With weak strokes that barely keep my head above water, I swim toward the only trees I can see. My muscles begin tospasm. My eyes want to close. More than once, I’m shocked awake when my head dips below the surface.
After what feels like what must have been the entire night, my feet brush against muddy ground. I crawl, limbs sluggish and heavy, until I’m fully out of the water. The rocks on the bank dig into my knees and palms, then into my arm and back as I collapse in an exhausted heap.
“Shrimp,” I wheeze.
But my loyal dog is waiting for me back on Samantha’s dock. The same place I left my phone.
Far from this stretch of shoreline I’ve washed up on.
Carl can’t find me either.
No one can.
Despair drags me toward unconsciousness, but the moment before I lose hold of my thoughts, something shifts in front of my eyes.
A dark figure approaching from the woods.
25
GRIFFITH
Telling Clemthere were stipulations to us being together was one of the hardest things I’d done. But it was also the right choice. I’m not a casual-hookup kind of wolf. And even if I wanted to try that out, it wouldn’t be with my best friend’s sister.
Not even that. It’s Clem.
I can’t be casual about the way I feel for her.
As Rodney and I prep the bar ahead of tonight’s service, I replay Carl’s call in my mind.
“Clem likes you.”
“She’s staying?”
“Yes.”
She was there, her teasing voice drifting through the receiver, made to tempt me. She didn’t refute Carl.
Still, I need to hear the decision from her, face-to-face. Preferably with her in my arms.
Then I’ll take her back to my place and reward her for making the right decision. Make it so she never regrets choosing Folk Haven.
Choosing me.
Despite being as far from the full moon as possible, my wolf stirs in my chest. The beast has always loved Clem’s scent, but it let me take the lead. Let me convince it she would be a terrible choice as a mate.
Now it’s gloating, having known all along she was our endgame.
“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter, even as I fight off a grin.
“What’s that?” Rodney asks.
I glance up at my pack mate. He alternates shifts of tending bar with me, and we often double up during the spring and summer when more customers show up. He’s no-nonsense and reliable—the perfect kind of employee.
And he’s probably not used to me talking to myself because it’s a new habit.
“Nothing. Just reminding myself of something.”
Luckily, customers start arriving, and business picks up enough that I’m distracted—mostly—from thoughts of a certain mermaid who I want a commitment from. Though I do keep glancing toward the door, wondering when she’ll be done hanging out with her brother and come here. At least, that’s what I hope her plan is.
