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)
Henri wasn’t the first person to ditch me without a second glance, and he wasn’t going to be the last. At least Duncan had given me kisses every time he’d run by while I’d spent the rest of the day in the nursery with the very nice teacher named Maggie, who had thanked me no less than ten times for helping out since I had no idea what else to do with myself. Even if that “help” had mainly consisted of me helping her pass out supplies for projects, tie shoelaces that somehow miraculously were constantly getting unraveled, and then playing board games with the older kids—who had been whispering about Shiloh and Pascal’s shenanigans the day before—who were out of school for the summer, still.
I liked all the kids. They were well-mannered, a little mischievous, kind, and just good kids.
Even Agnes, who had snarled at me when I’d offered to wipe her face after she’d eaten dehydrated chicken necks for a snack.
And now we were here, in the kitchen, just the three of us. Agnes had left the nursery with a puppy a little older than her.
“It just seems a little convenient to me that he has time.” Sienna tried to give me a smile that mostly made her look drunk since she wasn’t feeling well. She dropped her voice. “He doesn’t make you feel awkward?”
Awkward? “No. Why?” I whispered back.
She dropped her voice even more, to the point where I had to read her lips because her volume was nonexistent. “Because of the vibes he gives off. The way he talks. He feels like… so much, you know what I mean?”
Hmm. I guess I could see it. Everything about him seemed bigger, size-wise and personality-wise, than any other person I’d ever met. There was something imposing about him. Like if there was a werewolf I needed to roll over and show my belly to, he was the only one that would make me. “The way he was talking to someone today, I can see that. But I’m not like you guys, so it doesn’t hit me as hard. I can still picture him as a teenager in my head, with his hoodie always pulled up, trying to be quiet and mysterious. Maybe that’s it?”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “And he isn’t a warm person. Not like Matti at all.”
I thought about the way he’d made the kids’ breakfast so patiently and thoughtfully. But I barely knew him, and really, the more I argued about the goodness in him, the more Sienna might see something that wasn’t there. He was doing his duty. In his ridiculous body. That was all.
“Who knows why people are the way they are and do the things they do. I only hope he’s nice to Duncan and decent with me.”
“He better be.” She fisted her hand in the air between us.
I laughed at the same time as she did the same. “Hopefully other people here like me. So far, I’ve got most of the kids in the bag. I met some family members today who were friendly….” They had all been werewolves, except for Shiloh’s mother. The ogre child had left with a werewolf pup and her parents. “I’ll settle for no one calling me hurtful names.” I crossed my fingers.
Like Spencer.
And there went the guilt again.
“They better f-ing not,” she threatened in that way she always had when someone had been rude in her presence. People could be mean to her, but heaven forbid anyone hurt one of her loved ones’ feelings. It was the werewolf in her. “You don’t need to win anyone over. Someone having you in their life is a gift they should be grateful for.”
I started to reach over to touch her, but I remembered she was sick and stopped with my hand halfway to her. “Have I told you today that I love you, Germs?” I asked, dropping my hand.
“You don’t need to. I know.” She smiled, and I tucked her love into my heart where it belonged.
“Before I forget, guess what I saw?” I didn’t wait for her to answer. “A sasquatch!”
She sucked in a breath just like I’d expected. “You saw one?”
“I did more than see it. We pissed each other off, and I told him he had dry hair—”
“Nina!” she shrieked with a hoarse laugh, instantly regretting it from the way she broke off into a whimper, her palm going for her stomach.
“He was ready to end me. He threw a log at me, and I told him he had split ends, and now I feel bad because Henri said he’s mean but he’s also a lonely sasquatch.”
“He threw a log at you?”
She sounded so concerned. “Henri threw one back at him. It was pretty epic,” I explained, miming the movement of him treating the log like a javelin. “He made me promise to stay out of the way when we got to the area where we found him, but I didn’t listen.”