Escaping Wildfire
Chapter 3: Friendship

Noah

We said our goodbyes to both our family and pack and headed towards the car. Cristian did not look happy, so I made a move to sit in the back, but Jordan shoved me out of the way and beat me to the back seat. Looks like I’m sitting up front with Cristian. Jordan was my best friend, and I trusted him to always have my back, but sometimes he was a real shit-stirrer.

I wiped my face before opening the door and heading inside. Cristian had already started the car and was facing forward with his hands on the steering wheel.

“You ready, man?”

Cristian swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel tighter making his knuckles go white.

‘Duuude. He’s pissed.’ Jordan mind-linked me.

‘Yeah, I got that.’

‘If he murders you, I call dibs on your leather jacket.’

I looked back at Jordan to see him giving me a shit-eating grin.

‘Asshole,’ I turned back around and tried to think of what I should say to Cristian.

I’d never kept my feelings for Gem a secret, but I hadn’t made it super obvious either…and Cristian had never outright told me to stay away from her. To be fair, though, it is kind of an unspoken rule that you don’t date your friend's siblings without getting the okay first. I should have talked to him about it first, as soon as I knew I had feelings for Gem, then maybe he’d be okay with it. I didn’t want this to ruin our friendship, and I especially didn’t want to ruin his relationship with Gema. I should have thought this through better, but I also didn’t want to lose my shot with Gem last night. I looked over at Cristian, who didn’t even glance my way.

“How ’bout we get some music on the radio?” Jordan slapped Cristian’s arm lightly.

“No.”

“Come on, I’ve got the perfect playlist for our trip.” Jordan waved his phone at us.

“Whatever then, do what you want. No one else in this car cares what I think, anyway.”

Alright, so, it looks like we’re making progress. He’s gone from silent treatment to passive-aggressive in just a few minutes. By the time we get to Harvest Moon, he should be calm enough to talk.

‘You should let him punch you, I bet that would help.’

‘Really, Cosmo?’ I said agitated with my wolf.

‘Yes, really, if you let him punch you, he’ll feel better…then he’ll feel bad about it, and then he’ll forgive you…and that leaves you to be with Gem guilt-free.’

‘And this is why I’m the human…your plan sucks.’

I covered my eyes with my hand and leaned back in my seat as Jordan started the music. This was gonna be a long three hours.

Gema

Jasmine and I helped with the cleanup upstairs and asked to head to the mall. My mom hates me going anywhere without supervision, so she insisted on coming with us, which meant Luna Christina, Jade, and Annie tagged along as well. I loved them all, so it was fine, but Jasmine was itching for me to tell her about what was going on with me and Noah, and there was no way I could do that with all the moms around.

Luckily, when we got to the mall, we broke off in different directions. Jade wanted to go to the bookstore, so Luna went with her, and Annie wanted to look at new bedding for her room, so my mom went with her. Jasmine and I started at the makeup as our moms wanted us to wait for them before trying on dresses.

“Finally, I thought we’d never get a moment alone. Tell me everything.”

I bit my lip to hide my smile, suddenly getting shy about my time with Noah.

“Oh, come on, you’re not really going to leave me in the dark about this are you?”

“No, no…it’s just, well.” I started to blush.

“Are you and Noah together now?”

“I think so…yes, but I guess he didn’t ask me out outright, but he told me he loved me, and I told him I loved him, too…and we sort of had sex together last night.” I lowered my voice on that last part. “You can’t tell anyone though, I mean it, my mom can’t replace out. She’s big on waiting for your mate, so she’d freak. I still remember the earful we all got when she found out about Cristian and how he very much did not wait.

I kept rambling and hadn’t yet noticed that Jasmine just stood there wide-eyed and mouth gaping in shock.

“Are you going to say something, or should I just keep rambling?”

“Oh, my Goddess!” She squealed and attacked me with a hug. “It was so obvious you two were in love, and now you’ve totally gone and sealed the deal. How was it? Was it everything you wanted it to be? Was he good to you? Cause if not, I got your back.”

