Page 110 of Rocky Top

“I could hear you,” I said. “Even in wolf form. Not with my ears, but in my head. Like… like I knew what you were thinking.”

“What did you hear?” he said, quiet.

Shaking my head, I was too embarrassed to say it.

“How much, I love you?”

I nodded. “I didn’t think I could feel closer to you,” I whispered.

Rocky turned my face to his and kissed me like it was a promise. “You’re mine,” he growled against my lips. “Of course, I love you, Sunshine. It killed me to wait to tell you, but I wanted it to be special.”

I didn’t think I could love the biker more but was proven wrong.

Chapter 28

Birdie

Six Months Later

There was something about that night that just didn’t sit right with me.

Maybe it was the full moon sitting too low in the sky, watching the world like it knew something the rest of us didn’t. Maybe it was the stillness in the air, too quiet for Tennessee. The cicadas weren’t singing. Even the damn frogs had shut up.

Or maybe… it was the way my skin itched from the inside out.

Like my body was begging to be something else.

“Birdie!” Eliza’s scream snapped me outta my haze like a gunshot.

I flew down the hall of the Wild Dog, nearly breaking the door to the back room. Eliza was bent over the side of the bed, grip tight on the frame, her face pale and glistening with sweat.

“I think it’s time!” she gasped, her voice cracked with pain.

My mouth went dry. “Okay! Okay, uh. Where’s Knox?”

“Eliza,” Knox’s voice boomed as he barreled through the doorway, eyes wide with panic. “I’m here. I’m here, baby.”

Eliza glared at him. “You—left—for—a—call—”

“I’m sorry!” he said, scrambling to her side, hands everywhere and nowhere at once. “You’re doin’ so good.”

I hovered awkwardly by the dresser, feeling more useless than a screen door on a submarine. I was supposed to be the support here, her coach, her best friend, but I didn’t expect it to come on so fast.

Thankfully, five minutes later, Smokey’s cousin Loretta burst in like a damn angel with boots and a birth kit, rolling up her sleeves before the door even clicked shut.

“Let’s have a baby,” she said, voice strong as whiskey.

The next few hours blurred together. Eliza screamed. Knox whispered sweet nothings. I paced the room, fetching towels and water and wanting to crawl outta my own skin with nerves.

Just past midnight, the room went quiet.

Then a tiny cry shattered the silence.

I turned and saw Loretta lift a slippery little bundle into the air, and for one split second, I swear to God, that baby shimmered. Like light bent around her. Like she didn’t quite belong to just this world.

Tiny fox ears flicked into existence for half a heartbeat, and just like that, they were gone.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

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