Page 5 of Wolf Duty

When he directly invited her, she’d always had a plausible excuse. When he got married, she’d been in England on an accelerated teaching pedagogy course. For Karim’s birth celebration, she’d just started a new internship that didn’t allow time off.

She traced her fingertip around the frame of the third picture on the nightstand. Albert’s and Nagita’s smiles shone more brightly than new snow on a sunny day as they looked down on the wrinkly baby in his mother’s arms. Now that it was too late, Sonya regretted not getting to know the beautiful woman.Though she still thought she’d been right to absent herself from shifter politics.

No excuse had kept her from Nagita’s funeral, though. As soon as she’d heard, she’d rushed home. She’d found a broken Albert with a scared and lost little two-year-old boy. Of course, she’d stayed to take care of them both. Karim had immediately stolen her heart, and she’d loved him like a brother from the moment they met.

Now, it was just the two of them. They were each other’s only family, and she had no idea how to help him. Not with his grief, and not with growing up as a wolf shifter.

Sometimes, she thought moving would be the best answer. Maybe taking Karim away from everything that reminded him of what he no longer had would help him process his grief better. But although she was clueless about a lot in the wolf shifter world, she knew that belonging to a pack was crucial. Rogue wolves often went feral, and she couldn’t jeopardize Karim’s mental and physical health.

So, as annoying as Ruth and her biddies were, and as hostile as Dale, the alpha, could be, Sonya had put her own life and career on hold. For her brother’s sake, she would stick it out in the tiny town of Sunbeam, where almost all the inhabitants were shifters.

Her fingers itched to cast Runes. She’d turned to them right after Albert’s funeral, to ask how to soothe Karim’s grief. Instead of the clear guiding images she’d expected—and come to rely on—murky visions of darkness and a sense of danger had flooded her mind. When she cast again a few days later, the Norse symbols felt scary lifeless, their messages garbled.

She hadn’t touched them since.

Sonya forced herself to stop thinking about the Runes.

Enough sadness had filled her morning. She couldn’t face also finding out that her powers had abandoned her.

CHAPTER 4

Bay looked out through the coffee shop window at the deserted street. Big piles of plowed snow lined the street, but there were no people about. If anyone searched on “small town in the middle of nowhere,” Sunbeam, Idaho, would be the first result. The drive from the closest airport had offered 150 miles of spectacular views of the Sawtooth Mountains. As much as he loved wilderness, Bay had stopped enjoying the scenery after an hour. He just wanted to arrive and get this errand over with. From what he’d found online, the town had a population of only a few hundred. Of course, shifters didn’t always answer the census surveys, so the margin of error on that could be big.

Although shifter law demanded that, as a visitor in another pack’s territory, he report to the local pack’s alpha, his status as Arek’s enforcer technically meant he was exempt and didn’t have to ask for permission. Still, since he now supposedly had diplomacy skills, he would.

As soon as he figured out how to find the damn alpha.

The wolf’s name was Dale Norris, and his official address listed in the shifter directory had been no help. Sunbeam’s houses had no numbers, and the post office served as the official mailing address for everyone who lived in town. When Bay had called Norris’s listed phone number, the post office’s voicemail answered. He’d texted Justice, who’d promised to dig up accurate contact information.

Bay shoveled another forkful of pie into his mouth and savored the explosion of berry flavor. Tart and sweet teased his taste buds as he sneaked another look at the one server working in the coffee shop. She turned her head, and the sunlight shining through the tall windows highlighted golden streaks in her brown, wavy hair. Her plain white T-shirt and faded blue jeans couldn’t hide her delicious curves, and as she leaned over a table to refill the only other customer’s coffee, the denim stretched across a very nice ass.

He couldn’t stop watching her, despite knowing she wasn’t for him. Everything about this server—Sonya, according to her name tag—screamed, “nice girl.” She wore almost no makeup and had piled her hair on top of her head and then secured it with a pencil. The women that went home with Bay wore tight dresses designed to enhance and show off their assets. He wasn’t a wonderful conversationalist under the best circumstances and got even worse when speaking with women. He often blurted things out without a filter.

His bluntness wasn’t a problem among the wolves. If a pack mate took offense to something he said, they’d let him know with words or a punch. But human dates usually walked away in a huff. And he wouldn’t hook up with anyone in the pack—that was asking for more trouble than even he could handle.

So he stayed quiet around the women he was interested in. Playing the strong, silent type while flexing a few muscles worked well. He looked amazing as arm candy in social media pictures, and he always delivered great sex. Both parties walked away satisfied, without expectations of a long-term relationship. That kind of arrangement wouldn’t be what this Sonya was looking for.

The older man at the other table said something that made Sonya smile, and she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as she walked back around the counter that showcased baked goods and sandwiches. Christmas decorations littered the surface. They matched the hanging decorations of paper bells and weirdly colored snowflakes. As far as Bay’s nose could tell, both the server and the man were regular humans.

His phone buzzed where it lay on the table next to his plate. He reluctantly tore his gaze from Sonya to check the incoming text.

Justice had sent the alpha’s name and number, as well as a brief message. Bay listened to the text-to-speech voice in his Bluetooth earbud.

Justice

Tried calling this new number. No answer. Left a message.

Bay scooped up the last bite of pie and shoved it into his mouth, then choked on the food when he looked up to find a small boy watching him from the seat across from him at his table. How in the hell had the kid appeared without a sound? Coughing, Bay reached for the glass of water Sonya had delivered with the pie. A few mouthfuls dislodged the block in his throat.

The kid watched him with eyes so dark they were almost black. They matched the mop of unruly curls on his head. “You took the last slice of brambleberry pie,” the kid said as if he were accusing Bay of a war crime, then wiped his nose with a dirty hand that smeared mud across his cheek. At least Bay hoped it was mud. The kid smelled like he’d lived outdoors for a while.

“Sorry?” Why the fuck did he feel like he had to apologize? He’d ordered the pie from the menu, and Sonya had brought it.

“It’s my favorite,” the kid said, those dark eyes turning even more hostile.

Bay took a breath, his mind blanking on what to say, and then the kid’s scent hit him full on. The kid didn’t smell like helivedoutdoors. He smelledlikethe outdoors, like forest and wildlife. Like wolf.

His own beast woke, alert to another shifter presence—even if it was pint-sized. This must be the kid Arek wanted him to retrieve.

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