by Scarlett Ray
But there was an issue. There were a few, actually. First, Dani had already pretty much written me off. I wasn’t likely to get another chance with her; even if she allowed me to be around for Nicky, the three of us wouldn’t actually be a family. And then there was the rest of my pack, who might reject Nicky for being half-human. They might even view him as a danger to us, since he couldn’t keep a secret this big from his own mother once he started shifting. Granted, that wouldn’t happen for a few more years, probably around the time he started puberty, but once it did, it would be tough to hide. God, there was so much to consider, so many ways this could turn out amazing or awful.
“All right, you’re free to go,” I heard Maggie laugh from the top of the stairs, and Nicky came bounding down with his thick hair falling like a wet mop around his face. I got up to meet him in the living room, and he plopped onto the couch, ready to keep talking.
I spent the next couple of hours trying to subtly figure out what other wolf traits he was developing, and he seemed happy to talk about them. I had grown up in a household that knew what I was and encouraged it, whereas Nicky didn’t even know his own secret yet. A lot of it was “weird” by human standards, so he probably didn’t get the chance to talk about it often. Maggie sat in a recliner nearby, reading some novel with pirates on the cover, and she would laugh any time we said something especially out there, something crazy like having a pushy wolf in your head.
As far as I could tell, Nicky’s human blood wasn’t stunting him even a little; he was every bit the growing shifter kid I was at his age. I wanted to tell him why I knew all this, why he felt all of it, and reassure him that it was normal. But I couldn’t. Not without at least talking to Dani first. And Jared would probably want to hear about it too.
When he started yawning and nodding off, Maggie soon noticed and smiled sympathetically, “Okay, sugar, you had a good long visit. Now it’s bedtime.”
“Can Noah tuck me in?” he asked, rubbing his eyes, and my chest tightened. He didn’t even understand why he was so attached to me, but he didn’t bother questioning it. And I was getting just as attached just as quickly.
Maggie smiled at the suggestion, “I think that’s a wonderful idea. His bedroom is up the stairs, the only door on the left.” And she went back to her book without another word.
Even though I was a little nervous, Nicky trusted me completely when I picked him up, wrapping his arms around my neck and leaning heavily against me. It was such a simple gesture I wouldn’t have expected it to hit me so hard. But it did.
I carried him up the stairs and laid him down in bed, then pulled the covers up to his chin and ruffled his hair again, “Night, bud.”
“Good night,” he answered blearily.
As I left the room, I saw my bolo tie carefully laid out flat on top of his dresser, next to a nice-looking hat, like something you’d wear to church. I was smiling until I got back downstairs, then I realized I needed to make sure I was right about this.
“Maggie,” I said, taking my seat on the couch again. “Do you know who Nicky’s dad is?”
Her eyes widened and darted toward me as she sucked in a sharp breath. And she nodded slowly. As if that reaction wasn’t all the answer I needed.
“He’s mine. Isn’t he?”
Pressing her lips tight together, looking like she might cry at any second, she nodded again. “I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry you didn’t know,” she said breathlessly. “I wanted Dani to tell you. And she was going to, but then all this confusion happened between you two—”
“Why didn’t she tell me in the first place?” I demanded. “Why didn’t she call me when she found out? God, I could’ve…I could’ve helped her. I could’ve come back if she would’ve just told me.”
“She had her reasons, Noah. They’re not mine to explain, but you can ask her once she gets home. It’s about time you two got everything out in the open.”
About damn time.
Chapter Seventeen: Dani
The hotel Will booked for us was, in my way of thinking, a little bit ridiculous. Even the lobby had crazy high ceilings, just crystal light fixtures and tinted glass walls all over. Seemed like a waste of space to me, but that was the thing about rich people; they didn’t need to be efficient. I tried my best not to be the big-eyed bumpkin girl as he led me inside and got our room keys. This building was the same one where we would be having the dinner later; we had booked the space they unironically called a “ballroom” like it was a castle.
Maggie and I still weren’t on the best terms since our argument, so, at Will’s suggestion, I had hired a freelance event organizer. The girl, Lindsay, was friendly and a little frantic, only in her mid-twenties but apparently had a ton of experience. She had chosen the venue and most of the guest list, booked the entertainment, planned the evening’s schedule. I felt bad letting her do all that on her own, but Will insisted that was what I’d hired her for and that successful business-owners rarely did these things themselves.
I still didn’t know if taking the whole thing out of Maggie’s hands was the right call, but at least I wasn’t putting her through all the stress of setting things up.
“Twenty-one thirty-two,” Will said, handing me the keycards for my room and drawing me back to the present. “I’ll be in thirty-five in case you need me.”
“Okay.” I could feel people staring. The hat and boots made me stand out a little in a city where most people thought of them as novelties. Luckily, Will noticed how stressed I was and slid his hand up to the small of my back to walk with me to the elevators. “It’s gonna be real funny if any of these people seeing me right now happen to come to the gala tonight.”
“Is it?”
