“Sure, at first, I was scared of werewolves. But it didn’t take me long to realize that anything mean about a werewolf would be more likely to come from the human half than the wolf one. And as soon as I met Luke, I was sure of it. I didn’t even have to find out you were a werewolf to see that they were as good and bad as anyone else.”
It felt like inspiration hitting her out of the blue, like a lightning bolt.
“Luke could be part of your pack,” she said.
“Really?” But he looked intrigued.
“He needs someone. And it would be nice for you to have at least one other werewolf in your pack, right? Someone to romp through the woods with?”
“My wolf would like to strenuously protest the idea that we ever romp,” Colby said, but he was grinning. “Yeah, honestly, I wouldn’t mind taking the kid under my wing. I’ve got a soft spot for juvenile delinquents anyway, since I almost was one.”
“So you’ll have me,” she put as much emphasis as possible on the word, wanting him to have no doubt who much she meant it, “Luke, Theo, Gretchen, Martin, and eventually—I’m one hundred percent sure—Mattie, my mom, and my dad. Although my mom might also try to adopt Theo. She was pretty head-over-heels about that hostess gift thing.”
“That’s a pretty big pack,” Colby said. He laced his fingers through hers and held her hand tightly. “All the other wolves are going to be jealous of me.”
“Good,” Aria said brightly. “Then let’s go meet some of the old-timers, and if they’re rude about you going off on your own, we can rub it in their faces that you’re perfectly happy.”
“I am now that I’ve met you,” he said.
*
Aria didn’t know what to expect of a gathering of werewolf senior citizens.
Would it be a bunch of grumpy men in a hunting lodge? Would the walls be decorated with racks of antlers from deer they had taken down together in weird werewolf bonding exercises? Would they sniff her out immediately as a human intruder? Would Colby get raked over the coals for not only living with humans but mating with one?
Or would it be more like some kind of bizarre hippie commune, with shifters roaming around naked and unashamed?
She was having too much fun coming up with possibilities. Which meant, unfortunately, that by the time the well of her imagination ran dry and she wanted to dig into specifics with Colby, they were already there.
Gulp.
She got out of the car, glad that she’d ditched last night’s clingy, enticing rose-colored dress for something more practical and back-to-basics this morning. She wanted to make a good impression on Colby’s dad’s friends, sure, but she also wanted to be able to run if she needed to.
She stood by everything she’d said this morning about knowing that not all werewolves were like the Hebbert brothers, but that didn’t mean that insular, clannish old werewolves were necessarily going to lay out the welcome mat for them.
And it didn’t mean they weren’t going to run into Eli Hebbert himself, for that matter. It was still hard to say what kind of tracking his super-nose was capable of.
It was best to be prepared for anything.
“You look nervous,” Colby said.
“Just a little.”
She looked at the enormous house looming over them, taking in the stone wolves carved on each side of its massive doorway, and revised that:
“Just a medium amount.”
He took her hand and held it as they walked. “I know it’s intimidating. But I’m only worried about whether or not they’ll be chilly towards us. I promise. Nothing worse than that. My dad would never have wasted his time with wolves who had some kind of anti-human sentiment going on.”
She liked that Colby had so much faith in his dad’s intrinsic goodness. She had always felt that way about her parents, no matter how many little spats and quibbles she and her mom had had over the years. She really was glad that Colby had had that same kind of support.
And she believed him, which gave her the necessary jolt of courage to stand still and straight-backed as he knocked on the door.
It was opened by a perky blonde woman in her late fifties. With her brightly colored clothes and beaming smile, she reminded Aria immediately of Mattie’s old kindergarten teacher.
“Hello!” the woman said cheerfully. “How can I help you?”
Colby said, “I’m Colby, ma’am. Bryan Acton’s son.”