Chapter 10
ten
FINN
I paced Emmy’s doorstep, my phone to my ear and my entire body tense with panic as I tried to breathe through the fear.
“Leave a message after the tone,” a robotic voice said for the dozenth time. I hung up with a growl.
Where was she?
I’d been at her house, calling her, for fifteen minutes now. She’d given me the door code a few weeks ago, so I’d been inside and knew she wasn’t home. Her car wasn’t there either.
Abby, Stella, and Jade hadn’t answered their phones when I tried to ask if they knew where she was. Neither had Wyatt, Nico, or Graham.
I didn’t have numbers or addresses for Zoe or Maya.
What if something had happened to her?
What if she was hurt?
What if she’d gone out with her friends and went home with some other bastard?
That didn’t seem like something she would do, but what if they’d talked her into it?
I didn’t know Maya or Zoe. Maybe they were like that.
Emmy definitely wouldn’t want to be the one person who didn’t go do something that sounded fun.
I’d fucking kill him for touching her.
Not knowing what else to do, I called her.
Again.
Like a fucking stalker.
Right before that damn robot told me to leave a message again, she finally answered.
“Hello?” Her voice was heavy with sleep.
The sheer amount of relief that rolled through me told me I was in way too deep. “You’re okay?” The question came out more like a demand.
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’re not home.”
“I slept at Zoe’s.”
The weight her answer took off my shoulders was staggering. “Can you send me the address? Please?”
She paused. “I think I’m going to have breakfast with my friends, Finn.”
I deserved that.
Anxiety had gotten the best of me the night before, and I put distance between us. That was on me.
“That’s fine. I just want to see you first.”
She sighed softly. “Alright. I’ll text it to you.”
“Thanks, Em.”
The call ended, and an address came through a few seconds later.
The drive over was pretty short, and Emmy opened the apartment door before I could knock.
“Shh,” she whispered. “Zoe and Maya are—”
I dragged her into my arms, hugging her fiercely to my chest. She reeked of two other women, but I didn’t care.
She made a surprised noise, but hugged me back. “What’s that for?”
“I was worried about you.” My voice came out gruffer than I intended.
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t think you’d come back for a few days.”
“Why would you think that?”
“You seemed frustrated during our last conversation.”
“I’m just trying to figure out how to do this.”
“This, meaning, us?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how to balance my possessiveness, anxiety, and fucked up past,” I admitted. “When you throw in how much I like being around you, everything gets messy.”
“Aww, you like being around me?”
“Don’t tease me, woman.” I nuzzled her neck with my nose, making her laugh softly as she slid her hand over the back of my neck.
“You need someone to tease you.”
“Maybe I do.”
She let out a slow, happy breath against my chest. “I don’t know how to balance this either.
I don’t really ever take things slow, and I’m not good at trying not to care.
I always care too much. I started catching feelings, like, day one.
Which means I should probably put some space between us, for your sake. I just don’t want to.”
“I don’t want you to either,” I admitted. “I might be feeling things too.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do about that?”
“Hell if I know.” I breathed in her scent. The way it relaxed every fiber of my being was a mind-fuck. Jo’s smell had definitely never done that, so maybe it wasn’t a mating thing. Maybe it was just… Emmy. “What did you decide about the contract?”
“I signed it. It’s for the summer session, so it’s only eight weeks. A little more than half of a normal semester. I figured we can see how things go over the next month and a half before I have to decide what to do about the fall semester.”
That was probably for the best, even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.
I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted, other than to have her with me.
“It would be good to keep going the way we have been,” I said.
The amount of driving was shitty, but everything else about it was nice.
Emmy nodded.
The apartment door opened behind her, and a scowling, dark-haired woman appeared in the doorway.
My grip on Emmy tightened, but she just looked over her shoulder with a small smile. “Hey, Maya.”
“You good?” she asked Emmy.
I fucking hated that there was any question whether my mate was okay with me. Of course she was good.
Emmy nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”
Maya dipped her chin and stepped back inside without a word in my direction.
“She doesn’t like werewolf guys. Sorry,” Emmy whispered to me.
“How does she know them?”
“Her story is like yours.”
My gut tightened.
She had been mated to some asshole, then.
“I didn’t know you had another unmated female werewolf in your friend group.”
“Well, we’re nothing if not mysterious.”
I snorted. “Is that your bright yellow house’s style? Mystery Chic?”
Emmy flashed me a playful grin. “Hey, anything is better than Cabin Chic.”
“Cabins are great.”
“Maybe if they’re pink.”
“You don’t want a pink house.”
“I do, actually. I almost painted mine pink, but I wasn’t sure how long I was going to stay, and Zoe talked me out of it.”
“So your ideal house is…”
“The color of the trim on my current house,” she confirmed.
“Wow.”
“You can add that to the list of reasons you aren’t ready to be with me.” She winked. “My mental health wouldn’t survive a move into a brown cabin. I’m allergic to neutrals.”
“So your dislike has morphed into an allergy?”
“Yeah. I can send you the medical report, if you’d like.”
“I’ll keep an eye on my inbox.”
Emmy grinned up at me.
I couldn’t stop the small curve of my lips. “I should leave you to your friends.”
“My breakfast plans were an attempt at avoiding awkward confrontation, so there are none. I wouldn’t say no if you offered to buy me crepes and fancy coffee.”
She was ridiculous, but I had no problem playing along. “Can I buy you crepes and fancy coffee, Em?”
“Oh, I would love that. Give me a minute to grab my bag.” She kissed my cheek lightly before disappearing back into the house. As the door shut, I saw Maya on the couch, snoring.
Emmy came back quickly, and we headed out.