Page 1 of The Brave (Black Arrowhead #6)

I ’ve always been drawn to the scent of roses. I’d soak in rose-scented bathwater until my skin shriveled like a raisin, but indulging in such luxuries had taken a back seat. Despite having two bathrooms on the second floor, eight people shared them, which made finding privacy increasingly difficult even in a large house. It wasn’t fair to others if I occupied the bathroom for two hours. Someone would always knock, voices disturbing me from outside the door.

I wasn’t used to a noisy house and sharing bathrooms. Aside from my childhood, I’d always lived alone, whether it was in a townhome, apartment, or hotel room.

Instead of soaking in oils for hours on end, I slathered my arms with rose-scented lotion.

“I need to get it together,” I muttered while digging through my makeup bag. I owned tons of expensive cosmetics that I rarely used anymore. Now they were relics of another life.

It still took work to achieve a no-makeup look. My fair complexion benefited from contouring and blush, and brown mascara subtly enhanced my blue eyes. Since my makeup mirror was in the bedroom, I struggled to lean over the sink and get a closer look in the mirror. While brushing the wand over my top lashes, I accidentally poked myself.

“Ouch!” I cupped my eye and cringed from the burning pain. My eye teared up instantly.

A knock at the door startled me, and I dropped the mascara onto the floor.

“Joy?” Cecilia called out. “Are you okay in there?”

“Gracious, no. I’m a complete disaster.”

The door cracked open, and Cecilia peered inside. “What happened?”

I lowered my hand, my right eye still sealed shut as it continued to sting.

She grimaced.

That’s when I redirected my gaze to the mirror and burst out laughing. “It looks like a tarantula crawled onto my face.”

She retrieved a hand towel and ran it under the water. “It’s not so bad. Let me fix it for you.” After adding a drop of liquid soap to the towel, Cecilia dabbed beneath my eye. “The trick is to be gentle or you’ll irritate your skin and make it worse.”

As she cleaned up the mascara, it dawned on me how Cecilia might have had firsthand experience hiding bruises and cleaning makeup from tearstained cheeks.

“Oh, honey. You don’t have to make a fuss over a little makeup disaster. Fake eyelashes are better, but I haven’t worn those in years. I’m out of practice with the mascara.” After wiping the corner, she backed up and assessed the damage. “All done, but your eyeball is red.”

“So be it.”

Cecilia was a sweetheart, and the poor girl had been through hell with her abusive ex. While her and Archer’s relationship had initially surprised me, they were an ideal match. He doted over her, cherished her, and treated her like gold. Cecilia grounded Archer, which made him more pack-oriented. I loved seeing her give him surprise gifts, and they held hands like young sweethearts. They didn’t kiss in front of us often, but he treated her with such tenderness that it left me envious. The way their fingers touched at the dinner table was every bit as intimate as a kiss. After all she had suffered, she deserved a love like his.

That often left me wondering what I deserved.

Cecilia adjusted her ponytail and gave her reflection a cursory glance. Every woman in the house had her own unique beauty, and hers shone through in her kindness and grace. Some might have considered a lithe girl with brown hair and long skirts plain, but Cecilia’s wholesome aura reminded me of the girl I once was long ago. She knew exactly who she was, and that was something I was still figuring out for myself.

After collecting the mascara off the floor, she put the wand back in the tube. “You’re prettier without it. Besides, it’s just us girls today.”

“Yes, just us girls,” Virgil repeated from the doorway.

“Don’t even dream of it,” I warned him. “Only the ladies are invited.”

Virgil was always inserting himself in conversations and trying to tag along. He hated being left out of anything, so he shouldered his way in. Taking an eyeliner pencil from my makeup bag, Virgil leaned toward the mirror and lined his eyes. “Is this better?”

“You still need a vagina.”

He set the eyeliner on the sink and stared down at me, his tousled blond hair giving off a rock star vibe. “This is the twenty-first century, and you still want to define sexuality by genitalia?”

Cecilia forced him out of the room and let the door shut behind her. “One of these days I’m going to feel guilty about excluding him from our outings.”

Virgil whimpered outside the door.

“Honey, don’t.” I placed the eyeliner back in my makeup bag. “Virgil can’t be part of everything. If the men can go out and have their time together, so can we. Virgil only wants to get drunk on sensory magic and flirt with everyone in the bar. I’m not in the mood to babysit tonight.” I cocked my head. “Did he shift?”

