by Leela Ash
“Whatever, man. It’s not like you’re good for anything else.”
Luke scowled, his dark eyes flashing. He didn’t want a fucking thing to do with these people anymore. In fact, he was this close to moving away from Stonybrooke once and for all. Who needed this kind of pressure, anyway? Wasn’t being part of a pack supposed to make life easier, not harder? But he had never experienced anything beyond misery from being associated with the assholes in his pack. He was done.
“You’re a traitor!” one of the men from his now ex-pack shouted as he stormed out of Maurice’s diner. “Stupid ass traitor.”
But Luke just shook his head. He didn’t need to hear about it. And if he didn’t watch himself, he would end up pulling a social faux pas and shapeshift into his wolf form to show those pieces of shit what he was made of. It wasn’t worth it. He was leaving. Now.
He could feel all eyes upon him as he stormed away, seething right down to the core. He was sick of these pompous, good for nothing wolf shifter assholes trying to tell him how to live his life. Trying to tell him what his role meant and how to conduct himself, when it was clear everybody was just as lost as everyone else. There was no direction, just a bunch of bullshit politics that were impossible to follow. There was nothing good about being part of a pack anymore. Everybody was just scrambling for power.
Once the outsiders had begun to infiltrate the town with their bullshit, all hell had broken loose. Everything had become crazy and corrupt. Everything was suspicious. Nobody knew who to trust and they were all turning their backs on their own. Having a pack was quite a laugh. It meant nothing. There was no loyalty. In Luke’s experience, honestly, it was all just a whole lot of pain and not enough good to justify ever even trying to work together as a pack at all.
The worst part was that nobody seemed to care or notice just how downhill everything had gone. They chose to get at each other’s throats and downplay themselves in greater society, allowing the humans to live in their blissfully oblivious little bubbles. Letting them think that there was no such thing as shifters and that the lore was all just a publicity stunt made by Stonybrooke to try and get their stupid little town on the map. They were selling themselves and remaining silent about their roots rather than fighting for a place in the world. He was done. Tired of it. And utterly sick of anybody who couldn’t just let themselves be done too.
If there was no such thing as shifters, then he had that much more reason to turn his back on them the way they had turned their backs on him and their history. Let everybody else get caught up in the pointless political dramas that kept them from accomplishing anything of value in society.
In the meantime, he would do what he had always loved to do most. Work with his hands. Alone. Away from everybody else. Fix things. Make them work. Turn the old and ugly into the beautiful and functional again. Why not?
If he couldn’t make Stonybrooke the kind of place he would be willing to live and take care of his pack in, then at least he could keep himself busy. He had thought about running away numerous times. Settling in somewhere else. But the wolf within him had urged him to stay. It would be miserable in a place where he would never be allowed to speak openly about shapeshifting, or actually shapeshift without too much fear. People who lived there long enough began to understand that it wasn’t just rumor, but they also respected the shifter’s privacy and wouldn’t stick their nose into anything they shouldn’t. At least, if they knew what was good for them, they wouldn’t.
Luke hated the loyalty he had to this town. He had his roots here. He was born here. The town had been there since his grandparents’ time and he knew he wouldn’t be able to abandon it. At this point, the place was in his blood.
That didn’t mean he had to love the people though, and he chose to stick to his own devices. Do what he loved. He was a contractor. A man who owned his own business−even if it was a self-made one−and a man who made a decent living. It was hard work, which was what he loved most. It kept him spry, and he quickly pushed all thoughts of the others in his pack away, so he could focus on getting to his office.
If he thought too much about the others, he would just raise his blood pressure and get all worked up. He had known the bad shifters were up to no good. He had warned them all about the outsiders. Told them that things were going downhill fast and that they were getting their hands on the government of Stonybrooke. They wanted the town. The place his grandparents and the other elders in the town had worked hard to secure and build. He wanted to protect his home.
But they had ignored him. Told him it wasn’t his place to say such things or make those types of observations. He was furious about it and he would never forgive them. Now they were all forced back into hiding, just as the outsiders would want. They would never have a place among the humans. They would only live in a shroud of secrecy.
Maybe it was for the best, in some respects. The ancient magics that protected the shifters and set them apart from the humans was very powerful. It could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, or if it was tampered with in any way. No, the humans who found themselves among the pack were exceptional and special. They adapted to the change in custom and did so amicably. The other humans could be power-hungry and judgmental. Colonizers who wanted to take the good from a culture and then turn the rest inside out, to match themselves exactly. Nobody wanted that.
Luke gritted his teeth, trying to drive the thoughts away. He wouldn’t be able to get through the day in a good mood if he kept thinking about this. It wasn’t going to help anything.
And so, he mounted his motorcycle and sped off toward the office, keeping his dark eyes on the road. It was nice to feel the wind against his body; helped him feel more in touch with the natural wonders of Earth rather than feeling set apart from the people in the town. Fuck them. He would just do what he wanted, just like he always had. There was nobody else who mattered more than he did anyway.
