Page 11 of Summertime Secret
“Well, Ramond, I bake whenever I want to be alone. I will bring some macaroons by your office tomorrow, though.”
“Bessi...I guess I am hoping you might.... I mean I had hoped we could...what I am trying to say is, you’re a beautiful woman with the kindest heart I have ever known. I think you and I could....”
“Ramond whatever would you be doing here tonight?”
Heat flashes through me hotter than a donut dumped in fresh oil. That voice. I could never forget it if I wanted to. He whispered filthy things in my ear, he told me how good we were together, he called me his. How could I ever forget that voice? Not that I have tried much.
“H-hello Edon,” Ramond stammers, backing up as he throws his hands up in defeat. So much for thinking he and I could.... whatever he thought we could, I guess.
Edon fills the space Ramond just vacated, He is bigger, wider, and his presence overfills the space between us. Smirking at me, he reaches past me to hook his hand around my hip, yanking me past the threshold to tuck me close to his side.
“Evening, Ramond. Had no idea you knew my old lady.”
Bristling as he claims ownership of me in the grossest, most barbaric way possible. Part of me swoons, not going to lie. A bigger part of me, that fiercely independent part that never asks anyone for anything, wants to rebel. Tell them both to get lost and stay lost.
“Had no idea she was an old lady.”
“Neither did I,” I chime in, pushing at Edon before his steel eyes flash to me.
There is something in those eyes, in the way they look at me, that tells me to relent. To obey. I dip my head, tilting it slightly, in a way of showing submission. It is not a move I mean to make, not one that I have control over at all. It just happens but when his eyes flash, I know I have made the right move.
“Well now you do. Don’t wait for those macaroons, they won’t be coming. Have a nice night now,” Edon tips his head at him before I am hustled inside, the door slamming behind me.
Turning, I start to argue. To rage. To tell him just what I think about his possessive little scene. I do none of that. His big body pins me to the door, his head bending to run his nose along my jaw. There is something feral about it, igniting the same need he stirred in me the night we wound up in his cabin at the camp.
“Edon,” I whisper, trembling against him as his hard body holds me captive.
“Gave you space. Gave you some time to get right with it. With being mine. Would have given you more if that prick had not shown up at your door. Promising him macaroons, sweetheart? What was the first thing I said? No sweets for anyone else but me. I meant you, Bessi.”
“You mean I can make him the macaroons?” I tease, suddenly wanting to push him, to see how he might react.
“If you’re wearing my mark on your pretty skin, you can take sweets to anyone you want to, sweetheart. They will know you belong to me if they see it here,” his voice hums, his mouth brushing over the spot of my shoulder where it curves to my throat.
My pulse is hammering, I am dizzy, my breathing labored. He chuckles against my skin, his mouth opening and closing to tease me. His teeth sink into the skin and that same pleasure, the shimmering, white hot pleasure I felt with him that night hits me hard.
“Edon...please, I don’t understand...what...you said thisis notmagic. You said that but thisis notnormal. How I have felt since that night in the clearing. Please no secrets. Make me understand.”
Edon pulls back, his light metallic eyes flashing in the darkness. My hands press to his firm chest where his heart races. It matches the beat of my own. There is more there...something beyond him. More beyond just Edon. It hums beneath his surface.
Closing my eyes, I focus on it. Not on how good he smells or how right it feels being in his arms. I delve beneath that. I listen to the humming voice in my head. Edon whispers my name, but it is not my name. It is...it is someone else. No, it is something else.
“There she is sweetheart. Open up to her. Let her be free. My wolf adores her, Bessi. Just the way I adore you.”
Inside of me, something is coming to life, humming with joy, begging to be let out, to be set free.
Am I....am I some sort of monster?
Chapter Eight
Edon
Stalking your reason for being while handling ten campers is not an easy feat. I am exhausted in the best way. I am having the best summer of my life, but I have barely slept, I am wound tight, but I am whistling a tune as I take my campers on a special hike.
We’ve been on several hikes through Whispering Peaks. Going on hikes, setting up camp, fishing or swimming is just part of what we do at Midnight Storm. Our campers need to learn more than how to start a fire or bait a hook. They need to learn how to capture prey, how to live in the woods during their first shift, how to become one with the land that provides them with a safe haven.
Today we’re taking a detour on our way to the landing that is safest for them to shift. Most of my campers are young teens just learning about their animals, about the shift, about being one with the creature inside of them. They need a place where they can explore how their shift works without drawing too much attention.
“Before we hit the mountain, we’re going to want to forage on our way. Why would we need to forage before we shift?”