Juniper
The door banged like a shotgun blast as I slammed it shut on my return. Grandpa nearly fell out of his chair in startled surprise.
“Oh, crap, Grandpa, I’m sorry,” I muttered, embarrassment flooding up to replace my anger.
“Dang, June,” he said with a smile, placing his hand on his chest, “you ’bout gave me a heart attack.” When he spotted the look on my face, his smile slipped away. “What’s wrong, baby girl?”
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s… ugh, it’s complicated. That’s all.”
He eyed me for a few beats, then nodded.
“Okay. But if it’s anything I can help with, you let me know.
” He ran his hand through his silvery hair, and when he did, I saw the briefest flash of what he must have looked like when he was eighteen and courting my grandmother.
I’d seen pictures of them, and he’d been handsome.
Not an alpha wolf, but still imposing and muscular.
He would have been an intimidating force back then.
Even now, in his advanced age, I thought he might still have some fight left in him if it came to it.
“Thanks.” Some of my anxiety and shock at seeing Levi in Idlewild had faded already. “I’ll be sure to tell you who’s ass needs to be kicked.”
He laughed hard, clutching his hand to his stomach and patting me on the arm as I passed. “You do that, girl. I’ll make them rue the day they messed with my grandbaby.”
Before heading to my room, I stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a candy bar from the pantry. I could have gone for a shot of whiskey to dull my nerves, but since my grandparents weren’t drinkers, chocolate was my only option.
In my room, I flopped onto my bed and bit into the chocolate bar, staring out the window at the street below.
Levi. Here. I’d never in a million years thought he would venture out of the forest. Hell, he didn’t even do supply runs—that was Rainier’s job.
Honestly, I’d thought he would spend the rest of his life patrolling the forest and mountains.
Now he was here. Not only here, but also meeting with Anders.
That was possibly the worst thing that could happen.
Two worlds colliding, with me caught in the middle.
I told myself it didn’t matter. If Levi was here for a few weeks, it didn’t matter.
I’d made my choice. What I’d told him was the truth.
I would not spend my life with a man who was obsessed with another woman.
I had more pride in myself than to do that.
Even if it meant being with a man like Anders.
At least with him, I knew he’d chosen me.
He could have easily let me stay in the forest.
What hurt the most was that I knew, deep down, Levi did love me. Yet, Naphele still had a hold on him, and she clearly always would. So, I was sticking by the choice I’d made.
Stuffing the last of the chocolate in my mouth, I opened the book I’d taken from the store.
But reading didn’t help. I kept reading the same sentence because my mind kept wandering to Levi.
Eventually, I gave up and tossed it aside, deciding to go to bed early.
The sun wasn’t even down, and I hadn’t even had dinner, but I couldn’t work up the courage to go out and face my grandparents.
I needed quiet, and what better place to find that than in sleep?
Closing the curtains to block out the remaining daylight, I slipped into bed. As I stared up at the ceiling, hundreds of thoughts churned through my head, and all of them had to do with me being Anders’s mate. Instead of the quiet and sleep I longed for, I was making myself more anxious.
I tossed and turned, adjusting myself, flipping my pillow, doing everything I could to get my mind off Anders and my new life.
After what felt like an hour, my thoughts finally slid away from Anders, but they locked on a subject that was possibly even more problematic.
Levi. He was the last thing I wanted to think about, but now exhaustion dragged at me, pulling me toward the abyss of sleep.
When the last vestiges of wakefulness slipped away, I found myself crashing into sleep and slipping into a vivid dream.
“Here,” I said. “Try this.”
Levi leaned forward, allowing me to put the wooden spoon to his mouth. He moaned in delight as he tasted the soup.
“Damn, Naph, that’s amazing. What’s in there?”
I shrugged as though it was no big deal but smiled at his praise regardless. “Wild garlic, stinging nettles, wild carrot, morel mushrooms, and some pork belly from the boar you caught the other day,” I explained.
“Well, it’s fantastic,” he said, reaching for another spoonful.
I smacked his hand. “No, sir. Not until dinner. I’ve got some sourdough baking to go with it.”
Levi stepped forward, wrapping me in his arms, his chest warm against mine. “You really are amazing,” he said. “How did I ever get this lucky?”
