“I did grow up with four brothers. One of whom you’re marrying.”
“I know. I can’t wait.”
I made a gagging noise even though deep down, when Adalyn and Nash got together it was the best day of my life, second only to when my first digitally painted book cover sold for a grand. “Bye,chica.”
“Bye, Nikki.”
I tossed my phone into my bag, then dug my keys out from my pocket and was about to unlock my car—there used to be a fancy remote control, until Niall—when someone tapped my shoulder. Pulse ramping, I shoved my keys between my fingers and spun around.
A guy wearing a baseball cap in spite of the sun having set an hour ago held up a tampon. “You dropped this.”
Even though his face was steeped in shadows, his gorgeous maleness didn’t elude me—straight nose, dark eyes, full mouth, defined jaw, evening stubble, strong neck. He was the sort of guy I drew on book covers. Tall, dark, and obscenely handsome.
But then my gaze snagged on something that made my lust shrivel up. On the upside, my fear expired at the same time. He had a baby carrier strapped to his middle. It’s not that I didn’t like children, but they usually meant a wife.
His nostrils flared out slightly as he wiggled the plastic-covered tampon.Right. The reason he’d approached me in the first place.
“Thank you.” I took it from him and chucked it into my bag.
Out of all the things that could’ve rolled out . . . Ireallyneeded pouches. Wait. Why had he sniffed the air? Only shifters did that. Or pervs, but he didn’t strike me as a pervert.
I took a long inhale—musk, mint, wolf. How had I missed that he was a shifter? “What pack?”
If only I possessed my brother Nolan’s sharp sense of smell. I would’ve been able to tell the man’s pack affiliation instantly.
The guy took a step back as though to thin out his smell. I was very tempted to say,you smelled me first, but I was nineteen. I might’ve shot that out at eighteen, but now I was mature and unflappable and—
“Yours.”
I stopped enumerating my qualities, which were all aspirational anyway, to give the guy another once-over. “Visiting from Boulder then?”
I knew all the shifters in the area, but fifteen months ago, our pack had been annexed by a tiny pack when our Alpha, Cassandra Morgan, lost a duel to this arrogant male named Liam Kolane. I’d never met him, because I’d been stuck in the hospital when it all went down. And when he’d visited Beaver Creek for a couple of our full moon runs, I’d been hopped up on too much Sillin to shift, or back at the clinic because of an infection.
I had a serious love-hate relationship with the werewolf drug. All at once, it allowed my bones to mend since it prevented shifting, but it fragilized my werewolf magic, which in turn, slowed down my superhuman healing. Eighteen months after the motorcycle crash, and I was still not fully back to normal.
“Something like that.” He took another step back and then turned and walked into the supermarket.
I copped a look at his lean, muscled back—broad shoulders that tapered into a narrow waist and a really fine ass. I mean, most shifters, especially the younger ones, were all muscle, but this man was the finest specimen I’d ever laid eyes on.
He has a kid, Nikki,I reminded myself because myself had somehow discarded the information.
I really needed to break my unwelcome celibacy streak.
I got into my car, swung my bags onto the passenger seat, and swerved out of my parking spot when a chill slunk down my spine. I stared at the lit façade of the supermarket.
The baby hadn’t made a peep. What if it was a prop? What if I’d just crossed paths with a murderer? I jammed my finger onto the lock button, expelling a breath when they all clicked into place, then dialed my eldest brother Nate. As Beta, he was familiar with every Boulder. He’d know who the guy was. My call went to voicemail. I didn’t bother leaving a message since Nate would be at the house for dinner. The seven of us—well, nine now with my brothers’ fiancées, Adalyn and Bea—were so tight that we shared meals more often than we ate separately. Especially since my dad and Nolan were the best damn cooks in all of Beaver Creek.
As I drove home, I found myself glancing into my rearview mirror more than once, my theory rooting itself so deep my nails turned into claws and remained that way until I drove past our compound’s gated entrance and up the sinuous, snowy road hedged in glowing, timbered dwellings.
Being surrounded by a thousand wolves and a tall fence tipped with silver spearheads calmed my crackling nerves.
Safe.
I was safe.
Chapter 2
Ibarged into my house, tossing my coat on a hook and my keys on the console table. Yes, I was nineteen and still lived at my parents’.
