Page 13 of Chasing the Wolf (Dark Wing #7)

Chapter 13

Mackenzie

T he bathroom is crammed. Hope’s made a list of things that should be changed for the Dark Wing II. I need to make sure I suggest more ladies' rooms. This is crazy. Colton's dark-haired girl is three in front of me. She's talking none-to-quietly with her friend.

"Can you believe he told me he was a wolf shifter? Who does that when he's a bear shifter?"

"No one," the girl between us says. "Bear shifters don't claim to be anything other than bear shifters. There must be a mistake." She holds her phone out to the other girl.

Normally, I'd lean in and scent her, see if she's a bear shifter, mated to a bear shifter, a human mated to a shifter, or a human who thinks they know what they're talking about but actually has only part of a fraction of the truth. But without my ability to scent... I'm clueless. My wolf, however, is taking great pride in my not knowing. She pushes against my skin with a sense of superiority I suppose she's entitled to.

"What do you mean?" the dark-haired girl asks.

"Bears have bigger dicks," the girl in front of me says.

I close my eyes and try not to feel the swaying of the ship. Don't say anything. Stay out of it. Stay out of it. "But does that matter if they don't know how to use them?" Fudge tart. Why can't I just keep my blabbering mouth closed? The three of them turn around to me.

"Wait, you're the sister of that asshat." She holds up her finger, ignoring the newly vacant stall. But the girl between us takes it, leaving the three of us behind.

"I am. Colton's not a bad guy. I, however, might be a horrible sister. He's a wolf shifter. Like me."

The dark-haired girl raises her chin to her friend and smiles. Her friend scents the air around me. "I don't know what she is, but I'm guessing a liar."

"Whatever. Just forget I said anything." This, this is why crew shouldn't drink in guest areas. I angle away from her in a bit of a submissive move. I could take her—I know I could—but there's no reason to get in trouble. For what? My heart thuds in my chest. I just want to get out of here.

Another stall opens. I point at it, then cross my arms over my chest, taking a step back. Violet did warn me. I suppose I should have thought it through. All the other things that would, could, and still might happen because of me suppressing my wolf's scent.

And of course, it takes forever before I get a stall for myself. One that I stay in an extra-long time, hoping that the dynamic duo is gone by the time I go out. But no, the dark-haired girl is fixing her makeup while her friend is using the only sink. I could be more submissive and look away when the friend holds my eyes while washing her hands for far long than the recommended twenty-two seconds. She's a shifter, after all, and can't get sick, but safety first. I don’t want to spread germs.

I'm about to say screw it and leave when she moves to the hand drier.

"Liars wash their hands?” She snarls at me. “Good to know." There's a low growl from her wolf. Fuck, getting in a fight with a guest is a big no-no. Shifting in a bathroom and having a fight with a guest over something as stupid as whether your brother is a wolf shifter or a bear shifter? Yeah, no.

Shoot, shoot, shoot. I wash my hands and head out of there. The last thing I want is to be duct-taped to the toilet. I head straight out to where I left Xavier. Colton's missing, and whatever—I hope he and the dark-haired girl have a long life together.

Xavier has his arms crossed over his chest. He was clearly waiting for me to emerge from the bathroom. I don't know what he has to tell me, but seriously, there is no way this male can hurt me anymore. There's no possible way. I repeat it over and over in my head, a mantra I know I will never believe. No matter how desperately I want to.

Clara walks by, a tray of shots held high above her head.

I grab one from the tray. "Thank you," I say, shooting it back.

"Mackenzie?" Clara says.

"I'll pay Kellen tomorrow."

Clara smiles. "I got you. Sorry for not recognizing you earlier. It's weird. You smell different."

Xavier leans in and whispers. "Or not at all. You smell not at all. You didn't think about that, did you?"

"No, no, I did not. Ready to go?" I say, looking over my shoulder at where the friend of the dark-haired girl is watching me. I don’t even flinch that I admitted I’m using scent suppressant.

"Yes."

I take Xavier by the hand and race out of the bar with him into the lobby. There's a line for the elevator because there always is. And the last thing I want to do is wait here and have that girl come out.

The door to the bar opens behind us. I don't know if it's her, but I clamp on to Xavier's hand and dart for the walking track that skirts the edge of the ship, then down the second set of stairs. I'm not fighting, and I'm certainly not letting her catch me. There are footfalls behind us. But I can't tell if they're her. It's amazing how much I normally rely on all my sense of smell. I let out a loud sneeze but keep us moving.

We hit the stairs, and I start going up. Not sure why. I should let Xavier go to his room and head back to mine. But I'm the one who caused the problem. I'm not going to leave him to clean up my mess. I take care of myself now.

We're up five flights when Xavier turns to me. I'm huffing like I've just run the island 10k while he's not even sweating.

"Mac, why are we running?" He doesn't slow.

"Colton's attempt at a date for tonight had a friend who thought I was... well, I don't know what she thought. She's just one of those... those mean girls."

"Mean girls."

"Yeah, like the ones in high school who duct-tape you to the toilet. Ashlyn type."

"Ashlyn Trent? Like the girl I took to prom?"

"Yeah, Ashlyn Trent. She duct-taped me to the toilet your freshman year in college. I missed the homecoming football game."

"Ashlyn duct-taped you to the toilet?" His eyes bulge from his head. His beard has gone from five o'clock shadow to I'm-about-to-shift.

"Xavier, cool it. That was almost ten years ago. It's fine." It's not fine. It was three hours before my parents realized I was missing and came looking for me. Not good. I know at some point it will be funny. But they used a heck of a lot of duct tape, so much that when I tried to shift out of it... Fur and duct tape don't mix. It was a good six months before all the duct tape scars healed.

