21. Juniper
JUNIPER
The meeting went better than I’d anticipated. When Rainier had told me I’d be sitting at Levi’s side, I’d nearly had a panic attack. The idea of sitting up in front of the entire pack, right next to Levi? The thought was terrifying.
In my time here, I’d managed to make a good impression on most people.
Even some of the women who were part of Eugenia’s clique were friendly toward me—whenever she wasn’t around, of course.
Working together in the gardens was completely different from watching the new woman plop her butt down beside your alpha, though. Thankfully, it had gone well.
As everyone left, I looked up from my notepad to find Levi smiling at me. A blush, unbidden, surged to my cheeks.
“What?” I said, smiling back at him.
“You did a great job. That little bit at the end? I never would have thought of that,” he said. “I would have pulled the boy aside and given him a stern talk. Your suggestion healed the issue and might even bring two members of the pack together in friendship.”
I rolled my eyes, unwilling to accept the compliment. “Yeah, if it works. Maybe the kid’s a dick. Who knows? But at least this way they have a chance to iron things out without you needing to intervene.”
He stretched his arms over his head and shook his head. “You’re too modest. Come on, let’s join everyone outside. They’re about to set up the barbecue, and I want to mingle before dinner.”
Linnea had informed me that morning that the pack meetings usually turned into big parties.
A big feast, a bonfire, and at the end, a pack run through the forest. It sounded fun, and I was looking forward to it, well…
everything but the run. I guess I’d stay back and watch over the kids who couldn’t shift yet.
As we stepped outside, the distinct sound of a guitar being tuned echoed across the village square. Rainier and a couple other men had already lit one massive bonfire in the middle, with four more ringing the area. It would give plenty of warmth to the festivities.
A huge hog had been smoking all day and was being carted out along with various sides. Honestly, I was impressed at how choreographed everything was. The meeting had only just ended, and everything was already almost ready.
“Did you have people setting this up during the meeting?” I asked, nudging Levi.
He nodded. “Not everyone has issues to discuss, and some folks would prefer to work than listen to some of the boring stuff we talk about when—Oh! Hey there, little one!”
Levi bent and picked up a small girl of about five who’d run up to him.
“Mister Levi, throw me. Throw me,” the girl cried, giggling as Levi lifted her.
Levi, a man who tended to be stoic and iron hard, let out a booming laugh and tossed the young child high into the air—high enough that my heart lurched into my throat. The girl giggled like mad as she flew upward, then dropped back down into the big alpha’s arms.
“Play tag?” she asked him, pointing to some of the other children running in circles. She put a hand to her mouth as though to hide her words. “I’ll make sure no one tags you, okay?”
“I can play for a few minutes,” he said, looking at me over his shoulder. “Are you okay if I go?”
“Yeah. Of course,” I said, unable to keep the goofy smile off my face as he allowed the small girl to lead to the other kids.
The looks on the faces of the parents as they watched their alpha play with their children showed me how much his pack loved him.
He was gone for long stretches, and remained fairly reserved with them, but they all looked at him with that glimmer of hope and thankfulness that came from being saved.
It was exactly how an alpha should be looked at.
Anders was respected, but he had a habit of playing favorites.
His chosen few gained more prestige and say within the pack, while people he didn’t care for—like me—were somewhat ostracized.
His inner circle and those he deemed worthy of his respect gave him more love than most of the town.
He was accepted as the best option for alpha due to his ability to fight and the fact that he was too strong for anyone else to defeat.
He provided strength and safety, but not much else, other than the glad-handing he did in group settings to get everyone to think he was a good guy.
The more I thought about him, the less I wanted to be with him. Anders was not the kind of person I’d want to spend my life with. I really was in an awful situation, having to mate with someone I didn’t love just to stay close to the people I did love.
I wanted happiness. I deserved happiness, but I wasn’t sure how to get it at this point. Time was slipping away, and I’d need to get home soon. Each day that passed was another day closer to when my grandparents would be on their own. I’d only made arrangements with Beatrice for a month.
I had two choices.
I could go back to Idlewild and try to win Anders over.
I could be his mate and live a life devoid of love, passion, and friendship, but a life where I could be around the people I did love.
Or—and this realization came as a surprise—I could make a home here in Hidden Grove.
Perhaps, if I wasn’t misreading things, I could make a home here with Levi.
That thought made my heart flutter and my stomach swirl.
That choice, however, would lead to me being forever separated from my grandparents and friends.
How could I choose?
Music began playing in earnest, tearing me from my inner turmoil.
Three men and two women stood on a small platform with guitars, drums, and a fiddle, playing an upbeat tune.
The music, the laughter, the smell of the food and the pleasant heat radiating from the bonfires had that nostalgic feel of Christmas or Thanksgiving.
There was nothing like this back in Idlewild.
Even the arrangement ceremony was more like a formality than a celebration.
“Would you like to dance?”
I whirled around to see Levi, cheeks red and breathing heavily from playing with the kids.
“Uh…” Several people were spinning around, swaying, and dancing. I’d never been asked to dance before. Not by anyone. It would be impolite to decline, wouldn’t it?
