Chapter 14 #2
“You make a lot of promises,” she murmurs. “But promises don’t mean much from what I’ve seen.”
“Then just watch me. I’ll show you that I’m someone you can trust.”
Reaching behind his head, Ledger tugs off his shirt and tosses it aside, taking a few steps back to appear less threatening.
His jeans are the next to go, and finally, he strips off his boxers, proudly standing naked on the front lawn in full view of the neighbors without a care for anyone other than Ever.
He may be my best friend, but I kind of hate him right now.
Ever has his full attention, leisurely taking in every inch of muscle Ledger’s happily showing off.
Like that wasn’t enough, he’s got the whole alpha-daddy thing going for him that girls go crazy for.
When there are men like him around, what sort of chance would someone like me ever stand with a woman as impressive as Ever?
But… nothing happens. After a solid minute of standing there like a pervert, Ledger’s brow furrows, closing his eyes to concentrate. And when he opens them, wide-eyed and hands clenching into fists, he whips his panicked gaze to me. “You didn’t bring any new projects home, did you?”
I lift my hands in surrender. “No, of course not.”
“Then why the fuck can’t I shift!?” he shouts, running a shaky hand through his dark hair and slamming his eyes shut once more, jaw clenched so hard I’m amazed he doesn’t crack a tooth.
Ever scoffs. “Not sure what you were hoping to get out of this charade, but I’m out.” Pivoting on her heel, she stalks off in a huff, not looking back as she calls, “In all seriousness, though, you should really see a doctor about your dick. I’m amazed you can still piss with a tumor that size.”
On instinct, I glance at Ledger’s dick in concern, but bite my lip to hold back my laughter when I realize she was talking about his knot. One look at Ledger’s panicked face as he makes a sound of distress though, genuine fear swirling in his eyes, kicks my butt into gear.
She can’t leave.
Nearly tripping over my feet, I jog after her. “Ever, wait!”
“Forget it, Myles,” she says with a disappointed shake of her head. “I’m not going to stick around somewhere where people think it’s funny to screw with me. Been there, barely survived it the first time around. Hard pass.”
I catch up with her by the time she’s pushing open her front door. “Give me five minutes,” I pant, stopping behind her. “I don’t know what’s going on with Ledger, but I can prove that he isn’t lying. Just,” I push past the nerves swirling in my stomach, “give me a chance. Please.”
After a lengthy pause, she replies, “You have two.” She doesn’t slam the door in my face, so I take that as permission to follow her inside.
Ever marches up to her room with me hot on her heels, mind whirling with the best way to show her the truth as she tosses an empty backpack on the bed. “Clock’s ticking.”
Her words spark an idea. “My abilities manifest through engineering, blending science with magic. See?” I tap one of the emergency buttons on my watch, activating an immersive illusion meant to disorient an attacker long enough to buy a head start.
It goes beyond still images, projecting the scents and sounds of a busy crowd of people walking between us, car horns honking and people chattering on phones meant to be a chaotic sensory overload.
It took nearly a month to perfect, getting it past the transparent hologram stage to look like solid people with a myriad of scent notes instead of a noxious cloud of body odor and car exhaust. I’m pretty proud of this one.
Unfortunately, when I deactivate it, Ever is stuffing clothes into her backpack. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s cool as hell, but there are plenty of high-tech things out there these days. That doesn’t prove magic is real.”
Ledger stalks into the room, wearing jeans again and tense as hell, but tries to hide his panic in an attempt to regain control of the situation.
“Ever, I understand this looks bad, but you can’t run off half-cocked.
You have no idea what sort of danger you’re in.
Just,” he palms the back of his neck, taking a deep inhale, “give me a day to figure out why I can’t connect to my wolf. ”
“Maybe you put so much pressure on him winning Ever over, you psyched yourself out. Like performance anxiety,” I helpfully suggest.
Red creeps up his neck. “I do not have performance anxiety.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Happens to the best of us.”
Ever rolls her eyes. “Enough’s enough, Ledger.
” Retreating to the bathroom for a moment, she returns with an armload of stuff and crams it all in her backpack.
