Chapter 19
Allie was surrounded by beauty. Flowers filled the air with their sweet spring scents, and early evening shadows made the ivy look like it was climbing and twisting over the stone before her eyes.
It should have been a magical evening, but she couldn’t enjoy it.
Her mind was too full of thoughts tumbling over one another.
Thoughts about her dad, about family, about love and loyalty.
When she sighed, Josh squeezed her hand.
“What’s wrong, Allie?”
“Nothing.” She avoided meeting his eyes, afraid he’d see she was keeping things from him. “I just think I should get home. Check in with Aunt Selene.”
Allie wanted to hear what her auntie had to say about the Beltane ritual.
Josh had been frustratingly reticent about the whole thing.
And she was desperate to tell Auntie Sel about her dad coming to the house.
It didn’t feel right to tell anyone else before her aunt knew.
Ugh. If she was completely honest with herself, she was nervous about Josh finding out.
She knew that he, that all werewolves, despised vampires.
“Aren’t you enjoying yourself?” He used his grip on her hand to reel her in for a kiss.
Butterflies swarmed in her belly, and she smiled against his lips. Even when she was distracted by worry, he made her body fizz with delight.
“I am,” she told him. “You know I love the garden. Especially at sunset.”
“That’s why we’re here.” He grinned and kissed her again.
“You’re being awfully nice.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “We’ve done all my favorite things today. Donuts for breakfast, a bike ride, ice cream, pizza, now the garden.”
“I wanted to make up for last night,” he said. “I missed you.”
She snuggled into the curve of his arm. “Thanks. I missed you too. I’m bummed I couldn’t be at the party.”
It probably wasn’t fair to be suspicious. Josh liked to spoil her, and it was no surprise he felt guilty he’d left her alone last night. He’d left her alone . . . and look what had happened. None of it was his fault, but her mood had soured because of it.
“Is that all it is?” He rested his chin on the crown of her head. “You’ve been kinda out of it all day.”
“I’m just worried about my aunt.” That was a half-truth. Her insides had been jumping around with nerves since the moment her dad showed at her front door and the one person she needed was unavailable.
“I told you she had a great time last night,” Josh said. “She’s fine.”
“Can you please take me home?” She pulled away so she could look at him. “I’d really like to talk to her.”
Josh shuffled his feet, avoiding her gaze. “I think she’s busy.”
“What do you mean she’s busy?” she asked. “You said she’d be asleep all day.”
Allie didn’t get why he was being so weird. Josh was usually warm and cheerful with her, but he’d been guarded all day. Maybe she’d been so distracted by her own problems that she’d done something wrong. Great. Now she was paranoid that Josh was mad at her.
“If I let you know what’s going on, you can’t tell your aunt,” he said with more than a little reluctance.
Her worry that she’d upset him mingled with a new fear that Aunt Selene was in trouble. Had she messed up the Beltane ritual? Oh god, was she in paranormal jail? “Tell her what?”
“That I told you who she’s with right now.”
“She’s with someone?” Allie’s eyes widened. “I thought she was at home in bed.”
“She is,” he answered, voice sly.
“Josh!” Allie gasped. “You’d better tell me what’s going on, right now!”
He laughed. “She’s with Fen.”
Allie stared at him. “Aunt Selene and Fenris . . .”
She felt like shock had turned her limbs into stone as his words sank in. All she could do was stand there and stare at him. The words coming out of his mouth couldn’t have been further from what she’d imagined.
He kept laughing.
When she convinced her body to move again, she slugged him in the arm. “Stop!”
“Your face was priceless,” he said and touched her cheek. “Why are you frowning? I thought you’d be happy.”
“I’m just surprised,” Allie said and shifted her focus to a nearby rosebush. In bed with Fenris was better than paranormal jail but still troubling. A few days ago it wouldn’t have been, but today . . .
“Why surprised?” Josh asked. “We’ve talked about this. Fen and Selene make a good match. It was just a matter of time.”
“I know . . . but that was before—” She cut herself off.
His brow crinkled. “Before what?”
“Never mind,” she said quickly. “But I do really want to talk to her. Can I go home now?”
She couldn’t tell Josh. Not yet. Not when everything she’d believed about her life and what it should look like had been turned on its head. Frustration bubbled, churning in her belly.
