Undying: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Crystal Lake Pack Book 2) Page 6

  Or, she tried not to.

  Maze hung on the door, a giant grin spreading on his face as he studied both Addie and Landon. “Huh,” he said, far too loud and jovial, breaking whatever mood had been in the room before. “I never would’ve guessed Landon.”

  Landon responded by huffing out a sneer, storming out of the room, bumping arms with the intruder.

  Maze clutched his injured arm, calling after him, “Ow!” But Landon didn’t stop. Addie could hear him pound down the stairs. “What a jerk,” he added, turning to her. He swung the door shut on his way in, but not all the way. He left it cracked, probably because her mother had said something. “I could be jerkier, if you want.”

  She could not deal with this right now. Plus, she was super embarrassed. “Shut up.” Wait a darn moment. How was he even here? Addie shot him a glare, and somehow he knew what she wondered.

  “After you stormed up here, Dylan got me. Silly us, we thought, Landon isn’t the one to comfort anyone. She’s going to need saving. Plus, it was his turn to watch the wolf. I ran all the way here, and I could not believe my little ears—”

  Addie couldn’t take any more. “That’s enough. Please, don’t go on.” She sat on her bed, burying her face in her hands to hide the flush in her cheeks.

  Maze being Maze, well, he kept going. Once he sat beside her, he started to whisper, “Addie and Landon. I’m shocked. He’s kind of an ass, yeah?” Though her eyes were closed, she felt him lean towards her. “I could be an ass,” he spoke softly, almost tenderly. Ridiculous boy. “You look like you were dropped as a baby. Was your father an ogre? Because you are u-g-l-y—” He spelled out the word.

  Despite herself, she started to laugh. Addie dropped her hands from her face, shaking her head at Maze.

  He grinned at her, dimples in his cheeks.

  Those freaking dimples got her every time.

  “There’s the smile,” Maze said, eyes falling to her lips. At least they didn’t linger there. Addie was sure if Maze tried what Landon did, it wouldn’t work and she’d laugh in his face. She hoped she would, anyway. “Seriously, though. How are you? Dylan told me a bit. That’s rough.”

  “Yeah,” Addie said, agreeing. “But Landon talked me off the edge. I’m okay.”

  Maze let out a dramatic sigh. “Damn that Landon.”

  “Jealous? I thought there was no jealousy among wolves.”

  “Oh, I’m not jealous he was with you. Only that he got to you first.” He patted his chest. “Call me selfish, but I want to be the first one to kiss you. Looked like you were pretty close with Landon.”

  Addie rolled her eyes. They all probably wanted to kiss her first. Some kind of stupid unspoken competition that honestly made her want to keep rolling her eyes until they fell out of her head. How juvenile.

  “But I’m still in the running, thanks to my quick feet and loud mouth.” Maze gave her a wink.

  “Those winks will put you in last place, Maze. Keep winking like that, and I’ll be more likely to kiss Forest before you.” Addie said it before she realized it: a little weird to say, something she probably shouldn’t have said at all. She should’ve said Jack, or…literally anyone else.

  Talk about awkward.

  But luckily Maze didn’t find it too awkward, for he laughed. “Forest? Right. Like that would ever happen. Our alpha has walls around him taller than…whatever the tallest building is. Let’s be realistic here.” And then he went off on a long list of shifters who she was probably more willing to kiss than him.

  She couldn’t believe it. What a stupid boy.

  A ridiculous boy, a shifter who had somehow dug his way into her heart at a speed that was faster than light. Addie wanted to kiss him, but of course she wouldn’t tell him that. He’d only get giddy and act like a fool…although it wasn’t much of a change from his personality normally.

  These guys had her heart and, clearly, other parts of her body, too.

  She was in more trouble than she realized.

  Chapter Eight

  Sarah wore a frown. Try as she might, and Addie knew she was trying pretty darn hard, she could not accept her choice. No matter what logic Addie threw at her, no matter how calm she was while trying to explain to her mother why she had to stay, why this was her fight, her mother wouldn’t hear it. At least she’d stopped trying to drag her to the car. It’s the little victories, really.

