She listened to the sound of the washer machine and dryer going and closed her eyes. She always knew that luxury meant different things to different people. Who knew the sounds of laundry could be so precious to her?
It meant they were safe. They had a place to call home now. Safety was a luxury she hadn’t been able to afford, hadn’t even dared hope for in the past six years. But she needed it now. Needed a place that was secure for Skylar to grow up in. They both did.
Now that they were here, they would make the best of it. They would finally have a life. Lydia could run her small bookkeeping and budgeting business, Pennies To Dollars, from anywhere.
Again she shook her head at the path destiny had taken her down. Her grandmother hated computers and now she made her living on one. Having upgraded her computer just last year, she’d requested a cabin with fast internet.
Marcus had laughed, but he’d made it happen. The tiny cabin was close to a cell tower and equipped with high speed internet so she could support her business and therefore, her small family.
It was very kind of Elias to ensure she had what she needed. Very kind of the Pack too, though he reminded her that she and Skylar were Pack in every sense of the word.
She and Skylar had spent days just settling in. They’d gone to town earlier that day for some supplies and a quick bite. Of course, Skylar had immediately gotten into trouble.
Ten minutes after they’d stopped to grab some food at the very same diner that had led her to Dark Moon Falls, Skylar had decided to run through the small black and yellow establishment and right smack into someone.
That man! Anger and another emotion she’d rather not think about swelled within her as she pictured the stranger in her mind.
He’d been tall and well-built with cords of muscle covering his long frame. He had a short cropped beard and piercing gray eyes that glittered when he’d looked down at her daughter.
All her protective instincts went on high alert when she’d seen his unsmiling face staring down at her baby. Usually, Lydia managed to keep her mama bear instincts on the down low, but something about this guy had her all amped up.
She shook her head. He must have thought she was nuts. She didn’t even apologize for Skylar running into him, instead she’d gone on the defensive and scolded him for growling at her girl.
Her cheeks had grown warm around him, and she could only imagine her unflattering blush. On someone with her pale coloring she figured she looked frightening with her cheeks all blotchy and her curly brown hair sticking out of its low ponytail every which way. Her simple cotton dress was comfy if not fashionable and her flip flops were pretty much the same.
She could never afford the type of clothing a man like that would prefer on his women. She didn’t know why, but she expected he’d want someone glamorous if not fond of heels and couture.
Oh well. That just wasn’t her. Why was she wasting her time thinking about this man? She shook her head and started to pair some of the socks that she’d already washed and dried.
Her mind still buzzed with images of him, but she pushed them out of her head with a stern no. If she could only ignore the parts of her that went warm at the sight of him.
Okay, he’d been more than simply good looking. The guy was drop dead gorgeous. His chiseled features were framed by thick, wavy hair with gold highlights spread throughout. His voice was deep and sexy. Gravelly, like he wasn’t used to using it and it made her body hum with anticipation.
Lydia suddenly dropped the basket of socks. Shoot! What was wrong with her? She had no time to think about the sexy stranger. Hell. She wanted nothing to do with him or any man for that matter. Nothing at all.
“Mommy! Where’s Buster?”
Lydia turned and ran to her daughter’s bedroom. A couple of boxes and crates sat in the hallway, waiting to be put away along with a handful of shopping bags, but she ignored them for now.
It was the first time they’d be staying anyplace for longer than a few months and she figured that was worth celebrating. A few homey odds and ends would make the place feel like theirs. And that was very important to her at the moment.
“What is it, sweetie? Can’t find Buster?”
The little bunny rabbit stuffed animal was one of Skylar’s favorite. Lydia had taught her daughter long ago that stuff was just that. Stuff could be replaced.
It hurt her heart to think of all the times she’d felt Mac closing in on them and had taken off leaving most of their things behind. Hopefully that part of their lives was over now.
“Nope. He’s missing, Mommy.”
“Alright, he’s probably in one of the boxes. I’ll check tomorrow.”
“Okay, Mommy. Please look.”
“I will, sweetie, promise,” Lydia said and knelt by her daughter’s bed and raised the new princess comforter she’d bought her that day.
They’d had to wash the blanket and sheets twice to get it soft enough. She’d even splurged on the expensive fabric softener and dryer sheets this time around. The whole cabin smelled divine as a result.
“Mommy, will the kids at school like me?”
“Of course, sweetheart. Who wouldn’t like you?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered and looked up at her mom with her heart in her baby blue eyes before she whispered, “Will we have to leave here soon?”
“No, honey,” Lydia swallowed against tears, “I think we will stay awhile.”
“Okay. I liked the school, Mommy. Miss Ellen sure has a lot of teeth when she smiles,” she said.
“Yes, she does.”
“Will I have teeth like that?”
“Maybe. Why?”
“Cause I’m a Wolf too, right?”
“Yes, baby, when you get older you are going to be a beautiful strong Wolf,” Lydia agreed. She’d never kept her identity a secret though she’d done her best to protect her from Mac.
“And I will have a big smile?”
“Yep. The biggest and brightest,” she tapped her daughters nose playfully, but the little girl frowned as if she were deep in thought.
