It’s not that Patrick is even an actual threat—I could break him like a twig without blinking—but one look at Raegan and the marks he’d left around her neck, and I was seeing pure red.
I’veneverfelt so territorial before. I felt this innate need to protect and piss all over her to mark my property, but that would be totally insane. Probably also illegal?How do you ask for consent to pee on someone?So instead, I opted for killing him. I was very close to doing just that when the mayor casually stepped in. The sheriff is typically clueless when it comes to the true goings on in this town, but Mayor Musthaven is like a hawk. He’s been the mayor of Shadow Hills since its founding, and little happens without his knowledge.
I lost control.
I didn’t think about who was watching or what any of them thought. Their opinions meant nothing, as long as I got my revenge on the prick who hurt my girl.
My girl.
That’s the thing, isn’t it?
She’s not really mine, and I’m starting to lose track of all the reasons why.
Because she doesn’t see you that way,I remind myself.And you’ve never told her you’re a frickin’ werewolf!
As much as I wanted to go straight to Raegan’s side, I had to get out of there. Knowing Patrick’s hands had been on her made the wolf inside me nearly claw its way out from under my skin. Patrick’s fingerprints on her skin were like a taunt begging me to mark her myself. I wanted to kill Patrick and claim her as mine right then and there, in front of the entire town. No one would touch her after that.
I would have if Aidan hadn’t stopped me. I knew I was walking a very thin line with so many eyes watching the scene unfold, but my blood was pumping so loudly in my ears it blocked out all the other voices, except for his. If not for Aidan, I would’ve made a mistake I couldn’t turn back from.
It isn’t just that I’ve hidden the truth from Raegan. All paranormals are supposed to be registered in Shadow Hills, but I never did. My parents reached out to my uncle, the alpha of the Shadow Hills pack, and informed him about my first shift, but that information was never passed on to the mayor—or anyone else for that matter—and I never said anything. I think, at the time, I convinced myself that if the paperwork was never filed, that meant my wolf didn’t exist, and I could keep on ignoring what I am.
Hiding things from Raegan, however, was more of an accident.
The whole situation is kinda ridiculous if you ask me, but the lie has gone on for so long that it would be too disruptive to bring it up now. You know when someone gets your name wrong when you first meet, but you don’t correct them, and then three months later they’re still calling you by the wrong name? It’s almost impossible to correct them after that, because there’s just no good time to bring it up.
That’s what it feels like hiding what I am, only a lot more difficult.
The first time I met Raegan was in the high school courtyard where she would take me on a guided tour of campus. We hit it off pretty well. Our banter felt natural, and she was easy to talk to about nothing and everything at the same time. She mentioned her mother was a witch, and in that moment, I was seconds away from telling her I was a paranormal too. But the conversation got away from me, and the words just never came out.
The memory flashes before me as I pour my hundredth cup of coffee of the day.
“So you’re a—”I start to ask, but she answers my question before I’ve fully asked it.
The girl is not afraid of speaking her mind, and I find I’m appreciating her confidence compared to other girls her age. She’s two grades below me, but I feel as if I share more in common with her than my fellow seniors.
“Oh god no,” she says exasperatedly. “Just your everyday boring human.” She laughs and waves a hand flippantly as if to say ‘Here I am!’ “I prefer it, honestly,” she adds, “The paranormals in my family are way too much drama. It’s nice being normal, don’t you think?”
My words are frozen on my tongue, but my head is nodding anyway. I’ve somehow agreed without realizing and now she thinks I’m human. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being human. I even find myself sharing her opinion of how simple life is without paranormal gifts, because it is.It was.
Before my seventeenth birthday, everything made sense. Now my world has turned upside down, and I’m lying about it in the only place I shouldn't have to.
I come backto reality when I feel the sting of hot liquid spilling over my hand. I yank it back, almost spilling the overfilled cup in the process. “Damn it!”
“You okay?” my barista Casey asks. They’re our newest pack member and part of the privied group who knows the truth about me.
“I’m good.” I shake out my burning hand. The skin is red, so I shove it beneath a stream of cold water in the sink. The pain subsides momentarily, but I’ll have to cover it if I want to keepworking, and that’s going to sting. I try to remember if I have anything to treat it with when the doordingsand I see Raegan walk up to the counter.
I look up to meet her beautiful, bright blue eyes and see they’re sad.
“What happened?” She steps in front of the line of patrons and leans forward to pull my hand across the counter. As she inspects it, I’m pressed flush against the cash register.
“Raegan, I’m fine. Just a little coffee spillage.”
“Do you have mustard?” she asks.
“Why would I have mustard?”
“For sandwiches.”
