Quiver arrowed book 3, p.9
Quiver (Arrowed Book 3), page 9
I saluted him and ran to get under the covers, sitting upright and patting the comforter with happy anticipation.
“Your breakfast, your highness,” he said, placing the tray over me. I took a strip of bacon and bit in to it happily before offering him the other half.
“Won’t you join me, good sir?” I asked, gesturing to the space beside me.
He jumped into the mattress and groaned into the pillow happily. “It was so hard waking up early.”
“I appreciate it,” I said, running my fingers through his hair, “This meal will save my life.”
“Is the hangover that bad?” he asked, raising his head to look at me with concern.
“I feel like Zeus when Athena broke out of his skull,” I said simply.
He laughed. “How poetic.”
“I like to paint a picture with my words,” I said with a shrug as I dove into the eggs.
“It certainly helps. I have no idea what a hangover is like,” he replied.
I paused mid-bite. “Seriously?”
“Shifters can’t get drunk. No intoxication means no hangover. Although some people speculate that the after-effects of a wolfsbane poisoning are similar.”
“That’s crazy.” I took two big gulps of coffee as I shook my head, ignoring my throat’s protest to the extreme temperature.
“Some shifters actually use wolfsbane recreationally for that reason.”
I looked at him in shock and he shrugged. “In micro-dosages, blended with the right ingredients, it can get you pretty messed up. It’s extremely dangerous, of course, I mean it is a poison you’re playing with.”
“Have you ever tried it?” I wondered. Apart from alcohol, there weren’t any other substances I partook in.
“Definitely not,” he said, “It never interested me growing up, and even less so now that I’ve witness a full-blown wolfsbane attack.”
I could definitely see how watching your own mother almost die from the poison would be enough to deter you away from the stuff forever. “It sounds like more danger than it’s worth,” I agreed.
“At the Summit, it gets passed around like crazy,” he said thoughtfully, “Everyone sort of loses their heads a bit when we’re all together. Every couple of years there’s an overdose.”
“That’s scary! Do any shifters I know do it?”
“Some,” he said, clearly not going to reveal who, “but that’s their choice.”
“The Summit sounds like one big party.”
“Sometimes it is,” he agreed before adding the caveat, “this time it won’t be.”
I felt like an idiot making a statement like that, having completely forgotten about Beau’s trial.
“You’ll hear all about it at the ranch tonight I’m sure,” he added.
“Another great meal to look forward to,” I said with a mighty grin.
“I was thinking once you’re feeling better we could head there early? Maybe take Liath Macha out for a bit?”
“Oh, yes, please!” I insisted, moving the tray to the side so that I could cuddle closer to him under the covers. I was fed, I was caffeinated, I was hydrated, and I had taken my painkillers. All that was left to do was sleep more.
“Going to snooze for a bit?” he guessed softly, kissing the top of my head.
“Mhmm,” I hummed.
“Before you do, Sophie, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Mm?” I had gone completely non-verbal.
“Last night… you mentioned something about Tristan.”
I scrunched my nose as I racked my memory. I vaguely remembered a “something about Tristan” … but the night after stepping up to the beer pong table was completely foggy.
As if on cue, I heard the toilet flush and Akemi groan.
“Oh no, I forgot!” I sat up, lamenting over my lost sleep.
“We should probably get her home,” he said, frowning in empathy.
I made my way back over to the bathroom and rapped my knuckles softly once more. “How ya doin, sweetie?”
“I think I’ve done just about all I can do,” she replied, “Is it ok if I shower? And um, borrow some clothes?”
“Of course, take your time!” I insisted. Half-lidded, I trudged my way back into the bedroom. “Wake me up when she needs me,” I mumbled before settling back into a deep sleep.
An hour and a half later, we were parked outside Dhruv’s house. Akemi leaned back in her seat and placed her hand on her forehead.
“I can’t believe I’d asked his family to move me in to the dorms today,” she groaned.
“You’ll be fine, just take deep breaths and drink lots of water.”
“They’re going to judge me so hard. Dhruv will judge me so hard!”
“He will not. I’m sure he’s in just as bad a shape if not worse.”
“He better be,” she said, bringing her head back down. She was struck with a thought, “What do I say about why we left?”
“Blame it on me,” I insisted, “Say I got too drunk.”
“I’m sure plenty of people saw me crying,” she groaned, covering her eyes with her hands.
“If they did, they probably don’t remember it,” Noah interjected.
Akemi laughed. “You have a point there. And swear your sober self to secrecy!” She pointed a finger at him menacingly.
“I saw nothing, I know nothing,” he said, raising his hands up in surrender.
I grinned at their playful relationship.
“Okay time to face the music,” she said with a sigh. She pulled me into a quick hug before hopping out of the truck, “Thanks for taking care of me.”
“Hey, we took care of each other,” I replied with a wink.
She blew us a kiss and headed into the house. Once she was safely inside, Noah set out to Wilson’s grocery so that I could retrieve my car.
“So all in all, a fun night?” he asked.
“I think so,” I said conclusively.
