Yes, remind me to yell at you for that,” I muttered, though my voice came out way too light, too breathy.
My freaking body betrayed me, like in those cheesy romance novels, all because Maze held my hand. What would happen if he tried to touch other parts of me?
God.
Maze didn’t look too repentant, considering. “Sorry. Better hearing, better sense of smell—”
That got me to raise my eyebrows. Was he calling my hoo-ha a smelly thing?
He grinned. “I know what you’re thinking, so let me rephrase. I wanted to know what you smelled like…no, still not any better. There’s nothing I can say to get myself out of this one, is there?”
I grinned despite my annoyance at him, said “Afraid not, sorry,” and yanked my hand out of his. Hopefully to regain control of my thoughts and my body. I never understood the boy craziness my friends had in high school and middle school…but maybe humans just didn’t do it for me.
Maybe, I was hesitant to think, maybe I should visit the pack. Just to meet them all, just to see what it would’ve been like. Odds would be I’d hate it all and want to come back home to Sarah. At least, I hoped I’d want to come home, because leaving Mom alone was not something I ever wanted to do, especially with Maze’s earlier words.
“If I don’t like it, can I leave before the week is over?” I asked, hesitant.
Maze looked depressed at the thought, his cute face frowning somewhat, but he did not deny me. He n
odded once. “Yeah, I promise. And if anyone tries to stop you, I’ll stop them.” The smile was back, and so were the butterflies in my stomach.
Maybe it was the optimist inside me trudging out for the first time in a while, but I had the slight feeling my life was about to change.
Chapter Seven – Addie
I had my suitcase on the bed, and I picked and chose what I would bring and what I would leave here, at the house. I had decided I wouldn’t stay longer than a week at Crystal Lake, at most.
My jean jacket, of course. It was one article of clothing I could never do without, even in warm weather. A few pairs of shorts, some jeans just in case, some sweats to be comfortable in. Tank tops, t-shirts. It sort of felt like I was packing to go back to school.
Only I wasn’t. I packed to visit a family, a pack I didn’t even know I had prior to today.
I wouldn’t stay. Even if I liked it, I couldn’t leave Sarah here, alone. My mom was my only friend now that my other friends had abandoned me and moved on with their lives.
Henry had been practically giddy when Maze and I had come in from the kitchen—as giddy as an old man could be. The smile he’d given me when I’d told him I would go for one week, reserving my right to leave whenever I wanted, did not make me feel any better about my choice, even with Maze grinning boyishly beside me.
Yes, even the wolf boy’s dimples couldn’t make me feel any better about leaving Sarah.
My mom stood near the window, gazing out at the dusk-filled sky. She said nothing as I packed, which bugged the heck out of me. If she was sad, disappointed, whatever, why couldn’t she say so and not let my mind worry? Put everything out in the open and air it out.
Henry and Maze were downstairs, waiting. Waiting on me to finish. As soon as I was packed and ready, we’d leave and start the long drive back to Crystal Lake. Henry had made the call on the house phone, and when I had mentioned a cell phone, Maze only shook his head and told me most of the pack was a little behind when it came to technology.
Crystal Lake Pack: The Complete Series: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance Page 5
