Free Cold Moon Rising: A New Adult Paranormal Romance (Cry Wolf) by Sarah Makela

Besides, I don’t want to be alone for the holidays. Sue me if I’d rather be in a lame relationship with a pushy guy, than with no one at all!” I tugged a jar of wolf’s bane off the shelf and dropped it in the tote bag. “If you all have such a problem with me dating him, then why can’t I do the deed after the New Year? It could be a resolution.”
    Jessa opened her mouth to give me a piece of her mind, but my cell phone chimed a melodic dubstep tune. “I’ll ring this up.”
    Nodding, I mouthed a thank you. “Hey, Greg.”
    “Sis, if you ever call me that again, we’re going to throw down, and you know I’d never hit a girl.” Nolan’s tone was playful, but his voice resonated with a clear underlying anger at the mention of my boyfriend.
    “Sorry, Nolan.” Hearing my brother’s name, Jessa glanced in my direction, and I walked a little farther away from the counter. “What do you want?”
    “Huh, why do you ask like that?” Mischief saturated his words, and I wished I hadn’t answered the phone. Nolan was a great brother. However, behavior-wise, most people usually thought I was the older sibling instead of visa versa. Wonder why.
    “Now isn’t—”
    “Ethan is arriving home tomorrow. I have to work late, so you don’t mind picking him up from the airport, do you?”
    I sucked in a breath, surprised he was even asking me this. Should I turn him down? Make him find someone else to handle this?
    “Great. I’ll text you the flight info. Thanks, sis.”
    “Nolan!” His words punched me in the gut. “Nolan?” Looking at the cell phone, I gritted my teeth, seeing he’d taken the coward’s way by hanging up once he had what he wanted. When was I ever going to learn?
    “Honey? What’s wrong?” Concern softened Jessa’s voice.
    I shrugged, not wanting to get into this.
    “No, you can talk to me. What did your brother do this time?”
    I headed to the register, closing the space between us. “It’s just that I have so much going on, but Nolan has delegated to me the responsibility of picking Ethan up from the airport tomorrow. If I were him, I would have at least tried to get off work, especially since he’s known about Ethan coming back home for the holidays.” Letting out a sigh, I grabbed the tote bag’s handle, but Jessa held onto it.
    “Call him back. Tell him you can’t.” She smiled at me. “Besides, Ethan is his best friend, so he should grow some balls and deal with it himself.”
    “I’ll do that.” Jessa’s smile turned into a glare, and I threw up my hands. “I’ll do that right now then.” Digging into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and rang Nolan. The chime of a text came through in my ear. Ethan’s flight details. But I only managed to get through to Nolan’s voicemail. “He’s not answering. Grrr....”
    Jessa shrugged. “If that’s the case, you’ll have to let it go. It’s Nolan’s problem. While you love your brother, you can’t let yourself get caught up in his faults. Learn to say no.”
    Easy for her to say now, when she’d basically done the exact same thing to me by telling me to come visit her shop and then nearly forcing me into Mr. Way-Too-Sexy’s arms.
    “Great advice. I’ll have to remember that next time something gets shoved down my throat.” Pushing the tote’s strap onto my shoulder, I squeezed my hands into fists. “Sorry. I know you meant well. You’re my friend and mentor. You want me to use my magic. Nolan, on the other hand, is just being lazy.”
    While she looked a little hurt, she grimaced. Shame slumped forward her shoulders. “Chin up. It’s going to be okay. Especially if you were to dump—”
    “Jessa!” Weren’t people supposed to chill once I got out of college instead of being so...pushy? Argh! They didn’t have any right to push their agendas into my decision making.
     
    Copyright © 201 3 Sarah Mäkelä. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2014 Sarah Mäkelä
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names,