Page 39

Cole

“Nadia,” I sigh, lifting a hand to my face and scraping my calloused palm down over my features. “How much of that did you see?”

“Oh, I didn’t see any of it,” she says, still smiling like a cat when a dozen mice have stumbled aimlessly into its path. “But what I heard –“

“Nadi,” I groan, dropping my hand, my shoulders slumping, every physical inch of me begging for her to go easy on me.

“Actually, I take that back,” she says, tilting her head. “I did see a rather gorgeous she-wolf bolting topless from your tent not two minutes ago –“

“Would you get in here?” I growl, my hand slapping back, smacking the door to my tent open. “And lower your voice?”

“Cole, it’s canvas ,” Nadia says, laughing and not moving an inch, richly enjoying herself. “I don’t think it’s going to muffle the words at all when I rub this in your face for the next six hours –“

To my surprise, a laugh stumbles from my lips – an angry, snarled one, but a laugh nonetheless. My feet move without me, striding for her, my hand wrapping as gently as I can around her arm and pulling her to her feet. “ In , you damned demon –“

Nadia laughs at this as well, letting me pull her up, grinning at me.

And even though I am still rattled – and completely out of my mind with fury and embarrassment and anxiety – some part of me registers that this is…better. So much better. Nadia is messing with me, playing with me rather than hating me, resisting my every move.

She smiles up at me – smiles –

I mean, a vicious little smile that lets me know she knows she’s got me under her thumb right now and loves it. But it’s a smile nonetheless.

And damn it, I’ll take it.

“Calm down, Cole,” Nadia says, rotating her shoulder to pull her arm from my grip. I let go in an instant. “I’ll take my victory lap and rub it in at a reasonable volume.”

I snarl lightly, and her smile deepens.

“Just, give me ten seconds,” she says, turning away, looking down at the ground.

My heart leaps as she starts away from me – because no – I don’t want her out of my sight for any number of seconds if the Children of Solace know anything –

What is she even doing up – I assumed she would be asleep – guarded in the nursing tent –

“Nadia,” I growl, starting after her.

“ Eight seconds!” she calls over her shoulder, frustrated with how close I am on her tail.

“No! I –“

But she dips down and grabs something from its spot propped against a tree, turning back to me. I go still when I see that it’s some kind of thermos.

“Soup,” she says, shrugging. “And…they put little crackers in the bin on the top.”

I stare at it and then at her.

“For you,” she says, quieter now, taking a step closer to me. “You were gone over dinner. I thought you would be…hungry. And then I watched, but you didn’t come out of dad’s tent for hours, and the cooks were happy to pack it up for you.”

She shrugs again, a little awkward at my nonresponse.

I just stand very still, staring at her.

Which is…a complete betrayal of every insane thing that’s happening in my mind right now. My wolf howls his stupid head off, the sound filling my mind, sprinting wildly in my soul.

She loves us – she brought us dinner – that was so sweet – she’s so nice – she wants to feed us – in her heart she’s just like us – she’s so pretty – snatch her up – carry her back to the tent – we need to mark her or at least rub our scent all over her - she will be so cute when she smells like us it will be so perfect she’s so perfect I –

“Cole?”

I shake my head to clear it and drop my eyes for a second, again wiping my hand over my face, forcing myself to concentrate. I exhale slowly and lift my head.

“Thank you,” I say, managing by some miracle to keep my voice steady. I hold out a hand to her, my fingertips only trembling a little bit. “Can I eat it? In my tent?”

She smiles and nods, stepping closer, handing me the thermos.

“Will you come with me?”

She hesitates for a second, glancing at the tent and then up at me, wrinkling her nose. “Isn’t that a little scandalous, Cole?”

I smirk. “Only if you tell Shayne. She’ll make it scandalous.”

Nadia twists her mouth to the side. “I don’t know, Cole, two girls in your tent in one night – in one hour –“

I snarl and step to her side, placing a hand on her lower back and sweeping her forward. Nadia laughs and lets me, looking up at me as we go.

“I mean, am I allowed to keep my top on? Or is that like, a rule in your tent –“

My snarl only deepens, and her laugh gets louder as Nadia ducks into my little room. I take a deep breath and then follow.

My breath hitches when I stand as straight as I can in my tent and see Nadia already seated quite comfortably at the head of my bed, her back against my pillow, her legs crossed beneath her.

Yessss, my wolf sighs. Now our pillow will smell like her and we can fall asleep with the scent –

But then we remember that Rose was just in that same spot, and that she had skin contact, and that their scents will be mixed. I hide my sigh and sit at the end of the bed, one foot on the floor, as my wolf howls.

“Thank you for this,” I murmur, starting to unscrew the top of the thermos, my stomach rumbling when I smell the lovely stew inside. I am hungry, but in all the worry and confusion, I didn’t notice.

