Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
The man I had called Fluffy when I’d been too young for him to tell me to stop focused on me for another long moment before he turned to the two people who had been silent until then. “Randall, Ani, this is Nina. Nina, Randall and Ani are members of the community who handle our security issues. Randall lives in the clubhouse too.”
I smiled at them, feeling my hands twitch with the magic high still coursing through me and the adrenaline from having a log thrown in my direction from a bigfoot, and I shoved my hand out first toward the tall, muscular blonde woman, then the strawberry-blond man. We shook. “Nice to meet you,” I told them both. “I’m not usually that mean toward strangers, forgive me. Please let me know if I can help with anything.”
Instead of judgy eyes, I got a smile from the woman. “He had it coming. Welcome to the ranch,” Ani said, her eyes flicking toward her palm.
She didn’t seem scared or concerned or uncomfortable, and the smallest amount of hope bloomed in my chest. “Thank you.”
Her gaze moved from my face and across the rest of me, the same kind of curiosity I usually came across in werewolves radiating from her. A little notch formed between her eyebrows.
I only kind of braced my feelings.
“How do you get your skin to glow like that?” was what she decided to ask.
I blinked. Then I smiled. “Snail moisturizer, but I think it’s mostly my genes.” I wasn’t going to say they were good genes because that was debatable, but they weren’t totally awful.
This woman who had biceps the size of calf muscles groaned. “Do you use vitamin C?”
I shook my head.
She pursed her lips together. “Exfoliate?”
“What’s that?”
Her lips parted, and I grinned.
“I’m just messing with you. Twice a week, every week,” I shared.
Ani’s laugh made me smile. It was loud and free, and I liked it. You could tell a lot about a person based on their laugh, and the freedom in hers said a whole lot. She had the same golden-brown eyes as so many werewolves I’d known. She had to be five ten minimum, I guessed. Everything about her seemed capable, and looking at her made me feel safer. No wonder she was part of the security team.
The man took a step forward. He had a short beard a shade darker than the strawberry-colored hair on his head. “Can I…?” He lifted his hand and tapped his neck.
He wanted to smell me the way I’d offered to let Henri do the same yesterday. I nodded, and he didn’t need to be told twice, he stepped forward and started to lean in—
A hand landed on the redhead’s forehead and shoved his face back. “No,” Henri snapped.
I opened my mouth to tell him it was fine, that I was used to it, but he moved on from the topic too quickly to give me a chance, and the guy didn’t argue with him over it.
“I’m going to guess, since I haven’t heard from either of you until now, that you didn’t find the trespasser?” he asked.
“No.” Ani was the one who answered. “Nothing fresh. She has to be long gone by now. We would have found her if she was nearby.”
“Good. We’ll move on and deal with her if she comes back.” There was an odd beat of silence. “Something tells me that won’t happen.”
I scratched behind my ear.
“I did some research on them last night. There isn’t a whole lot of information available. They go by different names in different places, yadda, yadda, but they all seem to be aggressive….” The man, Randall, trailed off, his gaze sliding back toward me.
He was cute, I thought, and I was on a one-way mission. A very important one. I couldn’t help but try and peek at his left hand, but it was on the side of his body I didn’t have direct access to. I’d try and check again some other time, I decided, rocking back and forth on my heels as I listened to them.
I had to keep my options open here. Unless….
“We’ll keep an eye out,” Henri said. There was a pause. “Either of you seen Dominic today?”
Where had I heard that name before?
The man made a snickering sound. “Not up close, but I saw his black eye from a distance.”
The guy who split his lip!
“He needs to be glad I only gave him one.” Henri’s voice was low. “If he doesn’t show up for his patrol tonight, let me know. I need to get going and finish this before my shift starts,” Henri told them. “Be safe.”
That was my sign to quit playing dumb. I smiled at them. “It was nice meeting you both. If I can help with anything, please let me know. I’m staying in the clubhouse.”