  Maze had lured Addie out of her room with the promise of food, which he was busy making in the kitchen like some kind of self-taught chef, and now she sat in the living room once again with her mother.

  “Addie,” Sarah spoke, “your father and I did not make our decisions lightly. Everything we did, we did to protect you. Putting yourself at risk for this pack, while noble, isn’t what your father would want you to do.”

  Oh, how tired Addie grew of hearing that. Like he had any right to have opinions about this. He wasn’t a part of their lives—for protection, or whatever—therefore he forfeited his right to think anything.

  “I don’t care what he would think or what he would say. I’m staying, because it’s the right thing to do.” Addie was more than aware she had never been the hero type of girl, but there came a time in every girl’s life when she would be faced with a choice like this. Fight the death priest, or go home with her metaphorical tail tucked between her legs.

  Maybe it was the wolf in her, but Addie was not the tail-tucking sort.

  Her mother shot a look to the archway that led to the kitchen, where Maze was busy listening to some classic nineties music. It took every ounce of inner willpower Addie had to not sway along and sing with the beat I want it that way, but Sarah had no problems ignoring the music entirely.

  She said, “I hope you aren’t letting the others sway you, honey. They might be nice to look at, but do you really want to spend the rest of your life with them? Because that’s what it would be. Once they put their claim on you, there will be no running then. Anywhere you go, they’ll be right there with you.”

  Honestly, it was a notion that would’ve made Addie think twice a month ago. Now, today? After joining with her wolf? Having three guys around her, wanting her in ways she should not be thinking about while her mother sat a few feet away, didn’t seem so bad. Yes, there might be some issues with dirty socks lying around, maybe some snoring, but all in all it didn’t seem too crazy.

  Was she nuts for thinking like this? After all, having multiple partners, more than one mate? It wasn’t something Addie had ever thought of before coming here and learning about her shifter side.

  Could she really have three mates?

  Addie remembered the way Landon had been upstairs. How her heart had fluttered so wildly in her chest she thought it was just going to pop out and run away. How good it felt to have his thumbs grazing over her hips, his hands cupping her butt. It was clear she was attracted to him, even if he could be an ass.

  Maze? There was no question with Maze. Sarcastic even in the most inappropriate of times, he was funny, endearing in the stupidest of ways. Just being around him made her feel all warm and tingly—not to sound too ridiculous, but it was true. And those dimples…God, those dimples got her every time. Those dimples could win wars.

  And last but certainly not least, Dylan. The quiet one. The reader. The one who turned an adorable shade of pink when he was embarrassed, like when she caught him with a worn copy of Gone with the Wind. It wasn’t even a book she’d read, and she was the overachiever of overachievers, which made it all the funnier. When he’d held her hand, tentative and unsure, the surprise on his face when he learned the woman making such a huge scene with Henry was her mother. Dylan might’ve been different than his twin, but he’d snuck up on her, too.

  Addie could not imagine leaving any of them. Not anymore. Not now. Now, she was in this, whether she—or, by extension—her mother liked it or not. She was in it to win it, and she would win it. Clay had to lose.

  “I know, and surprisingly enough, I’m okay with it,” Addie s
aid, downplaying the fact she was more than okay with it. If her brain hadn’t stopped her body, she would’ve already gone a lot farther with all of them. The reality was she hadn’t even been kissed yet. She’d come super close with Landon, but close was not the finish line.

  Not like she wanted to cross the finish line, at least not yet, but she knew it was close.

  Instead of arguing, like she knew her mother wanted to, Sarah nodded. “Okay. I trust you. As long as you visit me, and call me whenever you can. No more hiding life or death situations from me, and no more leaving your phone in your room.” Her eyebrows lifted.

  Right. Her phone was actually in her room. Maybe she should run up and get it, just to show her mother how serious she was about this.

  “Your father will kill me when he finds out about this,” her mother whispered with a heavy sigh.

  Addie had even less respect for the man than she started with, so it was easy for her to say, “Why does he have to find out? And why does he have the right to care? He’s not in our lives. He left you, left me. Screw him.”

