Werewolves in Love 2: Yours, Mine and Howls (13 page)

“Michael,” Cade said sharply. “I’m glad you like my mate, but you’re way too goddamned cheerful. What’s going on down there? You know I don’t like surprises.”

“Yeah, I know, boss.” Michael’s laughter rang a little hollow this time.

“You’re not in the way.”

“Huh?” Dylan sounded like he’d been drifting off to sleep.

“What you said earlier. You’re not why the guys don’t have women.”

She shot him a glance to see his reaction. He appeared to be studying her rather…adultly.

“I’m the reason you don’t have a man, though.”

“No.
I’m
the reason I don’t have a man. Lots of single moms manage to have a social life.”

“You mean a sex life.”

“Dylan!” Surely he was teasing her? But when she stole another look, she didn’t see him laughing.

“Since when are you comfortable thinking about me with a sex life?” Her voice came out in a higher octave than normal.

“I’m not comfortable with it, exactly, but you’re the one who said you needed to figure out what to do with the rest of your life. And you were right—I’m a big wolf now. I need to let you go.”

“No, I need to let
you
go.” They both laughed nervously. “And, baby, I’m not ever really gonna let you go. You’re stuck with me.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “You’re my mom. But I can’t put you in a nursing home yet. You need a boyfriend.”

Flustered, Ally glanced in the rearview mirror to check on Becca, bent over double in her car seat. How could small children sleep like that? With any luck she’d be refreshed, not cranky, when they got to town.

“What happened with Lind?”

“What?” That one came out of nowhere.

“Lind. Why’d you stop seeing him? Is he the reason we left home so quick?” He didn’t sound upset or angry, merely curious.

She closed her eyes for a second to collect herself, then quickly opened them when she remembered, oh yeah, she was driving.

“If I said yes, would you be mad at me?”

“No,” he said after a moment. “I didn’t want to come up here, but now I’m glad we did. I’d feel better if you’d had a reason besides me to leave.”

“Okay.” She hesitated. “Then the truth is yeah, he’s one of the reasons. We already wanted to bring you up here, but Jakob kind of, um… He sort of went psycho on me, and…” There were certain subjects Dylan and Ally didn’t discuss directly, and she’d always thought it was by mutual, unspoken agreement.

“Did you get a little redneck on his Danish ass?”

She laughed shortly, relieved. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Stupid, but I just couldn’t stop myself at the time. So we thought maybe I should clear out for a while. I wanted to take off somewhere on my own, but Seth insisted we come up here. I honestly don’t know why Dec decided to come with us.”

“I think he needs us more than we realize.”

“You’re being awfully mature today,” she teased. “It makes me feel old.”

He grinned. “Deal with it. I’m growing up.”

Dylan shattered the companionable vibe a few minutes later when he said, “He wants you, you know.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked in a strangled sort of voice, but of course she knew. At the oblique reference to Cade, her hands had started to shake a little on the steering wheel.

“Sorry. I’ll shut up about it.”

“No, I’m sorry, you don’t need to…”
Deep breath. Start over.
“I’m the one who’s always bugging you to talk to me. I’m just not sure I can talk about
this
.”

“Okay.”

Another mile flew past. They’d be in town soon.

“How do you know he does?” she asked him quietly. It unnerved her to talk to Dylan as an equal.

“Everyone knows, Al. He’s the Alpha—everyone can tell when he wants a female.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered to herself. She recalled Cade’s grin—and her own mortification—when he’d said all the wolves would smell him on her.

“It’s okay. Don’t be embarrassed, it’s not…it’s not dirty, you know? It’s not like he’s a human guy who just wants to get you into bed, it’s—”

“How’d you get all clued in to werewolf stuff?” she snapped, reddening. But she wasn’t angry. God help her, she was turned on, and scared, and, yes, a bit thrilled, and she couldn’t deal with any of those emotions in front of Dylan.

He shrugged. “I’ve listened to the guys at the ranch. I’ve been… I can’t really explain it. It’s not all words, you know? Some of it’s like, mental, or just instinct. That’s why I like being there. It feels natural.” He cocked his head at her, a disconcertingly shrewd expression on his handsome face, and then hit her with another one. “Ally, how come you never think a guy wants you?”

Balls were flying out of left field faster than she could hit them. “I don’t know,” she muttered, and he didn’t press.

