Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
E mery
A stirring in my stomach awakens me.
It’s not quite hunger pangs, though, I am feeling quite famished, despite eating a filling dinner last night.
It’s more like that odd feeling I’ve had for the past couple of days. Like there’s a weird presence inside of my body.
I pause and think about how ridiculous that thinking is. Learning about a whole species I never believed existed must be getting to me. There’s nothing inside of me. I’m just feeling off because of everything that’s taken place in the past few days.
Instead of letting my thoughts dwell on the impossible, I circle my gaze around the room, and then the window. From my position on the bed, with a slight tilt of my head, I can see the morning sky. The tops of the beautiful rust-colored mountains in the distance are barely visible.
While the morning light makes its appearance, the moon remains high in the sky, for all to see.
A memory from my childhood flashes across my mind. Every now and again, I would spend hours staring at the night moon. It fascinated me for some reason. Both Ashley and me.
Before I can question or think more about this resurfaced memory, my stomach growls. It’s not loud but as soon as it happens a strong hand spreads across my belly.
“You’re hungry,” a deep voice says in my ear causing a chill to race down my spine. It’s as if all of the dormant neurons in my body come alive.
My pussy lips clench from recalling the way Chance’s mouth felt on me.
I turn onto my back to see what has to be the most beautiful sight a woman has ever woken up to.
Chance adjusts his body. He’s now hovering above me, his long locks, creating a curtain around us.
I’m cocooned in his extreme warmth as his arms brace either side of my body. I reach up and run my fingers through his hair. All while keeping my gaze pinned on his pink lips.
The same lips and mouth that brought me so much pleasure the night before.
“You’re so warm,” I say as I snuggle my body into his.
His lips part, his tongue making an albeit brief but noticeable appearance before he replies, “Shifters have warmer body temperatures than humans.”
I nod in understanding while continuing to run my fingers through his hair. His eyelids fall to half mass.
“My mother used to tell me that our people kept our secrets in our hair.”
I blink and tilt my head slightly. “Your people? You mean shifters?”
He shakes his head. “Apache. Some of my family originated all the way from the West Coast. But many roamed the lands of the Southwest. Some as far down south as present-day Mexico.”
“Really?” I sit up on my elbows.
He nods. “My mother wasn’t born Apache, but after she mated with my father, she learned everything she could about our ways. She would wash and style my hair in the traditional ways while telling me stories that were passed down from one generation to the next.”
“That’s so beautiful. Can you—” The ringing of my cell phone stops my question.
I move to pick up my phone and an involuntary groan escapes me.
“Mother,” I say in my most neutral voice.
“Where have you been?” she immediately scolds. “It’s been days since you’ve answered my calls.”
I open my mouth to answer her, but she doesn’t give me time.
“Do you know how many wrinkles worrying causes?” She huffs out a breath. “I hope you haven’t been ignoring all of your calls the way you’ve ignored mine. What if Billy wanted to speak with you?”
“Who?” I clap my hand over my mouth, knowing better than to speak over my mother.
“Billy. Your boyfriend.”
I blink and shake my head having completely forgotten about him.
“We’re not?—”
“I hope you haven’t been ignoring him the way you have your own parents.”
“He’s not?—”
“Is that internship so important that you neglect the most important people in your life?”
Guilt lances through my chest.
“I’m sorry, Mother. But?—”
“But what? Is playing with rocks or whatever you’re doing out there more important than your responsibilities here? Billy could have?—”
“Mother, Ashley’s missing,” I blurt out.
“What?”
I sit up, moving from the bed.
“She’s been missing for days now,” I tell my mother in one breath. I explain everything to her. Well, almost everything. I leave out the part where I was attacked by literal wolf shifters and am now staying in a community of wolf shifters because there may be some after me.
“Your sister’s not missing,” my mother says in a huff.
“What? She is. I haven’t spoken to her in almost two weeks. The police won’t get involved, either.”
There’s a pause on the other end.
“Ashley’s here.”
“What?!” I shriek and halt my pacing. I feel Chance’s eyes on me. But I focus on the conversation with my mother.
“She’s with you? Since when? How long? When did she get back from Florida?” I throw a hand over my mouth.
Florida was all but forbidden territory for Ashley and me since we moved to New York with our adoptive parents.
