NAGO, His Mississippi Queen: 50 Loving States, Mississippi (The Brothers Nightwolf Trilogy, Book 1) Read online

She fretted at her lip, but then blew out a breath and said, “You know what? None of that has anything to do with all these dishes, so I guess we should get to it. You like gummi bears?”

  Nago was thrown a little off balance at the sudden change of subject. “Uh, who doesn’t like gummi bears?” he asked.

  “I dunno,” she answered, opening the bag and taking a handful before holding the package out to him. “The criminally insane?”

  “Puppy kickers?” he suggested, reaching in and grabbing a handful from the proffered bag.

  “Criminally insane puppy kickers?” she suggested back.

  They laughed and stuffed the gummi bears in their mouths before tying on the black vinyl aprons hanging on the wall just behind them. And though Nago had never washed a dish in his life, he soon fell into a comfortable routine with Halle. She used the hanging spray nozzle to get the worst of the food off the trays and silverware, before feeding them into the noisy machine. He plucked the cleaned dishes out on the other side, stacking them neatly on the kitchen’s counter.

  “So, Halle…that’s an interesting name,” he said, once they turned the machine off and could hear each other again.

  “Never heard it before,” he said as they put the trays and silverware away on the other side of the kitchen.

  “I’m named after a popular actress from back in the day. I guess my dad had a huge crush on her growing up and my mom looks just like her. It was love at first sight when he spotted Mama at a beauty pageant—I mean, at least it was for him. That’s why Dad married her even though she didn’t come from a royal background or anything like that. When they found out they were having a girl they decided to name me Halle, figuring I’d look like her, too. But surprise…!”

  “Yeah, you don’t look a thing like her,” he’d said, despite having no idea what the actress looked like.

  “Yeah, well I realize that,” she answered with a wry chuckle. “But thanks for pointing it out.”

  “You’re way cuter.”

  Halle stopped. Crooked her head, then finally chuffed as if she’d decided to find him charming rather than strange. “You’re funny,” she said, shaking her head. A smile almost—but not quite—landed on her lips.

  He chuckled right along with her, basking in the glow of her almost-smile. But as soon as the laughter died down, he said, “The funny part is, I’m not even joking.”

  She stared at him. And he stared back. Broadcasting as best as he could without speaking that in the case of Halle the Dishwashing Girl, he, Nago NotHotwolf, was not remotely interested in being her friend. Because he wanted more.

  “See, this right here is why my mama’s plan for me to catch a rich prince wasn’t ever going to work,” she said after what had to be a full minute of them staring each other down. “I like you better than any of those spoiled-ass rich kids I’ve met this week. And you’re chubby and a scholarship kid like me.”

  Yes, he was in! Nago inwardly cheered…only to wince a moment later. It was true he was chubby and had way more in common with Halle than any of the mostly privileged wolves at Camp Nightwolf. But he didn’t want to start what felt like the most important relationship of his life off on a lie.

  “Um, Halle…”

  He took a deep breath, but before he could get out a full confession, a wiry wolf with a wispy beard came rushing through the door. Nago recognized him immediately. His name was Justin. A mange state prince from Kentucky, he’d been coming to camp free of charge for three years thanks to his knowledge of ASL which meant he could assist the camp’s deaf co-director who also happened to be Nago’s uncle.

  “Sorry, I’m late!” he said, breathing hard like he’d run all the way there.

  “That’s okay,” Halle answered, throwing Justin what Nago eventually would come to think of as a quintessentially Halle look: chin tipped down, eyes twinkling, but expression totally straight—in other words as amused as a face could get without cracking a smile. “But what are you late for?”

  Nago grimaced, already knowing the answer.

  Justin shook his head at Halle as if she should already know. “Mr. Grady sent me over. Said something about you needing an extra hand with the dishes?” He squinted at Nago. “Hey, Nightwolf, what’s up? What are you doing here?”

  Nago’s stomach dropped, his toes curling with embarrassment inside the hiking boots Uncle Grady required every male camper to wear.