“That man I ran into today didn’t smile, Mommy. His Wolf was sad.”
“Well, that wasn’t your fault,” Lydia told her sweet daughter and once again she became angry at the good-looking stranger.
“Why didn’t he smile, Mommy?”
“Because he’s a butthead, sweetie,” she answered and laughed when Skylar’s eyes opened wide and she broke into a fit of giggles.
“Mommy, you said a bad word!”
“I know. I’m sorry, but I don’t want you to think about that butthead anymore, you hear?”
“Yes, Mommy. Will you stay a bit?”
“Of course I will, baby,” Lydia crawled on top of the twin size bed and held her daughter until she fell asleep listening to her soft, even breathing.
Everything was going to be okay. It had to be.
Chapter Three
“It’s been two weeks and I’m no closer to finding out who framed me than I was when I first got here!” Foster growled, slamming his hands down on his desk and jumping up from his seat.
The private investigator he’d hired assured him this would take time, but still. He’d been out for months and they were still not very far. No matter what he tried, he simply wasn’t tech-savvy enough to try and track the fuckers who did this to him online. He had to rely on the investigator and that frustrated him.
He needed to focus on what he did know. Foster knew the artifacts had never turned up. He knew his name was still tainted by the theft. And he knew he was going to lose his mind if he didn’t find something else to do.
“Fuck this,” he grumbled as he stalked across the small living room of the two-bedroom cabin he’d rented.
He opened the back door and breathed in the fresh mountain air that turned out to be one hell of a bonus for a Wolf who’d been living in an eight by ten cell the past year and a half.
He felt his animal press against his skin. The Wolf wanted
out. Why not? It was still early morning. No one was around. He could go for a run and be back in no time without being seen.
He’d been dismayed to discover the next cabin over was only a ten minute walk up the road. Even more so when he’d seen her. The same female whose pup had tried to bowl him over at the diner only a week ago.
Foster’s nose twitched and his stomach clenched. His Wolf urged him to get closer and suck in a good whiff of her apple blossom scent. He’d resisted so far.
Barely.
Learning her schedule was easy enough. Necessary if he wanted to avoid coming into contact with either of them. The pretty young woman, who was apparently single from the looks of things, took her daughter to school every morning, ran errands, then settled in for whatever kind of work she did from home.
Then she’d leave in the early afternoon to pick her pup up from the Pack school. Avoiding them was easy. If only he wasn’t so damn curious about her.
What was she doing in Dark Moon Falls? Clearly she wasn’t from the area. She rented the same size visitor cabin he did. And where was the pup’s father? It angered him to think of her raising a child by herself while the kid’s father was off doing who knows what.
Then again, he didn’t want to think of her with any other men. Shit. He had to stop this unhealthy obsession. A run. That was what he needed.
Foster walked to where the edge of the property line met the dense woods and closed his eyes. He breathed in and out, evenly, allowing his senses to take in the area around him.
He was alone. No other human or Shifter was in the immediate vicinity. A family of rabbits had run through a few hours ago, and the scent of a lone buck who’d passed more recently still lingered. His Wolf growled. He wanted out. To hunt. To run. To be free.
Foster welcomed the Shifter magic that was as familiar as breathing to him. He felt little pain as his bones and muscles cracked and broke, shifting and mended into his other shape. His Wolf was large with dark brown fur on his back and along his snout that lightened to an amber then buff color on his stomach and throat.
He was powerful, fast, and so damn sick and tired of being cooped up. Without a second’s hesitation Foster’s Wolf dashed through the trees. His paws ate up the hard ground acre after acre. He raced, sucking in the mountain air greedily.
Foster pushed until his legs burned. He leapt over fallen limbs and tangled roots that made up the forest floor. The wind was sharp, but welcome. The cool spring morning as bright and fresh as anything he’d ever known.
Bright as a pair of blue eyes. His thoughts startled him. They travelled back to the pretty woman and her little pup.
Foster’s human half pushed back those thoughts, urging his animal to enjoy the run his newfound freedom provided. And he did. He ran and ran in a wide loping circle until he found a stream of fresh bubbling water. Drinking deeply, he panted when finished and sat down on the bank of the tiny brook.
A sound behind him caught his attention. A small scream that had his Wolf hauling ass before he could consider the consequences. A few hundred feet behind the stream, Foster came to the edge of a yard similar to his own.
Standing there was the small girl face to face with a large male fox. The tod was a smaller predator than a Wolf. Especially since he was a wild fox, not a Shifter like Foster. The animal was no match for him either.
With a single leap, he placed himself in front of the child, baring his sharp and impossibly long canines for the animal. He snarled at the fox and eventually the beast got the picture. Tail tucked he ran into the trees disappearing from view.
“Mommy!”
“Oh my God! Skylar!”
Foster turned his head to see his neighbor shove her little girl behind her body. As if she could somehow fight off a full grown Wolf Shifter with her bare hands. The idea amused and saddened him. He didn’t know her story, but he imagined it was rough to put that ferocious look on her face.
“Mommy, it’s okay,” the little girl, Skylar, said. She tried to push past her mother, but there was no way the adult was going to let that happen. She scooped up her daughter and thrust her onto her back.
