Page 5

Chapter Five

ASHER

A s the sun rose, Asher lifted his head and sniffed the air. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept in his wolf form.

He stood and bowed in a stretch before making his way home.

While in wolf form, he felt more connected to the mountain and the magic.

He could sense all his people and know they were good.

In his shifted form, the chasm Sunny had left in him felt smaller.

His wolf was just happy his witch was back.

With her near, he could protect her. It felt simpler.

He shifted, and a ripple of goose bumps came over him as the cool morning air hit his flesh, though he should have known his wolf would run straight to Sunny.

At least he had the sense to hang back. Asher wasn’t ready to deal with her yet, but his wolf wanted to see her, smell her, and make sure she was safe.

She was, and the relief he felt at that annoyed him.

Why did he care? He shouldn’t have. He wanted to yell and make her feel the pain he felt, but in the same breath, he was so relieved to finally set eyes on her. He was a mess of emotions.

It was time to start his day. Maybe getting to work would serve as a distraction. As he made his way to the workshop, he could smell Julie, so he slipped in the back.

Luckily, he had clothes stashed in the back room, as he and Abe had all over this mountain for just this. After pulling on some jeans, he slipped into a fresh T-shirt and pulled on his hoodie before heading into the workshop.

He sat on the bench and laced up his work boots.

“Good morning, Asher,” Julie said cheerfully.

“Good morning.” He stood and straightened his jeans.

“I’m going to head into the diner. I told Abe I’d stop by the hardware store on my way home and pick up the order you guys put in. Do you need anything? I’m off after lunch.”

Asher shook his head. “No, I think I’m good.”

“I’ll see you when you get back,” Abe said in his low voice before pulling Julie into an embrace and kissing her goodbye.

Asher turned away.

He usually razzed his brother about public displays of affection because he’d never seen to do it until Julie. And if there was one thing he liked to do, it was giving his brother shit. But he just didn’t have it in him.

Once Julie’s car pulled away, Abe turned to Asher. “How are you holding up?”

Asher just turned on the sander to drown him out, even though sanding was Abe’s job. Asher was the painter.

The door opened, and both turned as Esther walked in.

She was tall and built like a Viking queen. Her long hair was almost black, although her eyes were a piercing blue. She was a force to be reckoned with, and as a dark witch, she was scary to most. Ever since she came back to the mountain, Asher understood why.

“Can one of you pick up Ruby from school today?”

“We have a consultation today,” Abe said as he unplugged the sander so he could hear.

A disgruntled huff came from Asher.

“What do you want to do?” he asked Asher.

“I’ll pick up Ruby.”

“How are you holding up?” Esther asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Because if I not mistaken, you were in your wolf?—”

“I’ll pick up Ruby, but I’m not going to do this. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Esther and Abe shared a concerned look, and Asher was just about to storm out.

“Can Ruby stay with you guys tonight?” she asked Abe.

“Of course. What are you doing?”

“I just have some plans. I’ll see you later.”

And just like that, she turned and left.

Abe huffed and crossed his arms over his big, wide chest. “I swear, you two are going to be the death of me.”

Asher plugged the sander back in and started it again. Hopefully, he could lose himself in grunt work and not have to spend the night as a wolf again.

Somehow, he managed to make it through the day.

“Okay,” he said as he made his way to the sink. “I’m headed out to get Ruby.”

Abe nodded and kept working.

Asher tramped through the woods to his cabin. When he walked in, he couldn’t help but look at everything that was just how he’d left it before it all had turned on its head. He was not ready for the upcoming changes.

After snatching his keys up off the counter, he took off to get Ruby.

When he pulled up to the elementary school to pick up his niece, he saw her dark braid before she turned and grinned at him. Many things were wrong in the Hollow, but Ruby would always be a bright spot.

Suddenly, a knock on the window pulled his focus.

Meredith Baker was smiling at him. “Asher?” she asked, waiting for him to roll down the window.

He cranked the window down and held in a groan. “How’s it going?”

“Good, I haven’t seen you at Corner Tap lately.”

“What?”

Distracted, he was not really wanting to have this conversation.

“I just miss seeing you around. It’s karaoke night. You should come,” she said, smirking at him before biting her lip.

So, maybe he’d hooked up with her a time or two... He’d hooked up with lots of people in the Hollow a time or two in the years since Sunny left.

