My mind is still stuck on the way Zander defended me. Defended us.
I’m so used to being the only one fighting for my leash. For my family.
Seeing Zander do it…
My cheeks flush.
I liked it. A lot.
Josh chooses to go pout when we get home. I get out of the truck and go to follow, but Zander’s hand on my wrist stops me.
“Let him go,” he says softly. “There’s no point in talking to him right now. He just wants to be mad for a while.”
“And you know my brother?”
“I know teenage boys with chips on their shoulders,” he says with that little lip curl that I’m getting way too attached to.
I sigh. “Josh wasn’t like this. Not until our dad died.”
“Yeah. I get that, too.”
“Really?”
“My parents were hit by a car when I was fifteen.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry,” I say. “My mom died around the same time, and my dad… It’s more recent.”
“Hell of a thing to have in common,” he says with another curl of his lips.
“Yeah. Definitely would rather not be a member of that club.”
“Me too, Mia. Me fucking too.”
A light breeze ruffles my hair. His nose twitches slightly, and his eyes… go dark. He licks his lips, and my stomach heats.
“I should probably go inside,” I murmur.
Zander nods. “You could. Or…”
“Or?”
“Do you want to go for a run with me?”
I blink. “Now?”
He smiles. “I want to show you something.”
I hesitate. I should really go back inside. The kids need to go to bed. Josh is still sulking. I… I really, really don’t want to do that.
“Mia,” Zander says. “They’ll be fine. There are elders in there, and Josh is there. We aren’t going too far. Just to the edge of the pack lands. We will be back.”
I take a breath. “Okay,” I whisper.
The smile that Zander gives me this time is heart-meltingly beautiful.
I take off my clothes behind the cabin and shift into my fox. I trot back out and sniff for Zander. He’s right in front of me.
As a wolf, he’s beautiful. His fur is a mix of blacks, whites, and greys, almost in a brindle pattern. He tilts what I know to be steel-blue eyes at me, and then turns.