  “Addie!”

  Oh. Was she supposed to continue acting like she did before? Never thinking about her father, because he was dead? At least when he was dead, Addie didn’t know he’d left them both. Heck, even before that—he’d been with her mother to start with, knowing the risks. From what it sounded like, becoming high warlock didn’t exactly come as a shock. He should’ve held back.

  Plus, her mother had been sixteen when they met, and since she had Addie when she was seventeen…well, the math wasn’t hard. The writing was on the wall, as large and conspicuous as it could possibly be.

  Yuck. It was not something Addie wanted to think about, but in a way, she was already doing better than her mother was at her age. Addie was, rounded up a bit, twenty. Nearly twenty with no official mates yet and no kids in the belly. She’d call that a win.

  “Do not talk about your father that way. Regardless of what you may think of him now, I still love him, as should you. He is a part of our family, whether he’s here or not,” her mother scolded her.

  Addie rolled her eyes, wanting to paint a giant red X on the wall and label it bang head here.

  “Before he left, whenever the heck it was,” Addie started, pointedly ignoring her mother’s scolding—because she did not give out respect simply because someone was genetically related to her, like Henry— “did Dad ever tell you anything about how this stuff works? The magic. The spells. Whatever they’re called. I need to level-up if I’m going to fight Clay.”

  In the kitchen, over the music of a song that mainly asked what was going on, Addie heard Maze snort. Yeah, she’d probably get made fun of for saying that, but she didn’t care. Just because something sounded funny didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Clay was on a whole different level; she had to do her best to reach it before he showed his painted face again.

  “I know a bit. I was around him a few times when he was casting. I suppose, since you’re being stubborn like me, I can stay for a while and try to help you. As long as it’s okay with your alpha.”

  Addie flinched at the way her mother spoke the last two words. Forest might be her alpha, but surely there was no need for such…animosity.

  Besides, couldn’t her mother give her a teeny, tiny break? She’d learned a lot today—found out her father was a high warlock, found out she never should have been born and would be killed if the other high warlocks learned of her, not to mention the fact her father wasn’t dead.

  Yeah, today was a doozy of a day.

  Addie eventually nodded. “I’m sure it will be.”

  “No, Addie. You never assume anything when it comes to your alpha. It’s always best to ask.” Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. “I suppose I can go with you, if I have to—”

  Talk about awkward. Hey Forest, remember my mother? The one you were supposed to mate with? Yeah, this is her. Can she stay for a few days while you dig up and do whatever with those bodies?

  It didn’t sound like a conversation Addie wanted to have.

  Addie shook her head. “No. I can do it.” Besides, if she was going to stay here, she wouldn’t have her mother to lean on all the time. She had to put on her big girl pants and just do it.

  But…did she have to do it now? A yummy smell had started to waft in from the kitchen, and from the loud taps on the counter, Maze was acting like he was playing the drums, thumping along with the song about being someone’s crying shoulder.

  That song, Addie liked.

  “I’ll do it in a bit,” she added quickly, receiving a harsh look from her mother. What was she supposed to say? She wasn’t only staying for the food that was nearly ready. Addie didn’t want to go back to Forest so soon, not after seeing him cradle that corpse. There was a backstory there she didn’t want to know. She would give him some time to do whatever it was he was doing with all the bodies.

  “Addie,” Sarah started, shaking her head. Ah, there was the familiar motherly tone. Addie had missed it so much these last few days, so much she’d started to feel hollow without it.

  “Mom,” she took on the same tone. “He’s busy digging up all the shifters Clay took over the years. I don’t want to interrupt him.” Again, but that part she would keep to herself. Her mother did not need to know she’d already bonded a bit with the alpha.

  Finally, her mother’s expression softened. “Of course. He’ll be busy, then. There’ll be a fire, soon.”

  “A fire?”

