“None of our guests will hurt you,” he said, finally finding something he felt certain about.
Ada paced around the little office, flipping her phone over and over in her hands. “But they might hurt Angel?”
Joshua stuffed his hands in his pockets and told himself she might not appreciate him jumping over the counter so he could hold her, no matter how much he wanted to. “Scout and Jase aren’t universally loved.” It was possibly the biggest understatement in the history of time. Things were better than when Scout and Liam first took over the Alpha Pack years ago, but there were still many packs who thought of Scout as an abomination and Jase as a traitor. “They’re both too strong to Challenge outright, but Angel is their all-too-human little sister. If someone wanted to hurt them, she would be a prime target.”
“Because Angel is human,” Ada muttered before stopping mid-step and pivoting toward him. “You talk about Scout like she’s some sort of supreme ruler, and then casually mention people might hurt Angel just to get to her. What kind of crazy world do you live in?”
She was dressed in the Serenity Shores uniform - a burgundy polo shirt with khaki pants. It was quite possibly the least flattering outfit in the entire world, but she still managed to look beautiful. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, which drew attention to her high cheekbones, round eyes, bow-shaped mouth, and delicately pointed chin. She was like a pixie trying her hand at being an average human.
“Everyone lives in the same crazy world,” he said, unable to focus on anything other than her lips. They were a light pink color, perfectly contrasted against the cream of her skin. She had tasted of salt when he’d kissed her, and it was a flavor he longed to taste again. “It’s a world where bad things happen to good people, the evil are rewarded instead of punished, children get sick, and some of the people with the biggest hearts never know what it’s like to be loved. At least the Shifters and Seers have rules and structure. They might be some screwed-up rules, and the structure might have some OCD-like tendencies, but it’s better than the absolute free-for-all of life.”
Ada tossed her phone back onto the desk and came over to the counter. She propped her elbows on the edge and rested her face in her hands. “You’re not going to let this werewolf story of yours go, are you?”
“It’s not a story. Well, there is a story there, but it’s all true. Shifters exist.”
Ada snorted her disbelief, causing Joshua to chuckle. Her inability to accept the truth of Shifters after she so readily believed his existence as an Immortal amused him.
He crossed his arms on the counter and leaned forward, which he quickly realized was a bad idea. The position put his face no more than a foot from Ada’s. At this distance, he could see each individual eyelash and the almost-invisible freckles on her nose. He knew her lips were as soft as they looked, which added a whole new level of torture.
Over the decades he’d kissed a lot of girls, more than he could remember, but none of those other kisses compared to tasting Ada for the first time. She woke up something he thought was dead inside of him, and that part of him ached to feel her pressed against him again. He wondered if she felt the same. They hadn’t touched at all since that day at her house, but was it because they hadn’t had a moment alone since, or because she didn’t want a repeat performance?
He could ask her. It would be the mature and least complicated way of doing things, but he was too afraid of her answer to follow through.
“So,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts, “let’s say werewolves are real.”
“They’re called Shifters, and they are.”
“If they’re real, and you’ve seen them do their whole magical transformation thing, how do you still believe in God?”
To anyone who had wandered in off the street, it might have seemed like a strange jump in the conversation, but Joshua had been expecting it. Theological debates were becoming the cornerstone for their conversations. While Angel and Kinsey did whatever it is twelve-year-old girls do, he and Ada would talk for hours, mostly about his spiritual conviction and her lack of faith. Most people may have found the discussion tedious, and he knew there were few people who could go into such a debate and come out with their feelings and friendship in tact, but those conversations only strengthened Joshua and Ada’s relationship. Each of them was fascinated by the other’s viewpoint, not offended. They genuinely cared why the other felt the way they did, and examined the issue from every imaginable angle.
“How could I not?” Joshua said, thinking of the first time he’d seen one of the Shifters Change. It had been during the battle against the old Alpha Pack. He stood guard with his sword as a dozen men completed their long and painful transformation from human to animal. “I’ve seen men who weigh 150 pounds turn into seventy pound coyotes. Who could make that possible other than God?”
“Maybe it’s magic.”
“And maybe magic is nothing more than a show of God’s power.”
Ada shook her head and looked down, depriving him of seeing the emotions lurking in her quixotic eyes. “We’re so different,” she said, and he could hear what she wasn’t saying in her defeated tone.
“I don’t know why people always assume different is the same as bad,” he said, reaching over to tip her chin up with one finger. “Different is necessary. You can’t harmonize if you’re both playing the same note.”
His finger trailed softly from her chin down her neck, causing her eyelids to flutter close. Talley was right. The fall had been inevitable. His heart ached with how much he wanted to keep Ada forever.
“How do you know when it’s harmony and when it’s dissonance?” Her voice was breathy, her eyes were closed, and Joshua couldn’t hold back any longer. He brushed his lips across hers, reveling in the way they felt like satin.
“Does that feel like dissonance to you?” he whispered, still close enough he could feel her lips turn up in a smile.
“Feels like magic to me,” she muttered against his mouth before taking it once more in a kiss.
Chapter 20
“We are going to get in so much trouble.”