"It's not."

"You are not going to mete out retribution on a childish girl who was just trying to exert dominance in the pack. A pack I happily don't belong to anymore." We round the twelfth deck all the way up to deck fourteen. I'm still racing down the hall.

Xavier smiles at me and opens the door. I don't want to let the smile hit me in the stomach, sending shivers through me. But it does. We enter the cabin, and he closes the door behind me. The bed’s turned down. A wolf shifter origami towel sits at the end of the bed. It's in an I-want-to-play pose. Its hips are up, its little black sticker eyes gazing up at us. And it's like a switch has been pushed. Can a towel be cute? Like really cute? Or is it the Xenies?

"It's adorable.” I lie down next to it and pat its little head.

"Your brother wasn't wrong."

"Oh, you're going to have to be a lot clearer about things." I jump off the bed, and the towel tumbles off the edge, but Xavier catches it and puts it on the dresser on the other side of the room. He straightens the wash rag ears and puts the sticker eyeball back in the right location.

"Aw, thank you." I put my arms around his neck.

"Yeah, your brother was right."

"About what?" I don't mean to raise my voice, but I do.

He shrugs. "It's not super important. But I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Along with the important stuff?"

I should be looking at Xavier, but I'm too busy staring at the white terry cloth cub. Do I want cubs? I can't remember. Oh, fudge rockets. I'm drunk. I'm drunk and I'm standing next to sexy Xavier. Two X's.

"I'm glad you think I'm sexy."

"Oh crap, did I say that out loud?"

"You did."

"I didn't mean to."

"I know."

"I'm drunk."

"I know that too."

"Why am I drunk?" I put my hand up. "Don't answer that."

He nods.

"Why aren't you talking?"

"You told me not to answer that."

"I didn't mean not to talk. I need to get back to my cabin." I race for the door. But then I reach for my phone and it’s not there. It's not in my pocket. I spin around. "I've lost my phone."

"Okay, don't panic, it's probably back at the bar. I'll call it and see if someone picks up."

"Good plan. I mean, like, smart."

He smirks at me and hits the call icon.

"Hey, short stuff," Colton says.

"Why do you have my phone?" I jump at Xavier's arm.

"Because you left it in the bathroom, and Gia and her friend were trying to get it back to you but you ran away from them. So they gave it to me."

"Oh." I glare up at Xavier. Honestly, I thought Gia and her friend wanted to hurt me. I guess I was wrong. The tiny portion of me that has a little bit of processing power left is wondering what else I'm wrong about. But I shut that down as quickly as I can. Because I can't have been wrong about the thing that made me change the most. Leaving Maine has made me who I am. And I'm happy with who I am. I am. Right?

"Where are you?" There are muffled voices in the background. "You know, I'll get it to you tomorrow when you're working, maybe, or later in the afternoon."

"Wait, Colton, I need my phone."

"You'll survive." The line drops.

"It's not so bad. You'll be okay."

"Not really. My ID is inside the phone case, behind my phone."

"And that's going to get you into trouble?" Xavier's eyebrows rise.

I nod.

And for some reason, Xavier laughs. "It will be okay. No one needs to know. You can sleep here, then go to work in the morning. Java Lava is on the guest side of things, so..."

"I guess it’ll be okay. Wait, it's totally fine. I'll sleep on the bunk bed." I spin around and the room tilts. Xavier catches me.

"There's absolutely no way you're sleeping on a bunk bed, Mackie."

"What?" I'm staring into his amber eyes. Seriously, what's wrong with me? I need to get my lady bits into alignment with the brain bits.

Xavier sweeps me off my feet.

"Come on. I'll be fine on the top bunk."

"Seriously, Mackie. When you slept on a top bunk at the pack camp upstate, you fell off.”

"I was eight."

"You didn't just fall off the top bunk, you bounced off and hit the bottom bunk in the bed next to you and mashed into Marsha before landing on the ground. And you broke your arm."

"It would have been worse if Marsha hadn't broken my fall."

"Exactly. No top bunks."

"I'll sleep in the bottom bunk," I say with as much conviction as possible.

"Okay." He lets me slide down his chest. And I have to hold my breath. I spin to the little side room off the primary bedroom. It's cute, sea-themed. Small but efficient. It doesn't get used much since the only people who are given 1414 are usually unmated and without children. At the end of the bunk bed is a magic window. It's a computer screen that shows either the weather outside or a pretend world where mermaids swim by. And a half-bath.

I turn around and there’s Xavier, his shirt off, his pants too. He’s wearing nothing but his boxers, a brilliant blue.

"What are you doing?"

He hands me a shirt. "Did you want something to change into?"

"Uh, yeah? Thanks." I take it from him and pivot to the little bathroom.

I take my clothes off and hang them on the cute starfish hooks. I run a washcloth over my face and pull on the T-shirt Xavier gave me. It swamps me, hanging down to almost my knees. West Bay University. Where he went to school. There was a half a minute I thought about going to school there too. Before my parents laid down the law. I had to stay within a two-hour radius or they wouldn't have helped pay for it at all. Out of reflex, I sniff his shirt and end up sneezing.

"You okay?" Xavier sounds a heck of a lot closer than the main bedroom.

"I'm good." I rinse my mouth and pivot back into the bunk room. The lights are off and the door's closed. The magic window’s off too. Shifter vision is good, really good. But true darkness is almost impossible to see in. I can make out the edge of the bunk and that's about it.

I inch my way to the bed and fall backward into not a mattress, but something truly hard.