“Lose something?” he asked, closing the distance between us.
I looked down at his bare feet. “Careful where you step. There might be glass.”
He reached the counter and propped the ball against the register. “What happened last night?”
“I don’t exactly know. I was taking out the trash and heard a loud noise. By the time I came back inside, they were gone. I found that on the floor by the window.”
“Do you have any enemies?”
I repositioned the wolf carving to face the door. “None.”
“You hesitated.”
“I’m not really sure how to answer that. I’m a Packmaster’s daughter, so I guess my father’s enemies are my enemies.”
Tak rested his palms on the counter and leaned forward. “A woman of your station should be revered and respected by those in the community. No one would dare threaten any of my sisters, even though they’re mated.”
Dodging his question, I knelt to check the safe again.
Years ago, I brought shame to my family. Only those in close circles knew about the scandal. I had just gone through my first change, and my packmates were looking at me in a different light. I exuded the power of the old world, which was alluring to the opposite sex. An older wolf in our pack seduced me. I wasn’t naive about Shifter desires, especially after having gone through heat for the first time. My mother always said that my purity was a gift—one I should give to a chosen life mate. In retrospect, I should have listened to her. I ended up giving my virginity to someone who didn’t matter. My father was adept at reading people, and it didn’t take him long before he noticed the intimate and familiar way that wolf looked at me. When he found out the truth, he almost killed the wolf. Instead, he disgraced him by kicking him out of the pack. My parents swept it under the rug, but there was no telling who else might have found out about it. That uncertainty made it difficult to look my former packmates in the eye. Did they know my secret? Did my actions make my father an incompetent leader in their eyes?
It made moving out with Melody the sanest thing to do.
There was no shame in having sex outside of marriage, but it was a big no-no to fool around with packmates in secret. Packmasters kept the peace, so it was crucial for them to know about any developing relationships that could jeopardize the harmony of the pack. The alpha might have to make the decision whether to allow that union under his roof or put in a transfer request.
Two or more wolves vying for the same woman can be trouble, which is why children move out when they come of age. Not all packmates are mated, so running a cohesive pack is imperative.
I’d put my father in a difficult situation by keeping my affair a secret. It was deceptive and unworthy of the kind of woman they’d raised.
“You’re quiet down there,” Tak said. “Are you sure that’s all that happened last night?”
I put everything back in the safe and stood, my thumbs hooked behind the straps of my overalls. “It just shook me up. That’s all.”
He sniffed and turned around. “Maybe the message was meant for Melody or Lakota. That, I could see. Your brother seems to leave a mess wherever he goes.”
“Or maybe it was just a prank. At this point, there’s nothing I can do about it but speculate. There’s no note, no witnesses who came forward, and no reason to worry myself sick. The show must go on.”
He folded his arms, his back still to me. “So what are your plans for today?”
I looked around the shop. “It’ll take me a while to clean everything to my standards. No sense opening the store today, so I guess when I’m done, I’ll go home and do chores. If there’s any time left, I might work on some designs.”
“Do you make all that jewelry yourself?”
“I used to, but now I just come up with the designs. My assistant assembles the popular items we sell in high volume, which gives me time to focus on the more expensive pieces.”
His back muscles flexed when he lowered his arms. “Do you want to go out?”
“I have work to do.”
“No, I mean when you’re done.” His braid rose a little higher on his back when he looked down at his bare feet.
“There’s nowhere I need to go.”
He peered over his shoulder and stared intensely. “You’re going to make this hard for me, aren’t you?” Tak slowly turned around and splayed his fingertips on the counter. “Do you… want to go out… with me?”
My stunned gaze traveled from his bare chest to the sarong knotted at his hip.
A smile wound up the tatted side of his face. “I can either change clothes or wear this. Whatever you want.”
