The Shifter Romances The Writer (Nocturne Falls Book 6) (2 page)

Pandora had knocked it out of the park with this house.

Roxy came down from the loft and walked back to Pandora on the patio, smiling the whole way. “I love it.”

“I thought you would. There’s still the garage to look at. Not that exciting, but you should have a look at the whole place before you make an offer. Sound good?”

“Yes.” But Roxy didn’t need to see any more to know she’d finally found home.

“Mom. Mom.
Mom
.” Alex Cruz sighed and flattened his hand over his forehead. His mother continued on in a mix of English and Spanish, but he didn’t need to hear every word to know what she was talking about. Because it was the same conversation they’d been having for the last five years.

“I’m not getting any younger, Alex. I want grandbabies while I can enjoy them. I want to know that my only son has found a good woman to take care of him when I die.”

He rolled his eyes. “Mom. I’m not your only son. Remember my brother, Diego? Your other son?” Granted, Diego as a father was a sobering thought, but if either of them was going to give Carmen Cruz grandchildren, it was probably Diego. And sadly, those grandchildren would probably not be planned.

Sort of shocking that Diego hadn’t ended up with a few kids already.

“Eh, Diego will never settle down.”

“He
is
living with a girl.”

“At least he’s doing that much.” Carmen Cruz made an exhausted noise. “But the only time he hasn’t lived with a girl is when he was in the Marines. That means nothing.”

“True.” Diego went through women like a frat boy went through shots. “Also, you’re fifty-nine. Death is a long way off.”

“You don’t know that.”

Deputy Blythe walked past Alex and crinkled up her face as she mouthed the question, “Mom?”

He nodded at his fellow officer, and she shook her head in sympathy. Everyone he worked with at the station knew what this conversation was about.

“I do know that, Mom. We’re shifters. We live a long time.”

“Then what if something happens to you? Your job is very dangerous.”

“Besides the fact that we heal faster than humans and are much harder to kill, Nocturne Falls is about the least dangerous place a cop can work. Nothing is going to happen to me in this town. I give a few tickets, I arrest the occasional drunk and disorderly. Sometimes I divert parade traffic. Nothing remotely dangerous.”

“You could be shot.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes, I could be. I could also be swept up in a tornado or get food poisoning. My chances of any of those are all about the same.” Which was unfortunate, because either one would be preferable to this conversation.

“Now you’re just mocking me. Why are you such a bad son? Why do you want me to be unhappy? Wolfgang Blackborne would never treat his mother this way. If he had a mother. Which he doesn’t because she was burned at the stake for being a witch.”

Alex squeezed his eyes shut harder. Ever since his mother’s favorite telenovela had been canceled, she’d gotten hooked on romance novels. She talked about the characters like they were real. He was glad she’d found something to be passionate about, but he couldn’t keep up. “Pretty sure that guy is fictional, Mom.”

In the background, Alex heard his father yell, “Carmen, leave that boy alone.”

That would never happen. He took a breath. “Mom, I love you, but I have to go. I’m on duty. I’ll talk to you soon. Give my love to Dad. Bye.”

He hung up as she was still talking, but there was only so much he could take. Why couldn’t his mother understand that, to him, a wife wasn’t just a role to be filled? He wanted to love the woman he married so deeply, he couldn’t imagine life without her. He wanted her to be his best friend.

And he wanted her to be the
one
. His true love. His soul mate. Sadly, that wasn’t something he was sure existed, considering the women he’d dated. Yes, they were all nice and kind and attractive. But none of that mattered, because none of them had flipped that switch inside him that let him know they were meant to be.

Until that happened, he was content being alone.

Maybe not
content
, but he’d accepted being alone was better than spending time with the wrong person. Diego was proof of how awful that could be.

Alex leaned back in his chair as Deputy Blythe walked past again, paperwork in hand. She stopped at his desk. “You okay?”

He looked up. “Yeah, fine. Just…thinking.”

“Sounds dangerous.” She grinned. “You want to get a couple beers after shift at Howler’s?”

He shook his head. “Not tonight. I need to study.”

“Dude, you’ve got two months before that sergeant’s exam.”

“And I don’t want to waste them.”

She shrugged. “There’s going to be a lot of disappointed female tourists. You know how they love a uniform. And who am I going to hang out with?”

He laughed. “The female tourists have enough men in this town to drool over.” And he wasn’t interested in a human or a tourist, so what was the point? “If you need someone to hang out with, call some of the guys from the firehouse. Or just wait for them to show up. They’re always at Howler’s anyway.”

She nodded, smiling. “True. And those uniforms
are
awfully cute.” She snorted. “See you later.”

“Later.”

He finished his shift and headed home. The evening was perfect. He’d go for a run before dinner, then grill himself a steak. But when he got to the house, there was a car in his drive he hadn’t seen in a long time. He parked alongside it, got out and started toward the figure on his front porch.

The figure came out from the shadows, a hand raised in greeting.

