Chapter 5
“M r. Frazer,” Beth said, in the careful tones of someone who’d been practicing the upcoming conversation in their head for the past hour, and still wasn’t at all sure it would go to plan. “Is everything all right between you and counselor Honey?”
Buck jerked his gaze away from the other side of the dining hall, where Honey was busy helping Leonie hand out pens and notepads to a line of waiting counselors. Damn it, he couldn’t have been staring that long, could he?
He cleared his throat. “Why would you ask that?”
“Well…” Beth hesitated, biting her lip. “It’s just, um…”
“We heard Zeph and Conleth talking about you two,” Estelle supplied. “And Conleth said he gave it twenty-four hours before she ran screaming over the horizon.”
“Estelle!” Beth hissed. “We agreed we would ask him diplomatically . ”
“I am being diplomatic!” Estelle said indignantly. “I didn’t say any of Conleth’s actual words . ”
“A whole twenty-four hours, huh.” Buck took a pull of his water, wishing it was something a lot stronger. “Didn’t have Conleth pegged as a wild optimist.”
“You didn’t have a fight with Honey already, did you, Mr. Frazer?” Beth asked. Her fingers fretted with the end of her braid, twisting the silky red strands. “Only, if she leaves, we have to go home too.”
“Not going to happen,” Buck said firmly. “Don’t you worry. Nobody’s going home. I’ll make sure of that.”
From the glances Beth and Estelle exchanged, this did not fill them with confidence.
“Mr. Frazer,” Beth started.
“I can’t have you calling me ‘Mr. Frazer’ all summer, kid. Makes me feel you’re about to try to sell me insurance. Use my first name, same as you would anyone else here, okay?”
Beth looked mildly scandalized by this prospect, but nodded. “Okay. Counselor Buck—”
“No. Try again.”
Beth chewed on her lip for a second. “Alpha Buck?”
“Sounds like a breakfast cereal. Just Buck.”
Beth gave him a reproachful look. “That’s not very respectful. Mom says we should always be polite when addressing our elders.”
“Beth, I do not need you reminding me exactly how much elder I am. You call me Buck, plain and simple. That’s an order.”
“Can we all call you Buck?” Estelle sounded as though this would be the culmination of anyone’s life ambition. “Can I call you Buck?”
Buck massaged his forehead. “As long as it’s not every thirty seconds. What were you going to say, Beth?”
“Well, er… sir,” Beth said. “Most of the co-counselors are hanging out together. But I can’t help noticing that you and counselor Honey don’t seem to be… talking.”
“You’re avoiding each other,” Estelle translated helpfully.
“We’re not avoiding each other,” Buck lied. “Look, we’re in the same room right now, aren’t we?”
Estelle shrugged. “Yeah, but she’s over there and you’re lurking over here .”
“I am not lurking. I’m standing in a perfectly normal and dignified fashion.”
“Well, you look like you’re lurking,” Estelle informed him. “You’re hiding in this corner all by yourself, when everyone else is chatting and having a good time. And you keep staring at Honey, but she hasn’t even glanced at you. Are you sure you guys didn’t have a fight?”
“We’re not fighting,” Buck said. “Use your eyes, kids. Does she seem upset to you?”
They all contemplated Exhibit A. Even at this distance, Honey’s smile shone like the beacon of a lighthouse. She practically sparkled.
Buck knew shifters. He’d had a whole damn team of them on his fire crew, after all.
Over the years, every last one of them had somehow defied all laws of probability and met their so-called true mates.
He’d seen it firsthand, over and over; the angst, the drama, the pining (for the love of dog, the pining ).
From the moment a shifter’s eyes locked onto the object of their desire, every brain cell fell out of their tiny skulls. They followed their mate around like a lost puppy, dazzled with wonder. They talked about nothing else. They moped. They yearned. They became unbelievably stupid.
They did not hand out pens with a beaming smile, as if they hadn’t a care in the world.
Which didn’t make any sense, because he certainly had all the symptoms of a bad case of idiotitis.
She had him on a string like a motherloving balloon.
Earlier, he’d taken a brief trip back to his trailer to pack his bags, and just being a few short miles away from her had made him feel like a piece of elastic stretched to snapping point.
It had been all he could do to throw a few essentials in a rucksack before high-tailing it back to camp.
Not that being this close to her was any better. Those spectacular curves were giving his own body distinct ideas. This was a serious problem, given that there were kids present.