“Definitely. After I’ve done my whole transformation, I’ll look like a different person,” I was trying hard to be casual about it, but I was still incredibly stressed over the party. As much as Will had been doing to prepare me, I was still positive I would screw it up somehow. I would say something stupid and embarrass myself, embarrass everyone in Palo Verde, and all our generous guests would take back their donations. That probably wasn’t possible, but worst-case scenarios had been racing through my mind all day.
“You will look like the same person, just a little more polished,” Will teased as we took our elevator up. I shot him a look while my ears were popping, and he laughed, “Not that I don’t love the less-polished version.”
Love? That was dangerous.
“Good to know you don’t need the dress and heels and all in order to be interested in me,” I said, rolling my eyes.
But he did still insist those things were mandatory for the gala. Formalwear. A dress code for no reason. How would my jeans and Ariats hurt anyone or make it harder to socialize? They wouldn’t, but the people we were dealing with insisted you do the whole dress-up song and dance before they’d pay attention to you. And as much as I hated to admit it, we needed their attention.
“Maybe we should go over my speech again,” I suggested, keeping my eyes on the floor. “I’m still not totally comfortable with it.”
“I don’t think you ever will be, frankly. At least not by this evening. You just need to deliver it in a way that seems comfortable. You’ve practiced it a hundred times, Dani. You’ll be fine.”
I told myself again that he was right and I should trust him. The whole thing was a lot less nerve-wracking if I just believed he was steering me right—but it was still hard for me to be confident when someone else was making decisions for me.
* * *
After spending an hour fussing with my clothes and hair and makeup and shoes, I was already exhausted, and the party hadn’t even started yet. How some women could do this mess every day, I didn’t understand, but they must be more patient than me. When I looked in the mirror, I barely recognized myself, partly because of the getup and partly because of the uncertainty all over my face.
It wasn’t that I looked bad. The dress was a dark blue halter number with little s
ilver accents. It had what the girl at the shop called a “high-low skirt,” meaning the front was shorter than the back, meaning I was less likely to trip over it in my four-inch heels. Some of my boots at home had heels, sure, but they were solid ones; these ones were tiny, not much good at supporting weight. So I’d be balancing on my toes all night. Maybe that made sense, since I was sure to be tiptoeing through every one of my conversations too.
Trying to avoid seeing my reflection, I paced slowly up and down the unnecessarily-fancy room and rehearsed my speech some more. Thank you all for coming. We appreciate your support. Yes, there was recently an incident on the preserve grounds, and while we don’t expect this sort of thing to happen again, we will still be taking measures to ensure the safety of our visitors. For example…
It was the result of a few different edits, me and Will going back and forth about what was the right thing to say, what I was willing to say. His first draft had me condemning the wolves as “dangerous but still worthy of life,” which was a backhanded compliment if ever I’d heard one. Eventually, we’d just decided that I shouldn’t discuss them at all unless absolutely necessary. And if I did, it would be as neutrally as possible.
As I finished a second rehearsal run, there was a knock at my door. I hurried to answer it, grateful for the distraction, and found Will waiting outside in his sharp navy tux, blond hair swept back as neat as usual. He looked me up and down and nodded his approval, “You look beautiful.”
“Not bad yourself,” I wasn’t kidding. Between his confident smirk and the way that jacket fit his shoulders, he looked good enough to eat. We still hadn’t actually slept together, hadn’t gone any further than necking, but you know what they say: no time like the present. With that thought in mind, I asked playfully, “Any chance we can skip out on the party and just go right to bed?”
His smile faltered slightly, the way it did any time I got especially flirty. He didn’t seem uncomfortable or upset, just a little embarrassed. “Ahem. Tempting,” he admitted, his eyes still roaming over my body. “But this is too important for you to miss. Maybe ask me again once it’s over.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I took Will’s arm, and he led me to the ballroom, which was all decked out in a green and brown color scheme. Lindsay called it a “tasteful” nature theme. The tables that filled the right half of the room were covered in white linens and topped with centerpieces featuring little clusters of red Coralbell flowers. There were even live Periwinkle vines twined around the columns throughout the room. The girl was thorough!
“Oh good, you’re here!” Lindsay’s high-pitched voice called my attention as she hurried over to us from across the room. “We’re just about set up, and people should start arriving soon. What do you think? Is everything okay? Is there anything at all you’re unhappy with?”
“Girl, take a breath,” I laughed. “It looks great. You’ve done an amazing job with all this.”
“I’m so glad you think so,” she said, beaming. “Well, I’ll be around all night overseeing everything. We’re on-schedule and running smoothly so far. If either of you need anything, just let me know and I’ll get on it right away.” And she hurried off to her next task. How she didn’t get exhausted from being constantly busy, I couldn’t imagine.
“See?” Will said, nudging my arm. “She’s got it all under control. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“All right, all right, you win,” I agreed. “I don’t have any complaints so far, but we’ll see if that holds.”
The room slowly filled up with guests, all dressed to the nines and looking a lot more comfortable in that setting than I felt. Will assured me I didn’t have to greet all of them individually, thank God, but there were a few introductions here and there with the important ones. Some of the attendees were outspoken conservation activists, some Arizona natives who wanted to support our parks, but most of them were just wealthy “philanthropists” who felt like they were doing us a favor.