➹➹➹
Noah
We got to Wolfsblood with plenty of time to ride Liath Macha as planned. I could tell from her silence on our bike ride to the barn that she was nervous about the dinner. It always made her feel uncomfortable to be the center of attention, and I couldn’t understand why. Personally, I loved it when dinners were held in my honor. That is, of course, until the end of the evening where I had to entertain the elders in the living room. While my friends went off to hang out away from the crowd, I was obligated to refill the elders’ tea, hear their retold stories, and generally bask in the Alpha’s shadow.
“I wonder what Nathan’s planning for the meal tonight,” I mused aloud, my stomach already growling as I dismounted the bike.
“I hope it isn’t too much,” Sophie lamented.
I gave her a knowing smile and she sighed, putting her hands up in surrender.
“Okay, I’ll relax.”
“You’ll just have to accept it at some point,” I said with a shrug, “When you’re a part of this family, we celebrate every accomplishment with a big soirée.”
“Oh, gosh, I hate the idea of a ‘soirée,’” she said with a groan. She wrapped her arms around my waist. “But I love the idea of being a part of your family.”
My stomach flipped at this admission. Trying not to reveal how happy that sentiment made me, I lightly kissed the top of her head as we walked together into the barn. The moment Liath Macha heard her voice he lowered his big head over the door.
“When he hears me coming he doesn’t even bother to turn around, let alone stick his head out,” I said, my brows furrowing at the horse that was meant to be mine.
She elbowed me in the side before moving to greet my horse. “He and I just have a connection. ‘You’ll have to accept it at some point,’” she said confidently with a wink.
He nickered as she patted her hand along his neck, and dragged her hand up the long bridge of his nose. She had such a gentle approach to animals, it was like she exuded a warmth that a creature couldn’t help but envelope themselves in. Liath Macha was historically a hard horse to win over, but now, he was both literally and figuratively eating out of the palm of her hand.
I helped her groom and mount him before attending to the horse I was going to ride, a beautiful cremello named Virtue. Virtue was always a solid second choice, as he was the horse my father gifted to my mom, purchased at the same time as Liath Macha. We took the trail slowly. Sophie was not fully confident riding a horse on her own.
“He won’t pull any stunts with you,” I insisted, clocking her white knuckled grips on the reigns, “You’re precious to him too.”
“I am not precious,” she insisted.
“You are the most precious.”
She let out a frustrated sigh. “By human standards, I am pretty strong.”
“I agree with that wholeheartedly,” I replied with a nod, “You can definitely handle your alcohol a lot better than most I’ve seen. Speaking of which, how are you feeling?”
“I was okay earlier, but now I’m questioning if riding a horse was the best idea,” she answered truthfully, “The rocking motion is a little nausea-inducing.”
“Let’s stop at this hill up ahead,” I answered, “the sunlight and fresh air might help.”
We reached the clearing soon enough. I dismounted and tied off Virtue first, before helping Sophie off Liath Macha.
“Stand back!” she said, once I placed her on the ground. She moved away from me and sat down to put her head between her legs. “I might puke,” she moaned.
Liath Macha let out a loud snort.
“Don’t take it personally,” I told him, looking up at him to pet his neck. I crouched over her and rubbed her back while she took in deep breaths.
“I’ll be okay,” she said after a moment, lifting her head and closing her eyes. “Man, no hangovers ever? What a life you lead.”
“I wouldn’t be too envious,” I said, sitting down next to her, “Getting drunk sounds like it can be fun, to a degree. You had a good time last night, right?”
She nodded, “I suppose I did. It’s hard to say in hindsight with the consequences I’m dealing with now.”
I laughed. “Dinner will set you straight.”
“I hope it’s something greasy,” she sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder dreamily.
We sat in silence for a couple minutes, basking in the sun and listening to the quiet sounds of nature that surrounded us. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I had an unanswered question still on my mind.
“So I tried to bring this up earlier,” I said, “but we got distracted.”
“What?” she asked, lifting her head up to look at me.
“Last night in the car… you mentioned Tristan,” I said slowly. I didn’t want to repel her with my jealousy, so I took a different approach. “And I saw that he texted you after you fell asleep. I was just wondering if he was still doing okay, because you seemed worried about him. Did he talk about the accident?”
“Oh gosh, I hope not,” she said, digging her hand in her pocket for her phone, “Otherwise I’m not sure how good a friend Drunk Sophia was to him.”
I watched her as she opened her phone and scrolled through her texts. Suddenly her face went pale.
“What?” I demanded, as her eyes balked at the screen, “What is it?”
“I-I thought I was texting you,” she stuttered.
“What did you say?”
“I only just… I told him to come here.”
“Here?”
“Yeah… I guess I accidentally invited him to Montana.” She bit her lip and gave me an amused grimace. I couldn’t find the humor in the situation.
“Are you serious? Did he say when he’s coming?”
“No, he just said ‘thanks.’”
“Oh, okay, so there’s still time.” I leaned back on my palms in relief. “You can just tell him you didn’t mean it!”
“What?” she looked back at me in shock, “I can’t take it back!”
I met her gaze with equal surprise. “Why not?”
