Page 28 of Strawberry Moon

Because I was still thinking like a human.

As a human, I’d thought most werewolves I had met were stoic. My grandfather’s programming had told me that they were monsters who had no emotions other than violent ones, and I’d never questioned that... until I had.

Until I’d seen Skye on the wrong end of my grandfather’s gun, terrified and trembling. In that moment, I’d realized I had to make a choice. Of course, I hadn’t understood the depth of the choice then, but I’d known I couldn’t skate by, pretending that it wasn’t happening.

I’d had to open my eyes, see the injustice, and pick a side.

I mean, sure, that choice had landed me with a bullet in the chest, but even with the confused mass of pheromones and new abilities and instincts I hadn’t begun to sort through, I didn’t regret it for a second.

Even in that moment when I’d been lying on a bed with a bullet in my chest, convinced I was about to die, I hadn’t regretted it.

And that, more than anything, had changed the way I thought.

I mean, yeah, I’d made a choice, and I thought it was the right one. But remembering that moment, thinking I was about to die and still being sure? Not for a moment questioning whether I should have let my grandfather shoot Skye? That was what let me sleep at night, on the nights when I made time for it.

“Deep thoughts?” Linden asked, leaning across the booth in my direction, eyes a warm silver-gray and filled with concern. “Talin’s right. You dealt well with Doherty. Colt would have been proud.”

I snorted and waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the door, where Senator Doherty had left a few moments earlier. “I can handle political blowhards. He may be a jerk, but he’s on our side in this, as long as we can convince him it’ll make him look good.”

“That makes sense. Men like him aren’t new for you.” He rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward. “Ford’s a little different, though, I think.”

I sighed, letting my shoulders slump and head fall. “Do you think he still hates me?”

“I don’t think he ever hated you. I think he mistakenly believed you stood for something he hated, and acted like a jerk in accordance with that.” He reached out and pushed the glass closer to me. “You should have a cider. You’ve more than earned it.”

Obediently, I took a sip and... damn. It was like an apple in a glass, but sharp and bubbly and amazing. I’d never been much of a drinker, but I could see why Grovetown made their money on the stuff. It was special. Like the Grove pack.

I bit my lip, staring into the golden elixir as though it held the answer to my problems. And why not? Linden and the Grove pack had been saving me for almost as long as I’d known them. As soon as I’d gotten my head out of my ass and listened to them trying to tell me something was wrong at Sterling.

“He’s, um...”

Hell, how was I supposed to say ‘he’s beautiful, in a sad, broken sort of way, and every time I get within ten feet of him, this ball of need in my chest tells me I ought to lick him’ and still look Linden in the eye afterward?

Linden nodded as though I’d actually said it, and leaned forward even more. “He feels the same way.”

I squinted at him, scrunching up my nose and glancing around us. Was he messing with me? “I don’t think—”

“I know,” he agreed before I even completed my own thought in my head. “But he’s an alpha. Trust me, I know how it is. We’re like that sometimes, but I promise you, Archer, there’s something there. If Ford just didn’t want you around, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to spend time around you. His wolf’s been angling for it the whole time, whether he realized it or not.”

I frowned at that, glaring at my drink like it was at fault, before taking another sip. Still delicious, even when I was annoyed. “But what does it really mean if his ‘wolf’ likes me when he doesn’t? Is that like when you find someone insufferable attractive just because they have a pretty face or six-pack abs?”

He chuckled and took a long sip of his own drink before answering. Buying time to think so he could find an answer that wouldn’t hurt my feelings, maybe? “I know this is confusing for you. And for us too. Not many people get bitten—it’s just not something we do. But your wolfisyou, Archer.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand, and it snapped shut without uttering a syllable. “I know. It feels new. But it’s not. I’ve read every piece of literature on this in the months since you were bitten, and everyone says the same thing: it feels like a new thing, but once a bitten person settles into their wolf, they realize it’s just a sort of... an instinct they always had, but one that was much quieter before. Easier to ignore. Surely you had moments before being bitten where your instincts told you something that seemed wrong?”

And well... who hadn’t, right? Meeting the popular, attractive guy and getting a slimy feeling even though everyone said he was Prince Charming. Starting a new internship and being told, with Stepford smiles, that the company was “like family,” but getting the feeling that they all actually hated each other. That was normal. I nodded, staring into my drink, trying to reconcile that instinct with the squirmy, irritated mess that had taken up residence in my chest in the last six months.

“So if the wolf is a part of you,” he prodded, circling his finger as though to remind me to move forward. “And Ford’s wolf doesn’t hate you...”

“He never hated me. He hated Sterling, and I was named Sterling, so he reacted on a conscious level to that.” I sighed, slumping backward in the booth and taking a long drink of the cider. “I wish I didn’t suck so much at being a werewolf.”

Linden snorted. “Let me guess, you’re one of those people who thinks you should immediately be good at everything, and when you’re not, you give up?”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “Takes one to know one.”

Before I had a second to rethink the astoundingly childish reaction, or even cringe at my own behavior, he laughed aloud, his deep, rich voice filling the whole room. “Fair enough,” he agreed, when he caught his breath. “I can’t deny it. But you don’t get that choice here, Archer. You can’t stop being a werewolf because it’s hard. You’re stuck with us.”

“I’m not stuck with you,” I shot back, taking another swig of my drink and waving my hand around the room. “It’s you guys who got stuck with me.” My heart caught at the realization that maybe they didn’t see it that way. Maybe... “I mean, I guess you don’t have to keep me around. You could just—”

Linden reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight. “No one is stuck with you, Archer. You were a gift. Everyone in this pack who knows you adores you, and we’re happy to have you. We’d be honored if you decided to make the Grove pack your own.”

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