I turn around.
Three men are coming across from the direction of the main buildings, laughing about something, moving with easy loose-limbed confidence.I know all three of them.I grew up two miles from here, and the Ward brothers have been as much a fixture of Cedar Run as the water tower and the Late Shift diner on Main Street.
First my eyes light on Cole Ward, the middle Ward boy.He was a jokester as a kid and I can see that nothing’s changed.He’s got that same mischievous expression and permanent smirk, currently saying something that makes Jesse Ward shove him sideways, which only widens the smirk.
Jesse, the youngest, I remember as Cole’s nemesis and best friend.
Cole sees me first."Henrietta Frost," he says.“So that’s what you look like grown up.”He nods, looking half amused and half approving.There’s nothing lascivious in his gaze at all.Just that same familiar smirk.
"Cole," I say."Your brothers haven’t murdered you yet?”
His smirk widens into a full grin.“Not for lack of trying.”
Jesse grins at me."Henny Penny.Good to see you.It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?"
I manage a wry smile.Don’t look at Andrew, don’t look at Andrew…“Oh, the nickname.You remembered it.I’m so glad.”
And then Andrew looks up.
The oldest.He’s the Alpha now, since his father died in a death challenge several years ago.
He's always been the serious one — even at twelve he carried himself like he had somewhere important to be.But twelve-year-old Andrew Ward and the man currently crossing the field toward me are separated by about six inches of height, and shoulders that should belong to a lumberjack.
One glance at him and my traitorous body wakes up and says,hey there, cowboy.
The hum under my skin — the one that's been occupied with corn roots and pest damage — shifts into something else completely.Something urgent and insistent and pointed directly at the man with the amber eyes.The man who destroyed my family.
My whole body is pulsing with an intense awareness.I’ve seen plenty of hot men before, but I’ve never felt anything like this.
Is he my…he can’t be, there’s no way…
Oh no.
The intensity of this reaction - there’s only one thing that this can mean.
Fated Mate.
That makes no sense, though.Is fate on the fritz today?Broken somehow?Does that happen?
Because Andrew Ward cannot be the shifter who’s meant for me.Not after what he did to us.
Fifteen years ago, when he was twelve, he witnessed my father exchanging a package with someone in a forest, misunderstood what he saw, and went straight to the local shifter council with it.
My father barely escaped execution at the time.We had a choice between exile and death.Fun choice, huh?We’ve been on the run ever since, moving from pack to pack, scraping out a living, never welcome anywhere.And Andrew went from the boy I might have had a little kid crush on, to the person I despise most on this planet.
He hasn't seen me yet.He's frowning at something Jesse is saying, that same expression he wore at twelve when his brothers were acting like jackasses.
His eyes find mine, and his eyes widen in shock.He sucks in a sharp breath.
He feels it too.And from the dismayed look in those amber eyes, he’s no happier about it than I am.
For one suspended second, we just look at each other.Waves of dizziness flow over me.My wolf is running in circles, demanding release, and an image of Andrew and I dashing through the forest together in wolf form unspools before my mind’s eye.
With those high cheekbones and full lips and that arrogant expression stamped onto his handsome face, he is so damned hot.
"Excuse me," I say, with tremendous dignity.“The plant magic really takes it out of me.I need a minute.”
I turn around and walk into the equipment shed.
