Chapter 60: Inseparable

Daphne

“S.hit, s.hit, s.hit!” I swore out loud as I listened to Nate’s jeep peel out of the parking area. He’d taken my t-shirt with him, but the rest of my clothes were still wedged in the tree. I pulled them down and dressed quickly, thankful that I had worn a hoodie over my shirt. Otherwise, I might have driven back to Bleakley house topless.

My housemates would have loved that, I’m sure.

What the hell was he doing out in the woods anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to be working some security gig? I imagined him walking around a shopping center in Rutberg or patrolling one of the ritzy gated communities up on the mountain. As I climbed back into my car and tugged my seatbelt into place, I racked my brain for a plausible explanation.

I went for a walk in the woods in the middle of the night because…?

I had a lot on my mind. After our… you know…

I ripped my shirt off and tossed it aside because… well, I was thinking of you and…

S.hit.

I’ve never been a very good liar. I pulled up to Bleakley house, but luckily, everyone was asleep in their own beds. There wasn’t even a stray boy passed out on the couch this time. I started for the stairs, but my stomach rumbled in protest.

Damn it. Nate had eaten a third of my sandwich, and I was still hungry. I left the stairs and tiptoed into the kitchen that was, so far as I had seen, never actually used for cooking. When I pulled open the refrigerator, I found several boxes of pizza, a few questionable-looking cartons of chinese take out, a jug of expired milk, and some watermelon that was quickly disintegrating into a puddle at the bottom. I picked up a pizza box from the top of the stack, praying that it was fairly fresh, and flipped it open. Gratified to find cheese and pepperoni, I swiped two cold slices, stacked them on top of each other, and set them on a paper towel on a counter that was in bad need of wiping. Then I dug around in my purse, pulled out a five dollar bill, and put it back in the pizza box to pay for the slices I had swiped.

Cold pizza at the wee hours of the morning made me feel rather sad all of a sudden. I munched the first slice as I tiptoed up the stairs, trying not to wake any of the guys. I reached my room and set the pizza on the bed before I stripped out of my clothes and stuffed them into the tote I designated for dirty laundry. I found a pair of sweats and another, nearly identical t-shirt to the one he had grabbed in the woods.

Maybe I could convince him that the t-shirt wasn’t mine. He wasn’t a werewolf, after all, he wouldn’t be able to identify my scent…

You dummy, he saw your car.

I ate the rest of the pizza without even tasting it, right up to the edge of the stale crust, and then tossed the hard bits in the trash can. I then went to brush my teeth, get a quick shower, and get ready for bed, again. I slipped into my shabby pajamas and threw myself across my bed. My damp hair made the pillow wet, but I barely noticed.

I’d f.ucked up. I had broke my brothers’ primary rule about life outside of the pack. I had risked discovery, and for what? I hadn’t really learned anything new. I had found a bear print in the mud, in an area that was known to have a black bear population. I had found water and snacks in a cave that was only a short distance from a well-known hiking trail.

And I’d almost been discovered. By Nate. By a guy that I was strangely, deeply, terribly attracted to. He was going to have questions that I couldn’t answer.

Yeah, by the way… I’m a werewolf. And I thought I’d go all Nancy Drew and see if I could sus out the mystery murder-bear.

I mean, humans weren’t totally clueless anymore. Nate might even know about us.

Some packs were coming out, becoming public, trying to make the shifter community mainstream, like the Prosperity Springs Pack. They were living side by side with humans in a fairly peaceful way. Except, my brothers said it was like their leaders were living in a fishbowl. If anything went wrong in their city, every law enforcement agency in the country was breathing down their back, ready to blame the Alpha, looking for any and every reason to take him out.

But it was impossible to tell what Nate would do if I came clean. I didn’t really know him well enough to gauge his reaction. Would he freak out? Would he rat me out? Would I find my identity splashed all over social media? Would he leak my whereabouts to the hunters that still made a sport of persecuting supernaturals? Or would he be cool with it? Would he see that I am still just a woman, after all?

A woman with a spirit animal that can morph at will.

“Argh!” I cried and lifted my head, pulled out my pillow, and covered my face with the moist fabric.

I needed to chill out. I needed to wait and see what the hell this thing was between us. I needed to figure out if he felt it too. Could it be a mate-bond that just felt strange because he was only human? He felt something, I know he did, but he couldn’t possibly understand it. And if he was really determined to remain single and free as he claimed, it might not matter what he felt.

He didn’t want any strings attached. He certainly wouldn’t want a mate bond that would tie him to me for the rest of his life.

I rolled over and stuffed the pillow back under my head, turning my back to Nate’s side of the room. I was way too wired to sleep, so I lay there, counting my breaths, in, hold, out, hold, until the faintest blush of dawn painted the walls. I heard his step out in the hall, surprisingly light and almost indiscernible, even to my highly sensitive ears. Then the door clicked open softly, and his pumpkin-spice scent filled the room, making my nerves tingle with recognition.

His steps came closer to the bed, I could feel him looking down at me, I could feel his nearness like an electrical anomaly. I knew he couldn’t see my open eyes, and I focused on continuing my breathing…in…out…in… and pretended to be asleep.

Because I was a f.ucking coward, and I had no idea how to face him.

He stood there for forever, or so it seemed, it was probably only a minute. And then he sighed, and retreated to his own bed. I heard his bed frame groaning under his weight, and the slight thud as his boots hit the floor. There was the sound of a zipper scratching, and the soft fall of clothing as he undressed.

I wanted sooo badly to roll over and gaze at that god-like body again, but I forced myself to stare at the scuffed wall and continue breathing.

After another second, I heard him lying down on his mattress, and I waited, hoping he would soon fall asleep so I could relax and maybe go back to tossing and turning.

“Daphne, I know you are awake,” Nate's low voice washed over me, strangely soothing, even though my neck tingled with apprehension. “I need to know what the hell you were doing out in the woods tonight?”

I gave up my breathing exercise and sucked in a deeper breath, and made a mad decision. To tell him the truth. Or at least part of it.

“I was looking for the bear,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.