  “Uh…” he said, unable to form a response to Justin’s question…or look in Halle’s direction.

  But he didn’t have to see her to hear the girl he’d just fallen head over heels in love with say, “Your last name is Nightwolf? Like the Nightwolf on the camp sign?”

  3

  Three months later, Halle still couldn’t believe it. She knew someone whose family was rich enough to have their last name attached to the camp she was currently attending and plastered all over the scholarship forms she’d filled out to come here. Not to mention several university buildings and hospital wings across the nation. He was that kind of rich. Halle not only knew him, but she had fallen head-over-heels in summer love with him nearly from the moment he apologetically dipped his head and said, “I was going to tell you, but I got too caught up talking to you.”

  Oh, they saw each other again.

  And any thoughts she’d had about holding his Richie Rich-wolf background against him vanished within twelve hours—which had been right around the time a delivery drone showed up at her cabin with a bulk-sized package of Haribo Happy Cola gummi bears. Even the three wealthy princesses she shared a cabin with squeed over Nago’s super sweet gesture.

  And as it turned out, Nago, not Justin, showed up for kitchen duty again that night. Later she’d find out he paid the mange state prince to let him take over his dishwashing duties.

  Nago was everything her runaway mother could have ever wanted for her less-pretty-than-expected daughter. And unexpectedly more. He was funny, easy to talk to, and disgustingly wealthy. His father was the King of Colorado, and there was already talk of Nago taking over the Alaska throne in another decade or so. And since those states were number three and four on the list of the richest wolf kingdoms in the country, that meant no matter how Nago’s life played out, it would come up billions.

  But the best part was that Nago Nightwolf was by no means your typical spoiled royal. He treated her like she was the most fascinating girl on earth and honestly seemed to believe washing dishes with her was a privilege worth twice what he’d paid the mange state prince for it. But as far as she was concerned, he was the fascinating one. For a series of TV-drama-level complicated reasons, he’d been born and spent the first four years of his life in Viking Age Norway. So instead of defaulting to the usual cuss words like other boys his age, he’d often exclaim, “What the Fenrir Wolf!” and “By Fenrir!”

  Also, Nago’s parents were fated mates, and while most wolf parents counted themselves lucky to bear two children successfully, not only was Nago a triplet, he had twelve-year-old twin sisters who were already taller than him.

  To most girls, Nago wasn’t the best looking of the Nightwolf triplets, which explained the ridiculous “NotHotWolf” nickname he’d been saddled with. His brother Rafes was tall and lean, so crisp and pulled together that other princesses’ eyes just about flashed dollar signs whenever he walked past. As for Knud, Nago’s other brother, he was the camp bad boy. Scruffy and muscular with the kind of devil-may-care attitude that made girls swoon. All Knud had to do was crook his finger, and just about any girl at camp would follow him wherever he told them to, no questions asked.

  At only a few inches over Halle’s five-foot-six, Nago was the shortest of his brothers. He was also the portliest. But Halle didn’t care. She loved him just the way he was. He carried no airs like Rafes, and didn’t seem to have ulterior motives every time he talked to a girl like Knud.

  Making out with Nago felt like being encased in a warm, soft blanket made of 100% love. For that reason and more, Halle knew from the start h
ow lucky she was to catch his eye rather than the eyes of his two brothers. He was like a romcom hero dream come true and in her opinion, way more interesting than his obnoxiously good-looking brothers combined.

  At the beginning of the summer she thought she might not survive three days at a spoiled rich kid camp that looked like it had been cast by a modeling agency—much less three months. But by the last night of camp…

  “I wish this summer would never end,” she told Nago as they held hands on top of the sleeping bags he’d laid out for them underneath the stars.

  They weren’t supposed to be out here like this. Girls and boys fraternizing after curfew was against camp rules. But this being the last night of the summer session, Nago had insisted the rules didn’t apply to them when he made a case for sneaking up the mountain that night while they washed dishes. Also, he doubted Uncle Grady would be doing his usual checks, and…

  Nago held up a bulk package of Haribo gummi bears and another of sunflower seeds. Her two favorite snacks in the world! And what better place to eat them than under the stars with her true love.