I take the spoon and the crackers out of the container on top and dig in.

“What happened with Rose, Cole?” Nadia whispers, leaning closer to me, shaking her head. “That was… crazy .”

I grumble something around my full mouth, not really wanting to talk about it, even if I know Nadia deserves an answer.

“Look,” Nadi says, her voice more serious than it was a few moments ago. I raise my eyes to hers. “You…don’t have to kick her out of your tent for my sake, okay?”

I just stare at her.

“We’re like…” she hesitates, blushing a little, lowering her voice, “Cole – I know that you think we have some kind of romantic tie but…we’re not dating, okay? If you want to entertain…other people. That’s fine.”

My very dramatic wolf yelps and falls to his side like he’s been shot. I just nudge him with my mental foot, rolling my eyes. Even if I look all serious on the outside like my dad, inwardly I’ve clearly still got some of my mom’s dramatic flair.

I shake my head slowly, looking back at my soup, forcing myself to eat even as my heart squeezes. “Even if that’s true,” I say, as calmly as I can, “I’m not interested in Rose and all of her games, Nadia. I didn’t ask her to leave for you. I did it for me.”

Only half a lie.

Nadia’s quiet for a moment. “All right,” she says quietly. “But if there’s anyone else that you…”

My eyes snap up to hers, and she goes still.

“There’s no one else, Nadia.”

She stays still, except for a little piece of her ponytail that slips over her shoulder, curling over the fabric of her hoodie. I watch it, wanting quite desperately to brush it back.

“But I hear you,” I murmur, paying attention to my dinner again and lifting another spoonful to my mouth. “If what you’re trying to say is that…you’re not expecting me to be faithful or something because we don’t have a relationship. Then all right. I hear you.”

She still doesn’t say anything.

“But in turn, you should hear me when I say that there’s not going to be anyone else.” I eat the spoonful of stew.

Nadia stays quiet as I finish the thermos, screwing the top back on and doing my best to stay cool and casual as I stand, placing the thermos on top of the small storage container that holds my clothes.

When I turn back to her, I have to admit that I’m surprised to see her again pouring fruit gummies into her hand.

“Oh, come on,” she says, rolling her eyes at me with a long sigh, clearly sick of the silence and forcing herself to be casual too.

“Can we please stop being weird ?” She pops the gummies in her mouth and I smile, sitting down on the bed next to her.

“I can’t believe you eat them like that,” I murmur, watching another handful disappear into her mouth.

She frowns at me even as she chews and swallows. “Like what?”

I sit down in the center of the bed, studying her. “Like – you just eat the rainbow. You don’t even sort them according to color or flavor –“

“Oh my god ,” Nadia groans, whipping out a foot and kicking me on the leg, making my smile deepen. “All you do is police my eating –“

“That is so not all I do –“

“What, do you want me to sort them into color? And type? And make a strategic decision about which flavor of gummies to eat in what order?”

I lean closer, holding her gaze. “Yeah.”

She bursts out laughing and smacks me twice on the shoulder before pouring more candy into her hand. “They’re meant to be eaten this way – you’re supposed to experience the entire rainbow at once –“

“Well, if that’s true, then you should eat a selection of one of each flavor and color so that none is overbalanced.”

“Control freak,” she mutters.

“Psychopath.” I turn slightly, my back to her, and start to lay myself down, letting my eyes fall shut.

“Hey!” Nadia scoots slightly to the right to make space for my head and shoulders as they move toward her. “Excuse you! I am sitting here!”

“Please, I am exhausted,” I mutter, shaking my head and stretching out.

“There is no room for two people on this bed!”

“There’s plenty.” I shake my head, nestling it into the mattress, careful not to mention that the true benefit of this position is that I can feel the warmth of her next to me, can fully smell her scent. Which is…very nice.

“ Half of you is off the bed, Cole!”

She’s not exaggerating – one leg is curled beneath me, the other stretched out with my foot on the floor, my butt right on the edge.

Still, I wouldn’t move for anything. “Just…indulge me, Nadia,” I murmur, shaking my head, not giving in, knowing that she’s got plenty of room next to me. “I have had the longest day.”

“Fine,” she sighs, pretending to be pouty. Her gummy bag crumples again as she spills out some more. “So, are you going to tell me what happened at the Children of Solace town?”

I hum lightly, the sound affirming.

“Was it romantic?” she asks, teasing.

I snarl, indicating it was not. She laughs. I smile.

This is so great , my wolf sighs, laying flat as a pancake in my soul.

“All right, Kincaid,” Nadia murmurs, leaning back against the bed frame and putting her empty candy wrapper aside. “Spill.”

My heart very warm and cozy, I tell her everything that happened tonight.