Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
I checked in on Missy Harrington several times, and it seemed living with her sister suited her, her daughter, and their puppy. Her divorce attorney got a restraining order for the new family of four—counting her sister—and it didn’t hurt the case against him when her estranged husband was found with a gun in his hand in her sister’s boxwoods one morning. Again he told everyone—cops, his public defender, the police officers who carried him to their car—that he wasn’t drunk, but that sounded as ridiculous as it had the first time he said it. Again, passed out in the bushes didn’t look good. The boundary I had put up had been temporary, and I didn’t have to use much of my energy to maintain it for such a short time. I removed it once I knew he was safely in jail awaiting sentencing for what could only be seen as attempted murder. Missy, her daughter, and her sister wouldn’t be seeing James Harrington again for a good long time.
It was Friday, right after eight, so it was pretty dead. Everyone was getting their drink on, watching TV, or shooting pool at the Bullet and Hound, the local pub, by then. After the dinner crowd cleared out, we did coffee until ten, and then we closed up. Only the pub and the lone gas station stayed open until midnight. My staff was starting to discuss their Thanksgiving plans, as the holiday was suddenly looming.
Fletcher, who was finishing up his dinner as I was wiping down salt and pepper shakers and marrying them up, said, out of the blue, that Justin had been out of town or he certainly would have come by to see me.
I stopped wiping the counter in front of him to stare. “What?”
He shrugged. “Well, you’re all he talks about.”
“Awww,” Desta said from where she stood beside me, leaning on my arm, having been figuring out what homemade tea blends she was going to make next week for each day. She liked to change them up, and since she was the one who mixed them, she was the one in charge of the schedule. “He thought you were pretty.”
“I suspect so,” Fletcher said, smiling at Desta.
She straightened up and pointed at him. “Fletcher Beauden, I told you to stop flirting with me. I could be your mother.”
He scoffed. “Hardly.”
“I’m older than you,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, by what, three years?”
“Five,” she said firmly.
“And?”
“I’m too old for you. Ask Sachi out, or Gaia.”
He rested his chin on his fist. “No, ma’am.”
“I have two kids.”
“Who seem to like me just fine.”
She gave a huff of frustration and walked away.
After a moment I said, “You do remember that you’re a wolf and she’s not, right?”
“Yeah, but I get the feeling that with what she’s been through in her life, me being a wolf wouldn’t scare her at all.”
I nodded. “That’s probably true, but do you have permission from your alpha to date someone outside your species?”
He squinted at me. “Why would he care?”
“I don’t know, but you might wanna clarify with the man before you start courtin’ one of my favorite people.”
He grunted noncommittally, but he left. Which was good. I didn’t want Desta to ever be hurt. None of my people were allowed to be hurt on my watch.
Since I’d left work early, everyone having shooed me out, I was looking forward to a relaxing night. Of course, making plans to do nothing was never a good idea. I had just made it home, right after nine, and was about to walk up the steps to my front door when an SUV rolled up my driveway. Turning, I waited on the cobblestone driveway that looped around behind the drive to my garage. There was no car inside, instead it was a workshop where I made the porcelain mugs, plates of assorted sizes, platters, sugar bowls, creamer pitchers, salt and pepper shakers, and small vases we used in the restaurant. The barware we bought, but I had been responsible for everything else since we first opened.
Reggie got out before Fletcher, and I tried not to look as annoyed as I felt. They were at my home, my refuge, my sanctuary, and why they hadn’t called, I had no idea. The only people who simply showed up at my house were friends or people who worked for me.
I scowled at them and asked if they had any idea what time it was.
“Yeah, we know.” Reggie sounded tired and sad at the same time. “But we need you to come down the mountain and speak to our alpha and his mate.”
Instead of being thrilled that I was finally being invited, I said, “Why?”
“Because they need to speak to you, and it’s important.”
“Why now?”
“There was an issue earlier.”
“I don’t understand. What kind of issue, what does it have to do with me, and when did it occur?”