  But really, he hadn’t needed to bribe her with gifts to convince her to join him. Because Halle would have followed him anywhere. Even if it got her in trouble.

  Now they were alone beneath a sky blanketed with stars as far as the eye could see. And contrary to what her cabin mates probably thought when she snuck out with him after midnight, they were not sealing the deal. Unlike Knud, who wouldn’t spare a second look at a girl who didn’t put out, Nago seemed as happy to hold her hand in the starlight as he was making out.

  She-wolves were a little different when compared to their human counterparts. Most had extremely low to non-existent sex drives before they entered their first heat. And the North American Lupine Council had at one point even declared it illegal to have sex with an unheated she-wolf. But that law had been overturned years ago with the introduction of the heat control shot, which meant she-wolves could now postpone their first heat for as long as they liked without worrying about becoming pregnant or being tied down with a mate before they were ready. In many states, it also meant consensual sex was legal after a certain age. In most southern states the age was 18, but here in Kansas where Camp Nightwolf was located, it was 16.

  However, despite the much-needed change in laws and attitudes towards shifter sex, the act itself wasn’t any more appetizing to unheated she-wolves than it had been before. Shifter biology had not caught up with 21st-century progress. So hot as Knud Nightwolf was, Halle was positive the girls who’d snuck out with him probably had to drum up some seriously fake sexy feelings to do the deed.

  But Nago never made her feel like spreading her legs was a prerequisite for being his summer camp girlfriend. He seemed to like her, and to genuinely enjoy her company. However, he wasn’t only interested in being friends. He’d made that clear when he’d walked her back to her cabin after their third dishwashing “date” and asked, “Can I kiss you?” at the front door.

  Nago desired her. She might be young and inexperienced, but she could tell. It was how he looked at her. And how he brushed himself against her thigh when they kissed for longer than a minute or two. But he could wait. He told her that over and over again. Never pressuring her, content to let the relationship percolate until it felt like her heart might boil over with love for her crazy romantic, super sweet summer boyfriend.

  He was so amazing that she regretted she couldn’t feel anything stirring below when they kissed. Only the fluttering of her heart whispering, “I love you! I love you! I love you, Nago Nightwolf!”

  Just like it was whispering now when she told him she wished summer could go on forever.

  “Me too,” he said, squeezing her hand on top of the sleeping bag.

  It was a sweet moment. A dear one…until he said, “Why don’t you come home with me?”

  “What?” she asked, turning her head to look sideways at him.

  “Come home with me. You said you hate it in Mississippi. So…come home with me.”

  “I don’t…I don’t hate it. I mean, not really. It’s just…well, things are real difficult right now.”

  Understatement of the year. Her parents had been miserable as far back as she could remember. That’s what happens when a beauty queen marries a prince simply because she had girlish dreams of what it would be like to live the life of a real-life princess. At the time of their fairytale wedding, her mother, Keri, had no idea about her new husband’s predilection for riverboat gambling. But nearly as soon as King Arnold took over the throne, it became clear that his seemingly annoying-but-harmless little riverboat trips were the signs of a full-blown addiction. Because of her father’s gambling problem, her parents were barely able to scrounge up enough to pay the utilities, and her mother was left living far below the lavish lifestyle she’d hoped for when they married.

  And now with Mama gone, life at the antebellum-era kingdom house had become nearly unbearable. Her father spent most days moping around like a despondent ghost, railing against the woman who’d left him saddled with a teenage daughter she was supposed to be raising.

  Arnold’s only relief appeared once a month in the form of his stipend, which he promptly cashed in and took to the riverboat casino, excitedly declaring he’d double, maybe even triple the little bit of rental money the Mississippi kingdom coffers paid out to the royal family. Then three, sometimes five days would pass without word from him…which Halle frankly enjoyed because it meant not having to listen to her father moan about how Mama abandoned them both. But then eventually he’d show back up at their worse-for-the-wear kingdom house, penniless and cursing. He cursed the small monthly checks, the unlucky slot machines, her mother—pretty much anything and everyone but the riverboat that continued to take every cent of his paycheck each month.

