A sudden purple light shot from my chest to wrap around my injured paw. I scurried backwards, deeper into the pillows, trying to get away from it.
“What the hell is that?” Cass asked Molly. We assumed the girl had all the answers.
The violet light was soft and cloud-like as it floated around my paw, and then slinked up my leg to encase my rib cage. A warm tingle settled into my body, and when I tweaked my wrist again, it didn’t hurt at all.
Molly finally found her voice. “No way.”
I looked down frantically to see where the light had gone, but it appeared to have dissolved.
‘Did it hurt you?’ Cass now had a small dagger in his hand, ready to attack the purple light, I presumed.
My little fox head shook. ‘I … I think it healed me.’
Molly grinned ear to ear, as she reached out and stroked my tails. “I know what you are.”
I didn’t want to stay in this form any longer. It was freaking me out, and the way Molly was looking at me added fuel to my freaked-out fire.
As if my body knew my intent, the snapping of bones signaled that I’d started to shift back to my human form. It was less painful than before, but only marginally. Good thing I’d always had a high pain tolerance.
Within two minutes I was returned to my human self again, lying naked on top of the covers. Molly threw me my dress and looked away. Cass didn’t bother averting his eyes. He’d seen me naked hundreds of times, but he kept his gaze eye level.
“That was some crazy shit,” he admitted. “Are you a healer witch?”
Shrugging into my dress, not bothering with underwear, I hugged my knees, letting the long dress billow out and cover me so that only my toes peeked out. “I donno. Maybe. I feel better, like totally better.”
Molly shook her purple hair. “Nope. She’s not a healer witch. She’s a kitsune.”
My eyes widened and Cass actually burst into laughter. “Kitsune? That’s Japanese folklore. I agree being a fox would make one think of that, but—”
“She is!” Molly cut him off then. “Kitsune have multiple tails, healing powers, and a bunch of other shit. She’s totally a kitsune. They’re real, or at least they used to be. I’ve read about them in my supernatural origins book.”
Gooseflesh broke out on my arms at her confidence. My father was Japanese…
“Cass…” I was about to tell my bestie my thoughts when a fist banged on the door like an angry policeman’s.
“Evie!” Brock roared.
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s table this discussion for now. We can do research tomorrow, okay? Don’t say anything. I can’t deal with him knowing about this yet.”
Brock finding out I was some freaking mythical healing kitsune, would land me in his basement—or his bed—for the rest of this pregnancy, and I needed to find that damn siren and bring her in first.
Cass and Molly nodded as I stood, straightening my hair while walking slowly to the door. From the hallway, I could see Brock through the small four glass squares in Gran’s door. I waved casually, as if nothing was wrong, and heard him growl.
Opening the door, I smiled easily. “Oh, hey.”
“Oh, hey?” he boomed and stepped into my house, closing the door behind him. He ran his eyes up and down my body, settling on my stomach. “You got into a brawl at a vampire seethe and ‘Oh hey’ is how you greet me?”
I sighed. I was way too tired for this shit. What time was it, anyway? I needed sleep, and I needed to process Molly’s kitsune bomb drop. I still wasn’t sure she was right. That sounded a little too crazy, even for me. Though what else would explain the two-tail phenomenon?
“The siren arrest didn’t go as planned. We all got out okay though. I’m uninjured, and all is well.”
I wasn’t lying. Technically, I was no longer injured.
He took a few deep breaths, but they didn’t seem to calm him nearly enough. “Look, I know you love your job and all, but I’m prepared to offer you a full-time job with the pack. I’ll pay you whatever salary you want, if you’ll just stay home.”
That was the last thing I expected him to say, I laughed. “I told you I wasn’t a kept woman, Brock. I earn my way.”
The veins in his neck twitched. I hated that it made him somehow sexier, prompting memories of how passionate he was about everything that involved me. “You’ll be working,” he reiterated, and I forced my mind to behave.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh really. Doing what, exactly?”
The alpha crossed his arms, facing off with me. “My construction company needs a new marketing girl. You can work from home.”
Cass snickered from the couch, and I grinned. “Marketing girl… that’s cute. No thanks.”
The wolf’s jaw twitched. “What exactly happened tonight?”
I groaned inwardly. I didn’t have the energy for this conversation. “A lot of shit that I’m too exhausted to talk about. Your baby mama needs sleep, so let’s catch up tomorrow.”
His lips curled when I said “baby mama” and again his eyes went to my stomach. “Well, I’m not leaving you alone here knowing that you’ve pissed off the local vampire seethe, and that siren is still on the loose. Can I crash on your couch?”
My heart melted into a puddle; I nearly visibly swooned. Big bad alpha of the Wild Hunter Pack was going to sleep on Gran’s old springy couch just to protect me?
“Fine,” I said, working to keep the emotion from showing on my face.
