Page 5 of Wolf's Midlife Bite

Poppy had come highly recommended by Renee, some of her tattooed friends, and patients. Though Robin hadn’t looked forward to reliving that painful experience, she’d felt better about going through it with a female artist. “I did, but she was overbooked when I got there. She apologized a million times, then set me up with this other artist in the shop. I wasn’t thrilled about showing him my FUPA, but he was a real professional.”

“And?” Renee pressed. “I bet he was hot.”

Readjusting her clothes, Robin felt one corner of her mouth twitch upwards. “Yeah, which made it that much harder! I was mortified and almost canceled completely. I wasn’t even sure I could deal with having the top of my pants down, but then he did it for me.”

“Well, damn. I think you might be getting more action than I am. Kennedy, make sure you don’t pull too hard!” She watched her daughter for another moment before she turned her attention back to Robin.

She was laughing. “I wouldn’t call it that. He just knew what needed to happen to get the job done, and he was doing Poppy a favor by taking over. I think he wanted to get back to his drawing.” It wasn’t like he’d been cold and distant, though. He was probably just trying to get through the appointment and get her out the door. But Brody had been sweet, getting her to talk so she would relax. Once the conversation had gotten rolling, Robin had been so comfortable with him that she was shocked when it was all over.

“So, are you going to go back for another tattoo?” Renee asked in a teasing, singsong voice. “Are you going to ask him out?”

Robin laughed again. “No, thanks. He’s hot and very talented, but it ends there.” There had been that definitive spark between them when she’d handed him her business card. Robin had thought about it a lot, with that jolting feeling surging through her veins every time as though it were happening all over again.

“Come on.” Renee bumped her with her hip. “You could use something to shake your life up a little.”

“I’ve had it shaken up enough for now, thank you very much. I’m a newly minted single woman now that JC is out of the picture, and I’m more than happy to let things settle down for a while.” Brody was exciting and different. He wasn’t arrogant like JC, and that contrast was appealing. The logical part of her knew she’d be equally attracted to anyone else who didn’t remind her of her ex. For now, she had everything she needed in her life.

“Aunt Robin!” Kennedy puffed as she came running up. “Do you want to play tag with me?”

Robin smiled. She hadn’t played tag since she was a kid. She didn’t have the same kind of stamina that she did back then, and she sure wasn’t as fast. But that was all right. Kennedy could tag her every time, and she’d be thrilled. “You’re on, kid!”

3

Brody drew a long,curving line and then another that reflected the general shape. He sneered at the result, though he knew a drawing could sometimes be saved if he pursued it a little. His eccentric junior high art teacher, Mrs. Monroe, had taught him that. “So what if it’s not what you thought it was going to be?” she’d ask, throwing her hands in the air and making the brilliantly colored fabric of her caftan swirl. “Change it, make it something different! Maybe it was never meant to be your original idea, anyway.”

That’d been hard to wrap his head around, but it’d worked well both in his personal pursuit of art as well as his professional one. It made him adapt to his canvas, to his subject, and even to his mood.

Right now, though, that particular ideal wasn’t helping him. He flicked to the next page in his sketchbook and tried again. Robin had been beautiful. He wanted to capture the curve of her cheek, the softness of her hair, and the graceful way she tipped her head when she was uncertain. The light in her eyes and the flush of her full, pink lips would have to come later, when he’d moved past the basic sketch. Oil pastels. Yeah. That would be perfect for her.

That spark, though, that shot of electricity that had clenched his gut and aroused his wolf, that would be impossible to capture.

“What do you think, Brody?”

“Hm?”

Rex sighed as he tapped the hard back of Brody’s sketchbook. “You’re really lost in that thing today, aren’t you?”

Brody shrugged. “I’ve just got something on my mind that I’m trying to get out on paper.”

“Let me see,” Max said. He got up out of his chair and tried to take a look.

Instinctively, Brody flung the sketchbook toward his chest so that it lay facedown against his shirt. “It’s not finished yet.”

“Oh, come on. You’re not still like that, are you?” Max ran a hand through his dark hair as he returned to his seat. “No different than you were when you were a kid.”

“That’s because it’s a work in progress, and it isn’t ready to be seen by anyone yet. If I let you look at every single line I doodled, you’d think I was a shitty artist. If I let my clients see their tats before they were finished, they’d wonder why they were paying me.”

“All right. No one’s attacking your talent here,” Rex said in that calming way he had. It was exactly why he was Alpha. There was, of course, also the fact that he was the oldest of the Glenwoods, but everyone knew that Rex deserved his position just as much as he inherited it. “Max and I were just trying to ask who you thought might make a good third in command now that Dave is gone.”

“Should’ve kicked him out a long time ago,” Max commented. “I never did like him.”

“He might not’ve been anyone’s favorite, but you know as well as I do that Dave was given his position as a tribute for all his family had done for the pack. I can’t help it if he didn’t live up to the position,” Rex explained.

“To say the least,” Max scoffed.

Rex thumped his own chest. “Trust me, I have the most reason to be pissed at him. But I don’t want to waste my time on that. I’ve got more important things to do, and if he’s banished, then I don’t have to worry about him.”

Brody flipped to another clean page and attempted Robin’s curves again. It was a much more palatable subject than all of this bullshit about Dave and pack politics. He ran the tip of his tongue around his teeth, knowing damn well that not a single one of them needed attention, but it was a good excuse to see her again. It might also give him a chance to study her more, to find a way to better put her luscious figure down on paper.

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