“Sure. Why not?”
Levi took my hand and led me out to join the others. Most of the streets and paths in Hidden Grove were dirt or gravel, but the village square had been paved with concrete, and now it was a dance floor. Levi pulled me close to his chest, and thoughts of his naked skin against mine filled my head.
“I don’t know how to dance,” I blurted before we could get moving.
“Seriously?” Levi said, looking taken aback.
“I’ve…uh…never danced before.” I gave a half-hearted shrug. “No one back home ever wanted to dance with the half-breed.”
Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone before I could figure out what it was. He smiled quickly and pulled me even closer. “I’ll show you. Follow my lead.”
Over the next few minutes, he taught me what he called a box step, and I quickly got the hang of it after he’d showed me the foot movements.
By the third song I was laughing. It really was fun.
Yet another thing Hidden Grove had given me that I’d missed out on by living in Idlewild. That was becoming a pattern.
We kept dancing until Rainier leapt onto a table and put his hands to his mouth to call to the crowd.
“Food!”
Everyone rushed to the buffet line. Children and women went first, but I stayed with Levi, not wanting to leave his side. When it was our turn, he piled heaps of food onto his plate and encouraged me to do the same.
“It’s all great,” he said, spooning a huge spoonful of steaming mashed potatoes onto my tray. “You don’t want to miss out.”
“Oh my god,” I said as we walked toward a seating area that had been set up. “I’m gonna gain a hundred pounds.”
Smirking, he sat. “Don’t forget about dessert. Tabitha told Rainier she baked at least five different options.”
I chuckled. “Make that two hundred pounds.”
The food was delicious—hot, savory, and comforting.
I’d not helped in the kitchens yet, but it appeared those folks didn’t need any help.
I surprised myself by cleaning my plate, and I even had room for a piece of vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and a sliver of steaming apple pie.
The music stopped as the musicians ate, then started up again.
The sun was already down, but the square shone in flickering orange light from the bonfires.
Plenty of wood sat beside each and random people kept feeding the fires.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had such a good time.
“Come with me,” Levi said after we’d finished dessert.
“What’s wrong?” He had such an intense look about him, I couldn’t help but worry.
“I need to do something.” He took my hand and led me between two cabins.
There wasn’t even time for me to ask what was going on before Levi grabbed my hips, pulling me close. His movements were hungrier, more urgent, than they had been when he’d pulled me close to dance.
His face was partly concealed by shadows, the other half faintly lit by the orange glow of the distant fires. I could see what he wanted, and I wanted it too.
Grabbing his shirt collar, I kissed him with a fervent desire I could barely contain. Something about the environment, the laughter, the happiness, plus the relief at the meeting being over made it easy, effortless, to kiss him.
Levi unleashed a happy growl that rumbled deep in his chest as he ran his hands over my back. The delicious feeling of his mouth on mine made my knees buckle, and I sagged against the cabin behind me to steady myself.
Hands roving down my body, Levi clutched my ass, squeezing and kneading as he deepened the kiss.
Hot, urgent need flooded me, and if there weren’t so many people a few feet away, I’d have given in to my desire to have him take me right here against the wall.
Finally, with what felt like a soul-breaking force of will, I pulled my lips from his, gasping for breath.
“What was that for?”
Levi brushed his lips over my cheek. “No reason. Just wanted to do it.”
“Well, I’m glad you did,” I said. “It was nice.”
Levi trailed his thumb along my jaw, and a static electric charge pulsed down my neck and across my breasts.
“Let’s get back to the party,” Levi said, taking my hand again.
“Okay,” I said, almost sighing the words. As I followed him back to the music and laughter, I wished desperately that this night would never end.
At around nine o’clock Rainier jogged over to us.
“It’s time,” Rainier said to Levi. “You ready?”
Levi nodded. “We’re doing a pack run. I’m the alpha so—”
“You have to go,” I said and smiled at him. “It’s okay. I get it. Go on. I’ll be fine. I can watch the kiddos or maybe get some more of that food if there are any leftovers.”
He hesitated. “You sure?”
Laughing, I shoved him out of his seat. “Get going.”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed, “Let’s run!”
The pack responded with happy shouts, whoops and whistles, which were drowned out by howls as several people went ahead and shifted.
The power and exhilaration of the sight burned through me, even as a spectator.
Back home, I always stayed inside whenever there was a pack run, not wanting to see what I was missing out on.
Now that I was in the thick of it, my heart clenched with a deep desire to join in—something I’d assumed I would never feel.
With no inner wolf, I always thought I had no deep-seated need to follow.
Now? I did want that. A tiny voice at the back of my mind urged me to rush into the forest with them.
Levi’s massive, muscular wolf stood a full head taller than the next biggest wolf.
He met my eyes, and some unspoken something passed between us—a promise of return maybe?
Then, in a flash, he turned his head to the sky and unleashed a deafening howl that made my heart skip a beat.
First in line, he pelted off into the woods with his pack on his heels.
As I watched, I was once again left with that melancholy feeling of being an outsider. For the millionth time, I wished I could figure out how to do what they did.