My mother doesn’t immediately answer.
“Hello? Mother?”
“Which question would you like me to answer first?” she asks in a calm, detached voice. It’s her normal demeanor.
“Shall I inform you that your sister arrived home two days ago from the unapproved vacation she suddenly took? The one you apparently knew about? Or shall I get to the part where your sister specifically defied our wishes and went to Florida?”
I clear my suddenly dry throat.
“But she’s at home? With you?” I emphasize the second question.
“Yes, that is what I just said, isn’t it?”
Ignoring the impatience tone in my mother’s voice, I ask, “Can I speak with her? Is she okay? Why hasn’t she called me?”
“What have I told you about asking too many questions back to back?”
I tighten my hand around the phone. My patience is wavering, but instead of giving into my impatience, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. As I count down from five, I reopen my eyes.
“I apologize, Mother,” I respond in the contrite voice she drilled into me as the correct way for a woman to apologize.
“May I please speak with her?”
“That’s not possible right now,” my mother answers quickly. “Your sister apparently got into some sort of trouble on her supposed vacation to Florida. She’s fine, but she’s resting.”
“I—”
“I’ll have her call you when she’s ready. I have a lunch at the club in twenty minutes,” she informs me. “I have to go. Make sure to answer your phone moving forward, especially when Billy calls.”
She hangs up before I have the chance to say goodbye.
I pull the phone from my ear, staring at it.
“Your mother.” Chance’s deep voice startles me. I spin around to look at him.
“Yes,” I say as I push out a sigh of relief. “Ashley’s back home.”
Chance doesn’t immediately respond. Though I do notice something flicker in his eyes.
Before I can ask him about the emotion, a sudden hunger pang hits my stomach. It’s so intense that I clutch my belly. Chance frowns as he peers down at my hand over my stomach.
“You’re hungry.”
“Sorry, was my stomach growling that loudly?” I joke.
When I peer back up at Chance’s expression, he isn’t smiling as I’d intended. The look on his face is more somber than humor-filled. I wonder what caused such a change in expression.
“The pack always prepares a big breakfast,” he says.
“Oh…okay.”
He spins away from me and it’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him to turn to face me again. Something about the way he looks at me makes me feel…wanted.
Then I remember how I begged him last night to stay with me.
Men don’t like pathetic women.
Another helpful tip from my mother.
I hate that the memory of her words combines with the way Chance vehemently denied that I was his mate when asked last night by one of his pack members.
The sense of rejection shouldn’t have stung the way it did. I barely know this man. I highly doubt that I’m a wolf shifter as everyone around me continues to suggest. So, I surely can’t be his mate, right?
“Let’s go eat,” he says, suddenly dressed in front of me. I didn’t even realize that I’d gotten lost in my thoughts.
“You’re right. I’m hungry and I could use a cup of coffee.”
I am feeling famished. Though I’m not usually one for a big breakfast.
We have to watch our waistlines.
Another one of my mother’s helpful warnings. It’s enough to spur me into the bathroom.
“I’ll only be a minute,” I yell out to Chance from behind the closed door. I take his non-response as understanding.
I rummage through my handbag picking out the small facial cleanser I have on hand. I do my best to put myself together with the limited moisturizers and makeup from my suitcase’s bag.
Yet, once complete, I step away from the mirror and give myself a onceover. Everything looks decent, for now, I pull the bonnet off of my hair, letting out a small groan.
Not only are my roots getting worse, the gray streak is starting to peek through. Faster than usual.
On top of that, I can’t believe I let Chance see me in my bonnet…again. I was so out of it, last night with sadness and worry, that I didn’t even think of how I looked.
And he still dove between your legs like a wolf to its prey.
I pause and inhale deeply in an attempt to slow my quickening heart rate. I can’t think about last night. I should focus on getting to talk to my sister. I plan to give her a call after breakfast.
With my thoughts firmly in the right place, I pull the door open.
“Oh,” I startle when Chance appears, his large body taking up the entire space of the doorframe.
My heartbeat starts to race again, and heat floods my body as he stares down at me. His golden eyes search my face before roaming over the rest of my body. It’s not a lustful look, however.
The wrinkle in between his eyebrows leads me to believe he’s concerned.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, why?” I ask, confused.