Alex nodded. “Hey, Diego. What’s up?”

His brother shrugged. “You know, just thought I’d see how you were doing. Hang out for a bit.”

“Nice to see you.” Then Alex narrowed his eyes. “You just here for the weekend?”

Diego hesitated. “More like until I find somewhere else to stay. I hope that’s cool.”

Alex managed not to sigh, but this was pretty typical Diego. He never showed up just because. “Does that mean you and Nina are done?”

“I’m with Penny now. Or I was.” Diego shrugged and leaned against the porch railing. “Penny and I are sort of taking a break.”

And there it was. “You mean she threw you out?”

“Harsh.”

“But true, right?”

Diego frowned. “I just need a place to stay for a couple nights, tops.”

Alex loved his little brother, but the man was thirty. By now, he ought to have his business together. “Of course, you can stay. But more than a week and you have to start looking for a job because that’s when rent kicks in. Six hundred a month, plus utilities, your share of the chores and you buy your own food.”

Diego’s frown didn’t move. “What kind of job am I supposed to get?”

“The same kind you’ve had before. Bartending or mechanic. You’re good at both of those.” Diego had bartended on and off, but his real skills were with engines. That’s what he’d done in the Marines, and Alex was pretty sure there wasn’t an engine in existence his little brother couldn’t fix. The Camaro taking up the other space in his driveway was proof of that.

But Diego sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, man.”

Alex held firm. “You can always move back to Mom and Dad’s.”

“Like that’s really an option.”

Alex shrugged and said nothing.

“Yeah, all right.” Diego’s grumpy expression finally turned into a sly smile. “Is it true you can be yourself in this town? Like, full-on shifter?” His eyes gleamed feline gold.

“In a sense. Don’t go shifting in front of tourists or running through the streets in your panther form, but generally Nocturne Falls is wide open when it comes to supernaturals like us. Or any kind, really.”

Diego nodded. “Cool.”

“It is.” Alex rested his hand on his utility belt and tried to put a teasing tone in his voice. “Just don’t make me remind you I’m the law in this town. Or I’ll return you to Mom and Dad myself.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll behave. I’m a former Marine, you know.”

“I know.” He should have stayed in. “But in all seriousness, this is my town, Diego. I don’t want you causing trouble.”

“I won’t. I swear.”

“Good.” But Alex’s gut wasn’t so sure about that.

May

Roxy loved her house.
Loved
. Maybe more than she’d ever loved her ex-husband. And if she was going to be married to anything, it might as well be something this awesome.

Actually, it wasn’t just the house. It was her new life here in this new town. The freedom of being on her own was life-changing. Invigorating. Joyous. The move and the process of getting settled in her new house had pretty much derailed her writing productivity, but she was also rediscovering who she was, and taking some time off was good for the soul.

So was life without Thomas hovering over her, trying to control her every action and constantly telling her what she was doing wrong. He’d emailed her again this morning with some nonsense about how she was ruining both their lives with this divorce. She hit delete almost instantly. And with great satisfaction.

Living without that kind of negative weight was a revelation. Maybe this was how prisoners felt after being released. But just thinking about him amped up the stress of the divorce to a new level.

If only he would sign those papers and let her get on with her fresh start.

And today, the last piece in the puzzle of that new life had arrived. Her late father’s ’69 Corvette convertible. She’d inherited the cherry-red machine years ago when he’d passed and had kept it in storage ever since. For a multitude of reasons, she’d hidden the car from Thomas. It had been tough to pull off, but she’d done it.

At one time, she feared she’d have to sell the car and use the money to escape her marriage, but then her paranormal romance series had taken off and she’d been able to save up the necessary funds to get a good attorney.

Now she could finally drive the car and enjoy it. She knew that’s what her dad would have wanted, although he would have understood, and approved, if she’d sold it to be rid of Thomas. This was the better outcome, though. By far.

Her dad had taken on the role of both parents after her mother’s hospitalization and subsequent death, so having this car felt like having him with her again. Today was a good day.

She paid the long-haul driver and turned to look at the car. There was no question it needed to be serviced, but all those times she’d snuck away to the storage unit to start the car and occasionally take it for a short drive had paid off by keeping it in running order.

At long last the day had come for her to take it for a real drive. Blow the carbon out, as her dad used to say. Seemed fitting that it was happening as part of her new life. And on Monday, when she went to the DMV to get her new Georgia license, she’d get new plates for the car too. Maybe vintage plates, if they did those.

She went inside, tied a scarf over her dark curls, popped on her biggest shades and grabbed her purse. Then she went back outside, put the top down and climbed in. The engine purred to life with a deep rumble that vibrated right through her.

There was no way not to smile. The day was gorgeous, thanks to the perfect weather and the car was a thing of beauty. A sleek machine that scared her just a little but mostly filled her with exhilaration and joyful memories of her father and the times they’d gone for rides together. She patted the dash. “This is for you, Daddy.”