Chapter 25
“Y our campers seem chipper today,” Leonie observed from the side of the basketball court.
Buck grunted as he caught a stray dodgeball and sent it winging back into the ruckus. “That’s one word for it.”
Smug was another. He’d chewed out the girls forward, backward, and sideways for the stunt they’d pulled last night, but there was still an excessive amount of pep in their collective step.
In the space of one morning, he’d counted no fewer than twelve high fives being exchanged.
This was at least twelve too many, in his opinion.
“Watch out, Buck!” Estelle yelled as another dodgeball smacked into his hands. “That nearly hit you in the face.”
Archie snickered. “Right in the kisser.”
Buck hurled the ball back, possibly with a little more force than was strictly necessary. “Less yapping, more sweat! You want to let Leonie’s pack win this?”
“No sir!” Beth darted away, all long legs and elbows. “Come on, team! Our alphas are watching!”
“Each other,” Flora said under her breath, and half the kids broke into giggles again.
Buck scooped up a dodgeball, hefting it in one hand. The kids wisely elected to scatter.
“Honey does seem to be looking your way an awful lot this morning,” Leonie murmured from behind him. “And vice versa.”
With an effort, Buck did not look across the court, where Honey was patrolling the other boundary with Leonie’s co-counselor. “Is that so.”
“Mmm-hmm.” A knowing smile tugged at Leonie’s mouth. “And I can’t help but notice that the kids are making some very interesting comments. Anything you want to tell me?”
“Yes.” Buck lobbed another dodgeball back into the game. “Mind your own business.”
“I am head counselor, you know. I have a responsibility to make sure all my counselors are happy.”
“If you drop this subject, I’ll be motherloving ecstatic.”
“What subject?” she said innocently. “On a completely unrelated topic, it would be nice to see you and Honey at the staff campfire tonight.”
“Sorry. We’ve got plans.”
And now he would have to make plans, damn it. He tried to think of somewhere he could take Honey. Technically, they weren’t supposed to go off site in the evenings unless it was their day off, which rather limited his options.
Should be a nice night, and it wouldn’t take long to paddle across to that pretty little spot further up the lake… could borrow one of the canoes, maybe pack a blanket, a few drinks…
He caught himself. What the hell was he thinking? As long as they both lay low and stayed out of sight, everyone would assume they were together. He didn’t need to take Honey on an actual date .
Unfortunately.
Leonie blew her whistle, derailing his train of thought before it could carry him further into uncomfortable territory. “Time’s up, kids! Balls back in the basket!”
“Did we win?” Archie asked eagerly.
“Archie, you took, like, twenty hits just on your own,” Flora pointed out.
“I can’t help it! Bears make a big target!”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have kept turning into one,” Ignatius muttered from the sidelines.
Archie glared at him. “At least I can shift.”
“Hey,” Buck said sharply. “You want to spend more quality time with Conleth, Archie?”
“No.” The boy looked suitably chastised. “Sorry, Buck.”
“It’s not me you owe an apology.”
Archie squirmed, but spreadsheets made a powerful threat. “Sorry, Ignatius.”
“Better. Now go help Honey with the balls, before I decide to make you two hug it out. That means you too, Ignatius.”
He’d expected backchat, or at least a sullen eye roll, but Ignatius sloped off without complaint. The boy started gathering up balls, though Buck had the distinct impression that his mind was miles away.
“ Is everything all right?” Leonie said softly, her tone rather more serious now. Her golden eyes followed Ignatius. “With the kids, I mean. Moira told me about the boys’ fight. Ignatius seems kind of subdued.”
“We’re managing,” Buck said, hoping that it was true. “Though I’d be a lot happier if he was in a different group, with someone more experienced. Don’t suppose you can help out there?”
Leonie shook her head. “Sorry. Lord Golden was very specific about having a strong alpha male as his nephew’s counselor. My co-counselor is a sweetheart, but he doesn’t exactly qualify.”
