Chapter 14

Levi

I had my stuff back.

My wallet, my phone, my laptop, my backpack.

If I wanted to, I could go online right now and tell the world what Alistair had done to me. I could snap pictures of the gorgeous scenery, could catch up with people, and put the minds of all my followers at ease.

The thing was, I didn't really want to.

My backpack felt heavy on my shoulders, the weight dragging me down as if it was filled with rocks, not with a couple of electronic devices and a hoodie.

What would happen if I went online now?

"Are you okay?"

My head snapped up to find Nix standing right in front of me, arms crossed in front of his chest. He was wearing the same black clothes he'd worn the last time I'd met him in Herb's café, and he still had no damn coat on, even though it was way too cold to be out and about just in a worn hoodie and torn jeans.

"Maybe?" I said, though it sounded an awful lot like a question. "Remember last time, when I said my life was pretty up in the air?"

Nix nodded.

"Well, now it feels like I have two lives; the one I had before coming here, and the one I have now. And… Well, I guess I'm not sure how they fit together. Or if they do at all."

I couldn't just abandon everything and start over, right?

I'd turned on my phone when I'd picked it up from the police station, but the hundreds and thousands of notifications had punched the air out of my lungs, so I'd put it in airplane mode and shoved it back into my pocket like the coward I was.

Nix blew out a breath, biting his lip. "That sounds rough. Do you… want to talk about it?" He turned his head, eyes constantly shifting around, never focusing on a spot for more than a second.

"Sure," I said, a smile tugging at my lips. "I wanted to grab a coffee and some of Herb's pastries, anyway. Do you want to join me?"

Nix flinched like I'd just slapped him, his face falling. "Oh, uhm…"

"I'm buying," I quickly said, giving him an over-exaggerated wink. "After all, I need to celebrate that I got all my stuff back." At his confused look, I added a short explanation. "My stuff—including my wallet—was stolen."

"Oh." Nix nodded. "And you want to celebrate getting it back by… spending all your money?"

"Why not?" I giggled. "Better me than the thief."

That made him smile, at least for a moment.

Come on , I thought, just accept the invitation.

Nix hesitated, eyes shifting around for a while, until they finally focused on me. "Okay," he said, sounding hesitant. "If you're sure."

I was. And, looking at him, my resolve to buy him as much food as I could without him noticing only got stronger. Not only was he still wearing his torn clothes, but he looked even thinner than the last time I'd seen him and it'd only been about a week. Still, his cheekbones had become even more pronounced, and he looked paler than last time. The dark circles under his eyes looked unhealthy, the purple-ish colour giving the impression someone had punched him.

After talking with Herb for a few minutes, agreeing to come back in tomorrow to teach his employee how to work the coffee machine, I got another plateful of pastries, free of charge. Herb said to consider it part of my payment.

Plate in hand, I turned my head, searching for Nix. My heart stopped for a moment when I couldn't find him.

Fuck.

Had he taken off? I didn't have his number, hell I didn't even know his full name. I'd never be able to find him in Balwood. Then again, I doubted his name would be of any help. If he really was new in town and was, as I still suspected, homeless, he probably didn't know anyone here.

Except for me.

So I was basically the only person who could help him. And I'd just lost my chance.

Dammit.

With a sinking feeling in my gut, my eyes swept through the café for one last time, just to make sure he really wasn't here anymore. If I asked Rhett to come here asap, would he be able to pick up Nix's scent? Would he be able to follow it and find him?

Would it be okay to a) ask him that question and b) use my boyfriend as a makeshift search dog to find Nix?

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my head. Relief hit me so strongly it felt an awful lot like dizziness. There, hidden in the back corner of the store, sat Nix, the hood of his sweater pulled as far over his face as the fabric allowed.

Hurriedly, I walked over to him, placing the plate of pastries between us before sitting with my back to the room. His eyes flitted to me, then to the plate on the table.

Scrunching up his brows, he shook his head. "That's too much."

I shrugged. "Take it up with Herb. He's the one who gave me all this stuff—for free."

Nix pursed his lips, looking at me with distrust edged in his features. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to show his employee how to use the new portafilter machine Herb bought. The pastries are my payment."

Hesitantly, Nix reached for the plate, his pale fingers shaking a little. "That's nice… of both of you."