“Hi!” Ruby said as she climbed in his truck.

“Hey, Peanut. I’m supposed to drop you off to Abe and Julie.”

“Can you take me to my piano teacher’s house? I left one of my books there.”

He looked at her with a cocked brow.“Okay, where are the lessons?”

“At Mr. Whittaker’s house.”

“Nox Whittaker? You’re taking lessons from him?” Asher raised a brow.

“Yeah, he’s really nice.”

“Well, let’s do this.”

After Ruby got her book, he dropped her off at Abe’s and went back to the studio. Maybe painting would help pull him out of this funk. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he hoped if he could paint, he would find his center.

Pulling out a blank canvas from the back, he set up his workspace. He turned up his music and attempted to lose himself. Paint filled the canvas.

Before he knew it, he was standing before a field of flowers, a place he knew all too well. Of course, in trying to clear his mind, he would paint this place. When he roughly smeared the yellow paint on the fabric, his spade pushed through the entire canvas.

“Fuck.”

What was he going to do? He would have to deal with this Sunny situation sooner or later. It had been almost four years since she’d left.

But the thing is, when your mate leaves you, it feels like there is a bottomless pit deep inside of you. Always.

He had managed to deal with it as time went on, but nothing would ever fill that pit.

He’d tried to fill it. Fill it with booze, women, work—none of it ever helped.

After washing the paint off his hands, he changed his shirt before grabbing his keys off the shelf. This time, he might as well try to fill it with women and booze again.

Before he knew it, he was pulling up to the Corner Tap. As he pulled the door open, off-key karaoke greeted him, along with the stench of stale cigarettes and beer. The Corner Tap might have been a little divey, but there was something to love about a dive bar.

On other nights, he might have made his rounds and said hello, maybe put a quarter down on the pool table to call next game or play darts with Ol’ Ray, listening to stories from his time in the mines. But not this time. He made his way straight to the bar and took a seat.

“Hey, Dusty, can I get a whiskey?”

Her cautious expression didn’t miss him.

Great. The whole fucking town knows and is going to walk on eggshells.

She swept her box braids off her shoulder and placed a glass of whiskey in front of him. “How ya doin, Asher?”

“You know me. I can’t complain.”

Her expression softened.

Asher worried she was going to ask about Sunny, but to his relief, someone down the bar called her name, and she tended to them.

Asher picked up his glass and sipped.

The amber liquid warmed his throat... Yeah, getting properly wasted did seem like a good idea.

“Asher,” a sing-song voice said from behind him. Meredith approached and cozied up to him. “I’m so glad you made it.”

Part of him thought about getting drunk and going home with her like he’d done before... But those days were over the moment Sunny came back to the Hollow.

“Alright, next up....” the DJ said.

Then the opening to John Denver “Sunshine On My Shoulder” started.

His entire body froze. He should have stayed home. This moment had to happen sooner or later, but that did very little to prepare him for it.

Then he heard it. He heard her. It was so disorienting. A physical urge to run to her and sweep her into his arms and make her promise to never leave again flooded him, but his head was still stormy with anger.

She had left him. She had left all of them. She knew what it would do to him.

He turned slowly, and the sight of her onstage almost took his breath away. She was there, in jeans, with holes in the knees, a rainbow midriff top, and her long blonde hair hanging down with two small braids pulled back.

She hadn’t changed a bit, but he had. Something in him had hardened the day she left.

He should’ve gotten up to walk away, but he sat there, staring.

As the song ended, he stood, threw cash onto the bar, and headed out. But before he could get out of there, their eyes met.

What existed between them was still there, that undeniable connection.

He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t pretend like her walking away from him, from all of them, didn’t break something deep inside of him.

He broke his gaze and stepped outside.

The moon was out, along with a bite of chill in the air.

The sound from the bar swelled as the door opened behind him.

“Asher, wait!”

Even though a big part of him wanted to ignore her and continue his walk to his truck, he stopped.

She froze in her tracks, and they just stood there, taking each other in, neither of them knowing what to say. The moment hung heavy in the air.

“Hi...” She evaluated him with her lip trapped between her teeth.

He nodded but said nothing.

“Asher... I...”

He held up a hand. “I have to go.” Then he turned and made his way to his truck.

“Asher... Please. Can we just talk?”

He quickly got in and started his truck. His tires gave a satisfying squeal as he pulled out on the black top. He needed to get out of here.