Wyatt stiffened in a panic, but Alanna laid a hand over his beating heart. She curled against his side and slammed a hand over her mouth to hold back her laugh.
“I don’t know yet. Why don’t you check the list and pick?” Alanna called back.
Wyatt glared at the door. On the other side, Atticus huffed annoyance before his footfalls carried him away. “It’s like sneaking around as a teenager all over again.”
Alanna laughed softly. “Welcome to parenthood. You’ll never get more than a minute alone again.”
He didn’t actually hate the sound of that.
Something shifted in his chest, just like it’d done while he stalked Harris. His wants, needs, whatever-the-fucks weren’t a priority anymore. Not when he had Alanna and Atticus to care for and protect.
Harris was playing the same old game to keep him away from Alanna and force her back under control. And while he’d already been at the losing end of that story, Wyatt wasn’t one for repeats.
There was no losing the messed up little family. They were his. Past, present, and future, the gorgeous woman pressed against his side and the mouthy little punk stinking up the living room with attitude belonged to him.
For some reason, he’d been given another shot. He couldn’t fail them.
Wyatt cupped Alanna’s chin until their lips were almost touching. “That’s too bad,” he teased. “I need more than a minute with you.”
He needed all the time in the world to prove he could be the man they needed.
Chapter 11
Alanna rolled the pin against the mound of dough in front of her, then absently did it again. Her tigress flounced down in a huff, acting like a petty princess who never got her own way.
Well, there was no getting her way. Jobs and living arrangements kept the beast apart from the wolf she wanted to mark up and claim as her own.
Alanna’s cheeks reddened at the latest stray thought. Wyatt kept invading her head. He’d started in her dreams the night before and kept interrupting her all throughout her morning routine. She’d been so unhelpful with wrong customer orders that Ginny finally sent her to the kitchen to prep more goods for the day.
She’d slept with Wyatt. Twice. He’d made her work up an appetite for dinner and then given her dessert.
Hell, counting them felt like such a teenager thing to do, but he took her back to the same giddy feelings he’d filled her with when they first started dating. The distractions, the staring, the sudden dips of her stomach… The craving for more.
Alanna flicked a glance to the clock ticking away and cursed to see so many hours left in the day.
But something still lingered in the back of her mind. The dark doubts that worried if she made the right decisions for Atticus never truly left, even with Wyatt claiming her attention. She’d provided as much as possible for the boy, and he still turned toward trouble. Alanna worried that would forever be his fate. Wyatt’s, too, if she had to admit another layer of fear.
He’d warned her he wasn’t a good man. Repeatedly. She didn’t want to be caught with rose-tinted glasses on while everything blew up around her. Atticus needed to be protected more than she needed to indulge in fantasies of a mate.
Ginny laid a hand on her shoulder and startled her out of her reverie. “Why don’t you let me finish here,” she said with a frown at the uneven dough Alanna had rolled out for cookies. “See if Charles needs anything out front.”
Alanna frowned along with her. “Sorry.”
“Charles made me feel the same way. Oh, to be young again. Off you go, before you ruin anything else back here,” she teased.
Alanna drifted through the doors separating the kitchen from the storefront just as the bell above the door chimed. Charles glanced up from where he worked a crossword puzzle, reading glasses dipping down his nose.
“I have this one,” Alanna said, waving him back to his puzzle. Noelle approached the counter with a broad smile lighting up her face. “Hi, there. How have you been?”
“I was hoping to catch you! Do you have a moment? I’m on my lunch break so I can wait around. Or come back later. Whatever works for you.”
Alanna slashed a look to Ginny as she pushed into the storefront with a tray of goodies. “Go on,” Ginny urged. “You need a break anyway. Do you ladies want drinks?”
Noelle’s face lit up. “Can I have a hot chocolate? Wrong weather, I know, but my sweet tooth is aching today.”
“Just a tea for me, Ginny, thanks,” Alanna added.
Armed with drinks, they stepped out of the bakery and strolled down the sidewalk toward a nearby park.
Alanna was always surprised to see how fast Redwater had returned to normal after the Moonlight Slayers were run out of town by Wyatt’s pack. Noelle had a hand in that. She’d rounded up the townsfolk and prodded them into fighting for their homes and livelihoods when the motorcycle gang seemed intent on burning everything to the ground.
The damage from the Slayers had all but disappeared. Even the ruins of the liquor store down the street had been cleared away and a new building erected in its place. New signs and new windows replaced all those that were damaged, too.
The biggest difference came from the people. They held their heads high and greeted one another instead of ducking their eyes and hurrying about their business. Humans and shifters mingled together as if they’d done so since they were born. Shifters had always been Redwater’s dirty little secret, but stayed that way even after the supernatural world revealed itself to the general populace.
They had the Moonlight Slayers to thank for that. And the old, ingrained attitudes of those behind the times.
Her? She felt comfortable in her own skin for the first time in years. That Atticus could grow up without needing to hide an entire half of himself was another blessing.
Two months. So much had changed in two months.
In a week, too.
Noelle took one side of a bench once they turned into the tiny park. She toyed with her cup. “I figured it was about time to make a proper introduction.”
