Chapter 13 - Eddie

It was the night before the full moon, and Eddie lay in bed, hoping to catch a good night's sleep. The only problem was, his mind wouldn't seem to let him.

Whether it was nerves or perhaps a little excitement, he wasn't entirely sure.

Either way, he lay staring at the ceiling, wondering if it might be better to go for a run instead.

He was just considering getting up when a knock at the door startled him. His heart skipped a beat as for one moment, he wondered, what if it was Winter?

Had she come to talk to him about the ceremony? Was she as nervous as he was? Had she actually found a way of getting them out of this thing?

He bit the inside of his lip. Maybe he didn't want a way out of this thing. He hadn't exactly been dedicated to it when he had been helping her search through all of her mother's books. In fact, he had spent most of that time watching her, admiring her, wondering what it might be like to actually be mated to her.

Would this damn ritual even work if they weren't truly mates?

Fuck …he thought, rolling from his bed. With only his shorts on, he grabbed his T-shirt from where he had left it hanging over the back of his armchair before he headed for the door.

When the knock came again, his heart sank. He was almost certain he recognized that knock. And if he did, the person on the other side of the door most definitely wasn't Winter.

Clenching his jaw, Eddie gripped the door handle and considered ignoring it.

He really didn't want to do this. Not right now.

“Eddie, I know you're in there.”

“Fuck,” Eddie cursed under his breath, and finally dared to open up the door.

Standing on the other side, leaning against the door frame, was Carly. She looked all too comfortable standing there in one of her usual skimpy sundresses, her breasts practically pushed up to her chin by her bra.

“What do you want, Carly?”

His tone was harsh. His chest tightened. Whatever she wanted, he was sure he didn't really want to know.

“I came to see how you're doing,” Carly said, shrugging her slender shoulders. She inched a little closer and lifted her hand, running her fingers over his chest. “I thought you might be nervous about tomorrow, so I came to offer you some company.”

Eddie growled low in his throat. He knew all too well what kind of company she was offering.

There was a time when he would have taken the offer willingly. But this was not one of those times.

Grabbing hold of her wrist, Eddie jerked her hand away from him and threw it back down to her side.

“Leave me be, Carly.”

“Oh, come on, don't be like that.”

Carly sidled up to him, fluttering her lashes as she always did when she was after something.

“We've had some good times, haven't we? What's one more between friends?”

Eddie's jaw clenched so hard he thought his teeth might break. His wolf reared to the surface, growling angrily. Even his beast wanted nothing more to do with her.

“I'm not in the mood for this shit, Carly.”

Standing his ground, knowing if he even budged an inch she would find a way to slip into his room, he crossed his arms over his chest and barred her way.

“What's the matter? Don't you want a little stress relief before the big day?”

Eddie glowered down at her, saying nothing. Her question wasn't even worth the breath it would take to respond.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Carly asked. Tiptoeing, she looked over his shoulder as if she half-expected there to be somebody else in the room. Dropping back down onto her soles, she added, “I thought maybe you had your little witch in there already.”

For a second, Eddie wished she was right. Maybe he should have given in to his desires in the storeroom that night. Maybe then he wouldn't be so damn nervous about tomorrow.

“She's classier than that,” Eddie snapped, his arms tightening across his chest until he felt his shoulders bulging.

He watched the way Carly bit her lip at the sight. There was a time when her admiring his muscles would have encouraged him closer, tempted him to tease her and take her to bed. But he was well and truly over that now. It seemed that Winter had been right. Getting over her had been as easy as setting his sights on someone else.

“A witch? Classy?” Carly scoffed, shaking her head. “Don't make me laugh.”

“What's the matter, Carly? Finally getting a taste of your own medicine?”

The voice that sounded down the hall caused them both to jump, and Eddie leaned forward just enough to see Will striding towards them.

Fuck, here we go! Eddie thought. Was this where Will took over his old role of being jealous of every guy Carly flirted with?

Eddie almost felt sorry for him—almost, because if he was stupid enough to set his sights on her, like Eddie had been, then he likely deserved to feel some of that hurt for the sheer foolishness of it.

Will stopped just a little way off, mirroring Eddie's crossed arms.

“You know, I thought we'd have a little more fun before you set a target on someone else again,” Will continued, and Eddie watched the way Carly's face started to redden.

“That’s not what this is,” Carly said, her tone quite unsure. Her eyes flitted between the two men. “I was just checking up on Eddie before the big day.”

