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Chapter Eight
Cora
By the timethey arrived in the huge clearing with a bonfire in the center of it, Cora started to have second thoughts. She could almost hear her sister Amelia’s voice: What are you doing, going off with two shifters like that? You don’t even know them!
Imaginary Amelia did have a point. Besides, no matter how safe, warm, and secure she felt around Ash and Hunter, there was no denying that she hadn’t exactly had the best track record with men lately. After all, she’d thought that Neil was just a harmless guy who was a little too impressed with himself, and now she’d moved clear across the country to escape him.
Through the window, she could see a couple dozen people standing around, interspersed with coolers and a couple of charcoal grills fired up at regular intervals. There was a row of trucks and SUVs, and Hunter pulled in alongside them, his dirty old Ford matching perfectly.
Cora felt her stomach twist again. Here she was, meeting half the population of her new town on a first date.
What if it doesn’t work out with them? She worried. I can barely date one man, let alone two shifters.
Almost like he could read her mind, Ash leaned between the two front seats and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.
“Just relax and try to have a good time,” he said. “This is what we do for fun in Granite Valley, after all.”
Cora couldn’t help but smile.
“Let’s go,” Ash said. “My legs are cramping back here.”
As the three of them walked toward the bonfire, Hunter made a beeline for the nearest cooler and came back with three cans of beer. One by one, he cracked them and handed one to Cora and one to Ash, then popped the last one himself.
“Cheers,” he said, smiling. “Hillbilly champagne.”
Cora took a sip. It was just Budweiser, which she normally didn’t drink — she was more of a red wine person, to be honest — but it tasted exactly right for the occasion, a bonfire in the middle of the woods.
She took another couple of gulps, and felt a little braver.
Everywhere she looked, there were shifters, and they all looked a little like Ash and Hunter, at least six feet tall and built like linebackers.
Cora found herself wondering why on earth single women from the rest of the country hadn’t descended on Cascadia like a bunch of ravenous man-eating zombies. There were so many smoking hot men here.
From across the fire, she watched a tall dark-haired man in a button-down shirt and tie slowly kiss a guy with dirty-blond hair, huge muscles, and a Harley Davidson t-shirt. Even though they were surrounded by other people, they seemed like they were off in their own world, eyes closed, tongues moving slowly.
Stop staring, Cora thought.
“Hamburger or hot dog?” said Hunter’s voice behind her, and Cora spun, sloshing her beer inside its can. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks at having been caught staring at two men making out.
“Hamburger,” she said, clearing her throat. “Please.”
He handed her a plate, piled high with a burger with all the fixings and a side of chips. “The Cora special.”
He led her over to a blanket on the grass, where Ash was already chowing down on a burger of his own, another one on a plate in front of him.
Ash saw her looking, and swallowed a mouthful.
“Shifters have high metabolisms,” he explained, looking down at the food. “We tend to eat a lot.”
“Just bears, or all shifters?” Cora asked. She took a bite of her own burger and washed it down with another gulp of beer. Her first one was nearly empty.
“All, I think,” Ash said. “To be honest, I don’t know a lot about most shifters.”
“Don’t they all live in Cascadia, though?”
For a moment, Ash looked a little uneasy, and he exchanged a glance with Hunter.
“Most shifter species sort of keep to themselves,” he said.