A stage had been erected on the beach near the water. People were everywhere, and Ada noticed cans of beer in many of their hands.
Kinsey was right. Getting out of the car and walking down there was like getting down on their knees and begging their father to ground them until they turned thirty.
“Going to a secular rock concert is on my list,” Ada said, knowing her sister would understand. Kinsey was the only person besides Joshua who knew about Ada’s list, and she’d been instrumental in crossing several of things off over the years. She’d even helped Ada think of new items to add.
Kinsey nibbled on her fingernails as she watched a man roughly the size of a horse, with arms covered in brightly colored tattoos walk past the car carrying something large, metal, and round on his shoulder.
“It’s on my list, too,” Kinsey said, her eyes never leaving the horse man. “But so is living until my thirteenth birthday.”
As far as their father knew, Ada and Kinsey were at a dinner party with the Donovans. What he didn’t know was that there would be hundreds of people and a band there as well. They’d been to concerts before, but always of the Christian variety. And yes, some of them had been Christian rock concerts, but no one smoked at a Christian rock concert. Here there was a hint of something a bit stronger than Marlboros in the air.
She wanted to get out of the car, she really did, but a lifetime of doing what she was supposed to do made her hesitate. She was just about to suggest they leave when Kinsey said, “Is that Angel?”
Sure enough, her sister’s friend was standing in the middle of the crowd, her blue sundress only slightly longer than the one she’d worn the night before.
“Who is that guy she’s talking to?” Kinsey asked sounding more concerned than curious.
When Ada figured out who Kinsey was talking about, she groaned. This guy was only slightly smaller than
Horse Man, but there was a very real chance he had more tattoos.
“Come on,” Ada said, opening her door. “If she ends up murdered or pregnant we’ll never forgive ourselves.” She was only half-teasing. She didn’t really understand what was going on around here, but Joshua seemed honestly concerned about Angel’s safety.
Angel was predictably standing in the most crowded section of the beach, which meant Ada and Kinsey had to wind and push their way through a throng of people to reach her. By the time they made it to the place they’d last seen her, she was gone.
“Damn it,” Ada muttered, turning around in a circle. Angel was nowhere to be seen. She scanned the edge of the woods, expecting to see Angel sneaking off with her would-be killer. “Text her and see where she’s gone,” she told Kinsey as she continued her search of the crowd.
She was turning back toward the stage when large, strong hands grabbed her arms. She froze, too scared to even breathe.
“Lose something?” a terrifyingly male voice rumbled from behind her.
There had been a time when she didn’t spook so easily, but in the past week she’d witnessed a shooting, found out the world was filled with supernaturals, and gotten a handful of threatening text messages.
Die bitch.
If she’d been alone, she might have reacted differently, but she had a little sister to protect, so she held her chin high and said, “I couldn’t find our friend, but here he comes.” She plastered a smile on her face and waved enthusiastically at Horse Man, who was wading through the crowd. He saw her, and with confusion evident on his face, waved back. Ada let out a shaky breath, but the hands holding her shoulders didn’t let go.
“You know the Pack Leader of the Hasselthrope Pack?” This time the voice sounded somewhat familiar. He loosened his hold just enough she was able to turn. She almost laughed in relief at seeing his face.
“Actually, no. But I think I saw him carry a keg earlier,” she said to Liam Cole, who she’d met the night Joshua rescued her at the drive-in. “Sorry. I thought you were someone scary.”
Liam’s eyes narrowed. “I am scary.”
“Everyone here is scary. At least you’re a scary person we know,” Kinsey said, finally looking up from her phone. “Who is Layne, and why has he kidnapped my best friend on your orders?” she asked Liam.
“Layne is a punk kid who needs an attitude adjustment, and he didn’t kidnap Angel. He escorted her to the VIP box, where you two are heading right now,” he said as some guy jostled into Kinsey, spilling beer on her foot.
Ada didn’t argue as Liam ushered them through the crowd. Unlike their trek into the masses, their exit was obstacle free. People were nearly tripping over themselves to get out of Liam’s way.
“Are all these people going to be at your wedding tomorrow?” she asked. He was leading them up a staircase built into the side of a hill. Hillman House, where Dorian had thrown his ill-advised party last week, sat at the top. Once they were halfway up, she could see a small gathering of people on the pool deck overlooking the lake.
“No,” Liam said, glancing back at the crowd. There were at least a couple of hundred people milling around down there. “Most of them didn’t receive an invitation, so they won’t be able to come onto the property tomorrow. We didn’t realize so many people would come just to be in the same town as the event. From what I can tell, every cabin, hotel room, and rental property from here to Nashville is booked with people who want to wish us marital bliss.” The last part was said with a healthy dose of sarcasm. “Jase threw together this party to let them get a good look at us and blow off some steam so we won’t have any drama tomorrow.”
Hundreds of people had traveled to Lake County just for a chance to see Liam and Scout on their wedding weekend? Ada didn’t care what Joshua said, his world was way crazier than the one she lived in.
The bride-to-be was waiting for them at the top of the stairs. She opened the keycard-coded gate, giving her fiancé a quick kiss before saying, “Excellent. You fished them out before the natives got ahold of them.”
