Page 51 of So I Won a Werelion

Gabe took a step closer. Hands still in his pockets. It made him look young, unsure of himself. Like the Gabe I remembered. “The next time I see you, I’d like to take you on a date.”

Bibi laced her fingers together and beamed. “It will be Wendy’s turn to choose, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.”

“Guess I better make this good, huh?”

Gabe lingered for a moment, and then those big strong hands came out of his pockets. It was the first time I noticed he had some scrapes left over from last night. Minor injuries usually healed when an animal shifted. Gabe had fought hard.

For me.

“Whatever you choose will be perfect. See you soon.” He put his hands on my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

He and Bjorn headed for the van, which meant Bibi would be riding shotgun in my ancient car. How embarrassing to have to clean off the passenger seat for her.

Bibi put her hand on my arm. “Why don’t we get you settled at my place? Maybe we can make plans to talk to Laura and see what resources she has for us to look over at the library.”

Right, I wasn’t going home. Something felt very final about that, more than quitting my job at the office. “That sounds good. Should we swing by my place and—”

Bibi shook her hand. “Oh, darling, you won’t be needing any of those things. I’m giving you a total life makeover.”

Between the relic and trying—and failing—to keep Gabe at arm’s length, I’d forgotten about that part of the show. I’d prided myself on the freedom not having a car payment gave me, but seeing someone as glamorous as Bibi against the worn interior made me rethink all my life choices.

“I’m proud of you,” she said as I started driving. “You took a massive step forward today with Gabe’s pride.”

“You think so? Because it felt like a total failure to me.”

“Absolutely. You took the lead, like the expert you are, and offered real solutions. Otherwise, they would’ve been chasing their tails. Or worse, never even know these relics had been found.”

I appreciated the vote of confidence, but Bibi wasn’t the only one I had to convince. “Lucy didn’t think so.”

“When Lucy brings a solution to the table, we’ll be happy to listen, right? Don’t let her fear of change take away your chance to shine. That’s one of the reasons I wanted you to work on this separately from Gabriel. This is your life’s work, Wendy. If you get this artifact back into the right hands and help our local packs decipher the messages it contains, I don’t think you’ll ever have to show anyone another house again.”

Chapter

Fifteen

Gabe

“How did it go?” Leo asked. He, Dylan, Saint Lovell from the Colorado Ranch pack, and Jackson Hunter from the Green Mountain pack were waiting for me at the ski resort.“We saw some pretty crazy stories online about Wendy. That she’d gone missing. I was fairly sure it was bullshit, since she’d been here—but we didn’t need any humans with a savior complex to come sniffing around.”

“Like Wanda?” I filled them in on what happened at the realty office.

“Wendy’s sister has always been trouble.” Dylan shook his head. “Wanda’s been a thorn in our sides for years as we’ve grown the ski resort. Money hungry, land hungry, and thinks she should have a say about everything that happens around Sunset Springs, like she’s the mayor or something.”

“She thinks she has a say over what Wendy does too.” My mate had listened to everyone else when it came to her best interests for too long. “Wanda’s single-handedly trying to sabotage the show.”

“She was a pain in the ass duringThe Real Werewives,too,” Saint grumbled. “Whatever the plan is, she can’t be a part ofit. I know, she’s Wendy’s family. Whatever you told her about the Scepter, don’t tell her anything else. She already knows too much. She’s fought the local shifters every step of the way. This new housing development of hers is way too close to our land. Something funny went down with the sale of that—records are hard to find. Someone should also be investigating that.”

“It will seriously impede access to our village if they restrict vehicles because it’s a residential area, and there’s no other way to get to Green Mountain,” Jackson added.

“Maybe Wendy should stay on the job,” I said more to myself than to the men gathered around me. “Keep an eye on her sister.”

“Some of the reason shifters have been critical of Wendy is because her sister has been awful to us for years,” Leo said. “Getting her out of that realty office is the best thing you could’ve done for her reputation.”

“How are we gonna stop the construction work?” I asked.

“We stop it,” Jackson growled. “Wanda had her chance to cooperate. There’s no way we can let any more artifacts fall into human hands.”

“Anyone get a name on that reporter?” Leo asked.

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