by Meg Ripley
“I see. So you’re the leader of the group and the one who gathers all the information. Dylan is the technology guy. Wendy talks to the spirits. Ingrid is there for her energy. Tyler…” He trailed off as he tried to pin down the roles of the group. “Bodyguard?”
“Something like that, I guess. Sounds like you’ve got us all labeled pretty well, but I hope that also means you can see why we need to keep expanding. Everyone brings something different to the table, and the more people we have, the more we can do.” She moved her hands as she spoke, showing just how much passion she had for this.
Raul could feel it rolling off of her in waves. It was more than just a hobby or a passing interest. It certainly wasn’t about getting rich or famous. His gut told him there was more to the story. “Why did you found the LASS anyway?” he asked.
“Oh, you know, just…” She trailed off, her mouth slightly open as she looked at him. Penny blinked. “My best friend died when we were still in high school.” Her pain was palpable to him.
“I’m really sorry.”
She twisted a charm bracelet on her wrist. “Thanks. It was really tough at the time. Everything had been fine. We were on our way home from shopping for prom dresses, then this drunk driver came out of nowhere and t-boned us. She was gone instantly.” Tears glistened against the verdant green of her irises.
Raul reached across the table and closed his hand over hers. Energy ricocheted between them, and it was so much more than just physical attraction. He could feel her grief and her heartache even more intensely now, and it only made him want to comfort her all the more. “Penny, I…” Raul wasn’t sure what to say. No words could change her situation or make her feel better about it.
“No, it’s okay.” She moved her hand away from his to wipe tears from her face. “It’s been a long time. In some sense, I know I should be over it and moving past it. My parents certainly think so. The funny thing is, when someone dies, people try to comfort those who are grieving by saying things like, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll see them again someday,’ or, ‘She’ll always be there in your heart.’ They act like that person isn’t really gone, and maybe that’s why I got so attached to the idea of actually contacting her again.”
“I see. So you founded the LASS with the hope of finding a way to talk to her.” Raul longed to hold her hand again, but the moment was over. He desperately wished he could do something to make this better.
“Yes and no. I mean, I was always interested in the supernatural. Most people don’t believe that folks like us exist, after all, so why can’t there be something more? But yeah. Kayla’s death made that idea even more important to me. I want to apologize to her and make sure she’s okay. I’m so sorry.” She gave an embarrassed smile as she snagged a paper napkin out of the dispenser to wipe her eyes and nose.
Raul smiled back, thinking how beautiful she was, even when she was crying. “Why should you apologize? It’s not your fault that a drunk driver hit you guys.”
“No, but I was the one driving. I can’t help but think—every single day—what if I’d done something differently? What if I’d taken a different exit? What if I’d tried on one more dress or one less dress and we went through that intersection at a slightly different time? Maybe I could’ve reacted faster and saved her life.” Another tear spilled over her lashes, and Penny quickly blotted it up.
“You can’t blame yourself.” Damn this table between them! He clenched his hand underneath it as he envisioned throwing it to the side and pulling her into his arms to console her.
“That’s what everyone says, but I do anyway.” She pulled in a staggering breath. “You know what’s funny? Those prom dresses we were shopping for seemed like the most important thing in the world to me at the time. Like some pieces of fabric were going to change my life or something. It’s ridiculous.”
Raul swiped his teeth across his bottom lip. “I get that. I think that’s pretty normal for teenagers. They’re looking so hard for meaning that they’ll find it in almost anything.”
Penny nodded, dabbing one last time at her face as their food arrived and she thanked the waitress. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
Raul did. And he had an idea that she might know, too, but he wasn’t going to just say it. “It’s okay. I don’t mind, and it’s good to know this isn’t just something you do for amusement. If we’re going to figure out what’s going on with these ghosts, then I need to work with someone who’s serious about it.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed a little. “Some of the others think I’m a little too serious. I try not to let myself get caught up in a few flashing lights and immediately think we’re in the presence of a spirit. I want to have some true, hard evidence before I make any claims.”
“It’s a good idea. People might be more likely to take you seriously. What’s the next step in this particular investigation?”
They talked amicably for the next hour while they ate, and Raul felt the rest of the world melt away. There was no more Force and no more concern about what was happening in the city. It was just the two of them in this diner, and it could last forever as far as he was concerned.
“Oh, wow,” she said when she glanced up at the clock on the wall. Her tears had dried and her eyes were clear again. “It’s after three. As much as I’m enjoying our time together, I’d better get back home. I’ve got a pack meeting in the morning—I mean, in a few hours.”
“Sure.” Raul paid the bill to the waitress. “Do you need a ride?”
She paused for a moment, then a rosy blush spread over her cheeks. “Thanks, but my apartment isn’t far from here.”
They stepped out into the night, the sign for Curly’s Diner casting alternating red and blue lights down onto them and illuminating Penny’s golden hair. “Then, can I walk you home?”
Was that amusement in her eyes? It didn’t matter since she nodded after a long moment. “That’s nice of you, but I’m fine. I do it all the time.”
