Chapter 8
eight
JADE
Wyatt’s hand was low on my hip as I knocked on Stella and Graham’s door for the third time. The touch was comfortable. Casual. It made me feel good, too.
It didn’t solve my current problem, though.
“I know you’re in there, and I’m not leaving until you come out! I’m going to start ringing the doorbell over and over again if you don’t answer in the next thirty seconds!” I yelled at the wooden slab.
To his credit, the yelling and threats didn’t seem to faze Wyatt.
I looked over at him. “Just so you know, I’m always like this. If we’re going to be stuck together, you should keep that in mind. I’m always going to be difficult.”
“Not difficult. Passionate.”
I blinked.
Yeah, I guess those words were kind of exchangeable in this scenario.
“Thanks,” I finally said.
Wyatt squeezed my hip lightly in response.
I lifted my finger to the doorbell and rang it.
Once.
Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And—
The door finally flew open.
A gigantic, annoyed-looking dude with wild, dark hair glared at me from the other side.
Wyatt’s chest rumbled with a growl.
“You forgot to put pants on,” I told Graham.
He looked down, and his anger vanished when he realized he was naked.
The door slammed shut.
I was staring at wood once again. A much different kind than I’d just gotten a glimpse of.
“How long should I wait before I ring the doorbell again?” I whispered to Wyatt.
“Thirty seconds seems fair.”
Reasonable.
I nodded.
Silently, I counted to thirty.
Just before I hit the button, the door opened. Stella was on the other side this time, with the newly-pajama-pants-clad giant behind her.
“Are there s’mores on your pants?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s an inside joke.” Stella waved it off. “What’s up?”
“I signed you up for girls’ night.”
She blinked.
The guy behind her glared at me again. “We’re in the climax.”
“Take a break,” I said.
“You don’t take a break from—” Graham started, before Stella cut him off with a well-placed elbow to the gut.
He grunted.
“Everyone who isn’t involved in the werewolf thing has been worried about you,” I said. “The group is falling apart. I need you to be there. You can drive with Graham, stay for twenty minutes, and screw in the car after feigning tiredness because of your made-up recovery from illness.”
Stella nodded. “Alright.”
The guy behind her still didn’t look happy with me.
I didn’t particularly care.
“How are you going to go?” she asked me. “You can’t be away from Wyatt, and you can’t bring him to the girls’ night.”
“Oh, Wyatt’s wolf is going to pretend to be Abby’s wolfdog.” I patted the man’s arm. The look he flashed me was amused, rather than annoyed.
Stella blinked. “Wyatt’s wolf doesn’t look like Nico’s.”
“Emmy and Zoe aren’t going to remember him that clearly, and they’re the only ones not in on the wolf thing. Right?”
“I guess.”
She’d just confirmed that Maya was involved somehow.
I was on to them.
“Perfect. I got distracted, so we’re kind of running late and need to head out. Right now.”
“Right this second?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Okay.” Stella looked at her guy. The annoyance on his face vanished as soon as she was looking at him. “I should’ve called her sooner. I owe them. You good with it, Teddy Graham?”
He sighed. “I’m good.”
“Thanks.” She kissed him.
The kiss deepened, and I cleared my throat. They cut it off quickly.
Wyatt coughed, totally trying to hide a laugh.
“Alright. Let me get dressed, and we’ll go,” Stella said with a grin.
“Graham should stay out here, so I don’t have to ring your doorbell a dozen more times,” I said.
He flashed Wyatt an exasperated look. When I glanced over at Wyatt, I found him hiding a grin as he feigned rubbing the scruff on his face.
“That’s probably for the best.” Stella slipped away, leaving Graham on the porch with us.
“The weather’s nice,” I remarked, while the werewolf dude stared past us.
“Sure,” Graham said.
Luckily, Stella changed quickly.
She pulled her hair up into a ponytail while she slipped past Graham, flashing me a smile as she hip-bumped me. “I owe you a hiking date.”
“Hell yeah, you do.”
“Might have to make it a double.”
“I guess that could work.” I stepped closer to Wyatt, who squeezed my hip again.
The drive passed quickly while I gave Wyatt a rundown of my friends and the dynamics between them. It helped that he already knew Stella and Abby.
His connection from the werewolf lab in town texted back and set me up with an interview the next week halfway through the drive, and I basically radiated excitement after that.
“Okay, Zoe and Emmy are the ones who were friends before you met,” Wyatt said.