“You do. On two out of three, at least.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not good enough for Lord Golden.” Leonie flashed him a grin. “But thank you. You’re a sweetheart too.”
“I give you a compliment, and you respond by insulting me?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” She winked at him as she raised her whistle to her lips again. “I think Honey already knows, anyway.”
“Knows what?” Honey asked, coming up to them with the basket of balls.
“Oh, nothing.” Leonie blew her whistle. “Good job, kids! Phil, can you take the equipment back to the sports shed?”
“I’ll do that,” Buck said before Leonie’s young co-counselor could respond. “Though it’ll go faster with two. Honey?”
“But our campers,” Honey started.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Honey,” Leonie said, mouth curling up in a sly grin. “Phil and I can watch both packs while you handle the balls. Take all the time you need.”
“What?” Honey’s cheeks went a deeper shade of pink. “No, no, that’s not—”
“Thanks, Leonie,” Buck interrupted. He grabbed the basket of balls. “Kids! Leonie will take you for snack break. Don’t give her any trouble.”
“Where are you and Honey going?” Finley asked.
Estelle elbowed him. “Where do you think they’re going, doofus?”
Flora started singing under her breath: “Buck and Honeeeey, sitting in a treeeee. K-I-”
“C-K-I-N-G,” Buck flung over his shoulder. “Specifically, your ass over that horizon, if you don’t wipe that smirk off your face. Hop to it.”
Muffled snickers rose behind his back. Buck ignored them, stalking toward the shed where the sports equipment was kept. It was a small building, so full of balls and bats that there was barely enough space left for one person, let alone two.
“Buck!” Honey protested as he hustled her inside. “Everyone will think we’re… we’re… you know!”
“Exactly.” He set down his basket, pulling the door closed behind them. “We’re fated mates, remember? We’re overcome with irresistible lust. Of course we’re going to take every opportunity to snatch a moment of privacy together.”
“Oh.” With the door shut, it was dark enough in the shed that he couldn’t make out her expression. “Um. So should we…?”
“We don’t have to actually kiss,” he said hastily. “Not unless a kid comes in.”
“Right.” Honey let out a laugh that could have been either nervous, or relieved. “Yes. Silly me.”
They both fell silent. In the close confines of the shed, they were practically chest-to-chest. He could hear her rapid breaths; smell the warmth of her skin.
Damn it, where’s a kid when you need one?
After a moment, Honey cleared her throat. “So, uh… do you think that will do?”
“Woman, if I was kissing you, it would not be over in thirty seconds.”
His damn freak eyes were adjusting to the darkness. He could make out the curve of lips now; the nervous bob of her throat as she swallowed.
He’d kissed that mouth. Felt the soft heat of those lips, of her whole body. For one mad, glorious moment, he’d let himself surrender to need, and the memory was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
It’s not real. It’s just the mate bond. The damn beast.
But the beast seemed very far away now. He had only the barest sense of it, as though it was keeping tucked away still and silent in some deep cave of his soul. And Honey was here, close enough to touch…
Her tongue ran across her lower lip. “Buck?”
“Yes?” he breathed.
“I think you should talk to Ignatius.”
He spent a moment trying to twist that into Ravish me up against these baseball bats right now, you sexy mountain man , and failed.
“What?” With an effort, he dragged his thoughts above the level of his belt buckle. “Why?”
“I think he’s struggling. Ever since that fight with Archie, he’s been even more aloof. And I can’t help feeling that something else has happened, more recently than that. Did you notice how distracted he is this morning?”
“Leonie mentioned something about that.” Now that he came to think of it, Ignatius had been unusually compliant. “But I don’t see why you think I can cheer him up. It’s not like I can teach him anything about shifting.”
“That’s why you should talk to him.” She put a hand on his arm, moving closer. “Because you never wanted to be able to shift in the first place. It would be good for him to get another perspective.”
