Chapter1
BRODY
“Awolf has no business in a beauty parlor.”
I was unloading another crate of bikini wax. It was only midmorning, way too early to be dealing with humans. Besides, I’d already stacked two other crates. That’s a lot of wax. This woman had arrived in Sleepy Briar with enough wax to de-fur a sizable population of paranormals.
“Brody Havoc, buck up. You weren’t born a hundred years ago. Stop thinking like you were.”
Willow Hart, the woman who should’ve been my mate, shook her head at me. Her round face and brunette curls were sticky from all the lugging. Even sweaty, she was fine as hell.
“It’s called a ‘salon,’ and judging from what I’ve seen of the population here, a unisex one is overdue.”
I wasn’t a hundred years old, but her inheritance was. Tourists would think the house’s two-story miniature Victorian construction was cute as hell. Whoever built this place took the idea of minimalism to a whole other level. But that is neither here nor there.
In reality, this old place was hot in the summer and cold in the winter and right now we are having an unusually warm spring. The ceilings were low-beamed too. I had to duck every time I entered a room or risk knocking myself out.
Adding to the list, the water pressure was finicky. The window frames swell up with summer humidity, making it tough to get the windows open. Air-conditioning is a no-go unless the whole house gets rewired. The best Willow could do was plug fans in for the hot days. I’ve been working construction lately, helping renovate my cousin Jax’s inn down the street. Everywhere I looked these days, I mentally renovated one of Sleepy Briar’s run-down buildings.
“I love the dormers and built-ins. Plus the old wavy glass windows. I can’t believe Taylor never told me about it. I just about fell over when I found the deed with his will. This coat of paint will freshen things up.”
“There’s barely enough room for you, let alone a business.” I propped open a nearby window. The warped wooden frame protested at being forced. If building supplies weren’t so expensive up here, this place would be a tear-down. Willow was overly optimistic about the power of paint, but that was like her in general: always looking on the bright side.
I, on the other hand, preferred the “whatever the hell can possibly go wrong will” view of life. I liked being right. My outlook pretty much assured that I would be.
“There’s a loft upstairs. Over time I’ll make improvements. Maybe when you finish up construction at the inn, you can help out? Plus, Gabe has an electrician friend.”
Gabe.All I needed was a ghoul running the welcome wagon in Sleepy Briar. This community was still trying to get back off the ground. Having a ghoul as an ambassador was not helping the “Come to Sleepy Briar” cause. Gabe needed a mate to keep him busy. He had entirely too much free time if he was hanging around Willow. Too bad I’d never smelled a female ghoul around town.
“The electrician is a vampire. Did Gabe say when he was coming back? It would be dangerous for you if the vamp was here.”
“Worried about me already? Don’t be. There’s always room for a sleepover upstairs.” Willow winked. “Gabe said he’s not expected to be back until fall comes back around. Right now, with all this midnight sun, that poor vamp would be roasted.”
I exhaled. Good. One less thing to worry about. Vamps usually didn’t come north when the days started to lengthen. The thought of a vamp sinking his teeth or anything else into Willow sickened me. But where I tamped down one worry about her, another one popped up. It was like a sick game of Whac-A-Mole.
“No one wants a human setting up shop here. Sleepy Briar is a paranormal community. Always has been.” I stacked more crates in the corner, as directed. It was harder to argue and work than I’d thought, being in the same room as Willow. I wanted to fold her into my arms and bury my nose in her hair. From there, things would hopefully involve less clothing and more grunting.
Hey, a shifter can dream.
I needed a mate. My wolf was close to the surface. After spending the last month and a half roaming the back mountains, I’d returned to town horny as hell.
Willow always ignited my drive to claim her. Years ago, I’d resisted. That was ancient history. She’d moved on. So had I. If I’d had a mate, my urge to fuck the living daylights out of this woman would have been gone. A mate would keep me satisfied, and it would be my job to do the same for her.
Unfortunately, Sleepy Briar was not full of available females. In fact, it didn’t have any. In my recent wanderings all over the frozen north of Maine, I’d not discovered any unclaimed female wolf shifters. Sadly, our numbers were down. Willow’s visit couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“So I’m good enough to visit here but not good enough to live here? That’s discrimination. Aren’t you a lawyer?”
I haven’t seen Willow in four years, but she still smelled like strawberries in the middle of the summer.
“Ex-law student. I’m sticking to law enforcement. The way things are going here, this place needs deputies. You can’t live here because you’re human.”
“I’m not going to be scared away by a tradition.” She brushed her curvy body by me and my dick nearly jumped out of my pants. I inhaled her scent, feeling it imprint on my brain as it had countless times. “Mine”flashed inside my brain like a firework display.
“It’s for your safety. Every paranormal here has some ‘gift’ that makes them a potential danger to you.”Especially me.My wolf spirit was rising regularly. I had learned that rather than suppressing the creature inside me, only by respecting it could I have some peace within myself. But around Willow, I felt anything but peaceful.
“Creditors took everything I had in Augustus. I’m lucky no one wanted this place. At the risk of winding up homeless, I’m not going anywhere. End of story. Or are you really going to argue with a woman holding a knife?” Willow cut the packing tape open on another crate.
“If she’s a human woman in a town under siege by a succubus? Damn right I’m going to argue.”