Cecilia cracked the door and peered out before saying, “Virgil, can you run down and tell Robyn we’re coming?”

Which answered my question: Virgil hadn’t shifted. Thank the fates. He sometimes shifted in the shower or at random times, and because his wolf was hyperactive and unpredictable, I kept my distance.

“Is Robyn’s yoga class over?” I asked.

“Everyone just left.” Cecilia rotated her wrist, which knocked the charms around on her bracelet. “I wish Hope could come with us.”

“Same. It was lovely having a tea party at your bookstore last week, and I think Hope really enjoyed it since we had the whole store to ourselves. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in ages,” I said, thinking about how we had read random passages from steamy romance books. “We should do that again so she can join us.”

“I bought a storage locker last week filled with popular books, so a lot of new people are stopping in to look at the new inventory. Maybe in another week or two, it’ll slow down and we can have another tea party or whatever Hope wants.”

Since becoming pregnant, Hope wasn’t venturing out as often. She worried that public spaces might trigger an anxiety attack, which could cause her to involuntarily shift. That was incredibly dangerous for a pregnant woman. Her attacks were unpredictable, but most of the time they occurred when she was either stressed out or in public. To curb her anxiety, she’d been religiously attending Robyn’s yoga and meditation classes, which had gained paying members from neighboring packs. So far, there were only about five at any given time, but it brought in money and gave her an important role in the house.

“Perhaps we can dream up something else fun,” I suggested before entering the hall. “The poor thing. She still has five months to go.”

“Maybe we can rent a private room at the Rabbit Lounge on an early Monday morning. They’re soundproof, and Bear could cater from the kitchen. That way she’s still getting out of the house but without all the noise and triggers. We could decorate it with magazines, candles, flowers, music—oh, won’t that be so much fun! Lexi’s aunt runs a bakery and candy shop, and we could order cakes and sweets and arrange them on those three-tier silver stands.”

“That sounds scrumptious.” I hooked my arm in hers. “It’s wonderful to have a group of friends.”

“Family,” she said, correcting me. “But I know what you mean. After my father died, I felt so alone, especially with Noah keeping me at home all the time. It would’ve been nice to have a friend or sibling to talk to. Even though I’m not the social butterfly in the group, I wouldn’t give up this pack for the world.”

“And we wouldn’t give you up for the world.”

I often sensed Cecilia needed more reassurance than others because of her quiet nature and abusive past with someone she’d trusted.

I felt close to all the women for different reasons. Mercy’s fun-loving personality was contagious, and she could handle any sticky situation like a pro. While Melody was a little on the wild side, she was always encouraging me to take my knitting hobby to a professional level by studying more and practicing. Hope brought out my introspective side with her maturity and wisdom, and Robyn’s expressive and compassionate nature reminded me that we were all a little human.

When we reached the second-to-last hall on the right, Cecilia loosened her hold and flashed me a mischievous grin. “I’ll be down in a minute. Archer came upstairs to change and grab his prosthesis, and I want to say a quick goodbye.”

“Don’t you lovebirds take too long.” I winked at her as she eagerly rushed to their bedroom door. The love between each couple in the house warmed my heart.

When I reached the staircase, Salem was ascending. His beard needed a trim, and I wondered when he’d last cut his shoulder-length hair. He often wore it tied back in a knot and didn’t seem to give his appearance much consideration.

Salem halted at the landing and leaned against the wall. “Where are you going this time?”

“Today was Melody’s pick, and she wants to go to Dragonfly’s. That’s why Hope’s staying home.”

“I heard.” He stared vacantly at me while heaving one of his drawn-out sighs. “What happened to your eye?”

“Mascara mishap. Aren’t you supposed to be helping Tak with staining the fence?”

“I thought it would be prudent to watch over his mate while you’re out, don’t you think? Tak will understand.” He wearily rubbed his eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you rather stay home than engage in frivolities?”

I gripped the handrail. “Not especially.”

An awkward silence descended between us.

“Stay away from Vampires,” he finally said. “And don’t leave your drink or food unattended. Someone might spike them with sensory magic like what happened last week to Montana.” He hiked up the steps. “And stop ordering sugary drinks.”

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Catcher met my eyes as if he’d been waiting for me the whole time. He cocked his head, then startled me with a suppressed bark.

“Go find a rabbit to hunt,” I whispered. “Shoo!”