Cass whistled low. “Well, I’m off to bed. I’ll sleep in Gran’s room. I like to snoop through her witchy shit anyway.”
With a smile, I wished him goodnight as he meandered down the hall in his little bootie shorts, and slipped into Gran’s room. He’d already stripped her bed of its flowery linens, and set it up in his own personal style—purple silk sheets and a reflective gold comforter. Gran would actually love that he’d taken over her room. She loved him like family. Every time she’d visited us in LA, they’d both ended up drunk, singing oldies while walking down Hollywood Boulevard.
My gaze went to Molly. “There’s a loft upstairs with my Gran’s spell books and stuff, but the chaise lounge is super comfy.”
“Sounds good. Night y’all.” She winked at me as she passed.
I stood there alone with Brock, our bodies inches from each other, and I remembered I wasn’t wearing any underwear. The mere thought of our night of passion, made heat pulse in my lady bits.
Brock grinned.
Fucker. Werewolves could smell desire. An ex had told me so.
“Night,” I finally muttered to Molly and spun around.
Brock’s arm snaked out gently, catching my wrist. “When is the last time you ate?”
At the mention of food, my stomach growled and I remembered that I’d just shifted. Shifting consumed massive amounts of calories. As did werewolf babies.
“I can’t remember,” I admitted.
“Wrong answer.” He side-stepped me and went into the kitchen, opening the fridge to peer inside.
“You want a cheese omelet or a turkey sandwich? Those are about the only two things I can make well.” He peered at me from behind the open door and my stomach growled again, my mouth actually salivating at his question.
“Both,” I answered, and he grinned.
His hands went to work as he quickly made the turkey sandwich, with extra mayo, crisp lettuce, and a little salt and pepper. I started on that while he cooked the omelet.
Okay, if I was going to be bound to this guy for life, I might as well get to know him, right?
“Don’t you have an older brother? I remember seeing him a lot with your dad, but I never saw you.” I took another bite.
His body tensed. I’d struck a nerve.
Oops.
“I tried to stay out of pack business growing up, so I went to live with my uncle in New Mexico for a few years. While I was gone, my brother challenged my father to a dominance fight and won.”
My eyes bugged. In werewolf culture, a dominance fight with the alpha ended in death. “Shit, I’m sorry.” His brother killed his dad? Damn.
He shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“So… how did you become alpha, then?” I was a curious creature, I couldn’t help it.
Brock flipped the omelet. When his amber eyes met mine, they somehow looked sad and strong at the same time. “When I came back from vacation and found out what my brother had done, I challenged him and avenged my father. It turned out my brother was doing a lot of… bad things behind our backs. He wasn’t treating the females appropriately, if you catch my drift.”
Oh hell no. Now I wanted to resurrect his brother and kill him all over again.
“That sounds awful.” I looked at my empty plate, wondering how I’d scarfed the sandwich during such a dire dinner conversation.
Brock plopped a steaming hot omelet onto my plate, and my stomach grumbled yet another time.
“You shifted, didn’t you?” he asked.
My cheeks burned red. I was a horrible liar.
I gave a little nod, hoping he wouldn’t see it, and shoved a bite of omelet into my mouth. It was too hot, so I did that awkward thing where you blow in and out to cool it off, while Brock watched me like a hawk.
“Because you were injured and needed to heal?” he asked.
Jeez, was this guy a mind reader or what?
“A little.” I tweaked my wrist. “Hey, it’s going to rain tonight. I need to make sure my car windows are up.”
Brock glared at me. He didn’t buy my attempt to change the subject. “No rain, and next time you’re injured, you come see me. Understood?”
But I have purple magic, with glowy healing powers! I wanted to say. “Fine,” I grunted, and proceeded to inhale the delicious omelet.
When I finished, Brock did the dishes, which was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen in my life. My entranced gaze followed every single one of his movements, until we walked into the living room together. My bedroom door was right next to the couch where he’d be sleeping.
Walking into my room, I returned with a blanket and an extra pillow. When I handed them to him, his hands brushed mine, and I fought the warm tingles that rushed across my arms and down my body. He captured my gaze and I swallowed with difficulty. His yellow eyes were intense.
Nervously, I cleared my throat. “Night, Brock.” My voice was strained.
In a rush, I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. Once my back leaned against the door, I took in a deep breath. My heart was beating too fast. He’d barely touched me and I was out of control.
“Night, Eve.”
Eve. He’d officially pet-named me.
Swoon.
15 Special Delivery
Considering how exhausted I was, it took me far too long to fall asleep. I had two tails and was possibly a mythical kitsune, which was over-the-top insane. But I mostly had a hard time sleeping, knowing that Brock was just outside my door. A hundred times I considered inviting him into my bed, and as many times I talked myself out of it. The alpha was already possessive enough; I didn’t want to make things worse by pretending we had some kind of relationship.