“Because, Noah, he finally opened up to me! How bad of a friend would I be to say, ‘Oh, just kidding. I don’t care that you need a friend right now, I was just drunk. In fact, I wasn’t even paying attention to what you’re going through?’”
“So the alternative is— what, let him come and visit?”
“Yes, and why not? Might not even happen, anyway— he hasn’t said he bought a plane ticket! Plus, it’s not like he doesn’t have classes too…so maybe he isn’t coming and the gesture of the invitation was enough.”
“Sophie, I don’t know about this…”
“What’s the big deal? If he does come, then we’ll show him around Montana and give him a couple of days away from his problems. I think it’d be good for you to meet him. You could finally see you have nothing to be jealous about.” The more she spoke the more she sounded as if she was warming up to the idea.
“This is not coming from a place of jealousy!” I insisted, not fully believing it myself. I couldn’t discern whether my gut was telling me it was a bad idea for some unknown but instinctive reason, or if it was all just the unsavorily possessive traits of the Arrow. “I just… don’t want him coming here.”
She looked at me with doubt. “It’s not really your decision, Noah,” she said softly after a moment, “I am sorry you feel this way, but he is my friend and I have every right to invite him to visit.”
“But you didn’t invite him, you didn’t even know you were texting him,” I argued. I picked at the grass like a child, pulling them from the roots and tossing them aside.
She watched me with concerned eyes, saying nothing. “Okay,” she said definitively, “I think you need to be take a minute to think this through before you throw a full-on tantrum. I’m going to walk back.”
She stood up and stalked off down the path we had ridden.
Liath Macha snorted in protest to her departure.
Chapter Eleven
Sophia
I had expected Noah to follow me, but surprisingly he didn’t. It was strangely reminiscent of my recurring nightmare: walking alone in the woods and feeling hurt.
I shook the creepy memories from my head and focused instead on my disappointment. His immediate refusal of the idea was completely unfounded: Even if it was unintentional at first, what was so wrong about inviting a friend to visit me?
Of Noah’s traits, the jealousy and overprotection of me were the least attractive. He once said that when the bond was between two shifters, the feeling of possession and protection was reciprocated equally. They didn’t have an issue with jealousy, either. There was no need for it, no doubt casted on their partner. My mother used to say jealousy came from a lack of trust. Perhaps Noah didn’t trust me the same way he would if I were a shifter. If I had the same magic running through my veins, supernaturally bonding me to him, he wouldn’t question my devotion to him, or take any issue with my male friends. I could preach my devotion until I was blue in the face, but maybe it could never dissuade him from the fact that it was human nature to be fickle.
Knowing all the embarrassing things Mollie had drunkenly texted in her lifetime, I considered myself lucky. There were so many worse things I could have texted, particularly as a response to a friend reaching out for help.
I heard the hooves of the horses behind, and I could tell from the pace he was leading them with that he was trying to grant me some distance. I knew I couldn’t be fast enough to keep the space between us for long, so I stopped walking and waited for him to approach.
“Can I say something, or would you rather be silent we get back to the barn?” he asked.
I whirled around to tell him off but he put a hand in surrender.
“I didn’t mean that sarcastically!” he insisted, “I know I deserve silence. How I acted just now was awful. If you need more time and space to think about things, or be mad at me, I completely understand.”
“Awful is one word to describe it,” I replied, crossing my arms, “I could think of some others.”
His lip twitched. “I’m happy to hear some.”
“I’ll compile a list and have my people send it to you,” I replied passively, looking away. I didn’t have the energy to insult him.
He almost looked disappointed at my resolve before he took a step forward. “I shouldn’t have said those things. You didn’t do anything wrong, and I don’t want to make you feel bad for something so small that occurred while you were having a good time with your friends.”
“Go on.”
“I honestly don’t know why I just reacted the way I did. He’s your friend. I’ve realized I don’t have a reason to dislike him— other than the fact that he was initially intended to be a romantic partner for you, which is more a fault on Mollie’s end than his.”
I opened my mouth to protest again but he winked to indicate he was kidding.
“My point is, you’re right. It would be good to meet him, and to know that his true intentions are as you say they are. If you’re hurting for your friend, then of course I want to support you in anything you do to help him.”
I shuffled my foot in the dirt as I took this in. A part of me wanted to hold steadfast to my anger, another part wanted to let it go for the sake of enjoying the dinner his family was hosting in my honor. But I couldn’t continue to let things go for the sake of “just being happy.” As lovely as that plan of ours sounded, it was dismissive of important issues.
“See, if you had just said that to begin with, this would have continued to be a perfect day,” I started, “I would have continued enjoying a beautiful view, relishing in the joy of being supported and loved and celebrated by my boyfriend and his family. I would have thought what I usually think: Gosh, I’m so lucky to be with a guy like him.”
He winced. “But instead, you thought the opposite?”
“Not the opposite,” I amended, not wanting to hurt him out of spite. I put my hands on his shoulders in earnest, “I’ve never given you a reason to not trust me. When you act jealous, when you’re irritable about me having male friends, any of it: it makes me feel like you don’t have any faith in me, and that hurts me.”