Mercy sashayed into view, her silver hair styled beautifully. “I’m fixin’ to lose my mind.”

“What’s happening?”

She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her short leather jacket. “I’m gonna have to take a rain check. Calvin called, and he’s in a pickle. That klutzy gal he hired didn’t show up, and Bear’s fixin’ to start serving food any minute. I sure hate to skip out on a fun afternoon with the girls, but duty calls.” She bustled past Catcher toward the front door. “Y’all have fun without me!”

When I pivoted toward the kitchen, Catcher walked alongside me. Irritated, I spun around and marched into the living room. His toenails clicked against the wood floor as he caught up.

“Stop that!” I hissed. “I’m sure you don’t know what to do with yourself now that you’re not Robyn’s watchdog, but find somebody else to follow around—someone who doesn’t already have a mate.”

He groaned and shook his tan-and-black coat before sitting on his haunches. The scar on Catcher’s right ear reminded me of how he almost died in a barn fire after Dax’s men had beaten him in a vain attempt to get Robyn back, so it was hard to stay mad at him.

What sort of man gives up his life to serve as a watchdog? Especially when it’s not required that they remain in wolf form the whole time. Why didn’t he shift back when his watch over Robyn ended? Maybe his wolf took over completely. What a terrible fate.

That was one reason I didn’t want to get too close to him. Wolves couldn’t be tamed, and not allowing his human counterpart out had made Catcher the most feral in the bunch.

He turned his head toward the murmuring in the hallway and yawned. I spotted Robyn and Montana in the corridor, clutching each other in a lover’s embrace. He had pinned her to the wall, his hands anchored on her hips while she clawed his back from beneath his shirt. Montana didn’t just kiss that woman; he devoured her. I fondly remembered the first time we met and how jarring it was to meet a human traveling with a Shifter wolf. I’d often wondered if Montana would still have gotten serious with Robyn if she hadn’t been born a Potential. How could anyone love outside their species and expect it to last, especially when humans lived incredibly short lifespans?

Montana’s hat flipped off his head when their kiss deepened to a scorching degree.

An overwhelming melancholy came over me like a heavy rain.

Catcher whined and licked my hand, which interrupted the happy couple.

“Catcher?” Robyn walked in while fastening the top button of her blue flannel shirt. “What’s the matter? You’ve been acting weird all week.” She knelt beside him and scratched his ear. “Are you sad you’re not my number one guy anymore?”

He groaned and snorted.

“I think he wants to be a watchdog again,” I suggested. “All he does now is guard the property. Seems awful lonely. How in the world can he stay in animal form this whole time?”

She kissed his snout and then stood. “I’ve wondered the same. Catcher knows I’ll love him no matter which form he chooses, but it feels like I’ve robbed him of his life.”

Montana embraced her from behind. “We asked Milly if she had a medicine that would make him shift back, but she said it’s too dangerous to try at this point. He’s wild—as wild as a Shifter can get. And if he woke up in a strange place where everyone knows him, he might have a mental break.” Montana kissed the top of Robyn’s head and loosened his hold. “You ladies better get going.”

“Mercy bailed on us,” Robyn informed him.

“Are you shitting me?” Montana crossed his arms and raised a quizzical brow. “She’s been talking about this outing for days.”

“Work emergency.” Robyn absently stroked Catcher’s ear. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t let the yoga class run late, she would’ve missed the call and we’d all be out having fun.”

“Knowing Calvin, he would’ve called her again.”

“Au contraire. Mercy knows better and always leaves her phone at home when the girls go out. She thinks Calvin’s psychic because he always knows when she’s having fun. I should’ve canceled today’s class.”

He quirked a handsome smile. “There you go again, blaming yourself for nothing. Cut that out.” Striding toward the front door, he winked at her over his shoulder. “Love you, sweetheart.”

Lucian stormed into the room and startled Catcher, who jumped to all fours and barked at him. After a deep breath, Lucian wrinkled his nose. “I can still smell it.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“The toilet in the back hall overflowed.”

My jaw slackened. “Did you fix it?”

He wiped his nose again. “That’s not my area of expertise. By the way, Tak’s planning to build a chicken coop, but he wants to introduce Catcher to a live chicken first to see what happens.”

“The toilet is flooding the house, but the big news is chickens?” I put my hands on my hips.

Robyn walked over to the gong in the corner and tapped it with her knuckles. “One crisis at a time.”