At one point during the night, while everyone was milling around munching hors d’oeuvres and sipping champagne, Will pointed out one of the many tux-clad northerners I didn’t recognize. This one looked closer to our age than the generally older crowd, dark-headed and lean. He explained, “That’s one of my coworkers. I knew he was planning to buy a ticket but I didn’t think he’d actually come. Do you want to meet him?”
My knee-jerk response was no, but I’d had a lot of practice at holding back my instincts lately so I said, “Sure.” He led me over to the man he’d indicated, whose suit didn’t fit him quite as well as Will’s did.
“Craig, good to see you.” The two of them shook hands, but “Craig” didn’t look especially happy to see Will. Or maybe that was just what his face always looked like. Resting a hand on the small of my back, Will went on, “This is my date and our hostess for the evening, Daniela Vasquez.” I bit back my reflexive “call me Dani,” since people had been addressing me that way all night.
“Craig O’Connors,” he said, offering his hand. He had the same extra-careful handshake I’d gotten from every other man in the room, like my delicate little lady bones couldn’t handle the slightest pressure.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. I’ve heard a lot,” he tilted his head to the side slightly, looking me up and down a little closer than I would’ve liked. “Will couldn’t stop talking about you once he got back from Paloma.”
“Palo Verde,” I corrected.
“Right. Everyone in the office figured you must be something pretty special for him to get so invested already.” The look on his face hadn’t changed, and it suggested that I wasn’t living up to his expectations.
“Well, I appreciate you loaning him to me,” I said, forcing a smile. “This wouldn’t be going near as well without him.”
Craig’s lips quirked into a slight smirk, “I’m sure.” He gave Will a look I didn’t understand. “We have been wondering when we’ll get him back.”
“When I’m ready,” Will said firmly, frowning, looking a lot more stern than usual. “And if my father told you to ask, you can tell him that too.”
“Why would he be asking that, Billy?” Craig narrowed his eyes—green eyes, I noticed, like Will’s. “You’re not here against his orders, are you? That might be an issue.”
I wanted to ask what in the hell he meant by “orders,” but I was getting the feeling this was something I shouldn’t interrupt.
“Fortunately, that’s not a judgment you need to make,” Will answered with a tight smile. “It was good to see you. Give everyone at home my best.” And he led me away again. I could feel Craig’s eyes boring into us as we walked off.
“What was that about?” I asked once we were out of earshot. “Does your dad often give you ‘orders’?”
“Let’s say he’s a pretty controlling person.”
“And he doesn’t want you to be here?”
“He doesn’t want me to be anywhere that’s not in his office, right under his thumb,” Will explained bitterly. He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have had to see any of that. Don’t worry about it, please.”
“But you’re here supporting me,” I muttered. “That’s the whole reason you came back. That means it’s—”
“My father being an ass is not your fault, Dani,” he told me firmly. “I’m the one who chose to come back. You didn’t ask me. And…I didn’t do it purely for your sake. You already know I’m here because I missed you.” Holding both my hands in his, he leaned down to kiss my cheek, “Forget about that for right now, okay? Just focus on enjoying yourself.” Well, he was right about one thing: now was not the time to distract myself worrying over all that.
Lindsay had made sure there was plenty to keep everyone entertained. There was a raffle, a handful of casino-style poker tables, and a live performance by some little blond country singer—apparently from a small town near Palo Verde herself. She was also one of the people who made a speech ahead of mine during dinner, full of embelli
shments about her love for Palo Verde and the preserve. Whatever helps, I guess.
By the time all the other speakers had gone and it was my turn, all the main course plates had been cleared and dessert was being served—and I was about ready to jump out of my skin with nerves. I was burning up, dry-mouthed, forgetting all my well-rehearsed points. I had never done this sort of public speaking before, not with such a big audience or such high stakes. While the MC was setting up to introduce me, I leaned across our table and hissed to Will, “I don’t think I can do this.”
“You can. You’ve done it plenty of times before. Think of this as exactly the same thing,” he rested his hand on mine, trying to comfort me, and I struggled not to jerk away. “You can handle this, sweetheart. You know what you want to say, now you just have to say it.”
Oh, I knew what I wanted to say, and it wasn’t anything he would’ve approved of. I wasn’t even allowed to talk normally, which only made the script feel even less authentic to me. Not my words. Not my honest thoughts and feelings. It just felt wrong.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our hostess, the owner and operator of Vasquez Preserve, Daniela Vasquez!” The MC called me up to a rush of applause and a couple of whoops from the one or two moneyed ranchers in attendance.
“You’ll be fine,” Will assured me one last time as I walked past him and up onto the stage.
“Ahem. Evening, everyone,” I said, hoping my smile wasn’t shaking as bad as my voice. How did this little act go again? “Uh, first, on behalf of my family and the town of Palo Verde, I want to thank you all for being here tonight. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support. Since taking over operations for my parents several months ago, I’ve come to realize just how much work actually goes into running a place like ours. And I’m amazed they didn’t rope me into it sooner.” I managed a little laugh, and the audience echoed it.
