Chapter 22
Gunnar had seen a lot of extraordinary things since he’d moved to Nocturne Falls. Mattie and her bees topped them all. It wasn’t just magic. She had a clear connection with living creatures who liked her well enough to do her bidding.
How could that not amaze him? It made him look at her in a new light. She was special in a way he’d never imagined. He’d also realized something else about her. She wasn’t a woman who would ever choose an urban environment over a rural one.
Not if that meant being separated from her bees.
She took the cake pans out of the oven and set them on cooling racks, then began drizzling them with the honey syrup she’d made earlier.
While she did that, he checked Salvatore’s delivery app. The driver was only a few minutes away. His stomach rumbled in anticipation. “Pizza will be here shortly. How long before the bees tell you something? They must fly kind of slow, huh?”
She pulled the oven mitts off and laughed. “Honeybees fly at about fifteen miles an hour, but they can reach nearly twenty if they’re trying to keep predators from their hive. That might seem slow to some people but not to me.”
“I had no idea. So bees are highly intelligent, can make honey, one of the most delicious substances on earth, and fly faster than I realized. They’re really something.”
She smiled so wide she was practically beaming. “They sure are. Their social structure is pretty cool, too.”
“I can see why you’re drawn to them.” Her doorbell rang. “That must be the pizza. I’ll get it.” He got his wallet out as he went to the door.
He’d already paid through the app, but he handed the driver some cash for a tip, then took the pizza box. The smell made his mouth water. He carried the box back to the kitchen.
Mattie was putting plates on the table, but there was something far away about her gaze. Like she was moving out of routine and not really present.
“You okay?”
Her head jerked up. “Oh, yeah. Just thinking.”
“About what we’re going to do if we can’t find Blueberry?”
She gave a slow, hesitant nod.
He set the pizza box on the table. “If only I had an answer to that. Have you heard anything from the coven?”
“Let me look.” She pulled her phone out and looked at the screen. “There’s a new message. Corette has asked all members to cast shielding spells over the town to protect its supernatural residents.”
“That’s good. Do you need me to leave you alone so you can do that?”
She hung her head, pushing the plate in front of her slightly to the left.
“No. I’m, um … I’m not that kind of witch.
I can add spells to honey, candles, or the mead I make, and I can talk to bees.
But anything beyond the bees, their honey, or their wax, I’m not well equipped for.
” She shrugged. “It’s just not what I do. ”
She was so apologetic about it, so clearly embarrassed by what she perceived as the limitations of her powers, that he felt for her in a way he couldn’t recall feeling before.
A need arose in him that was brand-new. The desire to protect her. Outside of his family members, he’d never felt that toward another soul. The fact that he felt it now about someone who wasn’t even a shifter shook him deeply.
Worse, he wanted to comfort her. To tell her everything was going to be all right. To fight for her, if necessary.
He pulled out a chair and sat, staring blindly into space. What did that mean?
“Gunnar? You okay?”
He looked up to see her watching him, the concern on her face no longer for herself. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Except he wasn’t. He was more confused than ever.
A sudden tapping at the window overlooking the garden pulled her focus, and she immediately brightened. “The bees are back.”
That news improved his mood. He got up as she went to the door and stepped outside. But already he could see by her expression that the news wasn’t good.
She nodded at the little group of bees hovering before her in formation. “I see. Thank you.” She blew them a kiss. “Good night, my darlings.”
She took a breath as she came back inside.
“There was no sign of him, was there?”
“No,” she said quietly. “Is it possible he’s still in the woods? Maybe … hiding out by the falls? Or wherever you were when you made that wish?”
“You know him better than I do. What do you think? Would he do that? Would he deliberately stay behind, knowing I’d need him to fix this wish?”
“Did you yell at him?”
Gunnar frowned. “Yes, but in my defense, I was mad. I felt tricked.”
“I get it. Not blaming you. But he can be sensitive.”
Gunnar sighed, then shook off the frustration that was creeping up inside him. For her sake, anyway. “I guess we’re taking a drive out to the falls.”
She reached back, checking that the door was locked. “Are you going to be okay out there? The moon will be up within the hour.”
“You mean will I need to shift while we’re there? The urge will be strong, but I’ll be able to manage it until I get home.” He hoped.
“I should drive myself then. Otherwise, you’ll have to bring me home. And you probably won’t want to do that. Not if you need to do … bear stuff.”
