Nine
Had he almost kissed her? Nina dumped the filthy water, wrung out her rags, and returned to her cabin. She opened her laptop again, and her browser was still open to write up her blog post. She had to talk about this with someone. Laura was the obvious choice, but Nina was trying to keep her distance…even from her sister. The entire Corona Pride was off limits as much as she could make it.
Instead, she started writing about Jameson. The Kiss That Isn’t, she called the blog post. She couldn’t believe it. Her readers probably wouldn’t, either.
At the end of the post, which was short, she tacked on a review for one of her favorite urban fantasies, just a few lines about why people should give it a try. That way her blog wouldn’t be All Nina’s Drama, All the Time. That hadn’t been her goal, ever. Her goal was to share books with other like-minded readers. As her said, she started the blog because nobody in her pride, or family, read romance, and she had so much to say about it. Justine would read the occasional romance if it was also a good sci-fi, but Nina—Nina loved all romance genres and subgenres. Romance was full of its tropes and challenges, and even when she hated it, she loved to hate it, making her feelings about romance into just another trope.
Super meta. She adored it.
As she read over the “Nina’s Life” portion of the post, she wondered if there was more to the alphahole than she’d previously thought.
If he’d kissed her, would she have pushed him away? Or would she have given in to her urges and danced the two-tongue tango?
She didn’t really know…but if she had to guess, she’d bet on tongues.
Maybe she was a cat in heat.
*
The next morning, she pulled herself out of bed. The sheets were finally starting to smell more like Nina and less like Gemma and Rex, which was good. It was weird to curl up at night in the scents of people she barely knew.
Nina realized with a start that until a few weeks ago, she’d barely left her territory, and she’d never been out on her own.
It felt…right. Free.
She should have left long ago.
After starting a pot of coffee, she padded over to the drafting table where her laptop waited. She fired it up and opened the internet browser, then went straight for her blog.
The comments had been coming in all night. People congratulating her, speculating on whether the alphahole was like one in a novel they’d recently read, citing romance novels with similar gruff, restrained characters. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Penny Reid’s Neanderthal Seeks Human. J. R. Ward’s Lover Awakened, and more.
Nina grinned. She had left her blood family, her pride, but she had another pride of her own, in the interwebz. It was fantastic.
She drank her coffee. Deciding to skip her shower because she’d likely get filthy from spreading gravel, she dressed. On the porch of her little cabin, she breathed the fresh morning air. Nobody was around, which was odd. Most mornings at least a few of the clan members were out on their porches, drinking coffee or growling at each other. Not even Margot was on her front stoop across the way with a teacup in one hand and her phone in the other.
On her way to the area where Jameson wanted her to spread gravel, Nina heard shouting. The shouting was coming from the Circle—that grouping of Ponderosa pines surrounding the cairn. Was someone in danger? She rushed forward, but came to an abrupt halt when she saw the clan assembled. Jameson wasn’t raising his voice, but Jake was.
“This is bullshit!” Jake yelled. He stood next to Erena, his eyes lifted insolently to Jameson.
A clan meeting. Nina wasn’t a clan member, so it made sense that she hadn’t been invited. Still, it stung a little bit. She’d felt like she hadn’t belonged in the Corona Pride, but here she really didn’t belong.
“We shouldn’t be fucking punished,” Jake spat. “It’s a joke on an outsider. She isn’t even one of us.”
Jameson stood close to the cairn. Jake and Erena stood before him, and the rest of the clan was scattered around. Jameson looked tired, like last night took a toll on him, too. His brown hair was mussed on one side like it wouldn’t commit to lying flat, and his bright blue eyes were blazing, but rimmed in dark circles.
“My word is law here,” Jameson said. “Unless you’re challenging me.”
Erena’s head was bent in obedience and after a long moment—seconds? Minutes?—Jake bowed his head, too.
“Very well,” Jameson said. “You’re both fined five hundred dollars, which is enough money to get her an entire new paint job if that’s what the damage warrants. Someone seeking sanctuary is entitled to our hospitality, not cruel jokes. I’m disappointed in how you’ve treated her, and I expect everyone to shape up, starting now.”
Nina hung back, not wanting to intrude on the meeting. Jameson…he was an alpha, an alpha worth looking up to. He wasn’t hiding or shirking his responsibilities like she’d originally thought. He was here, present, taking charge, and making sure the clan operated smoothly.
So was it just her that he was hiding from?
She got her answer when his eyes met hers from across the Circle, and he closed his mouth, seemed to be gritting his teeth.
Finally he ground out the order, “Meeting over. Get out of here.”
The clan scattered. Nina wondered if he’d ended the meeting because of her, then she immediately dismissed the thought as too self-centered. But when he gave her another long look before spinning around and ripping into the forest, tearing off his shirt as he went, she started to think that yes, maybe it was her fault he was being so distant.
Did he hate her that much?
If this were the old Nina, the Nina before Rafe had broken her heart, she would have gone after this guy. Demanded answers.
The new Nina was a scaredy cat.
She headed off toward the newly cleared area to shovel gravel. Being a scaredy cat was better than nursing a broken heart, any day.