“Right. Zoe teaches math, and Emmy is the early childhood education chick.”
“And Maya is the loner.”
“Yeah, she does her own thing. I think she’s involved in the werewolf world somehow, based on her reaction to Stella’s disappearance, but no one has confirmed it.”
“She teaches…”
“Cooking. She hates it. Despises it, honestly. She went to a fancy culinary school and loved working in a restaurant, but had some kind of issues with it that she refuses to get into with any of us. That was probably also related to the werewolf thing, actually.”
“How many of you actually like teaching?” Wyatt asked.
“Good question. I’m honestly not sure. I know Zoe likes it more than she liked her job in finance before.
Abby does, but she’s obviously teaching online now.
Stella doesn’t hate it, but I think she’ll eventually end up quitting to run her online shop full time.
Emmy likes teaching, but she hasn’t seen satisfied with the job for a while. ”
“And you’re hopefully going to get a job working at a lab in town.”
“Yup. Werewolf studies for the win.” I held up a fist.
Wyatt bumped it with his own.
He told me about the rest of his packmates while we drove.
Connor—the one who minded his own business.
Finn—the one with the most complicated history with women.
Ethan—the charismatic one who was a pain in everyone’s ass and desperately wanted a mate.
Austin and Enzo—the chill couple everyone liked hanging out with.
Abby and Nico—the ringleaders, basically.
Stella and Graham—undecided, since they’d mated so recently.
There were a few other couples that were technically part of the pack but didn’t live in the forest. Their distance meant they were sort of on the outside. I tried to commit their names to memory too.
We pulled up in front of Emmy’s cute little house soon enough, and Wyatt’s eyebrows lifted.
“I know. It looks like something out of a fairytale,” I said. “Literally.”
The siding had been painted a lemony shade of yellow, with the decorative shutters and other trim done in a shade of pink that could only be described as bubblegum.
It wasn’t my cup of tea, but Emmy was obsessed, and who was I to tell her that most sane adults didn’t live in yellow and pink houses?
“Did it come like that?” Wyatt asked.
I snorted. “Nope. Wait until you see the inside.”
“Is it this bright?”
“Brighter. Kind of looks like a rainbow threw up in there.” I paused. “A designer rainbow. It’s somehow overly-colorful without looking ridiculous. You’ll see.”
Wyatt shrugged.
Abby knocked on my window, and I rolled it down.
“Ready?” she checked.
“Yep.” I looked at Wyatt, who nodded.
He stepped out and stripped, tossing me his clothes through the open door while Abby turned her back to him.
We chatted about the werewolf research job I was hoping to get, until Wyatt’s wolf jumped into the truck and licked my face.
I laughed, pushing him away. He got back out and shut the door with his side while I slipped out too.
Stella caught up to us on our way to the doorstep, her clothes and hair disheveled.
“There’s chapstick all over your face,” I said, gesturing toward my own mouth.
“Your ponytail is crooked, too,” Abby put in.
“This is your fault,” Stella grumbled at me, as she tried to wipe her face with her shirt and adjust her hair at the same time. She got the chapstick off, but somehow her hair only got worse. “Did I get it?”
Abby gave her a thumbs-up. “Nailed it.”
Stella looked at me.
“I’d just start over with the ponytail. It’s beyond saving,” I said.
Stella muttered a curse and pulled it down, combing her fingers through it in an attempt to tame it while Abby knocked on the door.
Emmy opened it with a smile. Her light skin was more tan than it had been the last time I’d seen her, and her dark blonde curls were messier than usual, hanging freely around her face.
She was wearing a simple pink bralette that complimented her small chest, along with a flowy pair of green, wide-legged pajama pants.
Her gray eyes brightened when she saw Stella, and she threw her arms around her.
“You’re okay?” she checked.
“Totally fine,” Stella promised, hugging Emmy back.
“I can’t believe we’re all together again,” Emmy said, as we headed inside. Wyatt’s wolf stayed plastered to my side, with my fingers buried in his fur. “It feels like it’s been forever.”
“Stella was sick for ages,” I agreed.
Abby elbowed me in the gut, and I winced.
In the kitchen, we found Maya sitting on the countertop in a cropped tank top, a pair of volleyball shorts, and some tall socks.
Her usual place, and outfit. It made everything feel more normal.
Her dark hair was tied up in two wild space buns that had probably been there for at least a day already, and her light skin was paler than usual.
