I shook my head, doing my best to hide the blooming tears on my face.
Evan cracked the door behind me to see and he huffed a laugh, “That rogue of yours works fast, huh?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. I’d been his companion for months. And one night after meeting her, they were kissing. He never came close to kissing me.
I retreated to the apartment and hid my broken heart with busy work. Evan taught Olly, Charlie, and I the basics of the pub.
Lee ducked into the kitchen with a blush, and Cain came into the dining room next. He was on his phone talking to someone about houses. After he finished the call he walked up to me, “Ginger, my girl, what did I tell you?”
I blinked at him, unable to speak for fear of tears.
“A house, a group of wolves, our dreams are coming true,” he reached out but didn’t touch me, “Lee says you can work here as long as you need. I’m going to go house hunting and see what magic Lottie can work on financing a loan.”
He was so excited. So happy. I’d never seen him so handsome. But his smiles weren’t for me. They were for her.
***
Over the next few weeks, I lived on the couch, working from dusk to dawn cleaning. It was the only time I could be alone with my thoughts. Cain found work at a garage while the twins worked during the day.
The only contact with other living souls I had in the pub was while Evan finished cleaning the kitchen after close and when he came into prep.
“You seem to be the only one not quite fond of this new life,” he noted after one particularly difficult day.
Cain told me that he and Lee had purchased land. They were going to take us there as soon as the papers were signed.
“I don’t like people,” I said. It was true enough. My wolf still wasn’t used to humans. She was getting better. But we much preferred cleaning their scent off the pleather seats to being surrounded by them in daylight hours.
“Let me show you something,” Evan said. I followed him into the office, and he spent the next few hours teaching me how to close out daily sales and pay out invoices for the pub.
“You need to work that brain of yours, Ginger,” he said, “I’m adding closing out the till to your list of daily duties. Okay?”
I nodded, “Thank you.”
He patted me on the back and left me to my work. I worked until Lee interrupted me for a nightly run. My wolf was fond of these or I wouldn’t do it. She enjoyed running in the woods, hiding from the larger wolves. It was like a big game of hide and seek for her.
The night after running on the new land for the first time, Lee seemed particularly dreamy eyed. I should have known she was ogling Cain. But seeing her react to him the way I reacted to him hurt.
“Should I bring you a fainting couch?” I scoffed, “You’re swooning again.”
Lee rolled her eyes at me, “I’m not swooning.”
I snorted, loading up the used glasses into my bin.
“I’m not!” she argued.
“Yeah, whatever, Lee,” I grumbled, pushing my way to the dishwasher.
I buried myself in work. Suds, glasses, steam. Anything but the way Cain and Lee looked at each other. Every time it was a stab to the gut. After everything. He was choosing her. And as much as I tried to hate her, she wouldn’t let me. She was so damn chipper about everything. Any insult she took as teasing sass. Nothing phased her. She only had eyes for Cain, my Cain.
After the pub closed, I moved to the office to tally out the day's sales while the others complained about how busy we’d been.
I hadn’t noticed. All night I was so focused on thinking about anything other than what weighed on me. How was I going to show Cain he was making a mistake wooing Lee? I had no idea.
“It’s the buzz from the show,” I grumbled, annoyed at Olly and Charlie’s constant complaining, “I heard it all night. Apparently they’ve been featuring the Tooth and Claw in the promos for the new season.”
That damn television show was going to bring more business with the coming weeks, and Lee was more focused on playing house with Cain than running her business. She was in charge of the food orders and she had yet to increase our onion or ground beef deliveries.
Rather than increasing prices or limiting patrons, Evan and Lee were bringing in more rogue wolves to work at the pub. At this rate we’d be overrun with desperate employees and once the buzz died down, what would we do then? Just turn them away? Send them back to the woods?
A cold chill raced down my spine.
They’ll send us back to the woods before they send someone strong
They would. Now that Cain is more focused on Lee
So, we run?
No, we make ourselves indispensable
***
“How do you stand it,” I grumble, watching Cain drive off with Lee. The not pack split up to get essential supplies for the Tooth and Claw. We were in desperate need of onions with the buzz from the show using our supplies days before our next delivery.
“Stand what? All you runts running around my bar?” he put the truck in gear and motored down the frontage road to the restaurant supply, “Easy, I just growl until y’all shut your yapping.”
“But you do all this work and they just...” I sighed, “I don’t get what he sees in her is all.”
“Wait, what are we talking about now?”
“Never mind.” I stared out the window as the shops passed us by until we finally reached the parking lot of the massive bulk store.
I hopped out of the car and bundled my borrowed sweater around myself. It was so damn cold here. I hated the cold.
Safer in the cold
Stupider in the cold
Evan found a massive cart, and I followed him as he loaded it with giant pallets of onions and beef.
I helped how I could, but really, the bear didn’t need a buddy on this run.
“You should have sent me off with Olly and Charlie, I bet they’re completely lost.”
“I didn’t volunteer you for onion duty because I needed the help,” Evan said, adding another pallet of onions to the cart, “Your crush on Cain is getting out of hand. And we need to come to an understanding.”