She sighed. “Because…look. You don’t remember back before it all happened, do you? I know you remember that night, but you don’t remember much about me before that, right?”

She couldn’t believe they were having a Major Conversation like this in the car, with a sleeping child in the backseat and her trying to keep her eyes on the road while navigating the emotional landmines of the past and talking to her little boy about stuff she never wanted to talk to him about.

“I remember my parents,” he said slowly. “I remember always being scared except when you were around, but no—it’s weird, but I don’t remember much about you.”

“Okay. Well, see, I didn’t date much. Like, at all. So, after it happened…” She’d always planned to explain
It
to Dylan when he grew up, which meant…now? No, not right now. “I mean, when I came back, I still looked like me, but completely different. It felt like walking around in someone else’s body.”

She found it hard to explain to someone who’d been born beautiful how difficult it was to go from chubby and cute-ish to hard and hot. “Guys liked the body, but it didn’t feel like mine. Sometimes it still doesn’t, if that makes sense.”

“It does.”

“It’s still weird,” she continued, feeling reflective now. She propped an elbow on the window and leaned her head on one hand while she steered with the other one. “I still forget about the strength sometimes. I’m used to the eyesight and the hearing, and I’ve learned to ignore the smell.”

“Yeah. For wolves, it’s automatic to tune out certain sounds and smells when we’re on two feet, you know? Otherwise we’d have sensory overload all the time.”

Fremont came into view, and she welcomed the distraction. Soon they were on Main Street.

She loved small towns whose Main Streets were actually the main streets. She started looking for a parking place and hoped her assumption that she’d locate a salon nearby proved correct. Fremont was so small, she hadn’t bothered looking online for a map.

“But I’d never thought about how
you
handled it. I mean, holding back my strength is automatic for me. It isn’t for you?”

“Not always,” she replied absently. Downtown Fremont was busy on Saturday afternoon.

“Wolves just keep their strength in check by instinct. Same thing with speed, when we’re on two feet.” He turned to her as much as the seat belt would allow as she cruised slowly, still looking for a parking spot. “See, we passed for thousands of years, right? ’Cause when we’re on two feet, it’s just instinct not to move too fast or show too much strength. That must be evolution, like the way a female stops aging if she has a wolf, so she keeps pace with her mate.”

Ah. She spotted a parking spot up ahead, in front of a manicured grassy area with a small fountain and some benches. People were sitting around the fountain or throwing Frisbees with dogs.

“I never understood why evolution didn’t do that for women who birth daughters with wolves,” she muttered. “Evolution seems sexist sometimes.”

“Oh yeah, it can be. It’s totally unfair to females.” He cocked his head at her. “Hey, I just thought of something. That would make sex kind of weird, wouldn’t it?”

“What would?” she asked uncomfortably.

“The strength thing, when you’re having sex.”

She gaped at him, appalled. He wasn’t joking.

“If you’re really getting into it,” he continued blithely, “and you forget to concentrate on holding back, you could lose control and hurt a guy, couldn’t you? See, when I’m with a girl, it’s just natural for me not to use all my strength, I don’t have to think about it—”

“Sweetie.” She stomped on the brake halfway into the parking spot. The car behind her honked in annoyance. She unbuckled her seat belt and turned to face him. “I’m glad you want to talk to me, and maybe—
maybe
—I could talk to you about Cade. But I cannot talk to you about your sex life, or mine. I just. Can. Not.”

He raised an eyebrow—damn, he looked just like Cade doing that—and smiled at her affectionately. “Okay. I don’t want to embarrass you. It’s just kind of cool to talk like this, you know? You’re talking to me like I’m grown.”

“Don’t I normally?”

“Not really. But it’s okay, I don’t mind. Usually.”

“Yeah, you do.” She sighed. “Okay. I’ll work on it.”

“Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek—while not furry, sick, sleepy, hungry or prompted.

They pulled a limp Becca from her car seat. She wrapped her legs around Ally’s waist. Dylan went to put money in the parking meter.

Something tripped her instincts as she stood there rubbing Becca’s back and coaxing her awake. She gently pivoted from side to side, rocking Becca as she scanned the streets and sidewalks.

