“I guess you can discuss it now,” I whispered as he groaned, his wife obviously ruining his plans to make me grovel.
“My dear. I thought you were still sleeping.”
She strolled up behind him and smiled at me. “I was, but then I heard Cody’s voice and had to come down. Are you finally ready to stay here for a while?”
“Yeah.” This was so humiliating. “It’s a little too hectic at home right now.”
“Oh, that’s right. I remember Darius on the phone discussing the construction plans.”
The elder werewolf’s eyes widened as he turned and shook his head.
“Oh. Was that a secret?”
“Wait,” I said as Mosavi turned back to me. “What exactly were you talking about?”
“It was an over-the-phone orientation, similar to what you all had to go through. I needed to make sure they followed the law.”
“Oh.”
“Aren’t you forgetting that you also gave them permission to remodel that old eyesore of a house?”
Everything in my vision turned silver. “It wasYOU!”
“Careful, now. You don’t want to do anything you’ll regret,” Mosavi said, holding up a hand.
“If I were a werewolf right now—”
“But you’re not, so keep your temper in check.” Mosavi turned and gave a slight snarl to Willa as she smirked and flashed her brows at him. At least I hadsomeoneon my side in this town.
If she wasn’t living here, I’d have probably taken my chances in the woods.
“It’s a little chilly out, but let’s have some mimosas by the pool,” Willa said, pulling me the rest of the way inside the house. As angry as I was, her bubbly personality always cheered me up. “Don’t worry, we’ll have more than enough time to get back at him,” she whispered.
Winter Solstice
Darius stood snout-to-snout with his wilder brother, both oftheir hackles raised as they bared every sharp tooth in their mouths. Thisfamily reunionwas going about as well as I expected.
Willa and I glanced at one another before she finally broke the ice.
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, pulling the larger feral’s attention away from the confrontation. “You certainly look different from your brother.”
“Are you the witch?” the elder asked, his tone hesitant.
“I prefer to be called a lady, but if we must be specific—yes.”
The feral looked back at his brother as if gauging his body language. “No tricks. No spells. No trinkets.” He turned away and began walking along a dirt path. This place was both familiar and strange. Even though I’d been here before, the forest always seemed to change, like a living maze.
Mosavi glared back at me, and I shrugged before following the feral elder.
“What a waste of time. We could be in the Caribbean,” Darius muttered.
“It’s almost Christmas. Wouldn’t you rather try to make amends with your family?” I asked, looking back in time to see Mosavi roll his eyes.
“I would rather be on my yacht pleasing my wife with a little half-turn ass on the side.”
I shuddered at that considering what had happened a few days after I moved in. Willa had been tending to her restaurant, and I’d had a little too much scotch during one of Mosavi’s ‘lessons.’ He was every bit as rough and dominant as I’d imagined he would be.
“Just so you know, that’s never going to happen again.”
