“You care about her, right?”
“She’s my friend,” I scoffed. “Of course, I care.” Although, I wasn’t sure you could call an occasional holiday text friendship. I’d blown that relationship out of the water by misreading the signals. I’d given several of the lycans refuge at my home until they could find their own places to live, and Etta had stopped by to visit sometimes. We talked about our pasts, both of us growing up without moms. I’d stupidly kissed Etta, thinking she was into me, and, for a moment, she’d kissed me back. In those short seconds, it was as if the whole world and all its problems had disappeared, and there was no obstacle I couldn’t overcome if she were by my side.
I’d never felt anything like it. Not even with Michele, whom I’d had a crush on since I was fifteen. For the longest time, I thought Michele and I were destined. The fantasy had been wiped away the moment I saw Etta covered in raspberry-filled white wedding cake.
It didn’t matter anymore. Etta had made it clear that she wasn’t interested, and I respected her boundaries. Shortly after the kiss, she’d left for college, and that was that. “We’rejustfriends,” I reiterated.
Sunny shrugged and lifted her fingertips from the table. “Okay. If you say so.”
“I say so.” I was seriously regretting not going straight home. The pie had turned to dust in my mouth, and I washed it down with coffee. Ready to leave, I asked Sunny, “What help did you need?”
“Never mind that now. You need to hear me, Jo Jo,” she said with all seriousness. “Etta needs you. You have to find her, and when you do, you have to help her. She won’t be able to do what she needs to do without you.”
Without hesitation, I got up from my seat, taking my keys from my pocket. “Tell me what you saw and where I need to go.”
CHAPTERTHREE
Etta – who ordered the knight in shining fur?
Dust kicked up around Jo Jo’s truck as he ushered me to the passenger side. It felt like time slowed as he opened the door. My breath caught in my throat when he glanced back at me. His dark green gaze met mine. I gave a slow blink as he finger-combed his hair back off his forehead. The small hoops and barbells that used to adorn his face were gone, and it made him look so grown up. Grown-up and yummy. Gods, he was still the most handsome man I’d ever met.
My heart dipped to my stomach. Damn it. Seeing him made me feel elated and terrified at the same time. I swallowed the anxious knot that had formed in my throat and steeled my courage.
“Hi,” I said awkwardly because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I tossed my backpack into the truck. My shoulder brushed his arm, and I shivered as the thrill of him being so near rushed through me.
“Hi.” He narrowed his gaze, then snarled, his voice turning dangerously low. “What happened to your face?” He reached out again as if he would touch my face.
It brought up memories of the woman cupping my chin the night before, and I flinched away again. “Sorry,” I told him. “I didn’t mean to…”
Jo Jo waved off my apology. “No worries. All fine.” In other words, Ishouldworry, andnothingwas fine. Ugh.
The first time I’d laid eyes on Jo Jo, I’d felt as if my entire world had turned upside down and inside out. He’d shown up to my father’s wedding in a fitted tux, along with a dozen piercings on his face, including ears, eyebrows, cheeks, nose, and lip. None of that had made him any less handsome, and for my part, I’ll admit, I found all the hardware dangerously sexy.
Sue me.
I’d been twenty-one at the time, and I’d never been around anyone like him. Later, when I got to know him better, we’d bonded over dead moms and dysfunctional dads, though his father had finally gotten his shit together, and mine, William, I mean, was still the same egomaniacal psychopath he always was.
We were a match made in childhood trauma.
Unfortunately for me, Jo Jo had been hung up on a deer shifter who had zero interest in commitment. They’d dated off and on for years, and I couldn’t compete with shared historical experiences. On top of that, I wasn’t very popular with most the other werewolves in town. Most of them saw me as the spoiled fruit of William’s labor. I couldn’t blame them.
I’d been scared when the call to our nature tore our pack away from Luna Parish in Oklahoma and guided us to Peculiar. I’d been brainwashed enough to want William’s approval. Even after he’d made me fight Chavvah for control of the pack, I’d still tried to rationalize his behavior. I couldn’t blame the other lycans for their disdain. I would’ve hated me too.
My mother, Roberta Windsong, had died during childbirth. William had told me she’d died of heartbreak because my real father never loved her. He’d convinced me that Doc had abandoned her—had abandoned me. As a result, I’d hated my biological father my whole life. It wasn’t until Brother Wolf’s call that I learned the truth. Doc hadn’t known my mom was pregnant. She’d never told him. She’d never given him a choice of being in my life. Neither had William.
I saw the way Doc was with my baby brother Rory. He was gentle, kind, protective, and loving. I was grateful the little guy wouldn’t grow up the same way I had, but it was also a cold reminder that I could’ve had a father. A real one.
Still, it was hard getting past two decades of indoctrination into William’s way of thinking. It stained every relationship I tried to forge. I’d needed a fresh start, somewhere no one knew me or my past. So, when Doc and his mate Chavvah offered to pay for my college tuition, I jumped at the chance to run away from my problems. I applied and got into the University of Central Missouri. Far enough from Peculiar and Luna Parish to recreate myself and start over again.
I’d never lived as an integrator, a shifter who lives and works in human communities, and it took me months to get used to hiding who I was. After three years with humans, blending in was like breathing. It could also be a bit lonely. I’d made a few friendly acquaintances, but I was afraid to let anyone get too close. I wasn’t sure that was a new development for me. I think I’d always kept people at arms’ length. Including the man standing in front of me now.
I think I’d been less surprised about waking up in a dump than when Jo Jo showed up a minute later. I still couldn’t believe he was here. I resisted the urge to pinch myself.
He closed the door after I got my legs in, then went around to the other side and got in behind the wheel.
I patted the dashboard. “Does this thing get warp speed?”
“Not hardly.” He smirked as he pulled out onto the main road. “Why?”