There. Tall, weird guy at two o’clock, staring straight at them from the doorway of a building five blocks ahead, down the nearest cross street. She had a clear view of him across the little park. Long white hair, almost silver. A relatively young face with a thin scar running diagonally almost the length of it, right temple to left cheek. He wore sunglasses, so she couldn’t see his eyes. Despite the summer heat, he wore slacks and a long-sleeved shirt open at the collar. She kept swaying back and forth, letting her eyes roam. He wouldn’t know she could see him from so far away, but she didn’t want to be obvious. When Dylan rejoined them, he stood with his back to the guy, obstructing her view.

“Hey.” She stood Becca on her feet between them. “There’s a strange guy directly behind you, down this side street about five blocks. He’s watching us.”

“Weird. Give me the keys.” He walked around to the back of the car and opened the trunk, as if looking for something. He did a fine job of scanning the area surreptitiously.

“Yep, he’s definitely scoping us. I get the feeling I’ve seen him before.”

“You’re kidding. Where?”

“I dunno. I mean, he’s interesting looking—I wouldn’t think I’d forget someone like that. But I can’t place him. He looks spooky. Maybe you and Becca shouldn’t run around by yourselves.”

“No, I can handle it. Let’s split up and see if he follows one of us.”

They planned to meet for lunch. Dylan went to explore the town a bit, Ally and Becca to look for a salon.

If attention were a tornado, Rebecca MacDougall would’ve been a mobile home. Ally found it slow going down the cobblestone streets, with passersby stopping to say hello to Becca as she strutted in her sunglasses and boa. They asked her name and age and exclaimed over her adorableness. A number of people recognized her as Cade’s daughter because the resemblance was so striking and he was so well known, but they all acted like they hadn’t seen much of her.

For her part, Becca basked in the attention, bouncing along holding Ally’s hand and jabbering nonstop. Ally tried her best to keep up. They talked about Daddy, nannies and Sindri’s pancakes, how Becca sometimes turned into a cat but not on purpose, werewolves,
Wiggles
, why bees stung you but butterflies didn’t, horses, her imaginary friends, people passing them on the street, her Nana, and more.

For a minute, Ally forgot she wasn’t really the nanny. Maybe she’d tell Cade she was enrolling Becca in a preschool program. Right before he kicked her out for getting his daughter’s hair cut.

Downtown Fremont was charming—lots of funky shops, antique dealers and regular retail stores. A number of buildings had historical markers which Ally would’ve loved to stop and read if she didn’t have Becca dragging her along. She kept looking around, but she saw no sign of the weird white-haired guy. She no longer had the feeling of being followed.

They found Cute Kids’ Kutz two streets over from where they parked. After a wait of twenty minutes, an empty chair beckoned. Ally told the stylist—Heather—to tame the curls all over and take two inches off the bottom.

Heather was nineteen. Heather had lived in Fremont all her life. Heather wanted to move to Denver or some other big city because Fremont was absolutely dead. Heather talked more than Becca.

“She’s just beautiful. Sweetie, you are too cute! And you’re being so good. I bet your mommy’s very proud of you, isn’t she?” Heather beamed at Ally.

“Ally’s my nanny,” Becca said softly. Ally couldn’t tell if it was the mention of a mommy or the haircut that turned her little face so suddenly grave.

“Oh, well—that’s great too!” She looked at Ally appraisingly. “Wow. You’re young to be a nanny. Where do y’all live?”

“Outside of town,” Ally replied. “I’ve just been there a week—”

“Oh my God!” Heather squealed, and Becca jumped a foot. Ally’s sensitive ears nearly bled. Humans weren’t supposed to make noises like that. The young woman noted Ally’s grimace and lowered her voice, looking sheepish.

“Sorry. It’s just that I figured out where I’d seen Rebecca! She’s Cade MacDougall’s daughter, isn’t she?”

“You know him?”

“God no, I wish.” Heather snorted. “But my girlfriend Celine, see, she was Rebecca’s nanny for a while! Isn’t that wild? Hey, sweetie,” she said, putting her head next to Becca’s and looking at her in the mirror, “do you remember Celine?”

Becca concentrated. “No.”

“You were too little. Just as well,” she said to Ally. “Celine has a thing for fur, you know? Someone said she even went after—” She stopped, looking at Becca, then back at Ally. “You know. And he fired her. I can’t really blame her for trying. He is so hot, isn’t he?”