“I don't have a cru-”
“You do. Anyone with half a brain can see it,” he grunted, “Lucky for you, Lee and Cain don’t have a half a brain between them at the moment they’re so crazy in love or whatever it is you wolves do.”
“I just... why her?”
“Why not her?” Evan stopped loading the cart and crouched down to look me in the eyes. I felt like he was a father talking to a misbehaving child, “Ginger, clearly you have a lot in your past that has messed you up. We all do. That’s okay. No one is going to think less of you for having baggage, especially not here. But if you are going to sabotage the happiness of the people who have helped you, I’m going to stop you. Are we clear?”
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Of course, I do, she’s my best friend,” Evan said. His brown eyes searched mine for where that incredibly stupid question came from.
“As more than a friend. If it were up to you, we’d be building your house with Lee, not Cain.”
“Yes, but that’s not the way the world works,” Evan grunted, standing back to his full height. He turned and loaded more onions on the pallet.
“Why put up with it?” I asked him. I used the distraction of loading the onions onto the pallet to stop myself from staring at him, “Why not leave or kick us out?”
“Why would I punish Lee for something that is ultimately my issue?” Evan asked, “It’s not her fault we’re incompatible. Yes, I love her. Yes, I wish it were different. But it’s because I love her, I want her to be happy, okay? And if you actually cared for Cain, you’d see that they make each other happy and move on with your life.”
“Isn’t it pathetic to just sit there and take it? To watch her-”
“Stop it little wolf, you are dangerously close to insulting me and everyt
hing I care about,” Evan growled.
“I just don’t understand,” I whined.
“You will when you’re older,” he grumbled, “Now let’s go get the twins before they completely fuck up my order.”
Evan didn’t understand. He claimed devotion, but if he loved her he’d fight for her. Then I could have Cain, like it was always meant to be.
Chapter Eleven
Rosemary
Red Rock Arizona bus station
7 years ago
Made it safe
I put my phone back in my pocket and surveyed the parking lot. Thyme was supposed to pick me up.
The journey to Arizona was long. Boring. And reeked. Did anyone shower anymore? My head throbbed by the second hour. By the third bus change over, I was dizzy. Nausea, my constant companion.
The only thing that kept me going was knowing that my sister needed me. That she was waiting for me. That we’d be reunited.
I checked my phone constantly, sending Thyme and Jules updates on my progress, but neither sent responses. I expected that from Jules. He was busy. But Thyme always answered.
More troubling, I heard nothing from Jules. His phone was probably off. He did that when he studied in the library to keep from distractions. But shouldn’t he care that I’m safe? I promised to give him updates, but what good were the updates if he didn’t see them until it was too late?
Thyme was supposed to meet me at the bus station. But she wasn’t there.
I didn’t have any contact information for Red Rock pack members or any idea where they stayed. I called Thyme’s phone.
No answer.
I tried again and again until she finally picked up.
“Thyme?” the frantic male voice that answered was definitely not my sister.
“No, who is this?”
“Simon, who is this?”
“Rosemary,” I said, “Thyme was going to pick me up at the bus station. Where is she?”
Simon cursed on the other end of the phone. Something shattered in the background and more shouting. A loud clatter and more cursing.
“Rosemary?” A woman had the phone now, “Where are you dear?”
“Who is this now?” I had spent six hours on a bus, the last thing I wanted was to play telephone. The longer I went without answers on Thyme, the more my skin crawled. I wanted to scratch it, but I had more important things to focus on.
“Celeste Hill, Alpha Hill’s mate, Simon’s mother. I’m going to come get you, okay, where are you?”
“At the bus station,” I looked around for something, some marker I could use to be found, “By the giant flashing ATM sign.”
“Okay, I will be right there.”
“Where’s Thyme, what happened to my sister?”
“I’ll explain when I get there.”
She hung up before I could ask how long it would take. I paced in front of the ATM. Every hair stood on end. As darkness fell in the desert, my unease grew.
Thyme wouldn’t just abandon me like this. She wouldn’t run off. She had to be hiding somewhere in the house. That was it. She was fine. No matter what I told myself, it did nothing to lessen the sourness in my gut. The pain in my heart at the thought something had happened to her.
“Miss, you ok?”
I waved off the would-be good Samaritan, then I saw what had likely caused his concern.
Fur.
Pale grey fur covering my harms.
I was shifting, and I hadn’t even noticed.
I needed to hide. At least until Celeste arrived. She was an Alpha’s mate; she would be used to dealing with first shifts.
First shift.
And Thyme was missing. Maybe she’d shifted too. That would explain it. Whelps often went missing for days after their first shift. I could breathe easier thinking Thyme just shifted and her wolf was off frolicking on four legs.
But Thyme wasn’t the frolicking type. She was the run and hide type. That was comforting at least a little. If she was missing she was probably just hiding. If anyone could find Thyme, it was me.
My wolf could find Thyme and protect her if she were in danger. I found a dark corner of the parking lot and let the shift overtake me. It was more painful than the elders had described. Any movement stung like lemon juice in a paper cut. Agony, I was in agony. After what felt like an eternity of torture, I was on four legs.