Looking up into his face, I was flooded with love. The one person in the world who knew me inside and out, who loved me beyond everything.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess it was fate.”
Levi leaned forward and kissed me, but when he pulled back, he wasn’t smiling. Instead, there were tears streaming from his eyes, his face a mask of agony.
“Why did you leave me?” he sobbed. “What did I do wrong?”
I shook my head, confused. “What? I didn’t leave. I’m right here.”
Levi took a step back, almost stumbling as he did, the expression on his face morphing into a sadness so deep it tore at my soul. I reached out, trying to pull him back, but he flinched away.
“You left!” he bellowed, fists clenched, tears shimmering in his eyes. “First you died, then you left.”
“Died? What are you talking about, Levi?” I said.
Ignoring me, he fell to his knees. “I’ll do better. Please come back. I can’t lose you again. Please.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. What’s wrong with you?”
Levi was openly sobbing now. I’d never seen him like this. He threw his head back, shifting as he did. Then he let out the most gut-wrenching howl.
I sat bolt upright in bed, the sound of a howling wolf outside ripping me from the dream.
I rubbed my face and looked at the clock.
It was only eleven o’clock. I tugged the curtains aside and saw a group of adolescent wolves running down the street.
Probably a group of high school kids out for an evening run.
Sighing, I lay back down. The dream was already fading. It had something to do with Levi, but I couldn’t recall more than that. It had been strange, though, almost like I’d been inside someone else’s dream. When I fell asleep again, it was blessedly dreamless.
The next morning, I woke to my phone chiming with a text from Anders. Groggy from sleeping so long, I rolled over, rubbing at my eyes and picking up the phone.
Anders: Hey babe. Meet me for breakfast at Mid River. 8. See you then.
I read the text a few times as my sleep-addled brain slowly came awake. He hadn’t given me much time to get ready.
Groaning, I forced myself out of bed and got dressed as quickly as I could. I managed to get to the restaurant right on time, spotting Anders at a back booth. He waved as I walked in, beckoning me to join him.
He gave me a once-over, his smile slipping away. “Damn. You didn’t put in much effort.”
Heat rose to my cheeks as I glanced down at my sweatpants and oversized T-shirt. I’d shoved my hair into a messy bun and hadn’t bothered with makeup, assuming breakfast at a mom-and-pop diner wasn’t the type of outing that required getting dolled up.
“Uh…sorry,” I mumbled, taking my seat opposite him. “I was in a hurry.”
Anders sighed and shrugged, lifting his coffee cup. “Whatever. Anyway, I have a task for you.”
“A task?”
He took a sip and nodded. “We need to start planning our mating ceremony. I figured I’d put you in charge of that.”
The mating ceremony. Of course. That would be happening soon. Courtship traditionally lasted roughly a month, sometimes two, but eventually, Anders and I would be official.
And that will be the night I’ll have to have sex with him. I dreaded it. The longer this went on, the more difficult I thought it would be to go through with it.
“Sure,” I said, smiling despite the thoughts in my head.
The waitress stopped by our table at that moment. “You guys ready to order?”
“Yeah,” Anders said. “I’ll have the western omelet, hash browns, and a small stack of pancakes.”
“Gotcha,” she said, then turned to me.
My stomach growled from missing dinner the night before. I chuckled, and said, “I’ll have the same thing, actually.”
“Whoa, hang on,” Anders said, raising a hand. “June, don’t you think you should be watching what you eat? With the mating ceremony coming up?”
A flush of anger ignited a fire in my chest, but I tamped it down. Of all the things to fight over, this was not a hill I was going to die on.
I plastered a smile on my face. “You’re right. My new metabolism will probably slow down soon. Make the omelet with egg whites, and no pancakes, just toast. How’s that?”
The server glanced back and forth at us uncomfortably as she wrote down the order, then hurried away.
Anders nodded appreciatively. “I think that’s a better choice.”
“Thanks.” I really wanted to tell him to not be a controlling dick, but I’d work on that once we were officially mated. Anders was still young. There was plenty of time to polish his rough edges.
“Normally, I’d help you plan the ceremony,” he said. “But I’m going to have my hands full the next little while. Got some big plans in the works.”
“Really?” That was intriguing. “Like what?”
“Has to do with old Leviathan himself,” Anders said.
Even after everything, my stomach did a little flip at the sound of the name.