“Is that what you call trying to throw yourself at him?” Will asked, cocking his head to the side. “It seems like you've been checking on a lot of our packmates of late.”

Carly's face grew beetroot red then, and she took a step away.

“What's the harm in having a little fun?” Carly demanded, her face growing sour.

The sweet, innocent expression she so often presented for all to see was gone, and now she simply looked like an annoyed little teenager who hadn't gotten her own way.

Really, that was all she was—a teenager in a grown woman's body. Hell, Eddie knew as well as anyone that werewolves matured slower than humans, but this was just plain ridiculous.

“It seems to be rather one-sided on your part, Carly,” Will said, and Eddie stood, dumbfounded. He had yet to hear anyone actually call the woman out on her antics.

The awkwardness in Carly grew. Her shoulders tensed and her face became more than a little strained. “I think maybe I should go.”

She threw her thumb over her shoulder as she spoke, and Eddie noticed the way that her hand was trembling a little.

“I think that would be for the best,” Will said, shaking his head. “And to think, we were getting on so well.”

There was pure sarcasm in his tone, and for the first time, Eddie realized what Will had been doing by accepting Carly's advances. It seemed his only intention had been to keep her eyes from wandering to anyone else.

I should have known, Eddie thought, struggling not to laugh. Will was never the settling down type. And though she liked to act as if she was, Carly most definitely wasn't, either.

Watching Carly scurry away with her tail between her legs was perhaps one of the best things Eddie had witnessed in a long time. He couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up his throat as he said to Will, “Thanks for that.”

Will dropped his arms to his sides the second she was gone and shrugged. “What are packmates for?”

Eddie scoffed at that, feeling a little foolish for ever imagining that Will would fall for Carly's tricks.

“What's that look for?” Will asked, his brow furrowing. “You didn't actually think Carly was my type, right?”

Eddie laughed openly then, almost throwing back his head. “If I'm honest, I don't think any of us know your type. You've gone through so many races, so many women with different personalities and professions, it's hard to keep track.”

Will laughed right along with him as he clapped Eddie on the shoulder and said, “Well, isn't that what they say tasting the rainbow is all about?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. Will was always joking about tasting the rainbow of women on offer to him before maybe, just maybe, he actually considered settling down.

“You sound like a commercial for kids’ sweets,” Eddie joked.

“Oh, believe me, this is anything but PG,” Will countered, and together, they laughed again.

It felt good not to be the butt of the joke, as he had felt he was for a couple of weeks now. Perhaps that also had to do with Eddie moving on. After all, Will was his same old charming and funny self.

“Speaking of types,” Will said, his expression and tone growing more serious. “What about this witch of yours?”

Eddie cringed at that. Running his fingers through his hair, he grumbled, “She isn't my witch.”

“You’re performing a spell involving a mating ritual with her tomorrow night,” Will pointed out. “Isn't that kinda as close as you can get to her being your witch?”

Eddie's heart soared for a second. My witch? If he thought about it, he guessed Will was right. The question was, would Winter consider herself that? And if she did, would she be pleased about it?

With how independent she seemed, he could guess the answer easily enough.

“You and I both know this isn't anything to do with her being mine or my being hers,” Eddie said, perhaps a little defensively. “This is about protecting the town.”

Will actually looked a little shocked at that. “Is that really the only reason you're doing this? To protect the town?”

“What other reason could there be?” Eddie asked, stepping backwards into his room, a little taken aback.

As if taking that as permission, Will entered Eddie's bedroom and crossed to the armchair as he said, “Well, when we came back from seeing off those werewolves at the shop, the two of you looked pretty damn cozy.”

Eddie closed his eyes for a second, remembering how when the others had returned to help clean up the mess that had been left by the intruders, he and Winter had still been standing close enough for him to brush her little finger with his own.

Just that smallest touch had been enough to send a shockwave up his arm and into his chest.

He opened his eyes again and sighed, “If I'm honest, I don't know what's going on between us. The only thing I'm sure of is the fact this spell has to happen.”

“And is that really only to protect the town?” Will asked, dropping into the armchair and crossing his arms as if he had no intention of leaving until they'd had a proper heart-to-heart.

Eddie growled through gritted teeth, his stomach twisting as he clicked the door closed and moved to sit on the edge of his bed. “I have no idea what else it could be.”

Will leaned forward in his seat. Looking Eddie right in the eye, he said, “I saw the way you looked at her, dude.”

“Huh?” Eddie huffed, a little confused.

