Michelle and I text back and forth at work. I feel giddy like I did in the first throes of finding myself in love with her. At lunch I ask her advice for dealing with the Weinbart account and she expresses surprise and then thinks I’m trying to make her feel better about being home.
Not trying to make you feel better! I need your help!
She responds with a lengthy text and several emojis.
I get a bunch of texts from my brother as well. Everyone is coming over to my place now. We’re going to ‘hash things out’ I guess. That’s fine with me.
I drive home whistling and I’ve never been a whistler. I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my life. Although, when I walk in, I wince at the state of my apartment. My mom helped me clean up after my tirade, but it’s clear that someone tore the place up. I had a couple vases and sculptures around and now they’re gone, since I broke them. I also tore up a painting that I had to throw out. I had to duct tape parts of my couch because I ripped into to it with my claws.
Oops.
The couch, I’ll need to reorder. Anyway, I have to think that Michelle and I will be living together soon and then her things will be added to mine. I’m looking forward to that. I put on a big pot of coffee for everyone and my brothers start to arrive. Mason even brought a big lemon cake with him as if he were going to a party. It all seems a little unnecessary, but I find myself moved.
Micah plops down on the couch and pokes at the patches of duct tape.
“Somebody have a little tantrum?” he says.
“I was very on edge,” I return darkly.
Xander hands Mason a cup coffee and sits on the arm of the sofa. “Hell, I’ve done worse than that at my place without as good a reason as you had.”
That makes the rest of us laugh and we sit sipping our coffee for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company. Xander looks like he’s about to speak when there’s a knock on my door.
“Shoot,” I mutter. “Meant to give her a key.”
I start to get up and Mason pats me on the bed, “Stay here, I’ll let her in. Might as well be more friendly to my future sister-in-law.”
Mason lets in Michelle, who’s followed in by Luna, and I feel the atmosphere shift just a little bit since there’s a human in the room now, it’s a subtle thing, but you can always feel everyone tense slightly when you’re among shifters and a human walks in. But that also means that Michelle is already different to them. Michelle is a shifter, even if she’s a different sort of shifter than they’re used to.
“Wow!” Luna looks around my place, that’s just a little too barren and empty now. “Very…minimalist.”
I can’t help but notice that Micah’s standing close to Luna as she looks around. I also can’t help but notice that his eyes haven’t left her face. He looks just a little bit bewitched and I smirk, shaking my head.
Oh, here we go.
“We haven’t met,” Micah says to Luna, even though he hasn’t even said hello to Michelle. I spring to my feet and kiss Michelle hello. She hasn’t missed whatever Micah’s up to either and we exchange a look. “Micah Tremblay,” he says. “You are?”
“Luna. Kennedy.” She seems almost bemused by the attention, raising her eyebrow.
“Micah Tremblay,” Micah says again, blinking dumbly.
I clear my throat, deciding to save him from himself. “Anyway!” I say. “Luna, would you-“
“Oh, no no,” Luna says, putting up her hands. “Don’t offer me anything. I know there’s some secret society happening or something. Don’t worry, I’m not asking questions. I trust my girl.” She hugs Michelle goodbye and I hear her whisper, “I’m glad things worked out.”
I have to actually tug Micah back by the collar of his jacket, because he wants to walk Luna to her car, and we have business. Seriously, after everything we just went through, and my brother immediately starts flirting with a human.
Micah grumbles. “Just wanted to talk for a sec.”
“We don’t have enough trouble?” I say.
Micah shrugs, all innocence. Xander and Mason greet Michelle and there’s a lot of bustling and cutting of lemon cake and pouring of decaf tea for Michelle. When we’re all settled in, Xander sets his food down and stands up, as if addressing the entire council of alphas and elders.
“I’m glad we’re all here,” he says, sticking his hands in his pockets. He’s wearing a suit like he always does. “Before I go any further,” Xander says, “I have news. Jack Didion has been taken into custody by the council. He’s being held under lock and key at the Sherman’s. We’re going to investigate, see if his actions extend to the rest of the pack or even the clan. Though I suspect Jack was working alone. Once we complete our investigation, there will be a trial.”
“What will happen to him?” Michelle says.
“There’s a prison,” I say, answering for Xander. “For…our kind. There’s one in Alaska. Obviously it’s hidden away from humans. Xander, what is it exactly he wanted with Michelle?”
Xander winces at that. It’s very subtle. He’s pretty good at masking his expression except when he’s angry or annoyed in a way that isn’t serious. But I see him glance at Michelle as if he doesn’t want to say.
“It’s alright,” Michelle says, waving a hand. “Just tell us.”
“Jack Didion’s been outspoken about the potential extinction of shifters,” Xander says, sighing. “He’s not wrong to have that concern. But his methods… He wanted to take you to this lab he’d set up,” Xander says to Michelle. “He would’ve experimented on you, searching for a way to exploit your merged human-shifter genes. I assume he wanted to breed shifters that way.”
I snort in derision. While I’m horrified by the prospect, I knew Jack Didion okay, if not well. He isn’t a doctor or a scientist. He runs construction company, or rather he used to.
