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It feels a little like a bad omen.
* * *
“Please just one more,” Morgan’s mom begs, making the two of us groan.
It’s not fair that Jade’s getting out of this just because she has her own family here to fawn over her. My siblings are happy to stand smirking to the side while we’re tortured with blinding flashes and endless posing.
“Mom,” Morgan whines, “you’re cutting into our prep time for tonight’s party.”
“Fine, fine.” Her mom holds her hands up in surrender, waving the camera around. “I guess I’ll make do with what I got. I can email you the shots of Tess,” she offers to Tasha.
“Thanks,” my sister says diplomatically. We’re more one-photo-on-your-phone people.
Morgan starts to drag me away before her mom can change her mind.
Tasha falls easily into step beside us, leaving Tevin and Jimmy to trail behind. She looks me over with a side-eye I’m sure she thinks is more discreet than it actually is.
“You sure you’re up for a party tonight?” my sister asks.
Not even a little bit. But aloud, I answer, “Of course.” There’s no chance I’m missing this, the closest thing I’ll get to a normal eighteenth birthday celebration. Even though Morgan, Jade, and I will undoubtedly be the only ones treating it that way.
“Alright. Well, be safe, call if you need anything, and make sure you get home in plenty of time,” she warns.
“I will. I promise.” I squeeze Tasha’s hand, and then she falls back to join Tevin and Jimmy, linking hands with her mate in a gesture that makes my heart squeeze strangely. Not long now, and hopefully my own mate will be within reach.
I turn back just as Morgan jerks me sharply out of someone’s direct path. My heart leaps into my throat as I see the same guy I bowled into this morning. He doesn’t seem to notice me despite the fact that we just nearly collided again.
His jaw looks tight, and his eyes blaze with obvious anger. Guess someone pissed him off.
I force myself to turn away and look at Morgan instead. “Hey, do you know who that is?” I ask, nodding my head just slightly to gesture to him without making it too obvious.
Morgan doesn’t follow my lead, giving him an openly appraising look. He stands out in a navy, pinstripe suit amongst a crowd of people looking summer church picnic at best. He crosses the green of the field, clearly looking for someone, though he doesn’t join anyone right away.
“No, I’d definitely remember someone like that. Family from out of town maybe?” Morgan furrows her brows. “Though, I can smell the shifter from here. So maybe it’s pack business.”
That possibility does nothing to ease my curiosity. Our pack almost never allows outsiders onto our land. Occasionally, our Alpha will meet with a leader of another pack, but they certainly don’t get free rein on our land unescorted. We’re not one of the big packs, so other packs don’t typically have much business with us.
“Are you okay?” Morgan asks, tugging at my arm.
I realize I’m staring and tear my eyes away again. “Yeah. Hey, do you think maybe you could straighten my hair tonight?” I ask, successfully distracting her from my interest in the strange man.
“Seriously? Best graduation present ever!” she mockingly swoons, then grabs my arm again to finish dragging me to her car.
I climb into the passenger seat of the little sports car Morgan’s parents bought her two years earlier. I feel the familiar pang of longing that always comes when I think about how doting Morgan’s parents are.
I force a cough to try to clear the emotion away. Tonight is about enjoying the present, not dwelling on the past.
Luckily, Morgan turns the radio up as she pulls out of the parking lot, giving me a moment to clear my head. I stare out the window, watching the neighborhoods pass until we turn onto the tree-lined road that leads to Morgan’s gated community.
For a second, I close my eyes, but I jerk them open again when dark eyes haunt me in the shadows behind my eyelids. It’s startling. A worried feeling gnaws at my gut, but I do my best to ward it away. Tonight is supposed to be a celebration; whatever dark cloud seems to be hanging over us—and whatever role the dark-eyed man is playing in it—can wait until tomorrow.
* * *
Morgan bursts into Sky’s house ahead of Jade and I. Jade met us at Morgan’s so we could ride to the party together, and so far, she’s been more subdued than usual.
“Everything okay?” I ask her just before we step through the front doors.
The volume increases tenfold as we enter, forcing her to lean in and speak over the crowd. “I don’t know, I just feel like… Doesn’t it feel like everything is suddenly about to change around here?”