Good for her, he thought.
“Mommy, he’s a good boy! He chased the fox away!” Skylar insisted.
“Fox? What fox, sweetie?”
Foster’s Wolf snorted at the idea of being called a good boy, but he was in no rush to leave.
Shit, he figured he needed words to explain what had happened. He concentrated for a moment and allowed that familiar hum of magic to enter his body and allow him to change shapes.
Exhaling slowly until he stood before Skylar and her mother as a man once more clad in only his jeans and currently unzipped hoodie. The same outfit he’d had on that morning, except now he sort of wished he had a t-shirt underneath. He felt a little silly standing there like that in his bare feet, hands up in mock surrender to the angry mama and her increasingly appealing pup.
“She’s right. There was a fox.”
“Skylar go on inside while I talk to this man,” she said, letting the child slide to the floor before turning the full force of her electric blue eyes on Foster.
He went still under her steady glare. His entire body hummed with life and magic, and something more.
Oh shit.
If he’d been uncertain before, there was no doubt in his mind now. Foster’s chest vibrated with the force of his Wolf’s growl. Every single cell focused on her and the figure she made standing in her yard in a simple knee length tank dress with no shoes and her hair in a tangle of curls down her back.
The sunlight seemed to highlight the curve of her neck and steel glint in her eyes. Yes, she would fight him with bare hands if need be. She was that brave indeed. Courageous and gorgeous. And his.
The woman with the charming little pup was Foster’s mate.
Mine, growled his Wolf.
Chapter Four
“She’s right. There was a fox.”
And one is still standing right in front of me in my own backyard, Lydia thought and licked her suddenly dry lips.
She watched his eyes follow the movement and gulped.
Holy crap.
She’d once thought Mac attractive back when she still believed in happily-ever-afters. But this man blew away any post-adolescent idea she’d ever had of masculine beauty. He looked like some kind of forest god in one of those fantasy novels she liked to read after Skylar was tucked in bed.
With the forest surrounding him all dappled in the glittering gold of the morning sunlight, he looked almost unreal. Strikingly handsome in his crimson colored sweatshirt that was currently unzipped, his muscular bronzed skin practically glowed.
He had an intricate tattoo inked across his impressive pecs and another smaller one low on his impressive set of washboard abs. Wouldn’t she love to count those up close?
She was a bigger girl, a little on the short side at five-foot four-inches, but she had curves and then some covering her tiny frame. Still, he made her feel tiny in comparison. Standing well over six feet with wide shoulders and a fierce look on his handsome face, she swallowed once again. He was so out of her league.
Lydia shook her head against the sudden and unwanted wave of arousal that threatened to topple her. The sheer force of his animal magnetism was too much for any one man alone. It was downright unfair!
The guy should come with a warning label, she mused.
“Look, mister?”
“My name is Foster Reynolds.”
“Fine. Well, um, thank you Mr. Reynolds for your help with the, uh, fox. I guess you should be going now,” she said unsure why he was still hanging around.
“Mommy, tell him to come inside,” said Skylar from the screen door in one of her infamous stage-whispers.
Heat rushed to Lydia’s face as she watched the man smile. He knew darn well she didn’t want him there, but how could she turn him away after he’d saved Skylar?
Shoot.
“Your daughter’s name is Skylar? N
ice, but I still don’t know yours,” he stated as he took one, then two steps towards her.
He approached carefully. As if he was watching her reaction with each move, he made so he did not frighten or disturb her. Lydia swallowed. It was thoughtful and disconcerting at the same time simply because, well, she wanted him closer.
Her reclusive neighbor walked across the grass with his steady gait and strange, glittering eyes looking like the predator he was. She should go inside. She should tell him to leave. But she didn’t want to.
Lydia was shocked to discover she wasn’t afraid of him. Not like she should have been. Foster Reynolds was a stranger. A Wolf Shifter. He was stronger, faster, deadlier than she could ever hope to be, but all Lydia could muster for him was curiosity and a seriously unhealthy dose of lust.
“Iced tea, Mommy! Ask him if he wants some iced tea and cookies!”
“Go inside, sweetie,” she said to her daughter and turned back to face him. He was closer now. So close she could smell the scent of damp earth and leaves still clinging to him. It smelled good.
“My name is Lydia Suzanne, Mr. Reynolds,” she said, cheeks burning with what was undoubtedly an unbecoming blush, “and it seems my daughter would like to invite you in for some iced tea?”
“That sounds perfect,” he said.
His voice was deep and rough, but not unpleasant. On the contrary she liked the sound of it. Like steel wrapped in velvet. She imagined he was hell on the ladies once he turned on the charm with that dynamite panty-wetting voice of his.
OMG! She’d only been around him for five-minutes and she couldn’t keep her mind out of the gutter. She noted his bare feet, but kept her mouth shut. He’d been running in the woods in his fur when he’d happened on her daughter.
Guilt and fear had her pausing for a moment mid-pour. Skylar was behind the other Shifter children when it came to identifying animals in the wild. Her teacher had called her in the other morning to talk about ways to bring her up to speed.
Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2 Page 102
