Somewhere New (Isle of Doughnut #1)

Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CALLUM

H ow did Bonnie always know? Every time I was remotely happy, she found new ways to smash in and ruin it. Her Alpha superpower.

A week after Aster and I cleared the air, everything was so near to perfect I was almost scared to breathe. We’d regained the closeness we’d lost, we’d indulged in long hugs filled with nuzzling and hands roaming across backs, and we’d fallen back into our normal routine of TV watching and chatting about whatever popped into Aster’s head.

It was glorious—the gentle knowing of another person I’d never allowed myself to imagine—but apparently I was only allowed a week of joy before Bonnie grubbed her sticky fingers all over it.

It was petulant, staying away from the cabin all day despite the shrill tones of my phone chasing me across the mountains from where I’d left it in my bedroom. The song Bonnie picked for her ringtone was incredibly annoying. If I knew how to change it, I would. Maybe I’d ask Aster. He could probably record something new, a loop of him saying what a terrible sister I had.

I didn’t expect my avoidance to backfire so monumentally. Because while I steered clear of the cabin, Bonnie’s ringtone jangling in my ears for hours on end, I lost track of Aster.

The horrendous song cut off abruptly. ‘Bonnie, are you okay?’

I stood up from examining a kid, which she took as an opportunity to ram her head into my shin.

I didn’t have time to dwell on the pain. The bruises would fade quickly.

The thing I had to focus on—and stop as soon as possible—was my sister talking to Aster.

‘Ah, Aster. So lovely to hear your voice. I see you’ve taken up the mantle of functioning adult up in the mountains. A position that’s been vacant for quite some time.’

I started running towards the cabin. Hopefully Aster was in the bedroom, where he’d found my phone. Then he wouldn’t witness me careening across the hills at inhuman speed.

Bonnie was easy to read, even on a phone and from this distance. I’d kept her waiting for a long time and she was pissed. Which meant she was going to mess with me. I needed to get home before she said anything that would ruin the delicate new thing between me and Aster.

‘Sorry?’ he huffed, sounding equally as annoyed as my sister. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘What would be wrong?’ Bonnie countered. ‘Has my little brother done something untoward?’

‘What does untoward even mean? No, don’t answer that. Not important. What’s important is that I came home to find one hundred and seven missed calls on Callum’s phone.’

Bonnie chuckled, and I pounded across the grass as fast as my legs could carry me. ‘Callum doesn’t answer unless I call multiple times.’

‘Multiple times?’ Aster spluttered. ‘Ten missed calls is multiple times. Fifteen, tops. Bonnie, you called over a hundred times. That’s the-apocalypse-is-coming territory. That’s floodwaters-have-submerged-the-village level of urgency.’

Bonnie tsked. ‘Stop being dramatic, Aster. Callum doesn’t pick up unless I keep calling.’

‘I can’t see why not,’ Aster said, sarcasm an inch thick. ‘Every interaction you guys have seems so damn healthy.’

I could practically hear Bonnie rolling her eyes. The cabin was in sight. If Aster kept her distracted, then she might not say anything too damaging before I got there.

‘I’m bored of this,’ Bonnie said. ‘How’s it going with my brother? Have you two made sweet love yet?’

How? How did she know the exact thing to say to bring maximum destruction and embarrassment to my life?

I almost tripped over Tim and the other goat as I sped the last few metres to the cabin. I slammed the door open and stormed across the living room.

Aster stood in the bedroom, his face beet red. I held out my hand.

‘Can I please have my phone?’ I heard the growl in my voice, and hoped Aster would chalk it up to being out of breath from charging into the cabin.

‘It’s, um, Bonnie.’ He passed it over. His eyes flicked to mine, and if I didn’t need to get this phone away from where he could possibly overhear any more of Bonnie’s stupid words, I would hold him to my chest until his heartbeat calmed and his face cooled. I had to settle for gripping the side of his neck before stomping out of the cabin.

‘I heard what you said,’ I snarled through gritted teeth aching to elongate into fangs.

Bonnie laughed. ‘Did you also hear that I didn’t get an answer? Are you going to give me the goss, little bro?’

I paced a few more steps away from the cabin, then closed my eyes and took long breaths. ‘What do you want?’

‘I can hear you doing that deep-breathing shit so you have the patience to deal with me, you know.’

I took a longer breath. ‘What do you want, Bonnie?’

She huffed, like I was ruining her fun. ‘It actually does relate to the question I asked Aster, if you must know. The full moon’s coming up. I wanted to check you’re going to be able to control yourself up there all alone with your lover boy.’

My mouth dropped open. So much was wrong with what Bonnie said, it was hard to unpick what to challenge first.

‘We smelt you all over him when he came down for lunch. Which, by the way, will happen again soon. And it would be oh so nice if you would deign to show your face this time, treasured sibling of mine,’ Bonnie barrelled on, apparently unaware of the speechless indignation she’d caused. ‘I wanted to check in, as your beloved Alpha, and see if you need a buffer up there when all your instincts go wild and the moon makes you extra wolfy.’

‘No help needed,’ I snapped. ‘Thanks for calling.’

I ended the call and pressed hard on the power button. I didn’t like turning it off, since I wanted Bonnie to have a way to contact me in an actual emergency that wasn’t a spine- tingling howl, but I needed an hour or two when she couldn’t mess up anything good I’d built for myself.

I dropped my phone in my jacket pocket and grabbed at my hair.

I couldn’t believe Bonnie would question my self-control. Even as kids, I’d always been restrained, the one who didn’t start stupid fights when the moon was bright and its pull impossible to ignore. Dad said that might be why I struggled to shift fully. That required a raw and unharnessed connection to our more animalistic side I was too in control to allow.

I scrubbed my hands back and forth over my head. Bonnie wasn’t concerned about my self-control. Not really. She knew it was impeccable. No, she was using the moon as an excuse to pry. She must have been burning with curiosity since Aster had lunch with the pack, my scent overlaying his. I was surprised it took it until now for her to stick her unwelcome nose in. She’d expected a reaction when she’d scented Aster, and had been looking for an excuse to butt in ever since.

The full moon changed nothing. I was desperate for more of Aster, but I would never force him to do anything he wasn’t ready for. He’d laid out his previous heartbreaks, and I wasn’t about to push him just because the thought of getting my hands on more of his skin had occupied far too much of my time in the week since we’d confessed our feelings.

The door to the cabin opened behind me. I lowered my hands as I turned around.

I expected an embarrassed Aster. I didn’t expect, as I walked slowly towards the cabin, for his hands to be balled at his sides and his shoulders bunched. His light eyebrows were low, his eyes narrowed. I’d only seen him this mad when Tim and the other goat ganged up and ate a sleeve of his favourite pink fleece. I stopped walking towards him just out of arm’s reach.

‘I’m sorry about Bonnie,’ I said, sure she must be the source of his obvious rage. ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’

Aster gave a jerky shrug. ‘I don’t care about her.’ His heart didn’t flutter.

‘What’s wrong?’

Aster scrunched up his nose, vibrating with the words building up inside.

‘Why the fuck haven’t you kissed me yet?’ he demanded.

Bloody Bonnie. She always found a way to ruin everything.