Chapter 9
Nia’s heart had already been pounding as she and Cole explored each other’s bodies, but now it was working double time. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t have done this.
“Seriously?” Brianna shouted. “What in the actual fuck is going on here?”
Tearing her eyes away from Cole, Nia saw her best friend standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining area. Her fists were balled at her sides, and her cheeks were an inflamed shade of pink.
Nia pushed herself off the counter and slid to the floor. “Bri, it’s not what you think.”
“It’s not?” Brianna challenged, her voice full of venom. “You’re not making out with my dad at our bakery?”
“Okay, it is what it looks like,” Nia amended desperately, “but there’s more going on here than you know.”
“Oh, god.” Brianna put her hand in the air with her palm out. “Then I don’t want to know. What the hell? How long has this been going on? No, never mind! I don’t want to know that, either.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nia tried to explain, realizing how it sounded. “This hasn’t been going on, and nothing like that has happened. It’s just that Cole and I are—”
“Yeah, I saw!” Brianna braced her hand against the opposite end of the counter from where Nia and Cole stood. She bent forward. “I think I’m going to be sick. I can’t believe you did this to me, Nia.”
“Don’t blame her,” Cole said, rushing forward with the trash can at the sight of his daughter in such distress. He put his hand on Brianna’s back. “It’s my fault. I should have said something right away.”
Brianna batted him away with her free hand. “Said something? What would you have said that would make any of this okay?”
Cole took a respectful step back, but the rigid set of his shoulders suggested he wasn’t giving up just yet. “We can talk about this like rational adults.”
“Shit.” Brianna put her hand over her eyes. A line of red was creeping up her neck.
“It’ll be all right,” Cole soothed.
“It will not!” Brianna exploded, the yellow of her inner wolf’s eyes flashing. She straightened and pounded her fists on the counter. “How do you think it’ll look when everyone finds out the fucking chief of police is fooling around with someone his daughter’s age? It’s disgusting!”
Cole took another step back as though Brianna’s words had been a physical attack.
Nia saw the hurt on his face, and she felt for him.
This was exactly why they’d tried so hard not to get close, not to give themselves a chance to pursue what their inner beasts wanted so badly.
It couldn’t happen without someone getting hurt.
“That’s not fair, Brianna,” Nia said, instantly feeling the need to come to Cole’s defense. “It isn’t like he was taking advantage of me.”
“Don’t you tell me about what’s fair!” Brianna roared.
“I invited you out to Montana. I let you move into my house. I wanted to make you an honorary member of our pack. I wanted to make sure you felt like you belonged here while we lived out this stupid dream of ours. I could’ve just done it all on my own, but no.
I had to bring you in on it because of some dumb sentimentality I had over what I thought was our friendship, and this is how you repay me? ”
“Brianna.” Cole’s voice was firm and hard, a sharp snap back to reality. It was his dad voice, Nia realized, which only helped drive home just how difficult this situation was.
It worked, though. Brianna uncurled her fists.
She clamped her hands around the edge of the counter, her fingers above and her thumbs below.
Though she was still glaring at the two of them, she took a deep breath.
Her cheeks puffed as she blew it out. “What?” she hissed, barely keeping control of herself.
Cole also took a moment to gather himself.
Nia had to admire this about them. Brianna had a strong personality.
When she got excited about something, she dove into it headfirst. That was wonderful, but she went to the same extremes when she was angry or sad.
Nia had seen her explode before, but it’d always been aimed at someone else.
As the pack Alpha and the police chief, Cole had a pretty strong personality, too.
He wasn’t nearly as fiery as Brianna, but Nia could imagine how difficult things could be between the two of them sometimes.
As good as it was to see them both trying to return to a state of calm, it didn’t give Nia much hope that they could all leave the bakery with smiles on their faces.
“First of all,” Cole began, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that it happened this way. I’m sorry that you feel betrayed and that we weren’t honest with you. I know that had to hurt.”
“Yeah,” Brianna said thickly, staring at the counter instead of looking at either of them.
Cole looked at Nia and swallowed. She understood and nodded.
“We weren’t being entirely honest with ourselves,” Cole continued.
“Nia and I knew that this would hurt you, and we thought we could stay apart. We thought we could pretend to be something other than what we actually are for your sake. For everyone’s sake.
But it’s not that simple when you’re fated to someone. ”
Brianna’s arms stiffened, a hard angle between her body and the counter. “Fated?” she whispered.
Nia moved a little closer so that she stood as close to Brianna as Cole did, though she didn’t dare stand next to him.
She wouldn’t boldly flaunt her bond with Cole in Brianna’s face, no matter how honest it was.
