Page 8 of Escaping Wildfire

“How ‘bout we get some music on the radio?” Jordan slapped Cristian’s arm lightly.

“No.”

“Come on, I’ve got the perfect playlist for our trip.” Jordan waved his phone at us.

“Whatever then, do what you want. No one else in this car cares what I think, anyway.”

Alright, so, it looks like we’re making progress. He’s gone from silent treatment to passive-aggressive in just a few minutes. By the time we get to Harvest Moon, he should be calm enough to talk.

‘You should let him punch you, I bet that would help.’

‘Really, Cosmo?’ I said agitated with my wolf.

‘Yes, really, if you let him punch you, he’ll feel better…then he’ll feel bad about it, and then he’ll forgive you…and that leaves you to be with Gem guilt-free.’

‘And that is why I’m the human…your plan sucks.’

I covered my eyes with my hand and leaned back in my seat as Jordan started the music. This was gonna be a long ten hours.

GEMA

Jasmine and I helped with the cleanup upstairs and asked to head to the mall. My mom hated me going anywhere without supervision, so she insisted on coming with us, which meant Luna Christina, Jade, and Annie tagged along as well. I loved them all, so it was fine, but Jasmine was itching for me to tell her about what was going on with me and Noah, and there was no way I could do that with all the moms around.

Luckily, when we got to the mall, we broke off in different directions. Jade wanted to go to the bookstore, so Luna went with her, and Annie wanted to look at new bedding for her room, so my mom went with her. Jasmine and I started at the makeup as our moms wanted us to wait for them before trying on dresses.

“Finally, I thought we’d never get a moment alone. Tell me everything.”

I bit my lip to hide my smile, suddenly getting shy about my time with Noah.

“Oh, come on, you’re not really going to leave me in the dark about this are you?”

“No, no…it’s just, well.” I started to blush.

“Are you and Noah together now?”

“I think so…yes, but I guess he didn’t ask me out outright, but he told me he loved me, and I told him I loved him, too…and we sort of had sex together last night.” I lowered my voice on that last part. “You can’t tell anyone though, I mean it, my mom can’t find out. She’s big on waiting for your mate, so she’d freak. I still remember the earful we all got when she found out about Cristian and how he very much did not wait.”

I kept rambling and hadn’t yet noticed that Jasmine just stood there wide-eyed with her mouth gaping in shock.

“Are you going to say something, or should I just keep rambling?”

“Oh, my Goddess!” She squealed and attacked me with a hug. “It was so obvious you two were in love, and now you’ve totally gone and sealed the deal. How was it? Was it everything you wanted it to be? Was he good to you? Cause if not, I got your back.”

“Alright, calm down, no need to go all Rambo on anyone.” I held out my hand in front of her to quiet her down. “It was kind of perfect...” I couldn’t help the giant smile that appeared on my face, “and it was so much more than I could have ever hoped for.”

“How romantic, I can’t wait to find my perfect match. I swear, if Noah’s not your mate, the Goddess has some serious explaining to do.”

“What does the Goddess have to explain?” Annie’s voice cut in as she and my mother walked up to us.

I internally freaked out at the thought of whatever else they might have heard, but Jasmine didn’t miss a beat. “I was just telling Gema that if she and Noah don’t end up being mates, then the Goddess will have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Oh, I agree. You two are perfect for each other. Noah will be such a wonderful mate for you, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my son.” She held out a finger to emphasize her point. “Now let’s go look at dresses, Christina and Jade are meeting us there.

NOAH

There was about an hour left before we arrived at Harvest Moon. We’d stopped for snacks around the 30-minute mark and had gone through Jordan’s playlist twice. Cristian still hadn’t said a word to me or attempted to look my way, so I’d have to be the one to break the ice first.

“Hey, are we cool, or do you have something you want to say to me?”