“Well, hurry up. It’s freezing out here and you’re both going to catch pneumonia.” She sounds chiding as she heads back inside.
Jude slips past me and goes into the house and I follow a few moments later. Kara latches on to me the instant I’m in the house, and maybe it’s guilt, but I stick close to her the rest of the evening. Mom serves the pie, but we don’t eat it at the table. Everyone picks a comfy spot in the living room. Jude talks mostly to Jack and my dad as he eats his pumpkin pie. I’m glad he seems comfortable with them, since I’m occupied with Kara.
Jude is the first to leave. When he goes, he’s holding containers of food my mom has forced on him. He doesn’t specifically say goodbye to me so much as the entire room at once, and then he escapes into the night.
When Kara and I are preparing to leave, Mom pulls me aside. “Bring Jude around more often, okay? I think he needs to be around pack more.”
I grimace. “Easier said than done. He’s not the most social guy in the world.”
She frowns. “He seemed fine to me.”
He had seemed fine today, but I’d been able to tell it was a strain for him. Because I know him so well. Because I can practically feel what he feels. Because Jude has gotten under my skin in an alarmingly personal way.
“He’s never been a part of a pack,” I say.
She looks taken aback. “No?”
“It’s a long story.” I rake a hand through my hair. “But not mine to tell.”
“I see.” She purses her lips. “I still think it would be good for him to be around us more. The more comfortable he is with us, the better. Just because he’s never had a pack doesn’t mean he’s never wanted one.”
“To hear him tell it he hasn’t.”
She laughs. “He’s a shifter, honey. He wants to belong.” She gives a sad smile. “He’s just scared. But I really liked him. We all did. Do as I say and bring that boy around more. I was going to invite you over Sunday for a nice spaghetti dinner. Bring Jude.”
“I’ll tell him about the invite,” I say, hoping to pacify my mom. I’m not sure Jude will be willing to come, but it can’t hurt to ask. “Should I invite Kara too?”
“No.” She wrinkles her brow, looking thoughtful. “He seemed tense around her and I don’t think she likes him. I want him to be able to really relax with us.”
Shocked at how perceptive my mom is I grimace. “You noticed?”
“Of course I did.” She ruffles my hair. “I’m a mom. I notice everything.”
“Kara might be upset if she’s not invited,” I admit.
Mom looks sly. “She has a real estate meeting down in Silver Creek. Why do you think I picked that day to have Jude over for dinner?”
I grin. “Wow, I had no idea you were this manipulative, Mom.”
She smiles. “No manipulation. I just want to get to know Jude better and I don’t think he’ll open up around Kara.”
I give her a hug and she laughs. “He might actually come if it’s just us,” I say gruffly.
“Good.” She pulls back, running a hand over her hair. “Now, go get that girl of yours home. She’s three sheets to the wind. I’ve never seen Kara drink so much.”
We say our goodbyes and I help Kara to the car. Mom wasn’t wrong, Kara is definitely feeling no pain. But thankfully she’s in a good mood. She doesn’t mention Jude once as I drive to her house. When she asks me to spend the night, I agree because I don’t want to upset her. I can’t take anymore animosity tonight.
Once we’re in bed, I’m relieved when she falls asleep almost instantly. I hold her in my arms, my thoughts a jumbled mess. Out on the porch tonight with Jude, something shifted between me and him. The yearning in his eyes, it did something strange to me. He tried to pass it off as just being drunk, but I don’t buy it.
I haven’t wanted to acknowledge it, but the day we went snowboarding, something passed between us that time too. Something other than friendship. Something that made my body react in a way I’ve never in my life experienced toward another male shifter. I’m scared of the feelings he brings up in me. I don’t want them. I absolutely don’t want to feel these strange urges for him.
I want my perfect little life the way it was.
But my gut tells me I can’t have Judeandthat life.
Chapter Eleven
Jude
