Page 16 of Cimmerian

“So this is where you grew up.” Merrick looked around as we drove, rubbing his arm.

I waved my hand around in a grand gesture, giving him a wry smile. “Sure is. Doesn’t get much finer than downtown Merrillan.” I frowned as he continued to run his hand down his arm. “Does it still hurt?”

“What?” Merrick looked down at his arm, as if he were unaware he had been rubbing it. “No. I guess it just feels funny still.”

I nodded. Somehow I knew what he meant. It wasn’t the pain, or the healing that was bothering him. It was the reason the arm was hurt -- Monica. Still at large, hopefully a little bit slower and worse for the wear, but who the hell knew with her anymore. I hadn’t brought up the conversation they had in the woods. If I were in his shoes, I certainly wouldn’t want to talk about it. Maybe one day, when the wounds were less fresh, less raw. Maybe then we could talk about Monica. I flipped on my turning switch, pulling into a vacant space a block away from the diner.

I used Jasper’s phone to make a quick call to Mollie -- all it took to arrange a last-minute meeting at our usual haunt. She didn’t ask any questions, just let me know when she’d be there waiting for me. That was Mollie. If there was a chance she could get the information in person, she’d wait. It was about the only time she would be patient.

I got out of the car, Merrick trailing behind me. “Won’t your friend mind me tagging along?” he asked.

I scoffed. “Mollie would never turn down an opportunity to make a new friend.”

Merrick stopped for a moment, scuffing the toe of his sneaker on the sidewalk. “Ava.”

I was ahead, already anxious to meet Mollie and fill her in the best I could. “What’s up?” Potential explanations for my anticipated disappearance raced through my mind, and I picked through them to figure out what would be the most believable.Jasper was sick… No. She’d see through that right away.I got fired. Also a definite no.

“Something feels off. We should go back.”

I rolled my eyes. Paranoid wolves were going to be the death of me. “We’re going to see Mollie. And then we’ll meet Jasper.” I pointed toward the tarnished sides of the diner, aged aluminum that must have sparkled in its prime. “It’s a public place. We’re a block away from the car. I’m armed, and you’re a werewolf. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Merrick huffed but started walking once more. I could see the top of Mollie’s blonde head through the glass, her expression focused as she pored over the menu. She did this every time we went to the diner, acting like she was going to choose something new, even though we both knew she was going to get the grilled cheese and side salad. A pang went through my chest as I realized just how much I missed my best friend, and I eagerly pulled Merrick along toward the front door.

“Mate.” Merrick’s harsh whisper had me tripping over my feet. I froze, looking through the smudged glass at my best friend, the girl I had grown up with.

“Excuse me?” No. No.No. This wasn’t happening. Not to Mollie. Not to my sweet best friend who couldn’t bear to watchCasperwith me as kids. As if she had heard us, she swiveled in our direction, giving me a bright smile and a wave. Her expression shifted into something I had never seen on Mollie’s delicate features before.

Merrick tipped his head toward Mollie, who was staring right back at him. “She’s my mate. It’s why my wolf was going crazy in the parking lot. He must have scented her.”

I whipped my head around to look at him dead on, his dark gaze leaving no room for argument. “No. You have to be mistaken. Jasp told me human/wolf mates are rare.” Not Mollie. I didn’t want this life for her. Merrick was a good man, of that I was certain. But this life… it would destroy her. Mollie deserved the white picket fence, the house in the suburbs. The two kids, a husband who worked a reliable job and spoiled her rotten. Not danger and knives, and a new apartment because the other one might be compromised.

He raised his brows, severing his stare-off with Mollie to meet my gaze, frowning. “They are rare.” His words trailed off, like I was missing something important in the whole situation.

“So what are the chances of usbothhaving werewolf mates? Nearly impossible. No. You’re mistaken. We’ll go eat with Mollie and you’ll realize you were just hungry or something.” I pulled him, wanting this conversation to be over. I wanted to sit at the table with my best friend, and listen to her order the grilled cheese, and figure out some way to tell her I was leaving town for an undetermined amount of time.

“Jasper is right. Human/wolf mates are rare,” Merrick began gently, willing me to keep calm. To not draw attention toward us. “But, Ava, surely you know Mollie isn’t human.”

I was pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a moment. “Excuse me?”

Merrick shook his head. “Mollie. She’s a witch.”

I forced myself to keep my focus on Merrick, even as the sidewalk was being ripped out beneath my feet. Surely I wasn’t that clueless.Mollie, a witch? No. Mollie wouldn’t go trick-or-treating with me. She wouldn’t go into the woods at night and refused to watch any horror movies. Mollie was tiny, and perfect, and blonde, and one hundred percent not a witch.Right?

I looked back into the window, at my beautiful best friend who I had tried so long to protect. I don’t know what I was hoping to see. But her confused face met my own, and within a second blinked into something that looked like realization. Resolution.No.

Behind the smeared glass, Mollie mouthed my name. An apology of sorts. “Merrick. What the hell is going on?”

“You… you didn’t know?”

I turned my head to give him an incredulous look. “Do you really think if I knew my best friend was awitchI would be reacting like this?” I wanted to go into the diner and tell Mollie everything. I wanted to run far away and let someone else deal with the fallout. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew I didn’t want to be in this situation. I sighed. “I need to meet Jasper. I… I can’t do this right now.”

I turned and began the short walk back to the car, looking over my shoulder when I noticed Merrick wasn’t following me. “Are you coming?”

Merrick looked back and forth between me and the diner he didn’t want to come to in the first place. “You’re asking my wolf to leave his mate,” he muttered, tossing a mournful stare into the diner.

I sobered. I knew how that felt, to be apart from your mate once you found them. I felt it even now, the urge to run back to Jasper just to be whole once more. I wouldn’t make him leave Mollie, but I couldn’t stay either. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

The only sound on the way back to the car was my shoes hitting the sidewalk. I couldn’t get images of Mollie out of my head, as a tiny child -- determined even then. On our first day of high school, Mollie shielding me from the upperclassmen as we wandered from class to class. Mollie laughing, smiling, giving Jasper a hug. Did she know? Even when I first met him, when I tried to run? Did she know who Jasper really was? Who I was? I threw open the car door, slouching into my seat. I needed to collect myself and drive to the apartment. Ten seconds. That was all I needed. I shouldn’t be leaving Merrick alone in town, but he was a werewolf, and now apparently his mate was a witch. He’d be fine.

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