“Right.” Except he wouldn’t have minded that at all otherwise.
“Let me just get this cake on a plate and bring it. If he’s out there and he smells this, he won’t be able to resist.” She opened a cabinet to take a plate out.
“Maybe I should drive after all. How are you going to carry that cake and drive?”
She gave him a funny look. “I was going to put the plate on the floor. And I’m not going to frost it, just throw the layers together. It’ll be enough, trust me.”
“Okay. You mind if I grab a few slices of pizza? The hungrier I am, the harder it will be for me to resist shifting.”
“Not at all.” She flipped the two pans over, adding the layers to the plate, then wrapped it all with cling film. “In fact, I’ll grab one too.”
He opened the box and let her take a slice, then he took one, folded it lengthwise, and downed it in a few bites. He grabbed another one. “All right, let’s go.”
The drive to the falls took twenty minutes, not because it was far but because the access road wasn’t something that could be traveled at speed. Without Mattie in the seat beside him, it felt even longer.
By the time they arrived, he could feel the moon’s pull. He parked in the visitor lot, rolling his head side to side to crack his neck, the itch of the coming shift crawling over his skin like the bees had been just a few short minutes ago.
“Hold it together,” he muttered. Finding the imp was all that mattered.
He got out as Mattie was parking next to him. He felt restless and unsettled, but there was nothing he could do about it. Except shift. And he wasn’t doing that in front of her.
The falls were a dull roar in the background.
It took her a moment to get out. When she did, she had the cake plate in one hand. “I haven’t been here in a while. I understand you can see a moonbow in the spray of the falls when there’s enough moonlight. Which I guess there will be tonight.”
He nodded. “Yep, you just have to know where to stand.”
Together they walked to the viewing platform, the noise of the falls rolling over them.
She glanced at the sky, now sprinkled with stars and a large, steadily rising full moon. “How are you doing?”
“I’m all right.” He wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to share that with her.
“So you always sweat like that?” She tipped her head at him.
He dragged his arm across his forehead. “I’m all right,” he repeated.
What else could he say? That the urge to shift was like a clanging bell in his head?
That the desire to let his inner self loose and run rampant through the forest was all he could think about?
That the thought of raking his claws down the trunk of a tree made his hands twitch in anticipation?
When they reached the viewing platform, she unwrapped the cake. He could smell the sweet honey and vanilla aroma immediately. Unfortunately, it only added to the pressing compulsion to change forms.
“Blueberry,” Mattie called out, her voice rising over the rush of the water. “Where are you? I miss you, and I want you to come home. I brought you some honey cake.”
Seconds ticked by with no sign that Blueberry was near.
She nudged Gunnar. “Tell him you’re sorry.”
As much as he felt the imp was equally to blame, Gunnar’s time was running out. If he didn’t shift in the next hour or so, the decision would be taken out of his hands. “Blueberry, come on back, buddy. I’m sorry for yelling at you. Look, Mattie made your favorite cake. And I helped.”
More time passed and still nothing to indicate Blueberry was in the area.
Mattie looked defeated. He racked his brain, trying to come up with an idea. “Hey, what if I wish for Blueberry to appear?”
She gave him a slight smile. “That would be great. If Blueberry was here to grant that wish.”
“Oh. Right.” The need to shift was muddling his mind. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. This obviously isn’t working. Maybe someone in the coven can cast a spell to locate him. Then again, magic doesn’t always play well with other magic.” She sighed, her expression taking on the same dejected cast.
“How about we leave the cake on the railing and walk away from it. Then he can show up without us watching. And if we head up the trail a ways, I can show you the moonbow.”
“Yeah? Okay.” She set the cake down.
Together they walked past the viewing platform and along the trail until he stopped her by a large rock outcropping. “There,” he said.
“Where?”
He took her gently by the shoulders and moved her to the right, which put her in front of him.
She gasped. “Wow. I see it.”
He leaned closer, inhaling the scent of her hair and the perfume of her skin. Even as he moved toward her, he knew he shouldn’t do it. He knew the risk of heightening his already amped-up internal systems by layering a new kind of desire over it.
A moment later, with his hands still on her shoulders, something inside him snapped. His inner beast, breaking free. His blood ran hot in his veins and loud in his ears.
Releasing her, he backed away, breathing hard, trying to hold himself together until he could get a safe distance away.
He stumbled over a rock, then turned and ran into the forest.