And she hadn’t even looked his way.
“Counselor Honey looks happy,” Beth admitted. “But with respect, sir, you don’t.”
“I never look happy. You kids should know that. Been glaring at you your whole motherloving lives.” With an effort, he dragged his rebellious eyeballs away from Honey. “You girls met her yet?”
“Not personally,” Beth said. “But Finley has. He said she’s nice.”
“Rufus likes her,” said Estelle, as though this was on a level with an endorsement from the Pope. “He says she’s different.”
“Different? In what way?”
“I don’t know. Just… different. He wouldn’t really explain more than that.” Estelle shrugged. “You know Rufus. He sees things the rest of us don’t.”
“Hm.” Buck made a mental note to track down Rufus and ask him about that later. “Don’t suppose either of the boys asked Honey what kind of shifter she is, by any chance?”
From the girls’ expressions, he might as well have asked if they’d inquired about Honey’s underwear. Even Estelle looked shocked.
“You don’t ask about someone’s animal ,” she said. “That’s rude . ”
Coming from the girl who eavesdropped on private conversations without a lick of shame, this was quite something. Buck had known it was impolite to question a shifter about their alter ego, but he hadn’t appreciated it was that taboo.
Which was a massive pain in the ass, because he really needed to know.
Normally he wouldn’t have cared two hoots whatever critter she turned into, but maybe she was some weird kind of shifter that didn’t come with the insta-insanity switch.
Maybe she genuinely hadn’t had that moment of overpowering connection.
Either that, or he was losing his motherloving mind.
His gaze drifted back to Honey again, still smiling away as if he didn’t exist. There had to be a way he could find out.
“Beth,” he said, watching Honey. “You do the pegasus thing, right? Like your dad?”
“You mean my talent?” Beth said, sounding a little perplexed. “Yes, of course. Did you need me to find someone for you?”
“Not exactly. You can sense people, right?” At her confirming nod, he jerked his head in Honey’s direction. “What can you tell me about Honey?”
“Uh… she’s… over there?”
Buck sighed. “No, I mean, can you tell what kind of shifter she is? I thought your kind were able to detect that kind of thing. From past experience, your dad could scan this room and give me an alphabetized list of everything in it, down to the individual subspecies of every spider under the floorboards.”
“Oh.” Beth looked crestfallen. “But my father’s special, sir.
I don’t have anything like his power. Even Uncle Conleth can’t do what he can.
I mean, I can tell people apart from their psychic aura, but it’s like looking at someone’s signature.
All I get are a few hints about their personality. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Never mind, kid. It was just a thought.” Curiosity prompted him to ask, “So, what can you tell me about Honey?”
“Um…” Beth furrowed her brow. “Well, her aura’s very bright, sir. Unusually so. It’s a lot like yours, in fact.”
“Well, duh.” Estelle rolled her eyes. “She’s an alpha. Any shifter could tell you that.”
“Huh.” Remembering how Honey’s anger had rocked him back on his heels, Buck could well believe it. “So she must be something powerful, like a dragon or some other mythic shifter?”
Beth shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that, sir.
Being an alpha isn’t anything to do with size or strength.
It’s more… just being yourself , through and through, so no one can push you around.
You can even get alphas who aren’t shifters, though my dad says that’s rare.
If you don’t mind me saying, sir, you’ve always come across as very alpha. Even before you were bitten.”
“Yeah, well, that’s just Buck, isn’t it?” Estelle said. “He was never really human.”
“Beg to differ,” Buck growled. “Anything else to share with the class, Beth?”
The girl looked from Honey to himself, then back again. Her frown deepened.
“That’s strange,” Beth said slowly. “Her aura really does look like yours, sir. Only… the opposite way round, if that makes sense. Like if you overlapped them, her brightest parts would fill up the shadowy bits in yours—”
Thankfully, Leonie interrupted the horrific prospect of a pre-teen girl scrutinizing his shadowy bits. The head counselor jumped onto a table at the far end of the room, clapping her hands to draw everyone’s attention.
“Good afternoon, counselors!” Leonie announced as the crowd quieted, every eye turning in her direction.
She swept the room with a warm smile. “For those of you who are returning to Camp Thunderbird, welcome back. And for those of you who are here for the first time, I hope you’ve had a chance to settle in and make yourself at home.
Now that we’ve all caught up with old friends and started to make new ones, it’s time to prepare ourselves for the summer ahead. ”