“You mean to say you don’t watch over everyone’s kids when they get caught sneaking around the back of a bar?”
Noelle laughed softly. “I’ll have to get back to you on that. Your son was our first break-in.”
“Probably won’t be the last, sorry to say. Once he knows how to get in, there’s no stopping him. I lost that battle three Christmases ago.”
“See? We need to stick together. Moral support, and all.” Her mouth twisted in wry amusement. “Our guys aren’t easy. And, selfishly, I’m here for all the parenting tips you can toss my way. It hasn’t been easy raising a wolf pup as a human.”
“Ah, yes, because the mother of a delinquent should be your role model.” Alanna nudged her side with an elbow. “How old is your little one?”
“Sienna is five going on fifteen, it feels like. Tiny terror, that one. But utterly enamored with Jensen.” She rubbed a hand over her tiny baby bump. “I’m interested to see what happens when this one changes the dynamic. What about your boy? Has he gotten into any more trouble lately?”
“Atticus is thirteen going on three. That’s what it felt like up until this week, anyway.”
A tiny smile played over Noelle’s face. “Does that have anything to do with a certain wolf?”
She shrugged. Her tigress perked up with a flood of Wyatt-related thoughts that heated Alanna’s cheeks. “We’ll see how long it lasts. I think he’s too distracted for bad behavior.”
“Wyatt or Atticus?”
“No comment,” she answered with a chuckle. She twisted her own drink in her hands. Ginny wanted to believe the best in people. Charles didn’t think anyone would be good enough for her. She didn’t have many options for the questions that had plagued her all morning. “Did you have a hard time accepting what your mate did in the past?”
Noelle took a sip of her drink and pursed her lips. “At first,” she said finally. “But you have to understand I’m coming f
rom this as an outsider. I didn’t associate with anyone who had simple fistfights. Then here comes Jensen who is ready to brawl in either form over the wind blowing in the wrong direction.”
“What about everything else?” The fighting wasn’t a bother. She’d seen enough as a shifter to accept it as a fact of life. Anger flared up and died out just as fast. “Do you think they can really leave it all behind?”
“I do. I really do. I think they had huge holes in their hearts they needed to fill somehow. All the boozing and running around like no one mattered and acting like they were above the law just dulled their true pain.” Noelle smiled into her drink. “And now they have us to teach them manners.”
Alanna laughed. “I don’t know if Wyatt can be housebroken.”
“Rolled up newspaper right to the nose will do the trick.” Noelle turned serious. “I can already see a difference with Wyatt. He lights up whenever you get mentioned. The other guys like giving him shit, so that’s pretty often. I hope you two can be who you each need.”
“Me too,” Alanna admitted. “Me too.”
The chat was nice. Unexpected, too, though she could guess where the idea came from. His pack had a personal stake in whatever came of their… whatever they wanted to call it. She could just as easily throw the whole group into disarray as balance them out a little more.
Regardless, she liked Noelle.
They said their goodbyes at the entrance to Miller’s Bake Shoppe. Alanna swept inside and froze.
Harris squared off against Ginny and Charles with the counter between them. Those couple of feet and a lifetime of good manners were probably the only things that kept Charles from jumping across and throttling her father, judging by his red face. Ginny smelled uneasy as she studied a document in front of them.
“What’s going on?” Alanna asked.
Her father looked up. “Alanna,” he greeted without emotion.
Her skin crawled under his attention. He looked at her, but he didn’t see her.
“Have you come to your senses?” he continued.
Her hackles rose at the condescension in his tone, like she was some small child that didn’t understand the world. “Nothing has changed,” she gritted out. “My son is mine. Atticus won’t be going anywhere.”
“He needs a male role model in his life. He needs to learn the ways of our people.”
“His father is in the picture and together we can teach him everything he needs to know about treating others properly.” She flicked her eyes to the Millers. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
Behind the counter, Ginny shifted anxiously.
“He’s kicking us out!” Charles roared. He shook a finger at Harris. “He bought this entire building so he could serve us an eviction notice.”
Alanna rounded on her father. “You can’t be serious. They’ve been here for decades!”
“I warned you, daughter of mine,” Harris snarled. “You were told what would happen if you didn’t fall in line. This is on you.”
The words raised her hackles and all the rebellion she could muster. “I think not,” she spat back.
“Do you have any idea the trouble it took to find someone willing to accept you and your bastard? You will look presentable, be agreeable, and keep your mouth shut.”
Alanna’s tigress shoved forward. She knew amber bled into her eyes with the anger sparking under her skin. “Don’t call him that,” she growled.
“Enough!” Charles slapped the papers to the counter. “We stood by while you treated Alanna like she was something to be thrown away. We didn’t say a word when your people ignored her and her son for years. You might own this building and we will adhere to the letter of the law, but this is still our bakery for the next thirty days. I will ask you to leave.”
The pleasant music over the intercom jarred with the rush of emotion. Charles wrapped an arm around Ginny’s shoulders and glared hard at Harris. Ginny fought against her tears, her lower lip trembling.
They’d done so much for her. Even now, when she didn’t need them to solve her immediate needs of clothing and shelter, they stood up for her.