“Alright, calm down, no need to go all Rambo on anyone.” I held out my hand in front of her to quiet her down. “It was kind of perfect...” I couldn’t help the giant smile that appeared on my face, “and it was so much more than I could have ever hoped for.”

“How romantic, I can’t wait to replace my perfect match. I swear, if Noah's not your mate, the Goddess has some serious explaining to do.”

“What does the Goddess have to explain?” Annie’s voice cut in as she and my mother walked up to us.

I internally freaked out at the thought of whatever else they might have heard, but Jasmine didn’t miss a beat. “I was just telling Gema that if she and Noah don’t end up being mates, then the Goddess will have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Oh, I agree. You two are perfect for each other. Noah will be such a wonderful mate for you, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my son.” She held out a finger to emphasize her point. “Now let’s go look at dresses, Luna and Jade are meeting us there.

Noah

There was about an hour left before we arrived at Harvest Moon. We’d stopped for snacks around the 30-minute mark and had gone through most of Jordan’s playlist. Cristian still hadn’t said a word to me or attempted to look my way, so I’d have to be the one to break the ice first.

“Hey, are we cool, or do you have something you want to say to me?”

Cristian laughed humorlessly and shook his head, but didn’t say anything. He kept driving until we came up to a rest area and pulled over. He got out of the car without saying a word but looked at me through the window and motioned for me to get out, too.

“Shit, now you’ve done it.” Jordan patted my shoulder, “It was nice knowing you.” He got out of the car and walked over to sit at a picnic table watching us. All he was missing was the popcorn.

I walked over to Cristian and put my hands in my pockets so he’d see I didn’t want to fight. He was seething with anger, though. “Did you fuck my little sister?” I shrugged and took a deep breath. I didn’t like how he was talking about me and Gem, but I could understand his anger. “Look, man, I’m in love with Gema, and she loves me back. I know I should have said something before. We didn’t mean for things to happen the way they did, but I don’t regret it. Gema’s it for me, and hopefully, we’ll turn out to be mates, but if not we’ll figure things out.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Cristian’s eyes flashed silver as Ax came to the surface.

“I didn’t, but that’s because your sister deserves more respect than for you to talk about her like that. What we do together is our own business, and all you need to know is that she’s my girl now, and I’m going to treat her right.”

Before I could register what was going on, I felt a hard blow land on my jaw. He hit me so hard that I stumbled back and landed on the ground. That’s when Jordan finally decided to intervene.

“Alright, guys, let’s not take this any further. We’re all friends here, best friends as I recall, and we are going to be running a pack together soon, so it’d be nice if we could all just get along.”

I lay on the ground a little longer as I regained my equilibrium. I could feel blood at the corner of my mouth, so I wiped it off with my thumb. Jordan came over and held out his hand to help me up. He stood in between me and Cristian, making sure he wasn’t going to try and hit me again. However, Cristian seemed to be fine now.

“I’m fine, I’m not gonna punch him again. I just hate it when you’re right.” He looked over at me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that about Gema. It caught me off guard that you guys didn’t tell me what was going on, even though we pretty much all knew you two were in love. I just need some time to get used to this, but as long as you treat her right, we’re good.”

“You won’t have to worry about that, she’ll always be my number one priority.”

“I know...you’re a good guy. I actually trust you with my sister.”

“Alright.” Jordan slow clapped. “Now kiss and make up.” We both narrowed our eyes at Jordan, but he just laughed. I held out a hand for Cristian to shake and then we were good.

‘See, I told you he just needed to punch you. I should have bet money on this working… well, if I had any money, I am just a wolf after all.’

‘Not in the mood right now, Cosmo. Get back to me once my jaw heals.’

With that, we all got back inside the car and had a more enjoyable ride for our last hour on the road. Cristian finally relaxed, and we were able to joke around and talk about everything we wanted to learn at Harvest Moon.