“You ran into the bathroom without saying anything.”
I cock my head to the side. “I told you I would just be a minute. I needed to get presentable.”
I playfully wave a hand over my face and body.
Chance doesn’t crack a smile. In fact, the wrinkle between his brows deepens.
“You said it with the door closed.” There’s a heaviness in his voice that I don’t understand.
Did I do something wrong?
Chance shakes his head as if I’ve asked the question out loud.
“You’re always presentable.”
The words take me by surprise.
I almost tell him that’s not true, at all, before my stomach growls. On instinct, I place my hand against my flat belly.
“I don’t know what’s going on today. I usually never have such a big appetite in the morning.” Embarrassment coats my comment.
“Food.” That’s the only thing Chance says before he grabs my hand and tugs me toward the door.
I don’t protest or even bother asking where we’re going as we exit his front door. We’re heading over to the alpha’s home again.
It’s a bit of a walk since Chance’s house is more on the edge of the pack’s territory, and the alpha’s is smack dab in the middle. Yet, I enjoy the walk because Chance doesn’t release my hand the entire time.
He doesn’t talk much.
I watch him sniff the air and wonder what he’s doing.
“It stormed last night,” he says almost to himself.
“I can’t believe I slept through it,” I say. I rarely sleep through thunderstorms. Ever since that night, when I was ten.
They don’t frighten me like they do Ashley, but I become restless in storms. As if those same uneasy feelings from that night all of those years ago remain stored in my body, waiting for a storm to come out.
My heart sinks a bit when Chance doesn’t respond.
Something tells me to tug on his arm, which I do.
His attention on me is immediate. I repeat what I said about sleeping through the storm.
His large hand tightens around mine.
You’re always presentable.
The words he said moments ago float back to mind. I know that’s not true. I must’ve looked horrid this morning in a silk bonnet with slight bags under my eyes from crying last night.
But the tone of his voice almost makes me believe him.
“Thank you,” I say, looking him in the eyes. “For last night. I was kind of freaking out a little.” I push out a sigh and look away.
Too many thoughts and emotions roll through me to put words to them all. He probably wouldn’t want to hear it all anyway.
“You’re here,” a cheery Ms. Elsie greets from the front door. Her warm, welcome smile has me stopping in my tracks.
Chance looks at me curiously.
“Is she always so welcoming?”
He looks between me and the older woman. “Pushy too.” Though he grunts and frowns, his eyes soften just a touch when he looks over at her again.
He may try to hide it, but he has complete affection for Ms. Elsie, who is also Ms. Cynthia’s sister.
“You must be starving.” Ms. Elsie takes my hand as we enter. “Saved a seat just for you. We have three types of sausage this morning. Scrambled eggs, of course and I made my special sweet potato and pepper hash since our harvest of potatoes was so bountiful this year.”
I nod and stare at the array of food. My stomach growls as soon as the scent touches my nostrils. It smells amazing.
“Eat up,” Chance says before he sits. “Later on, we’ll go visit Dr. Drake to get the results of your blood tests,” he says low enough for only me to hear.
I grab his arm before he can leave. “You’re not staying?”
He peers down at my hand on his arm before looking up slowly at me. “I have pack business to tend to.”
“Oh,” I say, loosening my grip. I don’t know why my shoulders deflate in disappointment. I’m not a part of his pack. What he does shouldn’t be of concern to me.
“I’m also looking into some leads to help us find out about the wolves who attacked you,” he reassures me.
I almost forgot all about that injured wolf he brought back from Florida.
“I should go with—” His large hand on my shoulder stops me as I try to stand.
“Eat.”
The one word isn’t harsh or forceful. Yet, it’s powerful enough that it has me backside slipping back into my chair.
“I’ll come back for you soon.”
I watch as he goes over to Ms. Elsie, who’s among a number of other pack members, fixing a hefty-looking plate. He says something low in her ear.
“Take care of her…”
I blink and then blink again.
That’s not right. I swore I could’ve heard what he said, although he’s halfway across the room.
I’ve always had great hearing, but not that good. It must be wishful thinking on my part.
But then I catch a glimpse of Chance watching me right before he exits the kitchen. His eyes speak of regret. Or something that looks like sadness.
Why is he sad?