“You’re very welcome to stay with me forever.As for a job, I don’t know of any right now, but I can keep an ear out for one for you.Also with the pack.”She said that she didn’t want to rush into anything right away; her feelings were still tender from the landlord.“I’ll gladly show him the error of his ways if you’d allow me to.I can’t promise that I won’t hurt him, but I’ll gladly make sure he understands that to hurt you in any way hurts me.”
“I’ll be fine.I think I was just too tender at the moment since Daff had fired me.Gently, of course, she was so nice that I wanted to fire myself when she pointed out that I was taking the job of someone who needed it.So he might have been nice, and I wasn’t feeling it.”He said he understood.“Can I have my own bedroom for now?I don’t want to sound ungrateful about you allowing me to live here, but I’m not ready for sex just yet.”
“Of course.”He took her to the two bedrooms on the second floor and let her choose.Hisbedroom was at the other end of the hall, and he promised her that he didn’t get up much during the night unless he was on call.“There is a washer and dryer up here as well as one on the first floor that you can use if you wish as well.”
It worked out for the two of them in that he showed her around and made plans with his family to have dinner at one of their homes.It was Cass who said she’d host dinner, and then he told her about her losing her job and place to live today.Telling her that she was tender didn’t get him teased at all when he thought for sure that it would have.
~*~
She couldn’t have asked for a better family to hang out with.Cass told her how welcome she was and that the two of them hit it off so well that it surprised her.She didn’t make female friends so easily, and she was glad for the friendship of the other woman.The men were nice, too, and overly polite.It occurred to her that wolves might be the jealous type, and that was why they were keeping their distance from her.She asked Cass about it.
“You’re newly mated to Kendrick and have not yet bonded.They are a jealous lot, but can be as sweet as pie, too, when they want to be.I think that’s mostly due to their mother.She’s the nicest person that I’ve met so far.”She asked why she wasn’t here tonight.“She will be.Just not for dinner.She had a pack meeting that she couldn’t miss, and everyone was all right with that.”
“I have a lot to learn.”She said that it’ll be easier on her because she’s not a pack bitch like she was.“You let them call you that?”
“I do.It’s not so bad when they mean it the way that they do.I’ve had to hit the ground running, so to speak.”She told her some of the things that were going on around town and how much she owed to Brew.“You’ll meet him, too.He’s a vampire who’s ancient and has a mate.He and his friends are doing things around town to make it better, too.Like the greenhouse.”
They talked about how many jobs the greenhouse was going to be bringing in and when it would be ready to see its first plants.Cass was brilliant and didn’t treat her like she was someone who was new to all of the things going on around her.They had a lovely talk, and when they were ready to eat, she got to sit next to the woman and was delighted that dinner was so much fun.It was loud too.
After dinner, Conri, besotted with his wife, told the group that they were going to have a baby.Mom apparently had been told yesterday, so it was now all right to share the news with everyone else.Congratulations were said all around, and they couldn’t wait to see if she was going to have a boy or a girl.There hadn’t been a girl born in their family for over four hundred years, and they were looking forward to it happening.
Going back to Kendrick’s home, they all seemed to be all right with her living with him now instead of when they got to know one another better, they sat in the living room reading books.She’d found several on his bookshelves that she’d been meaning to read, and he was very generous with the couch for her to lie on.She could get used to this, she told herself, and was happy that he was seemingly such a nice guy.His mother said he was the greatest, but she said that about all her sons, so she wasn’t sure how much stock to put into her words.
“Mom said to tell you that before you get a job, she might have something for you to do.It wouldn’t take you out of the house every day, and you might hate it, but she has a charity that she works for that is in need of a couple more hands.”She said that she was fine with whatever she got.“You might not want to say that to mom.She’ll have you at every luncheon and affair that she can think of.Mom isn’t now nor has she ever been a stay-at-home mom.And I think that’s why we all love her so much.”
“It must have been hard on her with the six of you growing up.And you said your dad was a bastard.She seems as nice as I’ve ever met, and I have a feeling that she can be a she-wolf when she needs to be.”He told her about a time that Yuri had gotten in trouble at school.“My goodness, she didn’t waste any time on going through the channels, did she.That’s the kind of mom I want to be.And in answer to your earlier question, yes, someday I’d like to have children.But after we get to know one another a little bit more.”
“Good.I’d like that as well.”When she went up to bed around eleven, she waited on the side of her bed for Kendrick to come in, demanding that she have sex with him.Since he said he was coming right up after locking up the house, she was surprised and dismayed that it was midnight, and he didn’t come barging into her room.Thinking herself stupid for even thinking that he’d do something like that, she huffed her way through her nighttime rituals and got into bed.What a day it had been for her, and she’d only known the man for four days.She was going to have to get her head on right, or he was going to have her committed.Sharon felt as off her noddle as she called her grannie sometimes.