“Let's just say you looked far more hooked on the witch than I ever saw you with Carly,” Will said, shrugging. “You never took your eyes off her once the whole time we were at the Green Cauldron.”

“She was injured,” Eddie said defensively. “She had just been attacked by a group of our kind. You know how ruthless they can be.”

Will raised a brow, looking at Eddie pointedly. “And you and I both know any one of our men could have been the one to look after her while the others cleaned up, but you seemed to think it had to be you.”

“We'd just decided I was going to be the werewolf in the ritual, and she the witch. How else was I supposed to act? We're kinda linked already in that respect.”

The words sounded dumb even to Eddie, but he was relieved when Will didn't push the subject any further.

Instead, he threw up his hands and said, “Look, all I'm saying is, I'm glad you seem to finally be moving forward instead of sniffing after that damn floozy.”

He threw his thumb in the direction of the door.

Eddie nodded his own agreement. “It feels good, getting her hooks out of me.”

He stretched a little as he said it.

“Well, it seems to me like someone else is going to have their hooks in you real soon,” Will said, wiggling his brow. “You ready for tomorrow night?”

Eddie gulped. “Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be ready.”

Will leaned forward then and reached for Eddie, gripping his shoulder in a firm and brotherly manner. “You're a better wolf than I'll ever be, Eddie. I don't know what I'd have done if Jack asked me to do this.”

“He kinda did,” Eddie said, adding jokingly, “You were just too much of a pussy to take it.”

Will feigned offense then, placing his hand over his chest as he exclaimed, “How dare you?” Then he clucked his tongue against his teeth and admitted, “I guess I'll have to own that one. The witch just wasn't for me.”

“She isn't for me either,” Eddie reminded him. “This is about defending the town. I'll do anything it takes to protect the pack. We all would if it really came down to it. This just wasn't meant to be on you.”

Will looked a little surprised at that, almost as if he had been feeling guilty for letting Eddie shoulder this one.

“If you feel that bad about it,” Eddie joked, kicking Will's shin playfully, “I'm sure I could come up with some way for you to repay my self-sacrifice.”

Will threw back his head at that. “You forget, I've seen your witch. You're hardly sacrificing yourself by binding yourself to her for the rest of your life. She's fucking hot. Sure, she's a witch, but even I have eyes.”

Something bit into Eddie's stomach at his friend's words. What the fuck was that? Jealousy?

As if he saw it sparking in Eddie's eyes, Will said, “Don't look at me like that. Your witch is safe from me. I don't do magic users. Things get too messy when it goes wrong.”

Eddie cringed. What was that supposed to mean?

In truth, it didn't really matter. This was happening. He was going to protect his town. More than that, he was going to protect Winter from ever being attacked in her own store again.

The strength of his determination on that one startled him. Somehow now, always, she was at the forefront of his mind.

His desire to protect her overshadowed everything else entirely. Maybe that was why he had even bothered pretending to look for another option in those books; he was willing to do just about anything to protect her, even if it meant putting an end to a spell she didn't really want to cast.

“Well, it looks to me like you've got a lot on your mind,” Will said, and it was only then Eddie realized he had closed his eyes and lost himself in thought. He had been doing that a lot lately, especially when Winter was on his mind. “Maybe I should leave you to it?”

Will made to get up, but even before he was on his feet, Eddie jumped up and said, “Actually, what I could really do with is a run. Fancy joining me?”

Will looked uncertain. “Shouldn't you be saving your energy for tomorrow night?”

Eddie cocked his head and pointed out, “We're werewolves. A quick sleep tonight and a nap tomorrow afternoon before the madness and I'll be fine. Right now, all I need is to run.”

“Well, I guess Jack would never forgive me if I let you go out alone and you took it upon yourself to try and skip town to avoid your own mating ceremony,” Will said, laughing, but it was in that moment Eddie realized he didn't want to run from anything. In fact, he wanted to run towards it, towards Winter and towards his future.

He couldn't sleep. He was finding a way to pass the time until the full moon finally glided overhead.

“I don't think you need to worry about that,” Eddie said, shaking his head as he shoved his feet into his sneakers. “I just need a little company, is all.”

“Hey, if you're expecting some of that the night before your ceremony, maybe I should call Carly back after all.”

Eddie shoved Will hard yet playfully in the chest, breathing a sigh of relief. It was good to feel as if they were real brothers in arms again.

Will things still feel like this after the spell has been cast? Eddie wondered. Somehow, he couldn't help but feel as if everything was about to change.