BRATT. Embarrassment blazed through me as I sprinted through the reserve. I suddenly dreaded seeing Marley when I went to pick up my son. Maybe I could just send Travis in to get him? No, that was even more cowardly. I groaned internally and forced my legs to go faster and faster as if I could outrun my own humiliation. Why did I even care what a kindergarten teacher thought of me? Because it wasn’t just any kindergarten teacher, was it? There had been another teacher looking out the window, too, I realized. The shifter teacher. But my embarrassment didn’t extend to her. No, just to the perfect sandy blonde who smelled like honey and roses. Fuck. I didn’t have time for this, and the last thing I needed to do was complicate Noah’s school experience by becoming interested in his teacher. Yet, more and more, I found that my interest in Marley was more than just cursory. It was hardwired into me biologically. Something about her just turned my wolf into a puppy who wanted nothing
BRATT. Taking Noah to my folks’ place was always a treat for everyone involved. I usually got to eat an amazing homecooked meal with my parents, Noah got to be spoiled by his grandparents, and Mom and Dad got a chance to spend time with their only grandson. My mother, while identifying primarily as a shifter, had a lot of Italian heritage in her bloodline. In fact, she was the first generation born in the States to my late grandparents after they immigrated. Because of that, food had always been equated with love in my household, and we ate a lot of amazing food. Now that my parents were retired, my mother spent most of her time improving old recipes. Buying her a pasta press for Christmas a couple of years prior was the best and worst decision I ever made. When we pulled up outside of the house, even Travis could smell the fresh garlic and butter from outside their beachfront bungalow. “Holy shit,” he said as we climbed out of the car. “Uncle Travis! Bad word!” “I know, I know
BRATT. “I don’t know, Mom. I’ll think about it. Let’s just drop it for now. I don’t want things to get…” I looked at Noah again, still blissfully unaware for now. “I just don’t want to talk about confusing stuff.” “Fine,” she said, lifting her brows in concern. “We’ll drop it for now.” The rest of dinner went easily enough, and by the time Noah’s food was almost finished, he was already starting to get a little drowsy. Since it was still early for him to be going to bed, my dad took him to play with knick-knacks in his workroom. The sun was beginning to set when Travis and I hugged and kissed my mother goodbye. “You guys have fun tonight and drive safely. If you need to run home, just do that.” “Mom, I’m a grown man. You don’t have to remind me not to drink and drive,” I teased. “I don’t have to, that’s true, but I will anyway,” she said with a wink. “Don’t worry about Noah. We’ll take him to school in the morning. We want to see the place anyway. We haven’t seen it since the
We really had to stop bumping into each other.Every single time I ran into Bratt Lucas, it got harder and harder to say no to him—to myself. I wondered if he was aware of the way the world around me had gone quiet when I saw him looking at me from the bar. I wondered if he could hear the way my heart had pounded against my sternum when he slid off of his barstool and walked over to our table.“We have to stop running into each other like this,” he said, looking right.My heart throttled as alarm bells went off in my mind. This man was a shifter, the very thing I’d sworn myself off of after Wyatt. More than that, he was the father of one of my students. I’d only just got my life back. I couldn’t risk losing it again.But the power and confidence about him… The perfect body and flawlessly groomed facial hair… The smell of him. It felt as if I was wandering through a desert, starving and parched, and he was a spread of the most decadent foods and the promise of a cold drink of water.“I
BRATT. God, to be a fly on the wall of Marley’s mind. I didn’t know how long I stood there, watching her wheels turn, but it was long enough to sus out that she had an aversion to shifters. I knew better than to think it was prejudice or even a phobia. I’d seen lycanphobic people around shifter children. Those assholes always seemed uncomfortable and awkward around them. I’d noticed it when Noah was around. Men and women gave him wary looks like he was a rabid animal about to lash out. Marley wasn’t like that. I recognized something in Marley. Someone wounded. It pained me to think of what could have happened in the past to make her that way. I wanted to heal those old wounds, heal them in myself. But for now, Marley wanted to dance, and I could do that. I offered her my hand and a smile, and she took both. Our fingers twined together as I pulled her past the dining area to the dance floor. The music was loud and had a bass line so deep we could feel it in our chests. As we reac
BRATT. Marley laughed, shaking her head slightly. “Paulette is a lot of fun. One of those girls who just loves everything to be fun and exciting. Is Travis that way?” I shrugged. “He tries to get me out of my shell a lot. For better or worse.” Marley nodded. “Yeah, Lana and Paulette both do that. They have since I moved here. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve gone out in years. I think that’s why I ran out of steam so quickly—I forgot what it’s like.” “I haven’t been out to a place like that in a long time, either. Not since before Noah was born,” I said. “Not entirely sure I prefer it. I’m happier at a little brewery or a wine cellar.” “Or just really, really good food,” Marley said. “You know what? Yeah. Really good food trumps all the alcohol in the world.” “Nothing good has ever happened because of alcohol. But there are lots of great things that have happened over meals,” Marley agreed. “Our founding fathers made decisions over dinners,” I said, “Consolidating deb
I was so freaked out that I couldn’t even follow Bratt’s instructions properly. Truth be told, I couldn’t even remember getting in the car with how quickly I descended into a complete and utter panic. Someone—a shifter—had come into my house. It must have been Wyatt, but I couldn’t be sure. Even if Bratt described every nuance of the scent he’d caught, there was no way that I could have confirmed whether it was Wyatt. My mind raced as the past year of careful repression surged through me. I realized I had only been barely holding it together. This whole time I’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and here it finally was. Somehow, Wyatt had tailed me all the way to New Middle Bluff, and now he would ruin my life here too. I ran through a million scenarios in my head. I would probably have to leave the state and start anew in some other city, and I probably wouldn’t get as lucky this time. There was no way I’d find someone like Lana who would drop everything and put me up in a
Bratt I was relieved Marley had agreed to spend the night at my house. If she’d refused, I would have just patrolled her house—or wherever she’d intended to stay—all night. I could protect her better at my place, and I would feel like a creepy stalker prowling around outside her home. And since Noah was at my parents’ house until morning, there wouldn’t be any awkward questions about why his teacher was sleeping over. Marley’s brightness had left her when I’d told her about the intruder. All the color had drained from her face, and fear shone from her exhausted eyes. Just how badly had her ex treated her for her to be so terrified that he might have followed her to New Middle Bluff? Then again, I could only speculate as to how complicated my feelings would be if Olivia broke into my house and made herself comfortable. How unnerving it would be if she pointedly avoided doing anything that could get her in any real legal trouble. It was absolutely ludicrous that Marley’s stalker coul