“Yeah.”
“He was so worried about you he fixed your food himself.”
I remember that plate of food. It was delicious. Overflowing stew packed with so much meat there was hardly any broth and bread oozing butter. I’d needed the hearty meal after the day I’d had. It’d been a godsend.
“That doesn’t mean that he likes me though. He knew I was hungry. Had a long run into the Keep.” I say softly. We join the pack in the courtyard. I can see that a band has already started setting up at the center of it. A group of shifters is being ordered around by Esme to string up lanterns. I look around and still…there’s no Thorne.
“That may be but he slept outside of your door.”
I’m glad we’re outside on solid ground. If we’d still been on that staircase I would have gone down head first.
I look between Clover and Piper to see if there’s any hint of their earlier laughter but there’s not. She’s dead serious.
“He what?” I whisper.
“He slept outside your door. Thought I didn’t know, I know everything that happens in the Visitor Quarters.”
I remember that night. How I heard someone outside my door and how irrational I had been not checking who it was because the stranger on the other side made me feel less alone. Last night, Thorne was on my porch. His wolf hadn’t seemed surprised to see me when I saw him through the window. He’d laid down, stretched right out like he was comfortable.
Like he’d done it before.
Holy hells, Thornehasbeen guarding me while I’ve been sleeping.
“I saw him outside of my cottage last night,” I tell them. Neither of them react at first but their moment of stunned silence only lasts for the amount of time it takes for them to suck in a breath deep enough to let out a shriek.
Piper and Clover grab me and shake me.
“He did what?”
“I told you he liked you!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Esme look our way. She’s standing with a few other Elders and they look when she does. Oh hells. I grab Piper and Clover’s arms and pull them with me off to the side.
“Keep your voices down. Making a scene is gonna tip off the whole pack.”
“I mean, they kind of already all do,” Piper tells me but she lowers her voice all the same.
Clover nods with a knowing hum. “Yeah, that’s true.”
Shock rocks through me and I instantly forget my plea for them to keep it down. “What do you mean?!” I almost yell andlook between them both. “What do you mean they already kind of do?”
Piper claps a hand over my mouth and gives a group that's sidled near us a smile and a wave. “How are you all doing tonight? Great music, huh?” she asks before looking back at me. “We said kind of but you’re about to make sure they definitely do, yelling like that.”
Oh right. Hells. Now I’m the one making a scene.
She removes her hand and I nod. “Oops. Sorry,” I apologize with a grimace.
Clover giggles and pats my shoulder. “Big oops but…Thorne is totally into you.”
I hesitate before I ask, “How do you know that?”
There's a spark of hope in me that’s bubbling up, getting stronger by the second and maybe it’s the pack meeting I was just at or the way Thorne held my hand. Or maybe it’s the summer air and the music that’s now being played that has me feeling like maybe, just this once, anything is possible.
“I’ve known him his whole life. He likes you. If his ma wasn’t on vacation, I’d get her to back me up. Matter of fact, when she does get back I’m going to get her to back me up. She’s going to love you,” Clover tells me with a happy little clap.
I make a strangled panicked sound that has Piper putting out an arm to stop Clover. “Maybe no meeting the parents right now. She looks like she’s going to pass out.”
Clover rolls her eyes. “She’s not going to pass out.”