  “You could stay in our guest house. My twin sisters will love you! And my mom will be really impressed you’re so good at math. Of course, my dad will probably insist on talking to your dad about it. But that’s not a big deal. If I bring you home, I know he’ll figure out a way for you to stay with us...”

  Nago painted such a perfect picture, Halle had to wonder how long he’d been thinking about this…and if she could possibly love him any more than she already did. Right then, she imagined a future with Nago and his family in Colorado. Like her own personalized version of that old Beach Boys song. Wouldn’t it be nice to live with Nago? To eventually marry him? To go into heat with him? To live happily ever after with him?

  But they were only 17.

  And unlike him, she wasn’t wealthy and free to do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted.

  “Nago, that’s so dang sweet of you. I wish I could, Gummi Bear. You don’t even know how much but…” Even though she knew she was being completely reasonable, it felt like something was tearing inside her heart as she said, “I can’t. My dad…he isn’t in a good place. And our people need me. Leaving them with a king who’s not doing his job would make me, like, the hugest and most irresponsible asshole ever. Plus, you’re joining the Special Wolf Forces at the end of the school year. That means I’d be living at your house without you after May. No, it wouldn’t be fair to my dad or my kingdom. But thank you. Truly, thank you so much for offering.”

  For a moment Nago looked at her with disappointment writ plain across his face. But then he pushed a few of her box braids behind her ear and said, “I kind of figured you’d say that. But I had to offer.”

  He understood. Of course, he did. Even though his family was, from what she’d heard, nearly perfect, he understood why she still had to return to her small, wretched life in Mississippi instead of going home with him. He was a royal after all. And he knew a thing or two about responsibilities.

  “Just remember, even though you can’t come with me now, doesn’t mean my offer goes away. Whenever you want, wherever I am, you always have a home with me, Halle.”

  A totally stupid, and unexpectedly poignant romantic comedy, she t
hought to herself as she fought hard not to make the sweet moment weird with tears.

  But she managed not to cry. For Nago, she pasted a smile on her face and leaned over to kiss him.

  “Mmm. You taste like gummi bears,” he said, smiling against her lips. “Promise me we’ll bio every night no matter what?”

  “I promise,” she whispered against his lips. “I promise.”

  And Halle kept her promise. Sometimes cutting her father off mid-Keri rant or staying up the night before her college assessment tests so she could take one of his calls. No matter what was going down in her life, she kept her promise to Nago Nightwolf because that’s how much she loved him. And because she didn’t understand back then that promises kept were still no guarantee of a happy ending.

  4

  Thirteen Years Later…

  Nago woke at 3:30 A.M. trying not to think about it. He hauled his body through his usual morning routine as prescribed by Uncle Grady after Florida: an hour of mind work—or as he liked to call it, reminding that fucking life ruiner inside him who was in charge.

  An hour of shoving weights around while some algorithm in his GoGen bioware blasted a carefully curated set of songs to drown out the wolf’s protests. Then came the 15K run through the untouched rainforest of a habitable planet Earth had tentative plans to colonize someday. Humid and teeming with otherworldly insects, the scene he ran through at a fast but steady clip was the exact opposite of what lay beyond the Alaska kingdom house’s totem-flanked doors. Snow, and lots of it. Mountains covered in more snow. And a lake still filled with ice floes because it wasn’t ready to admit it was already summer.

  Usually, the wolf had heeled by now, leaving Nago’s mind free to work on the engineering project NASA had recently tasked him with. Well, technically they’d asked his start-up to handle it: Local Integrated Future Engineering—L.I.F.E. for short and a somewhat ham-fisted ode to Steve Jobs. But hey, he was an engineer, not a poet, and it had been the best way for him to pay homage to the icon who’d inspired him to dream beyond the golden handcuffs of his kingdom throne.