60. Juniper
JUNIPER
“Do I go with tulips or roses?” I asked, glancing up from the catalog to Beatrice. “What do you think?”
Beatrice glanced at the pages. “What about sunflowers?”
“Girl, this is a spring ceremony,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Oh, yeah, I guess that’s true,” she said, scrunching her nose up, then checking her watch. “Shit,” she hissed and grabbed her purse. “I gotta go. I’m going to be late for work.”
“Okay. Have fun with all that,” I said, grinning at her.
“Oh yeah, loads of joy. See you later. Love you, chick.”
“Love you too,” I said, and went back to perusing the florist catalog.
Sitting at the counter of the secondhand store, I let my mind drift as I looked at dozens of different colors of flowers in the catalog.
I couldn’t help but think about the dinner the three nights before with Levi and Anders.
It was possibly one of the most awkward nights of my entire life.
Even now, I couldn’t tell if Levi had been aloof because he didn’t want to be around me or because he didn’t want to be around Anders. Possibly both.
I hadn’t seen Levi since that night and had only spoken to him via text a couple of times to discuss Naphele’s murder.
Honestly, I was getting irritated with myself.
Since my last vision, I’d had nothing since.
Not a dream, not a fantasy, not a hint of anything.
I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to approach the suspects if I didn’t have any more visions.
All the suspects were either dead or so old they could probably barely walk or talk.
They’d be hard to find if they were living in a nursing home a hundred miles away.
Deep down, I knew whatever was happening to me was a gift that was incredibly difficult—if not impossible—to control. That didn’t make it any easier.
It didn’t make any sense. If Naphele’s spirit was dead-set on finding out who murdered her and was going so far as to invade my consciousness, then why hadn’t she done anything more?
Was I supposed to freaking figure it all out by replaying the horror scene of her death over and over in her head?
Frustrated, I flipped the next page of the catalog hard enough to tear it.
The bell rang on the front door, but I didn’t even look up. I continued to browse the pictures and shoved away my anger before calling out in my best customer service voice, “Good morning, welcome to Hollis Haven, let me know if you need anything.”
“What are you looking at?”
His scent struck me. That musky, woodsy, smoky smell that even now made my mouth water. Levi.
Snapping my head up, I found him frowning at the catalog, confusion evident in his eyes.
“Oh, this? It’s…uh, I’m planning for the mating ceremony.”
A shadow crossed Levi’s face as he nodded. “Working on some real important stuff, I see.”
The sarcastic tone of voice grated on my nerves. Whatever excitement I’d felt in the back of my mind at his arrival vanished in a flash of anger.
Slapping the brochure closed, I glared up at Levi. “You know, I don’t have to help you. You do know that, right?”
He blinked in surprise and took a step back, obviously surprised by my anger.
“Help me?” he said. “You mean finding out who killed Naphele?”
“Yes, damn it,” I growled, my inner wolf leaping forward in my mind to feed my irritation with some of her own.
I circled the counter until I was almost chest to chest with Levi.
“You know, most women in my situation wouldn’t be helping you,” I said.
“Hang on,” Levi said, recovering enough to respond. “Why are you so pissed off right now? And what the hell do you mean your situation? What situation?”
Gritting my teeth, I glanced back to make sure neither of my grandparents was around, then jabbed my finger in Levi’s chest. “I mean that I’m helping the guy I used to have sex with, while I’m paired with another guy. That’s…like…fucking weird, right?”
“June, I came here to talk about the case, okay? I didn’t come to try and make you mad,” Levi said, which somehow had the opposite effect. “You don’t have to help me if you don’t want to. I’m also trying really hard to put that part of our relationship in the past. Okay?”
That line nearly made my head explode. Was he saying that because he never cared about me that way, or was it too hard for him to think about because it had hurt him so badly? I couldn’t figure out which he meant, and it pissed me off.
“Listen, buddy,” I said, “You’d better—”
“Stop making me angry on purpose, Levi.”
“I’m not trying to. Can’t you see that?” Levi said, pushing away from the fireplace mantle where he’d been leaning. “I’m just stating a fact. It’s nothing but a little problem that needs to be handled.”
“I don’t see how you can possibly say this is a little problem,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Hugo Boucher is dangerous, Levi. You can’t go up against him. I don’t want you to.”
Levi’s face went red with indignation, and he thumped his fist on his chest.
