Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Timber
“You’re both idiots.”
Finnegan glowers at me as we wait for our early morning tea to steep.
I remind him, “You forgot about the witch Alma. She was there too.”
The vampire leans over his custom kitchen island and stares me down so savagely, I can’t fathom what he’s thinking. “Leave her out of this. You’re lucky she’s not collateral damage to your escapades.”
“Escapades?”
Sometimes I don’t know how he can keep a straight face when he gets so high and mighty.
Finnegan’s hands are planted on the marble, “I told you to stay in.”
“You advised me to stay in. There’s a difference,” I reply.
My friend curses as he takes the bag from his bedtime tea and tosses it, then hands me my heavily caffeinated version. It’s sharp and extra strong, exactly what I need after the hunt that kept me awake all night.
It’s now the morning after the full moon, and I can feel the wolf inside begin to wane.
The wolf will be back tonight, but not in full form.
Hopefully, I hunted enough game to tide me over until next month.
Tonight will be a different sort of hunger, though.
“You do realize you two decided to play your kinky little game while the whole town is looking for you.”
I wrap my hand around the ceramic mug, feeling the burn against my skin. “It wasn’t planned. It just happened.”
“Get control of your shit before you get her killed, Timber.”
“Go to sleep, bro. You’re crabby. Even with the treated windows to keep out the ill effects of the sun.”
“I don’t sleep. I rest with my eyes open,” Finnegan informs me.
“Have you tried a sleep mask?” I ask, sipping my tea.
“Very amusing.”
“Thanks.”
The stare down continues.
I’m the first to blink, of course. I don’t have a defense of how reckless I was last night. After months of stalking Cherry, I just could not be away from her, not even for one night.
I finally say what needs to be said. “Thanks for bringing Cherry home last night. You know, after the full shift.”
Finnegan points an index finger at me.
“That’s two nights in a row you cornered her. If you keep this up, you’re going to do something you regret.”
“Too late. I’m in love with her.”
Finnegan freezes with his mug halfway to his mouth. “Tell me you didn’t bite her.”
“I didn’t bite her.”
“Thank the devil.”
“But I might’ve nipped her a little bit.”
“You didn’t break the skin, did you?”
I shake my head, swallowing down the rest of my tea.
“See that you don’t.”
My friend dumps his tea in the sink and lopes off to bed. “Make sure you shower before you get your wet dog stink all over my guest bed. And wash my car if you use it to get home. That dirt road you live on always leaves it filthy.”
That’s Finnegan’s version of letting me know I can sleep it off here at his house. As crash pads go, I could do worse. The concrete midcentury structure might as well be a bunker, complete with an impenetrable fence to keep nosy neighbors at bay.
I do what I’m told and take a long, hot shower in the guest bathroom. But I can’t sleep.
I’ve got too much to think about.
About noon, I take Finnegan’s Porsche into town and drive to Cherry’s house, where I fully expected to find her.
Then I remember it’s Sunday, the day she usually spends at her grandmother’s house.
As I head back to the car, I’m not looking forward to another trek through the woods. When I drive down Main Street, I’m caught by surprise as I see Cherry going into the candle shop.
Without thinking twice, I grab a tray of coffee drinks from the nearby coffee shop on my way to the candle store.
Cherry jumps when she sees me.
“Timber! What are you doing here?” Her hands are busy stocking a new supply of pomegranate lime jar candles, and the smell is too strong for my liking. Residual canine scent glands.
“I was going to ask you the same thing. What are you doing here on a Sunday?” I ask, setting down the drink tray. Cherry’s coworkers take the drinks with an overture of thanks. “Don’t you spend the day with your grandma?”
She straightens out the row of candles she’s just stocked, making sure all the labels face forward. “I decided to pick up an extra shift to keep my mind off certain things. So, what’s your reason for being here?”
“I wanted to bring you a coffee,” I say, handing her the last remaining drink. She doesn’t take it, so I set it on the counter by the register. “And I need to talk to you.”
Cherry turns to face me.
“I-I need to talk to you too,” she says, a pink flush coloring her cheeks.
I nod. “You first, then.”
“I think we should stop seeing each other. I make bad decisions every time I’m with you. Now you go.”
I don’t stop to allow myself to have feelings about what she’s just said.
“If that’s the case, you need to promise me that tonight, you’ll stay home and lock your doors. No exceptions. No excuses. I don’t want to see you out and about tonight at all.”
Cherry crosses her arms. “I can control myself around you, you know.”
I don’t visibly disagree, though we both know that’s a lie. It’s more important to let her have some dignity than for me to be right.
“If I see you tonight, neither of us will be in control.”
“Well, Alma’s going to work on some more protection spells with me tonight, so I already have plans, if you must know.”
I nod and smile at her attempt at being haughty with me. Still so fucking adorable. “I’m glad,” I say, then lower my voice for only her to hear. “Because last night, I triggered your heat. I can smell it in your pheromone secretions right now.”
A snort sounds from the coworkers in the corner, sipping their coffee and watching us.
Guess I didn’t lower my voice enough.
“That’s ridiculous,” Cherry says, her eyes cutting toward her coworkers self-consciously. Her scent of arousal enhances even though she’s embarrassed. “Humans don’t come with that feature.”
“They do. And also, may I remind you, you’re not a typical human. Why do you think those two over there are called normies?”
Cherry shakes her head. “Okay, okay. I’ll stay in tonight. Just please never say the word ‘secretions’ to me again.”
“It’s a deal.”
I turn to go, feeling proud of myself that I’ve kept it platonic between us in the moment. That we can have a rational conversation in public without our physical needs taking over.
But as I go to leave, she jumps me.
Blurting out, “Screw it,” Cherry’s hands reach for my shirt, and she pulls me back to her, landing a frantic, demanding kiss to my lips.
I growl into her mouth and pull her hips toward me, just for a moment.
The kiss is not as soft and playful as the first time we kissed. Her tongue licks into my mouth, and mine does the same to hers. She tastes like candy corn and pumpkin spice. Her breath hitches as I bring her in tighter, fully pressing her body to mine.
I need to feel every inch of her, and I might just do it in public, right in front of her coworkers, forgetting the conversation we just had about restraint.
“Oh goddess. You’d better go,” she says, pushing me away as I laugh. “I’ve gotta call Alma.”
It’s all I can do to leave, and I haven’t even marked her as mine.
But as I stalk back to Finn’s car, all I can think about is how she tasted last night. How she moaned. How her delicate fingers felt in my scruff. And how she screamed my name when she came.
Things could be good with her. They could be so good, but I have to get past tonight. Get out of the moon phase and come back down to earth.
It’s the only way to get to know her as a person. Because even in my human form, this time of the month still clouds my judgment.
As evidenced by the fact that I spend the rest of the day parked in front of the candle shop, and later, on her street when she goes home.
What will happen when I transition in the wild once again?
I’ll be seen by people on the lookout for the rabid dog, and that’s only going to lead to destruction.
And maybe that’s the best thing for all of us.
Better to be dead than live a cursed life and allow this incredible witch to be tied to me forever.
Envisioning a future with Cherry, all I can see is her having to deal with my quirks and complications every month.
Three days each month of me dragging home random carcasses from the woods.
Three days of my insatiable lust with no foreplay. Not to mention the howling.
She doesn’t deserve that.
Cherry deserves to be free.