She couldn’t sit back and let them shoulder another burden because of her.
Alanna closed her eyes and prayed for calm. Her tigress roared and snarled and slashed her middle with sharp disapproval.
“I’ll meet your suitor.” The words tasted like ashes. She held up a hand at the Millers’ objections and her father’s barely contained glee. “A meeting only. And only if you tear up that eviction notice. Ginny and Charles are good people. They don’t deserve to be caught in the middle of a family dispute.”
Maybe she could talk sense into whatever poor soul her father arranged to take her. Tell him he was barking up the wrong tree and she most assuredly was not available. If the match was rejected on his end, Harris couldn’t lash out at her.
Except the queasy feeling in her stomach said otherwise. The eviction paperwork would be back on the board as soon as she stepped out of line. Agreeing to her father’s terms at least allowed the Millers time to figure a way out from under his thumb.
Fuck. He’d played her into doing exactly as he wanted.
She hated feeling cornered.
Chapter 12
Wyatt slid another round of drinks across the bar. The women flashed him matching smiles that one time would have had him figuring out the quickest way to get them out of their pants and against a flat surface. Right then, all he could manage was a pleasant nod and a quick turn to the next customer.
Alanna clouded his mind. He could still smell her on his skin, though her spice was fading fast. He wanted another dose, another taste. Another chance to imprint himself on her so she’d let him back in. That she’d let him touch her not once, but twice, made him grin like a kid locked in a candy store.
He’d been given a chance. He had to figure out how to keep her with all their problems darkening up the corners.
He glanced down at his hands and curled his fists. How many noses had he broken with his knuckles? How many other bones and bodies were laid waste in his fights? He’d lived a hard life and doled out the punishment on others.
Alanna and Atticus made him want to learn to be gentle and get his shit together. She was his mate and the kid was his boy. They deserved the best the world could offer.
He turned to hand out another order and glanced over the man’s head as the bar door opened.
The world brightened, sharpened, focused, what-the-fuck-ever, as soon as Alanna crossed the threshold. Wyatt shoved his hair out of his face and stared unabashedly at the most perfect woman on the planet.
The world broke apart as a man followed her inside, eyes on her ass. If that wasn’t enough to send Wyatt’s wolf howling, he grabbed her wrist and spun her around. She stiffened, pulled back, and tucked her hair behind her ears, but she didn’t storm off.
Instead, she followed him to a table in a dark corner, looking everywhere but the actual bar where he stood.
Mother fucking fuck.
A stone dropped to the pit of his stomach and just kept sinking straight into the earth. Darkness pulled him under with a tiny pinprick of light above where his world used to exist.
What the fuck had changed in twenty-four hours?
“That Alanna?”
Wyatt slashed his eyes to Jensen. Who the fuck else could it be? He’d met her. Met their son. It wasn’t like she had an identical twin stashed somewhere ready to impersonate her. “Yep.”
“Who’s with her?”
“Don’t know.”
His wolf ached to find out. Wyatt rolled his shoulders to cut the tension, then rolled them again when that didn’t work. His skin felt tight and clammy and his inner animal rubbed just under his skin.
Fuck, the asshole’s suit looked like it cost more than his entire worth, his ride included. With that sort of cash, Alanna and Atticus would never want for a damn thing.
What could he really offer her? A bartender’s salary of tips and l
ate nights? A former motorcycle club member and current crazy wolf pack? He couldn’t be the person she and Atticus needed. All his bad habits and past deeds wouldn’t wipe away. She’d be better off with money at her fingertips.
Alanna excused herself from her date. Wyatt tracked her across the bar. As soon as she disappeared around the corner for the bathrooms, he dropped the glass in his hand. He didn’t give a fuck if he was in the middle of a pour.
“Wyatt,” Jensen warned.
He flicked off his alpha over his shoulder and stalked through the crowd of patrons. Maybe he ran over someone, maybe he shoved them aside, he didn’t know. All he could see was Alanna’s fading trail, like a ghost disappearing before his eyes.
He shoved open the ladies door and found her leaning against the sink. She glanced up in the mirror, shock stinging in her scent, then dropped her eyes.
“Not now. Please, not now.”
Her defeated tone tore at his insides and drove his wolf wild. “Yes, now,” he gritted out.
He ran a finger up her spine, watching her face in the mirror. Her scent was a mix of emotions, all bad, and his wolf rode him hard to fix everything in the world until the dark spices were clear once again.
Wyatt threaded his fingers in her hair and arched her against him. She lifted her face, amber shooting through the gorgeous brown of her eyes.
Sweet fuck, he wanted to bunch her dress around her hips and drive into her from behind. Wanted to make her moan instead of need moments to collect herself. Did she have any idea what she did to him? How she frayed his control? The twin tastes he’d had the night before only made him want her more.
And then she showed up with someone else at her side.
“What the hell is going on, Alanna?” he demanded.
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the sink. “I had to,” she whispered. “It was this, or see Ginny and Charles lose the bakery.”
“Tell me what happened.”
She didn’t answer right away, instead twisting in his arms and leaning into his chest. “My father,” she breathed.
Tequila and Tigers: Book Two: Shifters and Sins Page 8