When he finally arrived at the office, Luke parked the bike and stepped inside. It was a modest building, small but functional. It housed his tools and had a small desk and a telephone. Some accounting books and things like that. He kicked off his shoes when he got behind the counter and perched on the stool with his feet on the seat, knees close to his face. He would breathe for a few minutes, calm himself down a bit, and then listen to his messages.
But all that was disrupted by the shrill ringing of the telephone. His hand automatically shot out to grab the receiver and he sighed heavily, bringing it to his ear.
“Luke’s,” he mumbled. “How can I help you?”
There was a slight hesitation and then a small exhale of a laugh. Luke’s entire body was immediately alert; the wolf within him perking up and tuning in to the person on the other end of the phone call.
“Hi,” the woman said, her sweet voice filling Luke with a strange warmth. She seemed kind. “Are you a contractor?”
Luke was quiet a moment, then let out a small laugh. “Yep, hence the name of the company. What can I do for you?”
The woman let out an embarrassed laugh and Luke’s smile broadened. There was something likable about her. She must have been a human.
“Right, of course. I’m sorry, I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m hoping to hire a contractor. Someone local, who knows the area well. I just moved to Stonybrooke and I would like to get things up to code. There’s a lot I can do myself, but I know I can’t do it all.”
Luke nodded. “I understand. What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Ella,” she replied. The wolf inside Luke perked up once again and he sighed, silently telling it to mind its own business.
“Well Ella, if you can just give me your address, I can come on out and evaluate your place, see what kind of work still needs to be done and give you an estimate on how long it will take me to finish it.”
“Great!” Ella exclaimed. “I am free today and tomorrow, if you want to stop by then. Does that sound okay to you?”
“Sounds great!
”
Luke was surprised by his own willingness to stop by the place on such short notice. He usually made an effort to make appointments at least a week in advance to prevent double-booking himself. Besides, it just seemed like good business practice. He didn’t want to seem too eager to get to work. Even though a lot of the time, he really was. He loved having new projects to get to work on, and he had a feeling that he was going to enjoy his time with Ella.
He shook the thought away.
“All right,” he said, jotting down the details she was reciting to him about her location. “I can stop by tonight at around six, does that sound all right?”
“Perfect,” Ella said, her gentle voice penetrating something deep within Luke and warming him from the inside out. The wolf tried to poke its nose out of the time out Luke had put it in, but he shooed it immediately away.
“Okay, I’ll see you tonight.”
“Looking forward to it, Luke. Thank you.”
Luke’s entire body warmed, although he usually found it irritating when his clients assumed his name was Luke without his saying so. How did they know that Luke didn’t have a receptionist, or someone working under him to take calls and set up appointments? Just because it was Luke’s shop didn’t mean everybody who worked there answered to Luke.
But she wasn’t wrong in who she was speaking to and he enjoyed the sound of his name rolling off her lips far too much to even think of complaining. He sighed as he hung up the phone, realizing suddenly, that if he didn’t get a grip on this ridiculous emotion, he was going to have his work cut out for him, in more ways than one.
3.
“Mama!”
Ella hurried into the kitchen where Mikey was sitting in his highchair, still slowly working away at the bowl of dry cereal he had insisted on having for dinner. She’d tried to give him some roast, potatoes, carrots, even some cake. But all he wanted was cereal.
“Yes, honey?”
Mikey swiped his hand across the tray and cereal went flying everywhere.
“Michael!”
The little boy dissolved into giggles just as the doorbell rang. Ella’s heart constricted. The contractor.
“Look at this mess!” she said in exasperation. But there was nothing that could be done about it and she sighed, lifting the child from his seat and carrying him on her hip as she answered the door.
“I’m so sorry for the mess,” she said as she opened the door, unable to meet the eyes of the stranger who was bound to be waiting for her. “Please come in.”
The man chuckled heartily, and Ella’s eyes darted involuntarily up at him as he stepped inside. The whole room suddenly smelled like spiced cedar and she gaped at the man. He was the very definition of tall, dark, and handsome, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. He towered over her by nearly a foot and fixed an intense gaze and a painfully handsome smile upon her. She nearly forgot to shut the door.
Mikey shifted in her arms and she sat him down quickly on the couch.
“Thank you,” the man said, warmth, and something else, reaching his eyes.
“Um. Yeah, no problem,” Ella mumbled, suddenly feeling very shy. She scanned the room quickly for something, anything, to do. But the man was here to look at the house. There would be no avoiding him now. She had to think fast to try not to succumb to the awkwardness that had suddenly come over her. She hadn’t expected him to be quite this…handsome.
“Is that your son?” he asked, dark eyes fixing on Mikey. They warmed slightly. “He looks like you.”
“Thank god for that,” Ella mumbled. “His father is a piece of…work.”
