Page 10 of Claiming His Virgin Mate

“So, you want to be my real big sister now?’ Joelle had asked through angry eyes.

“I was always your big sister, Jo-Jo. Like it or not. But I think we can do this together if we try,” she’d returned.

“I guess Dad didn’t want you mixed up with Pack life.”

“I guess so.”

“No more secrets. You know, I always hated not being able to see you. But now you know I’m a Wolf, and you don’t hate me for it, do you?”

“I know you are a Wolf, Jo-Jo, and it changes nothing. You are still my little sister,” Maggie stated, “And I agree. No more secrets between us. Not ever.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

It had been that way ever since. No secrets or lies. Just honesty and a family bond that Maggie had never realized she’d always wanted. Jo-Jo meant the world to her. Period.

“You want to tell me what it is that has you so upset you’re not devouring a second bowl of pasta, right now?” Joelle asked.

“Well, I was going to wait till after dinner-”

“They didn’t give you the extension,” Joelle beat her to the punch, as always, “It’s because of me, isn’t it? Because I messed up at school, and you had to get me. You were late because of me,” the teen whined, trembling with emotion.

Shit. If the girl was stressed, that meant the Wolf was stressed. And that in turn meant accidents happened.

“Hey, look at me Jo-Jo,” Maggie crouched in front of her, careful not to invade her space, but she wanted her to see her as anything but a threat.

“Maggie, back up,” she growled.

“Hey,” she tried again in her most soothing voice, “Remember what Cat taught you? Just breathe.Youare in charge of your Wolf,” she told the younger girl, concern in every word, “That’s it. Good. Very good, Jo-Jo.”

“Okay, I’m okay,” Joelle nodded her head, then she jumped on Maggie, knocking her to the floor.

“Oof! Jo,” she wrestled her sister, gaining the upper hand and tickled the teenager until she was crying with laughter.

“Better?”

“Yeah, better. Thanks, Mags.”

After they caught their collective breaths, the females straightened up the disheveled furniture. Joelle was still grinning as she wiped the spilled mac and cheese and began talking a mile a minute about the mysteriousMaccon City cat burglarwho was hitting up resorts on the beach strip.

“Diana said we’re lucky cause we’re on the end of the strip, and the cat burglar hasn’t hit us yet,” Joelle was saying, “Why is it a cat burglar, anyway? Why not a wolf burglar or a bird burglar?”

Maggie was only half-listening. She figured even a locally famous thief could see the small resort had nothing worth stealing. Not that she wasn’t secretly proud of the little place. After going through her father’s books, she saw that business had taken a huge nosedive the past two years.

About the time her Dad had hired the manager, Edward Coleson. Why her father would have taken a chance on a man like him, she would never know. He was a greasy, slimy, little prick who didn’t seem to like working very much at all.

After she came to the hotel to take up residence with Joelle, and oversee things, he’d been resentful and condescending at first. Then he’d gotten downright nasty. The more duties she tried to take over from him, the more secretive he became. Finally, she found out that he’d taken over five-thousand-dollars from the petty cash the hotel supposedly kept on hand over the course of six months with no receipts for purchases or repairs filed. When she confronted him and demanded he show proof of what that money was spent on, he’d vanished.

Good riddance too. She did not like the way the older man had looked at her or her sister. With him gone, they were better off. The only other problem was Edward had been responsible for sending in the payments to the bank. Only now, it looked like he’d pocketed those as well.

She was certain now that calling Rafe Maccon had been the right thing to do after her encounter with the bank manager. With the Pack’s lawyers on the case, they would hopefully find the man who it seemed was a Wolf Shifter with no Pack affiliation.

Meanwhile, she hoped she could reason with the company who bought the mortgage. The hotel was Joelle’s legacy, and she would fight tooth and nail to keep it alive.

Maybe if she drew up some plans? That might help. With the new beautify New Jersey beaches initiative, everyone was hopeful for better this year. She had foolishly spent weeks working on new advertising plans and ways to improve the hotel’s business.

Fuck, she sighed and tried for calm. Maggie did not even want to consider having to look for other places to work and live. But it was a real possibility now.

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