Raul wasn’t sure it was all that nice. He had no ill intentions, but he didn’t want to be apart from her. He could feel her next to him as they walked down the street, mostly abandoned at this late hour, still entertaining the idea of them being the only two people in the world.
“It’s really awesome that you’re letting me work with you on this,” he said as they passed a tattoo parlor. That was lame. Damn it! He knew how to talk to women. Penny, as he was finding out more and more every second, was different. He desperately wanted to say all the right things without giving her any reason to doubt him.
“And I appreciate you reaching out to me about it. I think it’s going to work out well,” she returned as she paused at an intersection, licking her lips ever so slightly. “This is where I turn off.”
Raul’s heart thundered in his chest. “Okay, then.”
The sidewalk rippled. The buildings around them bowed out and then bent back in again. A shift happened somewhere in the universe, and it pushed the two of them together. When their lips met, Raul couldn’t say who’d instigated it, but it didn’t matter. Penny was warm and soft, and the barest space between her lips indicated there might be more to this in the future.
As she and Raul parted, her eyes opened slowly as if she were waking from a dream. “I’ll talk to you later.” A broad smile spread across her face.
“Sounds good.” Raul watched her go, thinking how strange it was that his life could change that quickly.
4
Penny’s entire body was buzzing as she headed down the sidewalk. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so good. The night air wrapped around her like a cloak as she glided down the street, the feel of Raul’s lips against hers still warm and exciting.
Her phone rang in her back pocket, startling her out of her reverie. “Hey. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you’re all right,” Ingrid said. “I mean, we don’t know that guy, and I’d feel like an ass if I didn’t check i
n on you.”
Penny smiled. Ingrid was always trying so hard to be a good friend. “That’s really sweet of you. But I’m fine. We went to Curly’s and had a bite to eat while we talked.”
“Sounds to me like you had a really nice time,” Ingrid said with a giggle.
“I didn’t say that.” But Penny couldn’t stop smiling. Her cheeks were beginning to hurt.
“Your tone said it for you. Come on! Tell me all the lurid details.”
Penny shook her head. She wished like crazy that Kayla could be there for this. It was the sort of thing they’d always dreamed and hoped about as girls. Just like any other shifter, they’d grown up hearing about how they’d someday find the person they were meant to be with. Penny knew that whatever she had going on with Raul wasn’t purely physical, and she had to tell someone. “Okay, fine! But the details really aren’t all that lurid.”
“I still want to hear them!”
“Don’t you think you should be in bed?” Penny pulled her key out of her pocket as she approached her building, thinking about how exhausted she’d be when she showed up for the pack meeting the next morning. Her mother would undoubtedly berate her about staying out all night, and her father would just give her that disappointed shake of his head. Penny didn’t care, and she knew she’d never be able to fall asleep.
“Yeah, right! Now spill!”
“It was all very innocent,” she began. “We just went down to Curly’s and talked over a meal. But Ingrid, I swear I could feel something as soon as he showed up at the cemetery. It was like there was a freaking lightning storm happening between us! That’s why I had to sit down for a bit. His presence just invaded my own. Wait—no, that sounds like a bad thing, but it wasn’t! It was amazing!”
“That’s so awesome!”
“I know,” Penny admitted, even though she’d never really thought of herself as the mushy type. “I tried to dismiss it at first. You know I don’t like to jump to conclusions. Raul is just so easy to be around, and before I knew it, I was practically telling him my entire life story. And you know what? He actually listened to me. He seemed to care. I… I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think we might be fated.” It was such a crazy thing to admit out loud, but there. She’d said it. Now it was out there in the world, and she felt relieved.
Ingrid let out a wistful sigh. “You’re so lucky.”
“I want to agree with you, but I’m also not quite sure about all this.”
“What?” Ingrid practically shrieked. “Why? It sounds like he’s your knight in shining armor—or camo, I guess. Whatever the guys on the Force wear.”
“He’s not like anyone else I’ve ever met,” she admitted. “It’s just that after Tyler, I really wanted to spend time on my own. Not just six months or even a year, but a long time. I want to make sure that any relationship I get into is the right one, and that I’m doing it for the right reasons. I don’t want to fool myself into thinking Raul is perfect just because I’m on the rebound.”
“If you don’t snap his fine ass up, someone else will,” her friend cautioned.
She absently touched her lips with one hand, reliving that amazing kiss all over again. It wasn’t the windswept, wild abandon that people write about in romance novels, but it didn’t need to be. It was sweet and innocent and just perfect. “He kissed me,” she admitted. “Or I kissed him. I don’t know. I do know that I feel like a completely different person around him.” Why was it so hard to describe something so wonderful? Maybe she needed to run off to the cemetery, shift, and howl at the moon for a while.
“And what about this whole SOS Force thing?” her friend asked. “You think that’s legit?”
“I wasn’t completely sure at first, but after talking to him for a while, yes. He told me all about his time in the service, working for the Force, and how they look out for greater L.A. as a whole. He couldn’t give me too much detail, but everything about him was genuine.” Her smile widened once again as she unlocked the main door to the building and headed up the stairs. Penny hadn’t thought she’d get giddy over a soldier, but Raul just wasn’t what she’d expect from a former Green Beret. He had dark, deep eyes that looked right into her soul and swept-back hair that she just wanted to bury her fingers in. “I can’t wait to see him again.”