He shook his head, trying to ignore the way the light touch of her fingers electrified his whole damn hide. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not good with the touchy-feely stuff.”
“Neither is Ignatius. I think that’s why you two get on so well.”
“Honey, I yell at him. He runs his mouth off in response. What, exactly, makes you consider these interactions a success?”
Her mouth crooked. “Like I said, you get on well. He responds to you.”
“With sarcasm. If he wants advice, tell him to talk to Zeph. Or Leonie. Hell, even Conleth would be a better choice. At least the kid would get to expand his vocabulary.”
“It has to be you, Buck.” Her eyes searched for his, blindly human in the darkness, unlike his own unnatural vision. “Talk to him about being a shifter. Please?”
If she’d asked him to hand her the moon at that moment, he would have wrenched it from the sky. He couldn’t deny her anything, not with her hand on his arm and her face upturned in entreaty.
And it was more than just those damn beautiful eyes. He still couldn’t follow her logic, but every instinct told him to trust her judgment. Yes hovered on the tip of his tongue.
But if he did… he would be taking the first step down a very slippery slope. And at the bottom lay the beast, jaws open to swallow him whole.
“I’m not a shifter.” He reached behind him for the door, letting light flood in. “That’s long enough now. Mess up your hair. We want to be convincing.”
She shot him a look, but shook out her short brown locks. “There. Am I disheveled enough to satisfy your masculine pride?”
The honest answer to that was a very definite no . His hands ached to push into her hair; wind it round his fingers, pulling her head back to expose her throat.
He shoved his hands into his pockets instead. “It’ll have to do. Come on. By the way, Leonie thinks we have a date tonight.”
“Oh.” Honey’s cheeks went pink again, which was at least a small step toward convincing dishevelment. “And… do we have a date tonight?”
Yes , he wanted to say.
“Just… go for a walk or something.” His nails bit into his palms. “Somewhere away from the cabins. I’ll do the same. Nobody will realize we aren’t actually together.”
“They will if you keep walking around with a face like that,” she muttered.
“This is the only face I have, woman.”
“Well, if you aren’t going to insult my pride, you need another one.” She stopped, thrusting out her left hand. “Here.”
He eyed her palm warily. “And what am I supposed to do with that?”
“You take it, Buck.” Seizing his wrist, she tugged his right hand out of his pocket. “You’re the one who insisted we had to pretend to be madly in love. People who are in love hold hands.”
“Can’t we have the sort of love where I glower constantly and murder anyone who looks at you funny?”
“Murder is not romantic, Buck.” She forcibly threaded her fingers through his. “There. Now smile.”
“I am smiling. This is my smiling face.”
“Buck, you are scowling.”
“That’s how I smile.”
“Oh, I give up.” She tugged on his hand, pulling him along like a guard dog on a lead. “It’s just as well we aren’t really dating, because you are terrible at this.”
“If we were really dating, you’d know that I make up for it in other ways.” He frowned. “Damn it, you should know that. Or are you telling me that kiss was terrible?”
A blush crept up Honey’s neck. “That was… not terrible.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“And also not something we can do in front of the kids.”
“Not if we’re doing it properly,” he said, and was secretly delighted to see her ears go pink too. Now she looked halfway toward decent dishevelment.
“Will you take this seriously?” she said. “If we were actually dating, we’d be discreet in front of the campers. We need to agree a limit on public displays of affection.”
“How about zero?”
“ Buck. ”
“What? I’ll still drag you into the bushes at every opportunity. It’s what I’d do if we were actually dating.”
“But not what I’d do,” she retorted. “Do you want this to be convincing or not?”
“Fine, fine.” He held up their joined hands in surrender. “We’ll hold hands in public. Sometimes.”
She nodded, still red to the tips of her ears. “And that’s all we do. Nothing more. In public or private. Agreed?”
Pain bit through his scar.
“Agreed,” he said, not flinching. “Nothing more.”