“Wolfsbane infusion,” says a beta girl with sun-kissed skin and wild hair, pushing the bottle closer.
“Isn’t that poisonous?” I ask.
She just lifts one shoulder in response. I glance at Andrea, who watches me over the rim of her own bottle, eyes glintingwith amusement. Before I can overthink it, I raise the beer to my lips.
“Relax,” drawls a lanky beta guy sprawled across a nearby rock. “A little poison never killed anyone.”
Andrea chokes mid-swallow. “God, you’re such an idiot.” She turns to me, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Don’t listen to him. Small doses are fine. Burns off fast, but you can get a decent buzz going for a while.” She clanks the neck of her beer bottle against mine.
I sip the drink slowly at first. “Tastes like apples,” I comment as I smack my lips together. It’s really hoppy, but there’s a cider quality to it.
Andrea’s lips curl into a half-smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. Something flickers across her face. I wait, beer halfway to my mouth, until she finally says, “Look, I know you’re pissed at me. You have every right to be. And frankly, I’ve had a shit-fucking week, too. But maybe we can just…”
I cut her off with a smirk and tip the bottle back, gulping down half the beer.
Oh. Shit.
Mona, go slow,Beep warns.
Woah. This is not like human alcohol.
It hits before I can even lower the bottle. My head goes weightless, every sharp edge in my body suddenly blurred and distant. “Maybe we can just forget everything for a minute,” I murmur, finishing her thought.
“Fucking cheers to that.” She taps my beer again, then downs her drink before running and jumping off the cliff. I’m half a second behind her.
I ignore the predatory gaze of the huge falcon across the cliff, talons meant for violence, gripping the branch like that might keep him from snatching me and flying me away to his lair. Justas I pretend not to notice the hulking black wolf who watches me from upstream. Both silently protecting me.
Those problems—the missing shifters, my mates, Kendrick, and the wiches—they’ll still be waiting for me when this buzz fades.
I float with the wild ones, drunk on wolfsbane, swimming in the cool water, surrounded by wolves who don’t crowd me or try to touch me, but make jokes and laugh with each other, almost folding me into their world, making me feel like I’ve been here forever.
I fucking love Silent Peak.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 29: Mona
Anagging voice in my head says, You’re drunk.
“You’redrunk!” I retort, but my tongue feels a little big for my mouth, so it comes out more like,youwr drnk.
You can’t be trusted with substances, clearly.
“Why aren’tyoudrunk if I’m drunk?”
“What?” Andrea says from beside me, our bodies pressed together in the cramped UTV as her friend drives us home. “I am,” she confesses, distressed by that fact.
“Not you—Beep,” I clarify.
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Drunk people are deeply stupid. Isn’t she supposed to be your bodyguard?I can almost see Beep’s disapproving look as her voice cuts through my foggy brain.
“You mean you didn’t notice our shadows? We don't need bodyguards.”
Of course I did. I’m just saying, this is unprofessional.