“I just told you that she’s not alone,” he countered. “It might be awkward—”
“I know, but I need to go home,” she said and kicked the gravel path with the toe of her shoe.
Josh shook his head. “That would be a bad idea.”
“It’s almost dark, Josh,” Allie said. “Do you really think they’re still . . .”
Heat poured into her face, and she couldn’t finish the sentence. Wishing her aunt would get a happy ever after was one thing. Thinking about her doing things with Fenris was something else entirely.
“Knowing Fen, I’d bet on it.” He smirked. “He won’t be able to get enough of her. And there is no way I’m going to risk pissing him off.”
Nope. She didn’t like this at all. And it felt really disrespectful for Josh to be so casual about something Allie thought was serious. She crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s my aunt you’re talking about! Knock it off.”
“I didn’t mean any offense,” he said quickly. “He won’t do anything to hurt Selene. I told you that. I don’t want to interrupt their time together. It’s not only about sex. He has important things to discuss with her.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not allowed to talk about it before he’s given me permission,” he said, expression shuttering.
“That’s not fair,” Allie said. “There are so many things you can’t tell me. I don’t like it.”
Maybe my dad was right. Maybe Josh isn’t being honest with me. Maybe I can’t trust him as much as I thought.
Josh shrugged. “I don’t cross the pack leader.”
He gave her a serious look and slipped his arms around her waist. “Neither should you.”
“Josh!” A gruff voice reached them from the direction of the manor.
Allie had been about to push Josh away, still angry that he was dodging her questions, when she turned to see two tall, broad-shouldered men walking swiftly toward them.
“Hey, Bannock. Hey, Ewan.” Allie shifted nervously on her feet as they drew near.
Most of the werewolves seemed like regular people to her, but Fen’s personal guard always made her blood run cold.
They were as old as Fenris, his closest advisers and fiercest warriors.
Josh had told her too many stories about their exploits in defense of the wolves’ territory.
All tales brimming with violence and death.
“Allison.” Bannock’s long chocolate-hued hair was caught behind his head, the length tied with a strip of braided leather. He flashed teeth at her. She knew it was a wolfish smile, but she still had to fight back a shudder. Sometimes werewolves were just plain scary.
“Evening, lass.” Ewan was never anything but formal and overly polite, and echoes of an ancient Scots brogue gave everything he said a pleasant lilt. His sweep of ebony bangs fell in front of his eyes when he inclined his head in her direction.
“We need to speak to Josh for a moment,” he continued. “Will you excuse us?”
“Sure.” Allie was happy enough to give the guards space, but Josh kept one arm tight around her waist. She was simultaneously annoyed and comforted.
How much sense did that make? Too many things were happening too quickly.
The sudden pivots of her own emotions were exhausting, and she had no idea what to do about it.
On the one hand she wanted to turn and bury her face in Josh’s chest; on the other she was tempted to flip him off and run away.
“What is it?” he asked.
“We finished the trace this afternoon,” Bannock said. His eyes flickered to Allie.
Even that brief glance made her lean into Josh, which made it sting deeply that he was the one to step away from her.
“You’d better give us a few minutes, Allie,” Josh said.
“I’ll just wait for you by the fountain,” she said, not liking how quickly she could go from feeling like she was at the center of Josh’s universe to being set aside for more important matters. Was that what it meant to be a werewolf? The pack always came first?
She glanced back once to see the three men huddled in a tight circle.
Josh’s body tensed, and as the other men spoke, he looked more and more unhappy.
An icy trickle of foreboding slid along the back of Allie’s neck.
She shook off the strange, unpleasant feeling and continued down the path until she reached a large marble fountain at the center of the garden.
Taking a seat on the edge of the rippling pool, she trailed her fingers through the clear water.
A few days ago she would have tossed a coin in the pool and wished for something to happen between Aunt Selene and Fen.
Now she was close to wishing the opposite. Her dad had confused everything.
Why did he have to be so nice?
She’d spent years being angry at him for leaving, and she’d forgotten all the good things about him, especially how funny he was.
He’d hung out with her for several hours last night.
They’d watched TV together. He’d listened to her stories about school.
He’d even been okay about Josh—and she knew he couldn’t be crazy about the fact that her boyfriend was a werewolf.
Vampires and werewolves rarely got along.
He did offer some warnings about the drawbacks that could come along with wolves and their strict pack rules, but nothing he said was unreasonable.