The asphalt burned the pads of my paws.
Okay wolfie, where’s Thyme?
The wolf didn’t answer but bolted into the night in search of her quarry.
We’re coming, Thyme.
***
The shift back to human form had been just as painful as the shift to wolf form. But at least when I’d first shifted, I was in the town. Looking around in the bright light of day, I was naked, in the middle of the Arizona desert, and the sun was about to rise.
Cacti and brown bushes surrounded me. In the distance, I saw a mountain? I think it was a mountain. Were there mountains in the desert? I didn’t think my wolf ran that far, but from where I stood, there were no signs of human life.
I was officially lost, naked, and the temperature was going to raise exponentially with the rising sun.
Inside, my wolf paced. She was the one that forced the shift. What did she have to be upset about?
“Thyme!” I couldn’t be sure if the voices were real, or another imagined creation of my dying brain. I was too exhausted to move. If they were real, they could find me.
“She’s over here!” the voices got louder. Then shade. Blessed shade over my face, “Thyme, you shifted! I’m going to need you to shift for me, okay?”
I was lost, dizzy. Why did he call me Thyme? I open my mouth trying to talk, but I couldn’t.
Power washed over my skin. Prickles of hair as my wolf was forced from my body once again. My wolf fought it. She didn’t want to come out. She didn’t know this man. She didn’t trust him. I didn’t know him either, but I was too exhausted to fight as she wanted me to.
“Alpha Hill,” the man called, “She’s not responding to me.”
Strong hands lifted me off the ground, “Shift, Thyme.”
My wolf fought again, harder this time. But I didn’t understand why. Just give them what they want. Let me sleep. I’m so tired.
“Shift, wolf,” he commanded again. And my wolf finally complied. The shift to wolf form was even more agonizing the second time, but I was too exhausted to care.
My wolf was carried miles through the hot sun. All the while men shouted around us. She didn’t let me sleep, even though she was in charge. It was like she needed me to translate the conversations going on around us.
“What was she doing this far out?” the younger man asked. He had a bottle of water he was trying to force my wolf to drink from. She didn’t understand how the bottle worked and I tried to direct her to stick her tongue out to lap the liquid. Once she figured that out, the pain lessened a small bit.
“I don’t understand what’s going on at all,” the man carrying me, Alpha said. My wolf was keenly aware whenever he spoke, “Simon isn’t forthcoming with his latest argument with his mate. Hopefully now that her wolf has arrived, he will stop his...” the Alpha wolf growled deep in his chest, startling the wolf.
“Stop his what, sir?” the younger wolf asked.
“It’s a family matter, Marquis, if you want to learn to be a good scout, learn what is important to know and what is best left alone.”
“Yes, sir. Context may help if I ever need to track your son’s mate through the desert again.”
The Alpha rumbled again, “The human, Mara, have you seen her around?”
“Yes sir.”
The Alpha’s hands traced over my fur. Comforting me from what would come next, “Benson told me that Thyme found my son and Mara last night at the bonfire.”
“I wasn’t aware Thyme has made public appearances.”
“Thyme is shy. We’ve been pushing her to take on more Alpha Female responsibilities, and she agree
d to attend the pack bonfire. Apparently, the human returned from her summer thing last night and Benson said Thyme was really distressed seeing my son and the human together.” The Alpha’s hands flexed in my fur.
“I can carry her, sir,” Marquis offered. And the Alpha handed my wolf to the younger man.
My wolf growled at the shift in grip.
“Sorry, kid,” Marquis whispered, “It’s only going to get worse before it gets better. Okay? But we’ve got you. We’re almost to the car. And Celeste has some killer sunburn cream.”
I did my best to nod, but my head was too heavy. I let it thud on his shoulder.
“Holy shit, Virgil, you found her!” a woman’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
“You know it, Julie.”
My wolf growled again. A flurry of activity surrounded me as a blanket was wrapped around me and water pressed to my lips. My wolf lazily lapped her tongue at the poured water, greedily pulling it into her mouth. Water had never tasted sweeter.
The car ride to the Alpha house was miserable. Every bump rubbed the blanket against my skin and every stop light drove the seatbelt into my wolf’s chest. Why they forced my wolf to be belted in, I’d never understand.
The entire drive the younger wolves poked and prodded my wolf, keeping her awake and pouring water down her throat.
Simon rushed out of the house and threw open the door, the excitement on his face disappeared.
“Who is this?”
“We need to get her inside. Ask questions later.”
Simon pushed against his father, “Where’s my mate?!”
“Simon, inside,” my skin tingled with the power in Alpha Hill’s voice. I’d never felt it as a wolf before. And it was scarier than promised. I couldn’t imagine the power rolling over Simon’s skin as he resisted.
“Now.” Alpha Hill bellowed and Simon complied.
Once my wolf was across the threshold, she let me fade into unconsciousness.
***
“What do we do? The pack thinks that’s Thyme. Thanks to Virgil and his big mouth”
“Thyme’s been missing for days, and now this?”
“Did you know Thyme had a twin?”
Ginger and Thyme (Kootenai Pack Book 4) Page 8
