Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
I can’t hide it. I let it come out completely. “I’m not making light of any of this, honey. I just… I’m ready to be naked with you. It’s been too long.”
It’s only been a couple days, but it’s still been way too long.
He gives me a loaded look and is about to respond verbally when the phone dings with Linc’s reply.
“What’s that?” he asks.
I read the text.
Linc: You’re forgiven. Though some of your big cookies would not go unappreciated as an apology gesture.
I write back.
Consider it on my to-do list.
I smile.
“Linc?” he asks.
“Yeah. He forgives me. But wants me to bake him cookies.”
“The fuck you are,” Grey grumbles.
“I already said I would.”
His eyes flare with annoyance.
“I don’t mind.”
Grey licks his teeth behind his closed mouth, exuding irritation.
“I’ll let you try them first,” I offer.
“You’d better.”
I caress his face and his expression softens.
“I love you,” I say.
“I know, mate. I love you, too.”
I smile, leaning back in my seat. I watch the scenery go by as Grey takes us toward Arcana Falls.
A car in front of us pulls off and I’ve now got a view of the back of Jared’s Airstream and my face falls as I consider that Wyatt’s in there. Unconscious and tied up. And unable to shift.
Will they call for the SCC to pick him up?
54
Grey
“There’s a town hall meeting starting up in about five minutes, Blossom,” I call out to my mate who’s talking to Amelia in the parking lot. She gave me a minute to speak to my father off to the side, but he’s gone in.
“I’ll head home. Brunch the day after tomorrow at Roxy’s?” Amelia asks.
“Sounds awesome,” Stacy says.
Amelia waves at me and gets into her car. Jase’s mom drives away with a traumatized Sherry in the passenger seat. I turn to watch Linc and Joel pull the unconscious, hog-tied Wyatt out of the back of Jared’s RV. They drop him on the ground.
“Oopsie daisy,” Linc quips.
Joel throws his head back and laughs.
“I’m gonna grab my suitcase,” Stacy says, stepping over her brother. “And use the bathroom in there real quick.”
“Okay. See you in there.” I kiss her and follow the guys inside.
Bailey comes in from the opposite door that leads to the library. Crossing the space quickly, she catches up to me, saying, “Good, you’re here. Everything okay now?”
“A lot happened,” I tell her. “A lot. Get into it later, yeah? This is about to start.”
“Okay, here you go.” She hands me a sheet of paper.
“What’s this?” I eyeball it.
“Stacy’s family tree. Was waiting in my email this morning from the librarian that runs the archives for the SCC.”
I feel relief that my mate will have her answers. I can see those answers now and feel a second wave of relief. “Thank you, Bailey. I appreciate this.”
“Any time,” she says and quickly walks past Jase with her nose straight up in the air. He frowns and I see him watch her sit beside Aphra Starling, holding out her hand and introducing herself.
Stacy comes in and I watch her smiling face as she waves and greets people before walking straight into my arms and getting up on her tiptoes to kiss me.
“Hey,” she says. “Let’s get this done so we can go for a run.”
“A run, Blossom? Know I wrote some checks on the drive over but think I might be crashin’ when we get home. I haven’t slept since… since I don’t know when the fuck.”
“Oh,” she pouts.
I poke her nose. “But maybe if you do all the work, you can have my knot.”
“Deal,” she whispers, eyes lighting up. “In fact, I have an idea.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“You’ll see,” she teases.
I laugh again. This is when I notice a set of eyes on her so do a double take. The blond guy standing beside Brody looks the other way. Malachi Carswell?
I remember what I’m holding and hand Stacy the piece of paper.
“What’s this?” she asks.
“Read it,” I tell her.
First, her body tightens, but as she looks it over I feel her body sag against me with relief.
Wyatt’s mother and Stacy’s mother are cousins. But neither were blood-relations to John Meadows. Wyatt’s mother was adopted and they were not blood relatives. Stacy’s mother was Wyatt’s mother’s cousin by blood on her birth father’s side of the family, so it appeared , also not blood-related to John Meadows. So, the families retained contact despite the adoption, which wasn’t unusual back then. There wasn’t a national adoption system for shifters until about two decades ago, so adoptions most often happened between folks in the same pack or neighboring packs meaning contact would tend to be more frequent. Wyatt’s mother’s mother was only fourteen when she gave birth to her so adoption tracks.Wyatt and Stacy are technically half-siblings as well
“Good news, Blossom,” I say, pressing my lips to her head.