Page 17 of Shared by the Werebears (Hidden Hollow #5)

FINN

B reakfast was weird.

The tent conjured a little cooking setup when Goldie said another one of her rhyming spells—a tiny stove, a pan, even some spices. She made breakfast burritos that were the best I’d ever tasted, and the scent of bacon and peppers and eggs filled the enchanted tent.

We ate in silence. I couldn’t stop glancing at Ronan, who was chewing like he was mad at his food. Goldie kept her voice cheerful, chatting about how amazing the tent was and what a clever witch Goody Albright was—but I could tell she felt the distance too.

It was hurting her.

I frowned—was I actually feeling her emotions now? Was it some kind of lingering after-effect of the sex we’d shared the night before? I didn’t know—I only knew I didn’t want her to be hurting like this. It made me want to punch Ronan—how could he be such an asshole?

But I didn’t want to fight—it would only make matters worse. So we ate in silence except for Goldie’s occasional remarks.

After we finished, we left everything in the tent and stepped outside. Goldie held out her hands dramatically.

“Ready?” she asked. “Here goes. ”

She pointed at the tent and recited:

"This tent is small and travels light,

Shrink it down and make it tight!"

With a shimmer and a pop, the whole setup—bed, stove, pillows—folded in on itself like origami and grew small enough to fit into the palm of her hand.

She picked it up and then slipped it back into her jacket pocket.

“All right—ready to go.”

I gave a low whistle.

“That’s impressive .” Even though we Weres don’t usually trust Magic Users, I had to admit being able to do spells like that was damn handy.

Goldie smiled at me.

“I’ll be sure to tell Goody A you said ‘thank you.’” She made a gesture. “Well? Lead the way. You two are the ones who have been to the Blighted Forest before—I’ve never even been near it.”

“Fine,” Ronan grunted. “This way.”

He started through the forest and I fell into step beside him, letting Goldie take the rear for a while. I felt like I needed to clear the air between us.

“You okay, man?” I asked him quietly.

“No,” he said flatly, not meeting my eyes. “But I’ll deal with it.”

He didn’t look at me, didn’t slow his pace.

“We can talk about it,” I offered. “I mean, I know we’ve never done anything like that before—s”

“And we’re never doing anything like it again,” he growled.

That seemed to close the subject. I wanted to argue but I know how Ronan gets—when he makes up his mind about something, he can be really stubborn.

I sighed and dropped back to walk between him and Goldie. I was already missing the warmth of her body…the smile in her eyes .

And I couldn’t help wondering how the hell we were going to make this work if Ronan kept pretending it didn’t.