She had been doing her best not to curse around her little boy, who was quickly picking up new phrases like it was going out of style.
The man gave a slow nod. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Ella felt embarrassed suddenly for burdening the stranger with her emotional baggage and shook her head, laughing dismissively. “No, please don’t be. We are doing great. Just look at this place! It was a steal.”
Luke gave a nod and his eyes flickered briefly around the room. She could almost hear the gears in his mind turning as he evaluated the place without even lifting a finger. “You got it for a good price then?”
Ella nodded. “A great price. This house and five acres of land.”
Luke let out a low whistle. “That’s a nice parcel.”
Ella nodded in agreement. “It is, but it’s definitely a fixer upper. I have a lot to do before winter arrives or we are going to have some issues. I was even thinking about maybe flipping it, you know? Turning a profit. I can see so much potential here, and it could be sold for so much more than what I originally was contracted to pay for it!”
Luke smiled slightly. “You can see the potential here too, huh? It’s a pretty solid place. I think I’m going to have a lot of fun poking around the site.”
Ella beamed. “It stood out to me right away. I can’t wait to be able to see it in its final form!”
Luke let out another deep chuckle and heat rose in Ella’s cheeks immediately. She glanced away as he spoke, pretending to check on Mikey, who was sitting patiently on the couch watching TV.
“Do you know a lot about flipping houses?”
Ella smiled sheepishly. “I have read quite a few things. And I can be pretty handy around the house, I’ve got to admit. But to be honest, I think this is going to be a lot more than I can handle on my own. It would be really nice to have your input on these things. Since you’re a professional and all.”
She offered a quick smile and looked away again. She couldn’t stare too long at this man. There was something about him that stirred something within her. Something maybe a little bit animalistic. She could only imagine what he might be like if….
No, she absolutely could not let her thoughts go down that road. Especially not if he was going to be coming around regularly to help her out with fixing up the house. It was livable enough, but there were a lot of issues she had noticed already. Things with the electricity and the furnace that she had no idea how to handle. She needed him around. He was the only contractor for miles, and he had the best prices, even if there was anybody else local. She had chosen the best, to her knowledge. And she couldn’t drive him away just because of a silly little crush.
No, not even a crush. A crush implied knowing something about this man. She knew nothing. All she knew was that he was attractive. Savagely attractive. She would have to keep her eyes to the floor if she was going to survive the rest of this encounter with any shred of dignity.
“Right,” Luke said, squaring his shoulders and fixing those intense brown eyes upon her again. “Let’s get started. You lead the way.”
Ella nodded and moved quickly ahead of him, her heart pounding hard in her chest as she lifted Michael from the couch and began the tour. This was going to be a little bit harder than she thought.
4.
Luke was doing his best not to pay attention to the peculiar human’s response to him; the way her cheeks became so rosy and sweet upon looking at him; the nervous way she avoided his eye and laughed. He could even attempt to ignore the way her body moved and how her clothing clung to her form in all the right places. But what he couldn’t ignore was the wolf within him, seeking, and finding, the scent of her interest. A secret, hidden arousal that could, one day, bud into something far more gratifying.
He gritted his teeth. No, he couldn’t allow himself to get involved. Whether she was interested or not, she wasn’t his to claim. She already had a family to take care of. She had plans and goals and dreams and to be truthful, he was bad news. He didn’t want to mar her reputation in Stonybrooke before she had even gotten herself settled in. It would only cause her trouble to be associated with him. If he let the wolf have its way and inserted himself somewhere he didn’t belong, he could be ruining the girl’s chances of ever fitting in and making life hard not just for her, but for her boy as well.
He wouldn’t do that to them.
Luke nodded, making a mental note of the tasks he would have to do to get the house into working order. “I should be able to take care of that, no problem,” he said, kneeling in front of the furnace to take a look. “Is there anything else while you’re thinking about it?”
Ella nodded. “I want to replace the windows. They’re old and drafty; it’s a pretty big place, so I want some that are going to have better insulation. And, of course, some areas need to have the carpet taken out and hardwood laid down. I can take the carpet out myself but I’m not sure I can manage the task of laying the floor.”
“Floors are easy,” Luke said, standing up and grinning at her. “I’d have fun doing them for you if you need help. I could even show you how. There are a few tricks to the trade.”
Ella smiled at him and he held her gaze, unable to fight off the irresistible pull of her body. She was something special, though most of the wolf shifters in his pack wouldn’t have given her a second glance. Well, what used to be his pack, anyway. They would probably make fun of him for being so interested in a human of all people. But he had never responded this way to anybody before. And besides that, who gave a shit what those assholes thought? He was sick and tired of his whole life being dictated by pack rules that didn’t make any sense. The others had only ever used the dogma to make themselves feel important and to put down anybody who might challenge them. They were pathetic weasels, really; not worth a second thought.