I tried not to watch him too obviously as he practically inhaled the donut he'd grabbed. It was gone in two bites, Nix's stomach letting out a loud growl.

How long had it been since he'd eaten?

Part of me wanted to ask and offer my help, even though I really didn't know how. I mean, now that I had my wallet back, I could at least offer to buy him some new clothes or a warm coat, but I highly doubted he'd agree to that.

"Soo… I offered to let you unload… what's going on with your two lives?"

I let out a breath and grabbed a pastry for myself, then cleared my throat, relieved to focus on something else for a moment. Not that it'd make me forget about Nix's situation.

"It's just that I have a hard time connecting life here, in a small town, with my old life in the city, " I explained, then stopped. This was certainly an issue, but it definitely wasn't the only one I was facing.

No, the thing was, after finding Rhett, learning about shifters and everything else that was going on in the real world, my life in Vancouver felt unreal. Maybe a bit like a piece of clothing I used to love, but that just didn't fit me any longer.

Oh, how I wished I could talk to Nix—or someone, anyone, really—about it. But I still had no idea if Nix was a shifter or knew about shifters, and there was no good way to ask.

"Yeah, I get that. My life here is pretty different from before, too," he mumbled, grabbing yet another donut.

"What was your life like?" I asked.

Nix flinched, his whole body tensing up. Putting the donut down in front of him, he balled his hands into fists, the pale skin stretching over his knuckles. He lowered his head so far I couldn't see his face at all, just a curtain of silvery hair.

Silence stretched between us. Static sizzled in the air, raising goosebumps on my arm.

I'd screwed up. Clearly, I wouldn't get an answer, but more importantly, I'd somehow managed to hurt him. I didn't need to be a shifter to know that. No super-nose needed, nor the ability to hear his heartbeat.

I'd triggered something in him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he raised his head and looked me straight in the eyes. A shiver ran down my spine upon taking in the look on his face. The pure and utter agony displayed. The fear.

"It was… different," he whispered, his eyes shining with what I thought were tears. "So very different."

In this case, I was sure that, by the way he said it, different was a synonym for worse .

Rubbing my chest, I tried coming up with a way to change the topic to something safer.

My phone—the one Rhett had gotten me, not my old one—buzzed inside of my jeans, and my heart jolted. I hadn't seen him for the last two days because there was something going on with the barrier. I didn't understand exactly what the problem was, but I did get that the barrier was Rhett's responsibility, so it acting up was his problem.

Still, not seeing him every day sucked. It hurt as if a part of me was missing. Literally. Rhett might as well have ripped off my arm.

So, I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and read the message.

Rhett: I wanted to surprise you at the Inn, but Mave said you're out. Want to meet up?

Smiling, I glanced at Nix, then typed out my answer.

Levi: I'm at Herb's with a friend. You can join us.

"Who are you texting?" Nix asked, raising his brows until they disappeared beneath his hair. "You just got all smiley and dopey."

"My m…" Shaking my head, I grinned at Nix. "I guess he's my boyfriend." For humans. Or, like, people whose status was unknown to me.

"You guess? Shouldn't you know?" Nix asked, picking the donut back up and taking a big bite out of it.

Well, I guess that was one way to change the topic.

"It's still new, but we're getting serious."

Was that the right way one could describe meeting their fated mate? We hadn't known each other long, but it already felt like I'd been missing him my whole life. Like I'd been missing a part of me without even knowing it. My life had been fine, good even, but looking back at it now, there appeared to be a Rhett-shaped hole.

"Cool."

Nix nodded quietly, then went back to eating without saying another word.

I felt Rhett a good five seconds before the door opened. His calming presence washed over me, and a shiver ran down my spine while my heart did somersaults inside my chest.

The weirdest part was the almost tugging sensation, as if a rope had been tied around my heart and Rhett was pulling at it, trying to reel me towards him.

"So there's this book," Nix told me, his eyes lighting up with joy. "I don't know how often I've read it. Seriously, I already have the third paperback copy because I've read the other copies often enough for them to fall apart. I can lend it to you if you…" His voice trailed off, the smile falling off his face, replaced by a deep sadness. "Well, I would lend it to you if I still had it, but I had to leave it behind."

