Page 9 of Stella

“Go to the beach. Hike in the woods. Do something to center your energy.”

I made a face.

When our parents and aunts had died in a plane crash, we lost everything in the blink of an eye.

Raina had always tended to being the bossy one, given that she was the oldest and an alpha. But when she was faced with looking after a family, those traits magnified: Luna was only ten, and Sunshine as the next oldest was only sixteen, with the rest of us falling in the middle.

Raina raised us as best she could. And for her, that meant making sure she protected us. Even if it was from ourselves.

As a result, we had a family group chat where she reminded us to eat often enough and occasionally corrected our grammar. The rest of us used the group chat to talk crap about each other, but it was nice to know my family loved me.

“Ember is almost here,” Raina threatened, pushing a stray piece of hair out of her face. “If you don’t get out of here now, you’ll be her first case for the energy balancing techniques.”

“The beach it is.” I hit save on my computer.

I loved Ember with all my heart, and her sessions with crystals and warm oil on my forehead was soothing, but I didn’t want to have to deal with any of that right now.

The focus of my energy at the moment was all sexual, and it was hard enough without having the added embarrassment of my cousin standing over me.

Zephyr poked his head into the office. “You convinced Stella to leave early?”

“Yes,” Raina said, looking satisfied, and Zeph nodded in approval.

Our family ties meant we didn’t feel sexually attracted to each other, no matter what was happening in the hormone department—thank Gaia for that merciful element of biology—but my cousins still wanted to take care of me.

Unable to deal with two overbearing family members, I drove to the beach. The stretch of coastline was mostly deserted.

The water never got warm enough to swim in without a wetsuit, but that was okay. I wanted to sit with the sand between my toes and let the sound of the ocean cut through the static in my brain.

I shouldn’t be panicking because I was in heat early. I still wasn’t going to have a pack in a month’s time if my cycle was on schedule, so it made no difference.

A part of my mind couldn’t help but hope that maybe I would find someone, or several someones, to share my heat with.

I did have a date with Jerrick. That was promising, but he was bonded, and it would be bad form to ask him to spend my heat with me.

After parking above the beach, I picked my way carefully down the cliff path and headed to a small spot in between two larger stretches of sandy beach.

I’d traveled to several different states, and had seen the beaches on the East Coast, but nothing could top the view of the beach in California. I loved how giant pieces of rock jutted out from the water, mossy green and sun-bleached brown and the way the water could turn from the deepest blue to the lightest slate gray in the same day.

I let out a deep sigh. I would never tell her, but Raina was right. I needed this.

The ozone smell of the saltwater soothed me as I slowly walked along the shoreline, dipping my bare feet into the water, then watching the water wash away my footprints.

Ahead, a figure leaned against a rock that sat some distance from the water.

As I drew closer, I could see that it was a woman, about my age. She sat in the sand with her legs pulled up to her chest, her face pressed on her knees, dark brown hair sliding forward and covering her arms.

She was sobbing, in the openly broken way you cried when you thought you were alone.

I grimaced. I was interrupting a private moment, but the heart-wrenching sobs were too much to ignore.

I sat down, only a few paces away.

At the sound of me clearing my throat, she pulled back with a gasp. Her face was red and blotchy, her nose running.

It was Meredith Bancroft.

“Sorry to bother you,” I said. “But you sounded so sad. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see you.”

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