“And when’s that going to be?”
Penny rolled her eyes up to think when her gaze landed on a dark figure near her apartment door, just off the landing. Her heart swirled in her chest and her stomach dropped. “Soon. Listen, I’ll have to call you back tomorrow.”
“Oh, you’re no fun! Okay, but keep me in the loop. And get some sleep!”
Penny hung up and put her phone in her pocket, her brows drawing together as she topped the stairs. “Tyler, what are you doing here?”
He leaned against her doorframe, obviously trying a little too hard to look cool as he studied his fingernails. “So, you’re finally home from your date?”
She pressed her lips together. Her night with Raul had been nothing short of perfect, and this wasn’t the way she’d wanted it to end. Thank goodness she hadn’t taken him up on her offer to walk her home, or this could’ve been even more of a disaster. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Tyler detached himself from the wall and stepped forward, looming over her. “And you didn’t answer mine.”
“Last I checked, I don’t have to. In case you don’t remember, we’re not dating anymore.” She did her best to look fierce, but she knew she didn’t pull it off very well. The short, curvy blonde could never be intimidating to a narcissistic prick like Tyler.
“And why is that?” Once again, his eyes looked slightly red around the edges. “You know, it was never my idea to break up, Penny. Something about you changed after Kayla died. For years, I did everything I could to stick by your side, but it was never good enough for you.”
“As I recall, you were hardly there for me at all,” she retorted. “Yeah, I was a little traumatized by the death of my best friend, but who wouldn’t be? And then you decided to get all possessive and controlling. I don’t have to put up with that shit.”
“You need someone to watch out for you, Penny. You need someone to make sure you’re not running off with strange guys in the middle of the night and staying out all hours.”
Acutely aware of the fact that their voices were steadily rising and it was likely to wake her neighbors, Penny moved past him and unlocked her apartment door. “I’m not doing this. Good night, Tyler.”
He stepped in right after her as though he owned the place. Penny turned and put her hand on the door, ready to slam it, but he’d come just far enough inside that there was no room. “You and I both know that there’s a certain track you’re supposed to be on in your life. You have a destiny to fulfill, and you can’t just pretend as though it didn’t happen.” Tyler pushed the rest of the way inside and shut the door behind him.
Her jaw felt hard inside her skull as her eyes narrowed. “How dare you just march in here? I could call the cops on you for that!”
“As if they’d do anything! Besides, all I want to do is talk. You can’t deny me that, can you? After everything we’ve been through? After how long we’ve known each other?” He was standing close to her again, doing that awful thing he did where he made her feel so small and insignificant.
Penny stepped away and tossed her key on the side table. Unbidden, Raul came to mind. She hardly knew him, but he didn’t make her feel that way. He was taller than her, yes, but he walked next to her like they were equals. He was sweet and polite—and so damn hot. “There isn’t anything to talk about. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve known each other. Honestly, I’m not even sure what this conversation you’re trying to have is all about.”
“It could be about a lot of things.” Tyler strode into the living room and plopped himself down on the couch, spreading his arm along the back of it. “It could be about you having a hard time dealing with loss.”
She gave him
a look, feeling her inner wolf getting more and more restless. She’d lose her deposit if she shifted forms and ripped his throat out right there on the carpet, but that was something that could be dealt with. “Don’t pretend as though you care about that.”
“You don’t want to talk about Kayla? Fine. Then let’s talk about how you’re letting your entire pack down by failing to fulfill your duty to them.” Tyler’s hazel eyes held hers, challenging her.
“I see. So you think you can just waltz on in here and pretend that you’re such a perfect son to your pack and your parents. Bully for you.” She put her fist on her hip, pissed that he would dare bring this up. Again.
“Look. My dad’s an Alpha. Your dad’s an Alpha. Both your parents and mine know that we really felt something for each other. We had a connection. We can get that back if we just work on it a little more.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and boring his eyes into hers.
Penny wanted to be sick. At one time, she’d let herself be convinced that there was some sort of destiny at play between herself and Tyler. After all, as he’d just pointed out again, they came from very similar backgrounds. She knew now, in the very deepest core of herself, that she and Tyler weren’t meant to be. Penny had told him. She’d thought he understood, but clearly, there was more to be said.
“At one time, I would’ve agreed with you. I was attracted to you, and we had a good time together. Our parents were beyond thrilled at the idea of a match between us because it meant bringing our two packs together like some sort of medieval arranged marriage. I was content to go along with that because I didn’t think I’d find anyone else.” Penny remembered all those times when her mother had droned on and on about how she and Penny’s father were meant to be together and that she just knew that Penny and Tyler were the same way. The Grangers had unapologetically continued to push her in that direction even after the breakup, certain that it was fate’s design.
“Whoa. Hey.” He stood up and came toward her, daring to trace her cheek with the back of his fingers. “What are you talking about? You know it wasn’t like that. We weren’t just the hanging onto each other for a lack of options.”