"That sucks. What's the name of the book?" I asked. A part of me was already trying to remember where the closest bookstore was because I would damn well walk straight out of here and order a copy for Nix.

Yeah, he probably needed a coat more urgently, but that didn't mean I couldn't buy him a new book, too. It clearly meant something to him.

Nix didn't answer. Instead, he was staring right past me at something while the colour slowly drained from his face, leaving his skin a pale, ghostly white. His Adam's apple bobbed rapidly as he swallowed, eyes getting bigger and bigger, a fine tremor running through his body.

"Fuck," he whispered, the sound almost inaudible. "I… I need to go."

Turning my head, I furrowed my brows. I knew Rhett was coming over, but Nix couldn't possibly get so spooked by my mate, right?

Maybe Paul was with him?

I couldn't see anyone suspicious. Rhett was the only one in the whole café who wasn't seated—and Nix's eyes were firmly trained on him.

"That's just my boyfriend," I explained. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him in a couple of days and told him he could join us. I should've asked first."

"Your boyfriend?" Nix whispered faintly, shaking his head in disbelief, his eyes wide as saucers. "That's your boyfriend?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"But he's a sh…" He stopped, shook his head again, then jumped to his feet. "Doesn't matter. I, ah, really need to get going. See you soon."

Before I could react, he was up on his feet, shoving past Rhett, and making a beeline for the door. I stared after him with my mouth hanging open until Rhett's warm hand on my shoulder ripped me out of my stasis.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, raising his brows.

Shaking my head, I shrugged. A weight settled in the pit of my stomach, a big ball of worry, fed by the thousands of questions running through my mind.

"No idea." I sighed, then turned my head to kiss Rhett hello.

A low groan escaped me as his lips met mine and the familiar electric shock ran through my body, igniting every nerve ending. My eyes fell closed, my lips chasing after Rhett's as he tried ending the kiss. My hand snaked around the back of his neck, pulling him closer, not willing to let go of him just yet.

A part of me wanted to push things further. To kiss him until I forgot everything. To never let go of him. To make him mine.

The bells chiming were like a bucket of ice water to my system, reminding me we were, in fact, in a public place, and I sighed and let go of my mate.

Rhett grinned at me, keeping his hand on my shoulder as he pulled a chair closer, opting to sit down next to me instead of opposite me. Which sucked because I couldn't look him in the eye. On the other hand, he put his arm around me and pulled me flush against his side, which… yeah, I guess I got the appeal.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, revelling in his scent, his closeness.

"I take it that was your friend?"

I nodded. "His name is Nix."

"Nix? Never heard of him." His tone was suspicious. I felt him turning his head towards the door, staring at it for a moment.

"He's new to the area," I explained. Should I tell him about my suspicion that he might be homeless? Maybe he could keep an eye on him like he'd kept an eye on me while I'd been out in the woods.

Something tightened inside my chest.

Okay, maybe not exactly like he'd kept an eye on me. Maybe more in an invisible protector kind of way than in a friendly wolf one.

On the other hand… his reaction had been weird. He'd run off as if Rhett had actually been in his wolf form and chased after him to hunt him down.

And the last thing he'd said. But he's a sh…

A what?

It had to be a shifter , right? I mean, what else could it possibly be?

A man? Not likely. After all, I'd said he was my boyfriend.

A… lumberjack? He was definitely rocking the aesthetic with the flannel shirt over his white tee, but then again, that didn't make sense either.

Nix must've meant, ‘ But he's a shifter. '

Which meant Nix knew about shifters.

And, contrary to me, he had a way to recognize them.

"Is he human?" I asked, pulling back a little to look Rhett in the eyes.

"He's your friend, not mine. Shouldn't you know that?" Rhett furrowed his brows.

Snorting, I waved a hand up and down my body. "Human. I can't detect paranormals, and I didn't think asking him was a smart thing to do."

A fleeting smile tugged at Rhett's lips as he inhaled deeply. He raised his brows, eyes closed in concentration. "Yeah. He's human. I can't smell anything paranormal about him."

That answered at least one of my questions while simultaneously raising new ones.

"How do paranormals smell?"

Rhett pulled me close again, his thumb stroking my shoulder, and I found my body immediately reacting, melting against his side.

