Dominic stood from his chair and went to leave before he found himself under his beta’s disapproving glare. Dominic sighed, ready for the lecture he sensed coming, and they went downstairs together.
The shop was closed, and the only light came from the amber glow of the streetlamps along the sidewalk. Neither of them needed help to see their way through the antique shop.
“What happened up there?” Hank made sure to keep his tone firm, but soft enough that the other wolves upstairs couldn’t hear him.
Dominic hung his thumbs through his pant loops and shrugged. “Nothing.”
Hank’s beta dominance intensified, but the alpha wasn’t fazed. “That wasn’t nothing. You almost got out of hand when they started talking about that new girl. What’s going on? Is she a threat? What do we know about her?”
Being on the receiving end of the third degree by his beta wasn’t anything new, but Erica had become such a sensitive subject. “Like I told them, she’s not a threat. I don’t know much about her, but…” He paused and realized he wasn’t ready to share something he didn’t even want to admit to himself. “From the two times we’ve talked, she has a good head on her shoulders. I wouldn’t worry about her.” He jabbed a finger at Hank’s chest and turned the tables on him. “You didn’t tell me she was moving into the Donaldson place. That’s two times this week you’ve withheld information from me. First Erica and then Shane’s pack.”
Hank wouldn’t have shown such a sheepish look to anyone but his alpha. “Yeah, I know. The shelter’s just been swampedlately. A breeder had to surrender almost a dozen pits the other day. None of the staff seem to be willing to handle the breed, so I’ve been called on for a lot lately.”
Dominic, unlike his father, strived to be understanding of the faults in other shifters. He would gladly acknowledge that they all had lives outside the pack. Hank had his animal shelter, Levi and Nora had their hardware store, Gwen and Jaime their restaurant, Tracy loved her students like the children she couldn’t have, Burt was one of the toughest carpenters in town, Curtis was a trusted ranger at the park, and Rick… Well, Rick did what he could. They all saw Dominic as nothing more than the Prime Alpha, on call for every little problem, just as his father had been. Renewed Relics wasn’t even recognized as the family business anymore. It was just the place they knew they could always find him if he wasn’t at home on Crescent Lane.
Dominic made a point to relax to show his beta that he wasn’t in trouble. “Take care of your dogs, Hank, and let me take care of this town.”
At this, Hank straightened again. “I made a promise to your father.”
“And you are keeping it, but you also have a commitment to your shelter and staff. Erica is not a problem any more than your new batch of pit bulls is a problem. You handle yours and I’ll handle mine.”
In those words, he’d almost admitted that Erica would be a handful. Perhaps she would be, but then again, maybe she was just what he needed to blow off some steam. There was nothing inherently wrong with an alpha entertaining the idea of having a mate. It was often encouraged, especially by Dominic’s father when he ran the town. If it were up to Hank, though, Dominic might have been warned against pairing up with a human female. As the Prime Alpha, his first love had to be Tolstone and no other.
Erica, however, was making him forget all those rules.
*
Erica balanced her laptop over her crossed legs on her bed. Her camera sat not too far away, creating a deep crater in the plush duvet. She had spent the morning taking photos of the house, yard, and some of the other homes in the historical district of Tolstone; and now uploaded them to her portfolio.
These pictures would never be posted on her website, but they helped her to practice the craft. Erica had been taking photos almost all her life, but she never missed an opportunity to perfect her technique with unique angles and creative uses of lighting.
It had been almost four days since she moved to Tolstone, and she stewed on the fact that it had been two days since she last spoke with Dominic. Unlike the first time they met, a good night’s sleep did not clear her head of him. The memory of him was there, night and day, invading her dreams and stalking her every step around the house and town.
The day after they agreed on the sofa deal, three men delivered it to her home. Strong, with arms as thick as her thighs, she first thought they had come to rob her. When they mentioned Dominic sent them, she relaxed. They were excessively helpful and not only moved the futon sofa upstairs but also took the empty boxes off her hands. She offered to tip the men on their way out, but they refused and said that Dominic had taken care of everything. Of course he did. Damn him, couldn’t he just let her do something?
She updated her website, blog, and social media platforms with her new location. With a hefty online following from her business in Decatur, she also knew that the proper webmarketing plan might help her gain some new clients in Tolstone.
However, it seemed like the business cards worked far better than she ever expected. She already had several family photo sessions booked through the spring season, and she was in discussion with the elementary school administration about a contract to take the class photos for their yearbook.
All but one particular box was unpacked, and the U-Haul had been returned to Decatur the day after the sofa had been delivered. It seemed like everything was falling into place, but she wasn’t fully content. The hollow ache in Erica’s chest seemed to build ever since she left the antique shop. She didn’t want to feel this lonely for Dominic.
To distract herself, Erica devoted every waking hour to fixing up the house and fine-tuning her marketing strategy. But at the worst times, Dominic’s blue eyes crashed through her mind like a damn tornado. When she was in the shower, when she cooked her breakfast, or when she hung a picture, a tiny, errant thought about Dominic invaded her mind and ruined her peace. Erica couldn’t even look out her windows anymore, lest she subconsciously watch for Dominic or his blue truck in the street. Whenever she heard a front door open and slam shut, or masculine voices outside, her heart skittered, and she wondered if it was Dominic.
She felt utterly silly, but she couldn’t stop it, especially when she walked past the vintage sofa in the living room. That loan from Dominic constantly reminded her that she would have to face him again someday when she sold the sofa to someone else.
Erica finished uploading several pictures and navigated to the preview window to skim through the selection. When she came to one special block of photos, her finger stilled over the laptop’s touchpad.
That morning, before she had fully dressed, she’d looked out her bedroom window on a whim and spied Dominic for the first time since the other day, walking in front of her house, clad in a leather jacket with his hands stuffed in his pockets. With her face half concealed by the gauzy white curtains, she had snatched up her camera and snapped a series of rapid shots. When he stopped and looked up to her window, Erica swiftly side-stepped out of view, but she wondered all day if he had caught her. By the time she looked back, he was long gone.
Those pictures, as hastily as they were taken, were priceless. She captured the way he walked, the way his leather jacket hugged his broad shoulders, and how the dawn brought out the blue in his eyes, even from so far away.
She studied each of the candid shots, and her body tingled with scary and thrilling sensations that only Dominic could inspire.
No matter how cute and considerate he was, she wasn’t going to let herself become one of those ridiculous women on the cover of romance novels. They could be neighbors, maybe even friends, but she kept her heart closed up in that concrete box she had constructed the moment she realized her father was never coming back into her life. Never would she let someone destroy her by becoming everything she ever wanted and then abandoning her without a word or explanation. No matter what, she couldn’t let Dominic do that to her.
She closed the preview window.
Chapter Six