  “Shifters don’t bury their dead. They burn them. Funerals in the human world are usually sad, but a shifter pyre? It’s different. Everyone will be drinking and laughing, telling stories about the dead. At least, that’s how it was when a shifter passed when I was here. Since there’s so many, since they were kidnapped and murdered, I don’t know if it’ll be any different—”

  Maze came in from the kitchen, carrying two plates of steaming pizza. He set them down before Addie and her mother, doing a mock bow. “Don’t mean to interrupt, but perfection is here in the form of pizza. Eat it, and tell me what you think.” He crossed his arms, watching, waiting, refusing to move.

  As her mother sniffed the air and said, “Smells good,” Addie studied the pizza. Homemade, he said? It looked like any other generic, toss-in-the-oven pizza she’d seen at the grocery store. Of course it smelled good, because it was pizza, and what kind of monster didn’t like pizza? Probably Clay.

  But still. Homemade? Addie wasn’t so sure she’d go that far.

  “So you made this from scratch, huh?” Addie asked. “And you baked it? All in about twenty minutes?” Seemed quite the feat, if it was true. She knew better, though.

  “I don’t know what you’re used to, princess, but around here, that is homemade. Just because it came in a box doesn’t mean it’s not homemade,” Maze spoke, an expert on the subject of homemade pizza in this shifter town.

  Beside her, her mother smiled, and Addie felt one growing too, even though she fought like hell to keep it from forming. “You know,” she spoke, “I don’t think you and I have the same definitions of what a homemade pizza is.”

  Maze had no qualms about grinning, his dimples deepening in his cheeks, causing her stomach to do a flip. Or two. “Maybe one of these days you can show me.” A cough came from Sarah, telling him that he’d gone a bit too far in front of her mother, even though he probably didn’t mean anything by it. The boy probably really did mean it about pizza.

  Oh, God. Did her mother think he meant it sexually? Embarrassment flew through Addie at the speed of light, and she knew she would not be able to handle having her mother here for long. A few days, tops. And of course, the longer her mother stayed here, the more clients she’d have to reschedule.

  Maybe they could fit all their magic training into a one-hour session…

  Maze must’ve sensed the awkwardness too, for he quickly went on, “You know, I can go find Forest and ask him. Let you two get down to business.” He didn’t wait for either of them to respon
d; he simply hurried out the front door, probably grateful to be out of there and off the hot seat.

  Although it wasn’t like her mother put him on the hot seat. He got off easy, considering.

  Sarah watched him leave, leaning around Addie to do so. Addie ignored him as he went, not even glancing to his backside, which his jeans hugged spectacularly, hyper-aware her mother would notice and comment on it. She did not need to be lectured about the birds and the bees—or in this case, the wolves and the wolves. No sex talks, now or ever. Thankfully, it was something she’d avoided in her life.

  “That one is…weird,” Sarah muttered, picking up her plate. “Funny, sometimes, but mostly weird.”

  Addie was glad that was what her mother chose to say, and not something else. “I think you intimidate him.”

  Her mother laughed. “Me? Intimidate him? Don’t be silly. I am the least intimidating person I know.” With her tie-dye bandana and hippie clothes, Addie was inclined to agree, but she knew her mother’s looks were deceiving.

  “How many people do you know, Mom?” she asked.

  Sarah thought about this. “Hmm. Point taken.”

  They finished their supposedly homemade pizza, and then got to work. If only Sarah knew everything there was to know about spells and magic. It would make Addie’s life much easier to have a walking, talking encyclopedia of magic with her. Alas, her life would not be easy, and the only encyclopedia of magic Addie sort of knew would probably be her father.

  Too bad the son of a bitch had abandoned them.

  “First thing’s first,” Sarah started, but the front door opened again. Too soon for Maze, Dylan was guarding Jack, and Landon, well. He probably wouldn’t show his face to her for a while. Which only left the asshole who’d been sitting on the porch, eavesdropping until now.

  Because now, apparently, he felt like butting in.

  “You will not teach her any more magic!” Henry’s voice thundered through the living room, practically shaking the walls. Stern, tough, no-nonsense. He was everything Addie imagined a grandfather would be, plus a whole lot of extra ass. “I forbid it.”