“That bastard wants to run the whole goddamn area, Naphele. I’m not letting him do that. His own pack might be happy with how he treats his people, but I’m not going to let that happen here. I don’t give a damn.”
Rubbing at my temples, I sighed. “I didn’t say not to fight him at all. I said I didn’t want you going against him alone. The way that man is, he might have a trap set.”
Levi let out a disgusted snort. “What do I do? Ask other alphas to help? How often has that happened? Seriously.”
“Never,” I admitted, then despite myself, grinned at him. “But they’ve never been asked by someone like you, have they?”
He rolled his eyes. “Right. Like I’m some waymaker, and all the alphas would listen to me. Why should they believe Hugo wants to do what he’s trying to do? Right now, he’s only probing our territory.” He waved a hand toward the window. “Why would they listen to me? Why would they help us stop him?”
“Because,” I said, moving toward him and putting my hands on his chest. “I believe in you. You’re the strongest alpha I’ve ever known. If anyone can convince the other alphas that Hugo is a threat, you can.” I poked him in the ribs.
Laughing, Levi flinched away. “Damn, don’t do that.”
Before he could recover, I reached forward and grabbed his cheeks. “I love you, even though you can be hard-headed.”
With that, I pulled his face close, and kissed him—
Levi grabbed my shirt, pulling me close, his breath mixed with mine. I was confused, a surreal sense of confusion washing across me. After a moment, I realized we were kissing, my hands on his cheeks, and our bodies pressed into each other.
Sinking into him, I wrapped my arms around his body, relishing the feel of his muscles pressing into me, the sensation of his tongue as it glided in and out of my mouth.
A sigh escaped me as intense pulses of heat radiated out between my legs.
I wanted him. I wanted him to spin me around, bend me over the counter, drag my pants and panties down before sliding his—
“Stop,” I cried, ripping my lips from his and pushing him away. “We can’t.” I’d been so close to losing control. What the fuck was wrong with me?
Levi stumbled as I pushed him away, and his face was awash in confusion, hurt, and anger. “June, you kissed me.”
The sound of a clearing throat tore our attention away from each other. Turning, I found Gran staring at us, eyes wide in surprise.
“Uhm…I’m sorry for interrupting,” she mumbled, but stayed rooted in place.
Levi shook his head and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“I’m leaving.” He stormed out, shoving the door open and stalking down the street before shifting and sprinting from sight.
Gran walked forward slowly and put down the box she’d been carrying. Shame washed over me, and I couldn’t force myself to look at her. All I could think of was how what I’d done had to have given Levi the most awful mixed signals in history.
“Young lady, I think you have a problem.”
“Pardon my language, Gran, but no shit,” I said, and turned to rest my elbows on the counter, guilt weighing heavily on me.
“You need to be very careful,” she said. “What if it had been Anders who walked in, or one of his friends had passed outside and looked in to see that? Not good.”
“I know,” I said, forcing myself to not snap at her. I wanted to, but that was only because I was pissed off at myself. I’d been desperate for a vision, but I hadn’t anticipated that happening. It was too powerful.
Absently, I reached up and fingered the necklace, then paused.
A thought occurred to me. It had been days since I’d seen Levi.
Today he appeared, surprising me, and he did it while I was wearing the necklace.
Perhaps all that together caused such a powerful vision that I did things I normally wouldn’t have?
Slowly, I reached behind my neck and undid the clasp, letting the necklace pool in my palm. I needed the visions, but not if they were that strong. I had to find a happy medium. Maybe taking this off would help.
Gran was right that I needed to be careful.
I didn’t know what had come over me, or why I’d allowed that kiss with Levi to go on so long, but I couldn’t risk alienating Anders.
As rough around the edges as he was, he was still my only chance to stay in Idlewild.
There was still an ache in my chest for Levi.
Each time I saw him something tugged at my heart, but he could never love me the way we both wanted him to.
Not until he could let go of Naphele’s memory, and I wasn’t sure that would happen.
If Levi and I were going to work together, then I needed to make sure my actual mate was in the loop.
He’d been fairly blasé about the murder investigation the other night, but maybe if I told him about my gift, he’d understand better.
He was the alpha of the pack; he might be able to help.
If nothing else, the sooner we discovered who killed Naphele, the sooner all three of us could move on with our lives.
“Gran, I need to make a phone call.” I pulled my phone out and headed for the door.
Outside, I dialed Anders, and while it rang, I gazed around, my eyes following the path Levi had taken.