“Yes. We felt it when I first got here, when we were on that run with the pack. I couldn’t say anything to you, because it felt so complicated.
I didn’t know what to do about it. Neither of us did. ”
Truly, Nia still didn’t know what she was going to do.
When Cole had her up on that counter with his arms around her, she could easily see their future together.
It was solid and reliable, a tangible thing that she’d always dreamed of and that had become a reality.
Now, standing in front of Brianna, it felt tenuous once again.
“We didn’t choose this,” Nia told her, moving a little closer. “I’m so sorry that you had to find out this way. We truly didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t exactly do the right thing and just come clean about it, no matter what you say your intentions were,” Brianna reminded her.
“I know.” There weren’t enough apologies to make it all right. Nia understood that, yet she still wished she knew something she could say to fix this. She’d been as close to Brianna as she was to her coven sisters, and she wanted to be again.
Brianna pulled another deep breath in through her nose. “There’s one good thing about this.”
Hope surged inside Nia.
Brianna’s head snapped up, and the hateful look in her eyes quickly extinguished Nia’s hope. “I didn’t ask you to go in on the lease with me.”
She might as well have stabbed a knife right through Nia’s heart.
“Brianna…” Cole tried, but Brianna shook her head.
“No. This is too freaky. This isn’t what normal people do. They hang out together, and maybe the dad helps fix a shelf or something, but it doesn’t lead to shit like this. I’m so done.” Her jaw was tight as she locked eyes with Nia. “I want nothing to do with you.”
Nia nodded. “I understand.”
“Wait a second,” Cole tried. “The two of you have been best friends for years. And as for me—”
“I’m stuck with you,” Brianna retorted. “Don’t try to talk to me like I’m a little kid or as if I haven’t thought it through.
I might have been in on your little sordid affair for all of five minutes, but that’s more than enough time for me to know that I can’t ever look at this and think it’s okay. ”
When Cole started to speak again, Nia shook her head.
He wanted to smooth it over and make it all okay, but not even a man with his authority could do that.
She’d found her mate, but she’d lost everything in the process.
She could pack up and leave right then, but something much more important than her feelings or Brianna’s had to be taken care of first.
“I have to stay long enough for Beck and Kendrick to get here and help the baby dragons,” Nia told her.
She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, trying to give herself the confidence that she didn’t actually have at the moment.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream about how unfair it was to be forced to choose between the man she was destined to be with and the woman she’d been best friends with for a decade.
She wanted to grab Brianna by the shoulders and tell her she didn’t know what it felt like to meet her mate, so who was she to judge?
But she forced herself to stay calm and quiet. Nia swallowed. “I’m the link between those babies and the help that’s on the way from Salem, and it doesn’t feel right to just abandon them. I’m going to stay until that’s resolved, and then I’ll go. Is that all right?”
Brianna’s face was made of stone. Finally, she shoved herself back from the counter. “Do whatever the fuck you want. That’s obviously what you’ve been doing anyway.” She turned on her heel and stormed out through the kitchen, slamming the back door shut behind her.
Cole sighed. “I’m sorry, Nia, but I feel like I should go after her. I need to at least make sure she gets home safe with the state she’s in.”
“No, that’s fine.” Brianna was his daughter, and Nia couldn’t ask him to make any other decision. “I’ve got to finish cleaning up here, anyway.”
He moved toward the door, but then he paused and turned. “You don’t have to go, you know.” His forehead creased with worry as his dark eyes searched her face.
“Yes, I do. And so do you. Goodnight, Cole.” She picked up the broom.
Cole sighed, his wide shoulders sagging. “Goodnight, Nia. You should probably lock the door this time.” He headed out the front.
When she saw his headlights come on, Nia thumbed the lock.
She turned off the music that had sounded so fun and cozy earlier in the day.
She and Brianna had worked so hard to create a space that felt welcoming and comfortable, but now it was just a hollow, empty place that matched the one in her heart.
Nia slowly dragged the broom across the floor.
Cole said she didn’t have to leave. It was a nice thought, a lovely fantasy that Brianna would come around and everything would work out.
They were meant to be, after all. Every shifter knew their fated was out there in the world somewhere for them, so why would anyone deny Cole and Nia what they all wanted for themselves?
But they would, and she and Cole had always known it.
The pack wouldn’t approve. Brianna sure as hell didn’t approve.
Nia refused to sneak around behind anyone’s back, nor would she ruin someone else’s life for her own sake.
Her lynx hissed angrily at the idea of going anywhere without Cole now that she’d found him, but she could see no other option.
Once the dragons were cared for, she’d leave the bakery and all her shattered dreams behind.