“What’s Levi got to do with you?”
“Told me about some crazy rogue pack roaming the woods. Something called the Red Maw?”
“Oh shit,” I muttered, leaning back in my booth.
“You heard of them?” Anders asked. “Did you have any dealings with them while you were gone?”
A mental image flashed through my mind of the group that chased me that day, and the way Levi had dealt with them. I suppressed a shudder.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I said.
Anders shrugged off my response, and went on. “Anyway, I guess the fuckers are getting too big for their own good. They think they can move in on him and us as well.”
“Wait, Red Maw is going to attack Idlewild?” I said, then sucked in a breath. “So that’s why the beta was there.”
“Sorry, what?” Anders asked.
“Remember when I came back with you? There was a guy on the outskirts of town. He introduced himself as the beta of the Red Maw, and you told him to leave.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense. Levi and his beta said they found tracks near the outskirts of town. I sent a few guys out last night to check and see if those two were full of shit, and I’ll be damned if they didn’t find the tracks too.
“Basically, Levi and I are entering into a mutually beneficial partnership. An alliance against the Red Maw, but I’ve got bigger plans than that,” he added, and there was a weird glimmer in his eye.
“What’s that?” I asked, hesitant, but curious.
“I’m going to bring in a bunch of the area alphas. Talk to them about uniting against the threat. I’m not actually worried about these Red Maw guys, but can you imagine if I’m the one who unites all the packs? I’d be one of the most powerful alphas in a thousand miles!”
After he said that, the waitress brought out our food.
I ate slowly, not sure how to respond to that.
Anders wasn’t taking the threat of the Red Maw as seriously as he should.
Levi and Rainier said the Red Maw had a lot more people than they’d realized, and they might not have seen all of them.
The Red Maw was ruthless and strong. Anders had his eyes on power when he should have had his eyes on something more pressing.
I doubted he’d want to hear that, though.
“So…uh…Levi’s going to stick around for a while?” I asked.
Anders drenched his pancakes in syrup. “Yeah. He’s got a hard-on for finding this reincarnated girl.
” He snorted. “Dude’s an old-school shifter.
I didn’t think people still believed in that stuff.
I told him he could use a rental house downtown.
No one’s used it for a couple years. I gave him access to the town messaging app too.
His beta had to help him get the phone set up.
Looks like Mr. Demon Wolf doesn’t come out of the mountains much. ”
“Messaging app?” I frowned at him.
“He wanted to send out a town-wide message. All the single ladies can stop by and talk to him. I guess it’s like fucking speed dating or something.
” He shrugged and stuffed a bite of pancake in his mouth.
“Talk to them, see if he notices a spark or whatever. Then, like, I don’t know, fucks them or something?
Not sure, but it really isn’t my problem as long as everyone consents.
” Anders pointed his fork at me. “If he messes with my people against their will, though? Then he and I are gonna have a problem.”
A sick, hollow feeling surged in my stomach at the thought. As badly as it had hurt to leave Levi, and as much as I realized it was the right move, it still hurt to think of him trying to find someone else. I was suddenly not very hungry anymore.
Anders droned on about his plan to unite the packs and bring Hidden Grove under his command.
I barely listened because I thought it was ridiculous for him to think he could get Levi to agree to that, and I was too consumed by thoughts about Levi.
An unwarranted, powerful surge of nostalgia struck me, and for a few moments, I wished I was back in Hidden Grove, doing basic chores and foraging in the forest for mushrooms and greens.
When we were done, Anders kissed me. I pulled away as soon as I could and told him I’d get started on planning the mating ceremony.
I chose to walk home in my human form, wanting to take my time to clear my head.
Though, whether consciously or unconsciously, I ended up taking a route that led me past the rental house Levi was staying in.
There were already a bunch of women hanging around the porch.
Waiting to go in, perhaps? Many unmatched ladies would jump at the chance to be paired with an alpha, especially one as legendary as Leviathan Cross.
If word had spread that he was, indeed, not some slavering monster bent on ravishing and eating anyone who went too deep into the woods, then he’d have every unpaired woman in Idlewild and surrounding towns hoping to be the reincarnated Naphele.
Tearing my eyes away, I hurried on, quickening my pace, and trying not to wish I had been what Levi was looking for.