I still remember that night so clearly in my head. Feeling the warm summer breeze in my hair and listening to the water lap up on the shore as footsteps approached from behind, competing against the squeals of the girls and complaints of the boys in the distance. Austin had sat beside me that night, wearing his leather coat and denims with a hole in the knee. He didn’t say a word. We just sat together and watched the waves until the song played out.
Of course, he was smoking a cigarette and looking all Joe Cool Badass while I was wearing a ponytail and pink pajama bottoms with strawberry designs. Nothing happened between us. It was just one of those beautiful moments in life that means something for reasons we can’t explain.
Austin had quit smoking since then. You can always tell when you get up close to someone or check out the car ashtray and find loose change instead of cigarette butts. Strangely, he was even cooler now than he had been before. Maybe it’s because back then he was trying hard to be somebody, and now he finally was that somebody.
“Does this mean I’m not going to age?” I asked, staring out the window as a billboard went by.
I felt his eyes on me in the dark interior of the car. “It slows. I’m guessing you’ll look this way for a while.”
I shifted uncomfortably in the seat and pulled my legs up. After a few scrapes of my fingers through my long hair, I put my feet back on the floor and tried to recline the seat.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You need to go to the little girl’s room?”
I laughed because he was serious. Then in the quietness of the cab, it just struck me funny and I laughed some more. When I felt him giving me the “what the hell is wrong with you” look, I completely lost it.
I went into Beaker mode.
Austin smiled wide with warm eyes that crinkled around the corners. He chuckled as I let out an exhausted sigh and rested my head against the seat.
“I’ve missed your laugh,” he said.
“Only you, Austin. Only you.”
“Wes said it was the very best thing about you.”
I teared up and smiled, curling up on my side to look at him. “Why did he say that?”
Austin shrugged and rolled up his window. “He said it was uniquely you, and he was right. Wes didn’t have plans after school and that’s why he took the job with your dad. But he always knew you were going to be somebody. He also said you made the best chocolate-chip cookies and could bake your ass off.”
“I still can,” I bragged, lightly touching his arm and smiling. Baking sweets had always been a passion—I just never had any opportunities to show off my skills outside of Naya’s parties. I had perfected my cookies down to an art.
“Maybe you should do something with that,” he suggested.
The thought lingered. “Maybe.”
“I called Church and requested that he back off.”
“Why would you do that?”
Austin turned the radio down. “You don’t understand the pack dynamic. Bringing him in only complicates things. He’s going to feel a sense of entitlement if he finds her.”
“It’s not a race,” I reminded him. “It’s not like the winner gets a prize.”
He regarded me with serious eyes. “For some, it is. Anyhow, he’s not backing down. I can’t go above him since he’s the Packmaster. If he finds your mom before we do, it could get very sticky.”
“I can handle sticky. I work in a candy store.”
“You have a lot to learn, Lexi,” he said, patting my leg. His hand remained there for a moment before he put it back on the steering wheel. “I need to teach you some of the rules before you get yourself in deep trouble.”
I glanced outside. “Are we here? That was fast.”
“Detour,” he said, making a right turn. We drove up an old dirt road with only the headlights illuminating our way. “My parents bought some land out here years ago as an investment.”
“Not to be the little black cloud on your picnic, but most horror movies usually begin this way. Couple goes down a dark road into the woods and the next thing you know, a guy with a chainsaw is chasing them down.”
“Only when they start making out,” he said. His eyes searched the dark woods, looking more alert. “You need to let your wolf run. We’re camping here for the night. We’ll head out in the morning to the Packmaster’s house, but this is a safe place where you can shift.”
I got nervous at the suggestion. “And why do I need to do that? You’re not telling me everything, Austin. What’s the worst that could happen if I choose not to?”
“There are some things in life you have to do, and letting your wolf out is one of them. Their spirit grows restless. They pace and get angry. If you don’t let them run once in a while, they’ll force you to shift and you won’t be able to switch back until they’re ready. This is a way of life, Lexi. It’s not a choice.”
“What if I can’t?”
He bellowed a laugh. “Girl, if you can’t figure it out, then class is in session. Every Shifter has to learn how to control their animal and that includes summoning it.”
“Maybe I don’t want to summon it,” I said in a low voice.
“Chicken?”
I wrinkled my mouth. “I hope not. I’d look awful with feathers.”