“She was paired with the Idlewild pack alpha. Some dickhead named Anders. She can’t shift. She’s also half-human. I guess this guy wanted a more pureblood shifter for his mate, so he rejected her. She wants me to teach her how to shift and connect with her inner wolf, and to become a stronger person to win him back or something.”
Rainier sat back in his chair, chuckling to himself. “So, you think that woman is the reincarnation of the love of your life, and you’re gonna spend a bunch of time trying to help her win back a fucking bigot? Is that about the gist?”
“It’s not quite that simple,” I said, cracking my knuckles out of habit. “She’s got a family back home she wants to take care of. She doesn’t want to be exiled and leave them. It’s not that she cares for this guy, but being his mate is a means to an end. Inher mind, it’s better to be home with a shithead, than to be an outcast and leave her family high and dry.”
“At least she sounds like a selfless person. That’s good, anyway,” Rainier admitted.
“She does seem kind and smart.”The same way Naphele had been.Even if JunewasNaphele reincarnated, there was something inherently gross about me trying to overlay Naphele with her. She was her own person, an individual with her own hopes, dreams, and experiences. I couldn’t try to turn her into Naphele.
“Let me guess,” Rainier said. “You want to get close during these shifting lessons, turn on the old charm, and…what? Win her over?”
“More or less,” I said. “If Naphele’s in there, maybe I can get that small sliver to come out, to see me again.” I shrugged a shoulder, glancing over to see Linnea hurrying back to June’s cabin with a tray of food and a bag. Probably clothes. “If she does, then maybe June will come to love me the way Naphele did, and she’ll forget about this Anders guy completely.”
“Ifshe is Naphele reborn, right?”
“Yeah,” I said absently. “If.”
Though, deep down, I was completely convinced she was Naphele. Now, I simply had to win her over. I’d done it once. I could do it again. Though, June was a different woman, so I’d have to approach this carefully. I needed to get to know her, understand her, open up to her in a way I hadn’t done with anyone in a century. Could I do that? Even if it meant finding happiness again, could I allow myself to let her see into my heart?
11
JUNIPER
“This is really good,” I said, looking up from my plate. Linnea was folding the clothes she’d brought me and putting them into a dresser drawer.
“We’ve got some great cooks here,” she said, looking over her shoulder at me with a grin.
The plate was covered in stewed potatoes and chunks of beef, a side of roasted carrots, and a hunk of sourdough with melted butter. Simple but delicious. Everything here looked seasonal as well, giving more weight to Linnea’s assertion that the little community was—for the most part—self-sufficient.
“Where do you get everything?” I asked, wiping my mouth with a napkin. “The garden beds are all covered in snow. I saw them as we came in.”
“We have a few greenhouses. They aren’t nearby, though. The village itself is built under a thick tree canopy. Most are a fifteen-minute walk away and in spots that get better sunlight.”
I shook my head in awe. This place had been here all this time, andno oneknew. No one even guessed. It showed exactly how private and careful Levi was in his preparations and leadership.
“Do you want to take a tour?” Linnea asked. “I’ve got some work I need to do. You could help me if you wanted to get a sense of how things work. Unless you want to get some rest. Take a nap, maybe?”
Taking a nap sounded appealing, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. If I was going to be living here until Levi taught me how to shift, then it was probably good that I got the lay of the land. The last thing I wanted was for my new neighbors to think I was lazy, sleeping the day away less than an hour after arriving. I needed to do more anyway. I only had a month before I needed to be back home. A month until I’d have to make arrangements with my grandparents. If I was lucky, I could return and things would be just as they were. If I was unlucky? I’d only have a day or two before Anders banished me. I didn’t want to think about that.
“Sure,” I said, setting my plate aside. “That sounds fun.”
Linnea led me outside. I felt a little incongruous in my heavy coat and pants made of synthetic material when everyone else was dressed in homespun items, but as we walked, I noticed most people were wearing good quality snow boots and waterproof rain jackets. Levi and his people obviouslydidgo to town for supplies. I didn’t think they ventured to Idlewild, though. I’d have heard if strangers showed up every few months. They probably went into the human towns and cities.
“This is the chicken coop,” Linnea explained as we approached. “This is where we keep the chickens we use for eggs. There’s another for the ones we use for meat. You’re in luck, actually, tonight is fried chicken night.”
“It’s all kind of amazing,” I said as she handed me a basket. “Like I’ve stepped into a time machine.”
“It takes a little getting used to, I’ll admit. But after a couple days? It comes more naturally. Honestly, it’s weird how fast I was able to get into the groove.”
Within minutes, we were hunched over inside the coop, picking out eggs, and tucking them into the hay line baskets.
“So tell me,” Linnea said, “Do youreallywant to be with Anders? There’s a place for you here if you want it.”
That question kept popping up. First Beatrice, then Levi, now Linnea. It wasn’t that Iwantedto be with him, it was that Ihadto be with him. From the little I’d seen of Hidden Grove, it looked amazing, but home was home. My grandparents, my friends, my life was in Idlewild. I couldn’t turn my back on that. Besides, I still had the faint hope that when I showed back up in town as a whole new person, Anders might change too. I could hold out hope that he’d take back his rejection, and maybe, just maybe, we might grow into something more.Maybe.
“It’s complicated,” I said. “As I said before, there’s a lot of extenuating circumstances.”
“Fair enough.” She covered the eggs she’d collected with a linen cloth. “I won’t pry. I just got excited to have someone I know here. There aren’t many people from Idlewild here. There’s a man here, one of the few, named Claude Rainmaker, but he’s old, and I don’t remember him from Idlewild. There’s another woman who’s a bit older than us, but I don’t talk to her much.” Linnea gave me a conspiratorial look. “She’s in Eugenia’s little group.”