“Did he suddenly get a doctorate?” I say. “Or am I missing something?”
“His scientific theories and methods were self-taught,” Xander says, rolling his eyes. “Mason and Micah and I hunted Jack down in the middle of the night and we found his lab. Whatever he would have done to Michelle…it would not have been pretty.”
I can’t laugh at that. It makes my blood run cold. Yet just as quickly my blood runs hot when the rest of Xander’s sentence sinks in. “Wait a minute, you went after him without me though. Xander-“
“Don’t start,” Xander says, and beside me, Michelle squeezes my hand. “You know that if you’d gone with us, you would have killed him. Hell, I wanted to kill him. I came damn close. But then what if someone else was working with him? We needed to be able to ask him questions. There is such a thing as justice, Aaron.”
“Alright, alright,” I say. Though I’m going to be frustrated for a while at not having been able to mete out my own kind of justice on the damn wolf who wanted to treat my mate like a lab rat. “You have a point.”
“I’m glad you didn’t go,” Michelle whispers in my ear. “I needed you with me.”
“Michelle,” Xander says then, and walks over to kneel down in front of us. “I want to apologize for ever even implying you would not be welcome in our family.”
Michelle beams at that and takes his hand. “I understand that you have to protect your people, Xander, “Michelle says. “Nothing’s more important than family.”
“Exactly,” Xander says. “And you are family now.”
“Yeah, mom gave him an earful,” Micah pipes up. “I’m surprised she didn’t try to ground him.”
“He’s not wrong,” Xander says wryly. “The only thing more powerful than an alpha in the pack is the alpha’s mother.”
“Truer words were never spoken,” I say, chuckling.
“Anyway,” Xander says. “Mom reminded me that I need to have some faith in family. And I trust that Aaron would never hurt us. And Michelle is his mate. And that makes her family too. The council vote is going to be fine. I’ve spoke to everyone already and the Didions don’t have a vote. Congratu
lations, brother.”
Micah and Mason chime in with congratulations and hug Michelle and I squeeze her close when I see her wiping her eyes even as she smiles at them and thanks them for their solidarity.
Michelle clears her throat and says, “I just want the rest of you to know that I take Aaron’s loyalty to the pack very seriously. And I take my loyalty to the pack seriously too, now that I’m a part of it.” She sits in my lap then and I kiss her cheek, so proud of my mate I could bust.
“To family,” Mason says, raising his mug.
I raise my mug to clink against his and shout out, “To the pack!”
Epilogue
Aaron’s got our son cradled in his arms. It’s twilight at the Tremblay estate. We’re sitting on the bench in the rose garden and the full moon will rise soon.
“Yep,” Aaron says, swaying back and forth. “He’s the handsomest kid in the world. It’s official.”
He gave me a white rose as he strolled through the garden and I can’t stop smelling it as I watch my mate and my son. Trevor has his father’s eyes and I think he has my nose. He’s a feisty baby. Aaron already insists that he’s going to be a fierce wolf. I get to my feet and stretch. One of my favorite places in the world is this rose garden. Over the course of my pregnancy, there were times when the hormones played havoc with my emotions and even Aaron couldn’t make me feel any better. When things got to be too much I’d come down to the Tremblay estate and visit Aaron’s mother. I couldn’t ask for a better mother-in-law. She always knows the right thing to say. I’ve gotten to know his father too. Jared Tremblay is a quiet man. I get the impression he was forced to fight more battles than his sons have, and he’s happy to retire and enjoy the peace his son’s era as alpha has given him.
“And you’re not biased at all,” I say, watching Aaron coo.
Trevor grabs Aaron’s finger in his tiny hand and grips it. His little nose scrunches up and he growls, although coming from a baby, it’s pretty hilarious. He bares his pink little gums.
“Oh my… Michelle, look at this!”
I giggle and wrap my arms around Aaron, leaning on his shoulder to look at our son. Aaron says, “Michelle, look at this” in relation to something Trevor’s just done approximately twenty times a day, it’s adorable...
“Who’s my little wolf pup?” Aaron whispers. “The fiercest wolf pup there ever was!”
Now I snort a laugh. I have to close my eyes, I’m laughing so hard. “You are the cheesiest dad ever,” I say, covering my mouth.
“Yep.” Aaron nods firmly. “Sure am. Don’t care.”
Trevor’s also got the the bright icy blue of Aaron’s eyes though they’re shaped more like mine.
“Aah-woooo!” Trevor yowls and Aaron loses it again. I love this. I could watch this forever. Though Trevor’s puppy behavior isn’t new really.
It’s the full moon soon. He’s not going to shift, according to Aaron’s parents. That doesn’t start happening until later. But he’ll act…doggy. It’s incredibly adorable to watch.
“Thank God for your parents,” I say, sighing happily. “I can’t imagine raising a wolf shifter kid without knowing anything.”
“Well, you do have us Tremblay brothers,” Aaron points out.
“Oh, you guys are no help,” I say, rolling my eyes. “It’s not like you remember being babies. I need the parent’s perspective.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Aaron mutters.
“Let me have him, baby,” I say. “Your moon’s coming.”