The sound of her zipping her bag shut rings in my ears like the final nail in a coffin, and some part of me knows in the depths of my soul that once that final tine is zipped closed? We’ll never see her again.
Lunging for her wrist, I stop her an inch before it’s too late, pleading with my eyes to slow down and listen. To give me a chance to fix everything.
“You promised me two minutes. And no matter what you say, I know your word is important to you, otherwise you wouldn’t be so upset when people break their promises. All I’m asking is your undivided attention for that; two minutes.”
She holds my gaze, watching me warily, but finally dips her head in agreement. “Alright, Myles. Show me what you’ve got.”
Ledger isn’t the only one suffering from performance anxiety now. Fuck, everything’s riding on this. I can’t screw it up.
Discreetly wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, I scramble for a plan, the alarm clock beside her bed catching my eye. Suddenly, everything clicks into place, and my nerves slowly ebb away. This. This is what I’m good at. Taking something ordinary and turning it into something magical.
I turn it over in my hands. It’s about as basic of a model as you can get, not even a radio built in. Just the time on a digital display, a basic blaring alarm that makes you want to throw it out the window, and a snooze button.
“You know this isn’t high tech, right?”
Narrowing her eyes, she nods. “Obviously.”
I pull one of the small screwdrivers I always carry around from my pocket and pop the back.
“Watch me so you know I’m not slipping anything in here, okay?
” She hesitantly sidles up beside me, arm brushing mine, and I suppress a shiver.
There’s no hiding the goosebumps on my skin though, my entire body hyperaware of how soft and warm her skin is against mine. Of how sweet she smells.
Fuck, focus.
With a heavy exhale, I get my head back in the game, making sure she has a perfect view as my magic skitters across my fingertips and into the wires, the golden sparks too reflective and shimmery to be explained away as an electric surge.
Disconnecting a wire and changing the function of one button, I put it back together and pass it over to the woman holding my future in her hands. Because if Ever leaves?
Ledger and I will be right behind her whether she likes it or not.
My friend’s already in too deep to let her go, and fuck, I’m not any better.
She may never accept me as a mate, but that doesn’t mean I can’t watch over her and make sure she’s safe.
After all, I’m the one that would have to live with myself if something happened to her.
I know better than anyone just how dangerous supernaturals can be, and how easily good people can get caught in the crossfire. Skylar’s death is already on my head; I wouldn’t survive if Ever’s name was added to my list of sins.
“Think of a song. Any song. Then press the snooze button.”
Brow furrowed, she does, startling so much she almost drops it. “What the hell?” she murmurs.
I look deep into her eyes. “Again.”
Everytime she presses that button, it plays whatever song she’s currently thinking of. Everything from heavy metal and Celtic lullabies, to mashups only found on streaming platforms they never play on the radio.
Delicately setting it on the bed, she looks at me with an awed expression and breathes, “How?”
“How else? Magic.”
Before she can wrap her head around it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, the energy in the room charged like the calm right before a storm.
Almost in slow motion, Ledger shifts into his wolf, and I breathe a sigh of relief as Ever drops to sit on the edge of her bed, stunned speechless.
I’ve seen him shift hundreds of times, but it’s never any less impressive to witness.
Where Ledger once stood is now a wolf twice the size of any found in nature.
Fur an obsidian so dark it carries a blue sheen in the right light, he’s a beast to behold.
The same hazel eyes stare back at us, but the gold flecks shine brighter, practically glowing from the inside out with supernatural power.
Ever looks like she’s going to pass out, so I hand her the half-empty bottle of water from her bedside table.
“Here, sip some water.” With a trembling hand, she twists off the cap and lifts it to her lips.
“Wait no!” Instinctively, I smack it out of her hand, sending it flying right into Ledger’s face and splattering water all over her wood floor.
She blinks. Then blinks again, turning her owlish gaze my way. “What the hell was that about?”
“I know that look. Tomorrow, you’d convince yourself we drugged you and you hallucinated the whole thing.”
She stares at me for the longest time before snorting a laugh. “You’re not wrong.”