"That's actually a good question and not one I can easily answer. With shifters, it's easy—they have their animal's scent woven into theirs. I've only ever met witches once, and they smelled a little like sulphur and herbs and… huh… I guess it's more that I can scent the ingredients for their spells on them than them having a particular scent other than human."

So, in theory, Nix could be a paranormal, just not a shifter.

Interesting.

"Do witches live here on the packlands?"

Rhett shook his head, casually grabbing one of the pastries. "Paranormals keep to themselves. Like, witches, wizards, and mages live in covens, and shifters live in packs. We don't really mix. Hell, some packs don't even like mingling different kinds of shifter species."

That seemed… highly reclusive.

"Why not?"

Rhett shrugged. "It's basically the shifter way of being racist. Some packs want to ‘ keep their bloodline pure .' Some think they're better than others. Bunch of bullshit is what it is."

"Guess no species is above being racist assholes."

Rhett chuckled. "Pretty much this, yeah. Anyway… why did your friend take off like a bat from hell?"

I shrugged helplessly, not sure how much to reveal.

A part of me wanted to tell Rhett everything. Keeping something from him felt… wrong. Rubbing my chest, I tried chasing the nagging feeling away. This was ridiculous. It wasn't like I was keeping an affair from him or anything. I was merely respecting my friend's privacy.

Was this a fated mate thing, too?

That urge to bare my soul to Rhett?

Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair.

Rhett pulled back and turned his head to face me. I didn't know what exactly he was seeing, but his eyebrows climbed higher and higher until they almost disappeared under his hair. "You know that you're not obligated to tell me, right?"

His words eased a bit of the pressure, but not by much. "Tell that to my brain," I muttered, running a hand through my hair and tugging at the strands.

Rhett's eyes widened. "Do you have problems lying to me?"

"I'm not even trying to lie to you," I said, the exasperation and desperation in my voice so obvious, multiple heads turned in our direction. Ducking my head, I grabbed a piece of banana bread off the plate.

"But you're trying to keep something from me?"

"Are you seriously getting mad about me respecting someone else's privacy?" I snapped.

Fuck.

My head hurt.

My heart hurt.

My stupid fucking brain hurt.

I felt my pulse quickening, felt a wave of anger surge through me, but at the same time I wanted nothing more than to climb into Rhett's lap, wrap my arms around him and never let go.

This was getting ridiculous.

"Hey, it's okay," Rhett said softly, his hand squeezing my thigh, sending a wave of warmth through me. And, of course, my stupid body relaxed. "I'm not jealous or angry or anything. I'm just… flabbergasted about how much our being mates affects you, even though we haven't properly bonded yet."

Great. I was an anomaly.

And I was getting all snappy and worked up about it. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled his scent. It was faint, probably nothing like the way he was able to scent me, but it was there. Moss, maple, and… man. Wolf? It was definitely not wet dog I was smelling. I didn't really care because whatever it was it managed to calm me enough for me to be able to think clearly again.

Because honestly? It was kind of nice to be able to actually feel your date… boyfriend… mate. Whatever.

The way his presence made my body sing? Yeah, I couldn't really be mad about that. I felt bad for my fellow humans, though. They had no idea what they were missing out on.

Following my instinct, I climbed onto Rhett's lap, leaned into him, and sighed as his body heat seeped into me. My muscles relaxed, my eyes falling closed as I rested my head against his shoulder.

"Can we… leave?" I mumbled against his flannel shirt.

"Sure." I felt Rhett nod. "Where do you want to go?"

Home.

The word was right there, in the forefront of my mind. But by home I didn't mean my apartment in Vancouver. Hell, I didn't even mean my room at the Inn. I meant…

What did I mean?

Rhett's place? Because I'd never even been there.

"Maybe we could watch a movie at your place?" I finally said, a feeling of rightness flooding me. I might've not called Rhett's house home yet, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't take me long until I did.

"Are you sure?" Rhett asked, his voice filled with so much hope and longing, it made me shudder and my heart ache.

Was I sure?

I pondered that question for a moment.

The answer was no. No, I wasn't sure. My brain told me I'd just suggested something I couldn't even begin to understand. But my heart? It was singing, rightness filling my chest, a joy I'd never felt before spreading through me.

"I'm not," I told Rhett, leaning back a little to meet his gaze. "But it feels like the right thing to do."

I just hoped I hadn't bitten off more than I could chew.