Aaron glances at the darkening sky and says, “Shoot, you’re right again.” He sighs heavily and passes me the bundle of Trevor before kissing me sweetly. “I guess I should go into the woods. The boys are meeting me.”
“Be careful,” I say, though he’s always sort of amused that I tell him that. If anything, it’s everything else in the woods that needs to be careful of my mate and his brothers. I tug him forward one more time by his tie to kiss him again. “I’ll see you in the morning then. I’ll miss you.”
“Miss you too, sweetheart,” Aaron murmurs. He kisses my cheek and whispers in my ear, “But won’t the reunion be fun?”
That makes me blush and I gently push him away, giggling, and adjusting Trevor in my arms.
Aaron and I are clingy with each other, though I think a lot of that is the newness of our relationship coupled with having a kid. We’ve moved into Aaron’s condo and though I was sad to leave Luna, once I moved my stuff in and we began to make a home, it felt more like my own place than anywhere else I’ve lived.
So it was surprisingly difficult for me to give up my guy on full moon nights I hate to say it but it’s hard to sleep alone when he needs to be off shifting in the woods. My bed felt cold and lonely, especially before Trevor was born. It was a couple months before Aaron caught onto how it affected me and now he makes up for it every full moon. We’ve got a whole routine going.
On full moon nights now, I spend the evening at the estate and bring Trevor along. I like the feeling of being part of the tradition, in my own way, rather than being stuck at home. His parents changed up their routine too. Aaron’s mother spends the evenings with me once the moon rises. Sometimes we play cards or just talk and have coffee and coo over the baby. This was after Aaron’s father decided to go along with the boys into the woods when he shifts, since he no longer has to worry about protecting his mate’s secret. He still does have a bad leg and he doesn’t run wild in the woods like the boys. But Aaron says he lopes around and enjoys the forest. The boys look after him and make sure he’s getting along alright. So much so that apparently Mr. Tremblay thought the boys were being a little condescending and wrestled Xander in the woods, though it was all in good fun. Now they all tease Xander about fighting his old man even though Xander bowed out since he would’ve obviously beaten his father and couldn’t bear too.
I kiss Aaron one more time and say, “Go be a wolfy.”
That makes him chuckle and he pecks Trevor on the head before trotting off out of the rose garden. I make my way back to the house, murmuring sweet nothings in Trevor’s ear.
The best part of the full moon is reuniting with Aaron the morning after. It’s as if we’ve been parted for a year, he’s so passionate. I think part of it is a residual wildness from running around in the woods. It’s as if his body knows mine so well he knows just where to touch me and kiss me to make me lose my mind in the best way.
“Let’s go see grandma,” I say to Trevor. He laughs and bites my finger with his gums, rasping that funny little growl again.
I stroll across the lawns, passing the Cupid fountain, just in time to see Mason dashing into the woods. Inside, I find Elaine in the parlor. She’s got fresh cookies and tells me we’re going to play rummy. I take a breath and hand Trevor over to Elaine, because I know she’ll ask anyway, and take a seat at the little card table, leaning on my hand.
“Do you ever worry about Mr. Tremblay out there?” I say. “I mean now that he’s older and he’s been shifting in that cottage all this time? Maybe…out of practice or…?”
“Worry?” Elaine only smiles. “Not a bit. He’s got the boys with him. You’ve seen how powerful my boys are when their family’s threatened.”
“Sure have,” I mumble, thinking of Aaron going after those two wolves all those months ago.
“My love will be fine,” Elaine says, nudging me. “Your love will be fine. They’ll watch after each other tonight. And in the morning they’ll come home to us.”
That sounds good to me, and I take one of Elaine’s snickerdoodles and start dealing us for rummy, watching my mother-in-law cuddle my son as we wait for our wolves to return.
Hope you truly enjoyed the book! If you didn’t like the book, please let me know why and what I can do to make it a better experience for you.
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Check out Werewolves of St. Neuri, my other Werewolf Shifter series.
Secrets, lies, mystery, and passion...
In St. Neuri, nothing is as it seems. What appears to be a small, quiet, and forgotten town is so much more. With the fog settling in every night and bodies turning up everywhere, St. Neuri proves to be more dangerous than anyone imagined.
And the rumors about wolves are escalating...
While grieving her father's death, Millie falls for the dashing bad boy with a smile who melts her heart. And Sarah wants so much more--and it starts with the man who puts her in a world of danger and desire. But even Janelle's secret is more than she can handle--especially from the billionaire with his own hidden agenda. And when Lily finds herself entangled in a love triangle, passion may be her only reprieve.
Werewolves of St. Neuri is a steamy four-book boxed set, guaranteed to set the pages on fire. One book isn't nearly enough; you'll be howling for more.
Will the secrets of St. Neuri bring them together or tear them apart?
About the Author
Abigail is a very romantic and open minded lady. She writes mainly Paranormal Shifter Romance and Contemporary Romance. She loves spending time with her 2 finicky cats, her 2 shy dogs (they are twin sisters) and her husband. She lives in Lewisville, Texas and LOVES it there!
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