“Is that the same dog you had before?” Zoe checked. She was leaning up against the kitchen cabinets, her arms folded and her tan forehead creased. Her highlighted blonde hair was tied back loosely at the nape of her neck, her oversized blue sweater paired with black cotton leggings.
“Yeah. He’s obsessed with Jade for some reason right now. I think she’s been sneaking him steak or lunch meat or something,” Abby said.
“His fur is different colors,” Zoe pointed out.
Abby brightened. “I know, isn’t it fun? His winter fur has been shedding, and the colors are totally changing. I swear there’s a new color in it every day.”
“Do dogs usually do that?” Emmy asked.
“No, but wolves do, and he’s a wolfdog,” Abby said.
“What sickness did you have?” Zoe asked Stella.
Geez, we needed a huge subject change.
“Oh, a bunch of different things. One led to another, and another, and another.” Stella waved it off. “Do we have margaritas? It’s been ages since I had a drink.”
Stella came through on the conversation front.
“You know we always have girls’ night margaritas,” Emmy said with a smile.
“And celery,” Maya pointed out.
“The health benefits are unparalleled,” Abby teased.
The mood lightened a little as we all grabbed food and drinks. Wyatt’s wolf stayed close to me, and Abby stayed nearby enough to avoid more questions about the dog’s behavior.
We all caught each other up on what had been going on as we snacked and drank. The alcohol didn’t seem to affect me at all, which I assumed was related to werewolfism somehow.
Zoe and Emmy made a few other comments that made me think they were more suspicious about Stella’s disappearance and Abby’s dog than either of them let on. They didn’t ask any questions outright, though.
Not even when Stella ducked out thirty minutes into the night with an excuse about how tired she was from all the recovering she’d been doing.
I found myself watching Maya as we approached eleven PM—the unofficial time we always ended our girls’ nights.
She wasn’t tipsy the way Zoe and Emmy were.
Had I ever seen her tipsy? Stella had joked about it being impossible for her to get drunk a bunch of times, but Maya had never mentioned anything similar.
Now that I thought about it, I definitely hadn’t ever seen her drunk.
She had to be a werewolf too.
I wasn’t sure what her story could be, though. She obviously didn’t have a mate.
It was a problem for another day.
I snuggled with and scratched Wyatt’s wolf throughout the night. When everyone hugged each other goodbye, I was honestly looking forward to being alone with Human Wyatt again.
The wolf was nice, but the man was something else.
Zoe walked out to our cars with us, forcing me and Abby to keep up with the wolfdog facade.
“Hey, do you mind if I keep your dog for the night?” I asked Abby, my fingers still buried in Wyatt’s fur. “It’s been ages since I had someone to snuggle with.”
“Go ahead. Just don’t keep him up too late,” Abby joked.
I felt Zoe’s piercing gaze on my back, and pointedly didn’t look her way.
She was totally suspicious.
Did she know about the werewolf thing too somehow? I guess everyone at the university knew about the urban legend, but Zoe couldn’t have actually had an idea that it was true. Could she?
I hadn’t.
Then again, I wasn’t the kind of person who just believed random stories about werewolves. I liked facts, and evidence.
“Did you get a truck, Jade?” Zoe asked me.
I glanced at Wyatt’s vehicle.
Shit.
Guess I was going to try my hand at lying the way Abby had.
“I’m kind of dating someone,” I admitted. “He’s a mechanic. It’s new, but when my car broke down, he made me take one of his.” I patted the side of the truck awkwardly.
“Right.” Zoe looked extremely unconvinced.
She had to be figuring out the werewolf thing. Or at least realizing there was something going on. I hoped she wasn’t going to cause any problems.
Then again, I had caused plenty of problems myself, so I had no business stopping her.
I opened the driver’s side door, and Wyatt jumped up onto the seat before taking his place on the passenger chair. I waved goodbye to my friends and pulled out.
“Zoe’s following me,” I told Wyatt’s wolf, as I turned onto the main road. “You’ll need to stay in that form until we get to my place, to be safe.”
I’d rather just tell her what was going on, but she still hadn’t asked… and I wasn’t sure what the rules were about that sort of thing. Telling people had to be at least a little frowned upon, considering the lengths Moon Ridge went to as far as hiding what had happened to Stella from me.
I didn’t see Zoe’s car behind me after a few minutes, but I wasn’t risking getting caught.
So, I drove all the way back to my apartment.