Page 9 of Forever Mine

When we entered the building I immediately saw Jacob, but I was also flooded by an all too familiar scent. I didn't see Oscar anywhere and panic began to spike in me.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down," Jacob immediately started. "He's right over there. Hasn't left my sight for even a second, but he did make a quick friend, and it's good for the boy to have a male role model besides me, even if for only an hour."

I was furious. It was probably the only thing keeping me from a full panic attack. There was a wolf in the building, and he was alone. Wolves were pack animals. They rarely went anywhere truly alone and those that did were almost always trouble.

Could he smell me, too? Could he smell Oscar? I rounded the corner prepared to protect my son, only to be met by the golden eyes that had haunted me every second of the last two days.

It all suddenly clicked in my memory. Liam Westin.

"Liam," I whispered.

Liam

Chapter 5

When I arrived to check in at the hotel, there was the faintest smell of her lingering in the lobby. Somehow, I knew she was no longer there.

I checked in and went up to my room to drop my things. I had driven through the night and should have been exhausted, but I paced the floor of my room feeling more caged in than I had in years. My wolf was restless, despite having let him out for a run before making the trip. He had been agitated since we had first seen the girl.

I felt a brief tug towards the girl, but she was gone too quickly. My wolf was acting obsessed, like we'd just found our mate, but I knew that wasn't true. I mean, I'd know without a doubt, wouldn't I? I reasoned it was only the eerie resemblance to Madelyn that drew me to her.

I had made my way down to Fisherman's Wharf, figuring the open waters would be as much solitude as I'd find in this city, or at least give me enough of a false sense of open space to calm my wolf.

Wrong. There were people everywhere and that only heightened my agitation. I suddenly remembered an old video game museum, not like actual video games, but old pre-video game stuff, that I had visited on my last trip to the city. Maybe I could blow a few hours getting lost in a game.

Wrong again. Walking down the Pier and into the museum, I caught the faint smell that was uniquely hers, but stronger even was the kid's. I looked around, quickly spotting the older man he told me was his papi. Looking down, I could see Papi holding the small hand of a kid just out of my sight.

I wandered around for only a moment before feeling a small tug on the tail of my perfectly tailored suit jacket. I turned around, a little surprised to find the kid beaming up at me.

"It is you. What are you doing here?" he asked innocently.

"I'm so sorry," his papi exclaimed, reaching for the boy. "Oscar, you know better than to run off and talk to strangers," he started scolding.

"He's not a stranger. We met at that restaurant we stopped at. He bought me a chocolate milk."

I laughed. The kid definitely had a good memory. "It's fine," I assured the older man. "It's Oscar, right"

The kid excitedly nodded.

"Not every day you meet a kid at a bar, but boy was I glad for it. Gave me the best advice ever."

"You got it?" Oscar asked excitedly.

"Oh yeah. You gave me serious uncle points with that basketball suggestion. His mother texted me saying it was the first thing he ran for this morning, and all he's wanted to do today."

"See, I told ya." Then he turned to his papi to fill him in. "Remember my first basketball hoop and basketball Mommy got me for my first birthday?"

The older man nodded and smiled affectionately.

"I told him to get the same for his nephew."

"Genius," I praised, surprised that I really meant it.

The man eyeballed me curiously for a minute, sizing me up, before extending his hand. "Jacob Winthrop."

"Liam Westin," I returned. There was a slight flicker of awareness in my name, but before I could consider it, it was gone.

"Liam, will you come play this one with me?" Oscar asked.

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