The ghosts of Green Pines couldn’t hurt him anymore, and Jay and his friends would make sure the same was true of whatever ghosts had followed from Memphis.
After so many years of secrets and suffering, maybe the Green family could finally start to heal.
Chapter Four
By the time Jay pulled his beat-up old truck into his driveway, Eden thought the short walk to the front door might be more than she could manage. Not physically—her body still thrummed with enough inexhaustible energy to leave her fidgeting, but her mind and heart hadn’t caught up.
Or maybe being a werewolf only made your body stronger. Maybe the rest of her would never catch up, and she’d be a battered, stunted soul in a too-healthy body.
Like Zack, whispered a traitorous inner voice. Like Lorelei and Mae.
Eden pushed the thought away and waited for Jay to kill the engine before grabbing his hand. Touch rooted her now, like hopping onto a steady rock while the ground around her turned to quicksand. The darker thoughts melted away, replaced by her own attraction and the wolf’s more cunning interest.
“How are you holding up?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know.” She ran her thumb over the back of his hand, savoring the heat of him, the way even the barest brush of skin felt illicit. Intimate. “I needed to get away from the farm again…but I still feel selfish for coming back here with you.”
“We can be there in a matter of minutes if anything happens. Zack has my number.”
She knew. Just as she’d known she’d reached her limit when Mae had snapped at one of the men over something tiny and foolish, her snarling tone more like a wounded animal’s than a human’s. The need to soothe her throbbed at the base of Eden’s skull like a migraine waiting to split wide open, but her attempts to reach out to the girl only provoked more fear.
Time. They all needed it, and no one knew if there would be enough. “Does it get easier? Not being able to help them, I mean. Not being able to make them feel safe.”
He hesitated, and she realized he was thinking of doing it to her right now, thinking of lying to make her feel better. But finally he said, “No. The only thing you can do is try to make a safe place, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
If Lorelei’s pain stuck in Eden’s throat like shards of glass, what was her own agony doing to Jay? She shifted on the bench seat, easing close enough to touch his jaw with her free hand. “Does that mean I’m hurting you?”
“No, nothing like that.” He covered her hand with his and smiled faintly. “I just know how you feel, that’s all.”
“Good.” She smoothed her thumb over his lower lip and remembered what it had felt like to kiss him. Hot and heady, every sense alive and screaming for more. More touch, more taste…more skin. “I feel safe right where I am. Confused as hell, but safe.”
His smile grew, and he reached down to retrieve the grocery bag from the floorboard beside her feet. His arm brushed her leg as he moved, and his smile faded as he straightened. “You never said how it went today. Breaking the news to your father.”
“He coped.” Jay’s throat had been so close to her mouth that she could have bitten it. Sank teeth into skin, left a bruise. A territorial statement she wasn’t brazen enough to make with words. The thought intoxicated her, and she stumbled over her next words. “He, uh, he was more worried about Zack than me, I think. Zack looks worse off…”
“Looks can be deceiving.” Jay dipped his head and caught her gaze. “Eden?”
His eyes were gorgeous. Dark and warm. “Yeah?”
His fingers brushed her cheek. “Come inside. I’ll make dinner, and you can relax.”
She realized she was swaying closer to him when her lips bumped his palm. She froze, her mouth parted on his skin, torn between the urge to lick or bite and the knowledge she had to pull back.
Not like this, in the front seat of his truck. She closed her eyes and eased away. “I’m sorry. I’m having trouble with the concept of personal space right now.”
“You might for a while yet, but I’ll try not to lean on you if I can help it.”
Eden opened her eyes with a frown. “Lean on me?”
“Push you,” he explained. A moment later, a swell of something filled the space between them,