“I have some ideas. I’m into it. How many are we talking? A Hundred? Two hundred?”
“Can you do one twenty-five?” Liv asked.
“Consider it done.”
Bracing one hand on the arm of his rocker, Elliott went to stand, but Noa cut him off with an, “Ah, sit back down.”
Olivia, his alpha, nodded when he caught her eye, so he sat. “What?”
A cat-like grin stretched across Liv’s face. “Let’s talk about Fern.”
Elliott groaned in perfect harmony with his bear’s purr.
“How do you feel?” Noa asked in a singsong voice.
“No.”
It was Olivia’s turn. “Did you bite her?”
“No.”
“Really?” Noa checked. “We thought forsureyou would’ve tried.”
“No.”
“Elliott, is that an answer? Or a refusal to answer?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be talking to Renata?”
“She needs a few minutes. She’ll call when she’s ready.” Liv leaned in, bracing her elbows on her knees. “How’d you get Fern over here yesterday?”
With a sigh that blew down his walls from the inside out, he gave in and started answering: “After the pond on Sunday, I ran up into the mountains, spent the night there, came down—in bear form—and found her kayaking up the Potter’s Branch. Why didn’t she tell you this herself?”
“She was being weird when we texted last night. Said she had to get back to Jessica and her aliens or something.”
He frowned at Liv, perplexed.
“She reads a lot.”
“Oh, yeah.” He knew that. He’d seen her collection, and he’d heard her audiobook. But hadn’t asked her about them, hadn’t askedwhatshe was reading at that moment. Elliott’s bear growled, mad at him for the information oversight.
“So what happened?” Noa cut in, tense and waiting for more gossip.
“My bear wouldn’t give me control. We chased her down—”
“What!?” Liv hissed, a burst of alpha power slamming him in the chest, making his grizzly cower... and him too.
“It wasn’t like that! I didn’t bite her. Everything was fine. I shifted back, we talked, and… stuff.”
Noa snorted.
Olivia eyed the porch ceiling and inhaled slowly. “Weknow she’s your potential mate. Why haven’t you told her?”
“Because I’m not ready. You haven’t said anything, right?”
“No,” Noa replied. “I haven’t at least.”
“Me either. But I don’t like keeping secrets from my best friend.”
