Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Who’s your mom?” JT demanded.
“Your mom knows about us?” Clio asked, squeezing in with JT and smiling for the camera.
“My mom is someone who is dying to meet you.” I picked JT up, flipping him upside down to swing him on top of my shoulders.
He shrieked with laughter.
I texted the picture to my mom. “My sisters want to meet you, too.” I reached for Clio’s hand. “Think you’re ready to meet the whole pack?”
She hesitated for a moment then said with a surprised laugh, “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am. Let’s do it.”
I beamed at her then started to turn around as I flipped JT back off my shoulders and spun him to the ground. “Again!” he shrieked.
“Yep. But first I have to do that to your mommy!”
“What? No!” Clio laughed when I grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, too. “Oh my God, Sam. You’re crazy.”
I slowed us down and kissed her. “Yep. Crazy about you.” I ruffled JT’s hair. “Both of you.”
25
CLIO
* * *
At Wolf Ranch the following evening, Sam lifted me out of his truck by the waist as JT clamored past me, already freed from his booster seat.
There would be a full moon run for the wolves at the ranch that night, but Sam said that meant there’d also be a barbecue all afternoon, and it would be a chance for me to meet his family and pack beforehand.
“I’m going to find Remy!” JT called out as he raced toward a clump of kids around the tree fort.
“Don’t go anywhere else without telling me!” I called to his rapidly disappearing back.
“He’s safe here,” Sam promised.
I had to admit I was a little skittish about meeting everyone because Ted had made it seem like his pack would never accept me. But I had to trust that what Sam said was true–that we truly were welcome. That they accepted humans and half-humans into the pack.
Unlike when I came to fix the tractor, I was nervous. Things were different now.
“I’ll stick close, but remember, later, I’ll have to let my wolf out to run for at least a short time because you’ve got him all riled up,” he reminded me of what he’d told me when he picked us up. “I promise there will be other human females and kids who don’t shift with you, so you won’t be out of place. Marina, who you know, her sister, Audrey, and her daughter, Lizzie, Becky, who has a little girl named Lily.” He laughed. “A whole girl gang ready to have you join. Plus Remy, Joy, and others.”
“Okay.”
My limbs felt loose, my body warm and supple. I’d let Sam spend the night again–with JT home this time. It seemed like I’d done an abrupt one-eighty since Friday night, going from keeping Sam at arm’s length for sex only to giving our relationship a real shot.
I had whiplash from my own change of perspective.
Meanwhile, Sam was making me fall head over heels in love with him. Last night, he’d made us tacos for dinner, read JT to sleep, then pleasured me for hours. It must have been the full moon because every time he looked at me, his eyes took on a hungry, pale blue glow. I had the sense of freefalling. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.
Sam put his hand on my lower back and guided us toward the big house he’d said belonged to Rob Wolf and his brothers the other day. It was a sprawling house with a giant, wraparound porch. People spilled all over the decks, in front and back.
The air was cooler today, with fall definitely in the air. The leaves on the cottonwoods and aspens were a bright yellow.
Happy shrieks of children came from multiple directions. I glanced over at the tree fort and easily spotted JT with his new BFF, Remy. Safe with other wolf shifters.
It was entirely new to me to feel like I could let him run and play without worrying he’d out himself. He could be himself here, and it made me feel bad that I’d had to stifle him in the past. No longer.
Two women waved from the porch, and I smiled because I recognized them both–it was Marina, the woman who had let JT help with the bake sale at the fall festival, and Charlie, the vet who’d asked Sam for help with Cletus, the unruly stallion, the first time I was out here.
They welcomed me when I joined them and pointed us toward the cooler to grab drinks.
“There’s gonna be a lot of names thrown at you all at once,” Sam warned after opening a bottle of beer for each of us and handing me one. The chill seeped into my fingers. “Don’t worry about learning them all tonight.”
“Okay,” I laughed, a little relieved.