Page 8 of Raven's Instinct
Alan’s raven perked up.Dead rodents are delicious.
“I’m not eating mice,” Alan insisted.
“And I’m not going to be an accessory to crime,” Kendra countered.
They both smiled at each other, a little foolishly, Alan feared.
“So, have you been a…ah…nursery aid for very long?”
“Is my incompetence showing?” Alan asked in a whisper.
“You seemed to have them well in hand. And arm. And leg,” Kendra said. She wasdefinitelyblushing now, and Alan’s raven was delighted. “But the hair looks like a career hazard.”
“I am thinking about cutting it before tomorrow,” Alan confessed.
“Don’t you dare!” Kendra seemed to realize belatedly how loudly she said it. “Sorry, I have no right to say that.”
Alan was shallowly pleased by her vehemence and he couldn’t quite keep himself from preening. “It’s okay…”
“No, I’m mortified that I said it,” Kendra said fiercely. “You do with your head whatever you want to. Ihatedit when people told me to grow my hair out. It’s so presumptive, and it’s absolutelyawfulof me to do it to someone else.”
Alan later recognized that as the very moment he fell helplessly in love with her.
3
KENDRA
Seeing Alan for the first time was like having one hand plunged into freezing water while the other was in boiling hot.
He was so right and so utterly wrong.
Kendra had to ask herself why her first reaction was to think he didn’t belong there. He was playing gently with the kids, but Kendra saw a big, burly man of color and immediately thoughtbouncer, notbabysitter.
Was she more sexist than she realized? Was it just an unfair preconception that men had to be protectors rather than nurturers? Was it a knee-jerk reaction to her underlying attraction because she knew that handsome guys were too good to be true?
Then she managed to tell him what to do with his hair, and she could have sunk into her shoes and died of shame. She was a hypocrite. What was next, a comment on his weight? Should she tell him tosmile?
He was already smiling, and it was an absolutely gorgeous grin, with white teeth in an expressive mouth. He had the kind of cheekbones that looked unreal on actors, and a smooth, strong jaw. There was an uncanny draw to him, some heady mix ofconfidence and kindness that Kendra wasn’t sure how to deal with.
“I have an appointment to get to,” she remembered. “And I double-parked the van.” Why was she explaining herself? She didn’t have to do more than drop her daughter off, and with that done, why was she even still here?
Dead rodents,her owl reminded her.
“You don’t want a ticket,” Alan said agreeably. “Amy will have a good time today, I bet.”
“I’m sure she will,” Kendra said, glancing to where Addison had set Amy down with Gabby and Jackson.
Kendra was used to listening to instinct. It told her when to leave Las Vegas, and it told her where to take her vet practice. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do without Tiny Paws to cover some of Amy’s care as the girl got more mobile and independent. She’d never even heard of a day care for shifters until she came to Nickel City. Instinct led her right here, with unexpected clarity.
And instinct was telling her now that this was all fine, that she could trust Alan, and that he might be the answer to the part of her that missed real companionship more complex than a toddler.
As long as she didn’t screw it all up.
The problem was, shealwaysmanaged to screw it all up.
The safest thing to do was not let anything happen with this gorgeous raven-haired (and apparently raven-shifting) man. She could trust him with Amy, but she couldn’t trust him with her heart. “Good luck,” she said briefly, and she turned decisively to go.
Her owl cooed in disappointment, but a crash behind her made her turn. Alan appeared to have walked after her, straight into the gate, and he had knocked it asunder and was now fighting to get it back up.