Sleep wasn’t long in coming to her.After getting into bed, she felt her body relax a little at a time.When she reached over to turn off the light, she nearly dragged the glass of water off the side table with her.She had to relax again after that and found that she was much more tired than she’d thought that she was.Rolling to her side, she was asleep in minutes, but not before she thought of tomorrow.
They were going house hunting.She’d never done that before and was sort of excited to be doing it for the first time with Kendrick.He said that he moved around every few years so that he could get out of his head.She thought that, being around as long as he was, he’d be bored easily.But then she thought of all the changes that he’d seen and witnessed that she wished she could talk to him about that.It must have been scary and wonderful growing up when there was nothing but land around them.
Kendrick had told her that was how they’d adapted their last name.The three rivers had come together to form a ‘y’ in the city, and they had thought of it as a valley.Moving to the area that would later be known as Dresden, they had formed the little town with the new people when they started to arrive.Valley had become their last name for the city that they lived in.And what a beautiful valley it had been, he told her.
Dozing off a little with each breath she took, Sharon thought about her day.It seemed so long ago that she’d gotten fired, and it had only been a few hours ago.Kendrick had opened his doors for her and never once made her feel like she was going to be a burden on him.In fact, she’d never felt so welcomed as she did when he showed her around his house.Even when she’d been living with her grannie, she had never felt like she belonged.This home wasn’t their forever home, he said, but they’d find one that would give them memories of their own to make.
Waking up once in the middle of the night, she didn’t have any idea where she was.It took her several panic-filled moments to remember that she was at Kendrick’s house and that she was safe.That was a new feeling for her, feeling safe.But after going to the bathroom and cleaning up after herself, she went to the window and looked out.She nearly screamed when she saw bright eyes looking up at her from the yard.
“Wolves.”Almost as if whoever it was knew she was looking at him, he looked up at the window she was standing in front of.That was when she noticed that there were several more of the large creatures in the yard, and she watched as they seemed to be playing around.It had to be Kendrick and his brothers out for a night of running around.When she looked back at the wolf that had been looking at her, she was surprised to see him laying down on the grass.
She wondered what it would be like to become an entirely different thing.She’d read books that were considered paranormal romance that would talk about how easy it would be to shift from human to wolf, then back again.She’d also read that they had to stay as one or the other for several minutes before they could shift back.Watching the other wolves as they danced around in the moonlight, she wondered again what it would be like to be able to not be yourself for a while.It must be exhilarating, she thought.Getting into bed when she realized that her feet were cold, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.She knew she had a smile on her face; she could feel it there even as she closed her eyes.
Chapter 2
The next morning, he was at his office before Sharon came down for breakfast.On Fridays, he liked to get an early start on his day so that he could be out of the office by three.Usually, it was closer to five, but he did try.As the first of his patients was shown to their room, he had a feeling that today was going to be a longer day than he had anticipated.His first patient, Mr.Moss, set the tone for the rest of his day.
“What can I do for you, Mr.Moss?”Today, like all the other times he’d come in to see him, was going to be rough.“I’ve heard about Mrs.Watkins.I’m sorry that she passed.Have you found yourself another housekeeper yet?”
“No, and I damn well don’t like looking.I don’t know why you young people don’t do more for the elderly.We’re people too.”He said that he knew that and thought about the elderly all the time.“Are you calling me old?”
“I am not.I was only commenting on your statement.Your ear looks better.”He touched his fingers to the ear that had been infected a few days ago.“That cream must have really helped out.”
“It did not.I had to resort to my own remedies.You quacks don’t know a thing about the old-timey remedies that we had.It would do the trick, or you’d die from something as simple as a splinter.”He knew that Mr.Moss knew that he was older than him, but didn’t comment.It would get him backlash, and he didn’t want that today.“When are you going to sell that house of yours?I’m thinking I need something bigger.”
“I’m looking for houses right now.And my house has a lot of stairs.Weren’t you just telling me that you hate the stairs in your current home?I would think you’d want something that is all on one level.”He huffed at him, and he was all right with that.He thought the old man was lonely, and that’s why he came to see him.But he was going to be on his best behavior today so as not to get him riled up.“Is your daughter still going out and fixing your pills for you for the week?You let me know if she’s not.The pharmacy here in town will do them up for you for no extra charge.”
“She does all right.She has to do something that makes her feel useful while she’s still hanging around.I think she only does it because she’s afraid of getting to the pearly gates and finding that she was a few good deeds short of getting inside.I got news for her.A few pills in a plastic container ain’t going to get her inside either.”
