Page 25 of Harvest Moon

We got out to the car, Claudia mumbling about getting some sleep as she climbed into the front, but Birch stopped me.

“That, ah, someone who clearly didn’t have feelings for you?” I just stared at him for a moment, confused. How did he know Ridge didn’t want me? He’d seen us together for like twenty seconds. After a moment, he sighed and shook his head. “I’m not saying this well. You said you thought it was a good idea to leave home, come here, because you realized someone didn’t share your feelings. That was him?”

I glanced over at the door of the bar, to make sure Ridge hadn’t come out. He hadn’t, and no one else seemed to be listening, so I gave a tiny nod. I didn’t know how it was so obvious, other than the part where we knew each other. “Ridge. He’s... we grew up together. He went to college. Got back, and—you know.”

“I get it,” he agreed. “But I’m not sureyouknow.”

Huh? I didn’t say anything, but I guess I looked confused enough that he took pity and continued. “A man doesn’t follow someone halfway across the state if they don’t have feelings about them.”

“He said he got a job. The alpha said he’s—he’s working at the farm. Right? Doesn’t the farm need help?” I wanted to leave. To go anywhere. Maybe we should just skip the whole run and go home. I could get to know the pack another time.

Birch sighed and opened the back door of the car for me, ushered me in, and then came around to climb into the driver’s seat. “Claud, help me out here. Our slow-talking farmer doesn’t move halfway across the state to exactly the place his old friend went unless he’s looking at more than a friend. Right?”

Claudia yawned, but met my eye in the rearview mirror with interest. “Wait, that guy? Mr. farmer with the bedroom eyes? He’s the guy? The, um...” Her eyes went unfocused for a moment as she searched her memory. “Ridge. Goddamn, it is him, isn’t it? Oh man, Auntie Laura must be gnashing her teeth if she knows he followed you here. She hates him, right?”

I scowled and glared out the window. “She thinks he’s too much like Dad.”

“Your dad is a prince,” Claudia shot back instantly, scowling just as hard as me.

I threw up my hands. What the heck did everyone want from me? “I know! Ridge is too. He’s the best farmer ever. He can make anything grow, and your farm people are lucky to have him. Mom just doesn’t like men who work with their hands.”

Birch’s soft, soothing voice filled the cab of the car, somehow reacting like the omega of the group, despite the fact that he was the alpha, Claud and I the omegas. “I’m sure your mother just doesn’t understand that you’re not looking for the same things in life that she wants. She’d be happy if you were.”

I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest, determined to stay annoyed. “She’d be happier if what made me happy was a rich doctor or something.”

“Oh please,” Claudia answered. “You don’t want Linden. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy, but you’re not difficult enough for him.”

I squinted at her in the rearview mirror. “What the hell does that mean?”

She shrugged and motioned back toward the bar. “You’ve met Colt. He’s like me. Opinionated. Impatient. Not like you.”

It was odd, given how she’d worded it, but it stung. I wasn’t like her, the other omega I looked up to. Not opinionated and impatient. But sure I was. I was totally both of those things.

Well, maybe not.

Was it bad, to be agreeable and patient?

Claudia reached over the seat to grab my hand. “It’s a compliment, sweet pea. And you don’t want Linden, either. Nice as he is, he’s not the big, silent mountain man of your dreams.”

“I don’t want a mountain man,” I denied, because that was silly. I wanted...

“Just a farmer?” Claud asked slyly from the front seat. I shot her a glare, but she waved me off. “It’s okay, sweetie. He’s adorable. Just your type. The strong, silent, sweet type.”

As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. That was Ridge in a nutshell. And I adored him as he was. It would be nice if he were maybe a tiny bit more talkative. Not much, just enough to, you know, tell me why he was in Grove pack territory. Or to tell me he wasn’t interested in me before I spent a decade pining after him.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat. “You going on the run?” I asked Claudia as she yawned again. She shook her head in response, and fell back against the headrest, closing her eyes.

Part of me felt as though I should go on the run. I was new, after all, and if I wanted to get to know the pack I might be joining, I should get out there and do it. No time to socialize like a full moon, at least not for werewolves.

But I didn’t want to go chat with other people, or even shift and run in the woods. Brook wouldn’t be there. Claud wouldn’t be there. If Claudia didn’t go, no doubt Birch wouldn’t.

The only person who would be there, that I wanted to be around, was Ridge. The one person I also couldn’t have. The guy who wouldn’t so much as answer a simple question.

Had I lost the knack for talking to Ridge? Was that it?

I let my head thump back against the car seat. “Let’s just go home,” I mumbled. “I’m tired anyway.”

14

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