“Of course,” Liam said, pulling her against him. “Your wish is my command.” And then he took her lips with his again, this time deepening the kiss into something that wasn’t entirely appropriate for the young and innocent. Ada turned to shield Kinsey’s eyes, but her sister was already on her way to confer with Angel on the far side of the deck.
Ada wandered away from the happy couple and searched for a place where she could try to blend into the background. Unfortunately, there weren’t quite enough people for that to happen. She recognized Jase, Talley, and Angel, of course. The guy who had escorted Angel home last night was there with a artsy-looking chick whose head might have come to Ada’s shoulder. They were talking to a guy who reminded her a lot of Angel’s escort, but this guy was closer to Ada’s age. On the other side of the deck were three girls Ada thought she might have seen around over the past week. If she was right, one of them spoke with a Russian accent. That girl was holding the hand of the super-modelesque girl as they appeared to be trying to calm down the younger red-headed girl.
“He’s not here.”
Ada jumped, an undignified squeak escaping her throat. She’d been too busy gawking at everyone to notice Angel coming up beside her.
“Joshua,” Angel clarified. “He’s not here.” Her eyes met Ada’s in challenge. Ada didn’t really have a problem with the girl, but this whole situation was becoming tedious.
“He invited me,” Ada said, putting all the confidence she didn’t necessarily feel into her gaze.
“Yeah, well, he’s not here right now,” Angel said. “But he will be. Later. So, you can, like, hang out with Kinsey and me until he gets here, if you want.”
It was the proverbial olive branch, and Ada wasn’t too proud to snatch it up. Angel had been a part of Kinsey’s life, and therefore a constant in Ada’s as well, for as long as she could remember. When Joshua disappeared after the wedding, Angel would still be around for years to come.
Ada’s stomach dropped at the realization. Joshua was leaving. Soon. As in, by this time next week, he would be nothing more than a memory.
What had she done letting herself get emotionally attached to someone who was packing up and leaving town with the rest of this bizarre circus?
She walked in a fog over to the bench where Kinsey and Angel sat. She barely paid attention to what was heaped onto the plate someone, maybe Mrs. Donovan, handed to her and didn’t even taste the food as she ate.
He was leaving. She’d only known him for a week, but she could already feel the loss of him like a hole in the core of her being.
As the sun started to set, the energy from the crowd reached a fevered pitch. It sounded like an overly large nest of angry hornets had been set loose on the beach. On the deck, a game - which appeared to be a hybrid of Frisbee, tackle football, and karate - was causing Ada, Kinsey, and Angel to huddle together, fearing for their lives.
“Concert is about to start.” Jase jumped over their bench, nearly kicking Kinsey in the head as he dove for the paper plate they were tossing around. “I think that means you have an elsewhere to be,” he said to his sister as he tried punch her in the stomach. She moved out of the way at the last moment, grabbing his arm and flipping him in the air. The makeshift Frisbee fell from his grasp, and Liam swiped it up.
“If we have to go,” Liam said, tossing the Frisbee to the Russian girl, “then you do, too.”
Jase nodded at one of the guys who Ada thought was called Layne. She was having trouble keeping straight which one was Layne and which one was Charlie, but she thought Charlie was the nice one and Layne was the one who was in high school. At Jase’s prompting, maybe-Layne ran at the Russian girl full-force. Proving she wasn’t stupid, she tossed the Frisbee to Scout.
“Why would I have to go down there?” Jase asked, his eyes narrowing on his sister as she surveyed the “goal,” which happened to be the trashcan two feet behind where Jase was standing.
“Because,” Scout said, feinting to the left and then pivoting on her foot and going around Jase’s right side. She dropped the paper plate into the trash can. “You’re in charge of public relations. The face of the Alpha Pack.” She pinched one of his cheeks, her glee the perfect antithesis to his scowl. “I couldn’t possibly go on stage without you announcing my presence first.”
There was more grumbling and arguing, but eventually Jase headed down to the beach with Liam and Scout. Moments later the stage lit up. Jase stepped out and the rambunctious crowd went silent. He spent a good five minutes warming up the audience with his effortless smiles and charm. Then he introduced the Alpha Male and Alpha Female, and the crowd went crazy. The cheer was nearly deafening. The mood on the deck where Ada was stationed was somewhere beyond the stratosphere. Everyone was giving each other high-fives and lifting glasses of champagne in celebration. Ada was smiling and laughing along with everyone else, even allowing the other girls to pull her into a fairy circle dance/conga line. She didn’t know what Liam said, she wasn’t sure anyone did, but when he was done another cheer rose from the audience.
Ada was trying to catch her breath as the Alphas stepped away from the mics and gave the audience a Katniss-and-Peeta-on-the-Victory-Tour wave.
“You’re going to want to watch this,” Talley said, walking up beside Ada. Ada wasn’t sure what she was talking about until she caught a glimpse of the person Scout stopped to talk to as she walked down the steps that led off the side of the stage.
“Is that Joshua?” she asked even though the answer was obvious. “What is he doing?”
Talley didn’t answer, because what he was doing was just as obvious. He had an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder, and he walked right up to the mic and adjusted the height.
Infinite Harmony Page 16
