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"Yeah, and you're getting pretty damn cranky about it, too," Kaitlyn chimed in. "Living with you has been like two weeks with a woman with PMS and on a diet. Lord, you've been a bitch."
"Have not."
"Have too."
Angelina rolled her eyes. "How old are you, girls? Really. Shannon, you might as well face your destiny. You know it is inevitable."
"I will do no such thing. I can't believe the three of you are ganging up on me like this! I was merely unloading these boxes, and suddenly you have me married off to a man that, frankly, I can't stand!"
"Methinks thou dost protest too much," Kaitlyn said, a smug smile on her face.
"Don't you go quoting Shakespeare to me. You should get busy finding your own man instead of trying to match everyone else up, or you'll end up alone."
Kaitlyn lifted her chin and sniffed. "It's not my time yet."
"Well, make it your time. Mother, I love you. Kaitlyn, you're a pain in the ass. Lissa, mind your own business. I've had enough of this." She tossed a roll of paper onto the counter and whirled around, storming through the kitchen.
She skidded to an abrupt halt as she rounded the corner to find Max in the doorway. Her eyes widened, then narrowed.
Oops.
"Great. Just fucking great. Get out of my way!" Pushing him aside, she went out the back door, letting it slam behind her.
Max craned his head around the corner to find the three women staring at him. He walked in and leaned against the counter, trying for a look of chagrin. "Sorry," he shrugged. "I eavesdropped."
Angelina arched a brow and crossed her arms. "Didn't your mother teach you it's impolite to eavesdrop?"
"She tried. Obviously, I didn't listen. But yeah, she'd smack me in the back of the head if she'd caught me doing it."
Angelina's stern look turned into a smile, then a giggle. "I like your mother already."
"She'd like you, too. You're very much alike in a lot of ways."
"You miss your family," Kaitlyn said, reaching across the counter for Max's hand.
"Yeah, I really do."
"Then why move here?"
"Because it's his destiny to be here," Angelina said.
"I know that feeling," Lissa chimed in.
"I don't know about destiny, I just know it's something I have to do. Besides, I'm plenty old enough to live away from home and survive." He winked at Kaitlyn, who smiled brightly.
"Good. I'd hate to worry about you getting all homesick on us." Pushing away from the counter, Kaitlyn said, "I think I'll go see what everyone else is up to."
"I'll go with you," Lissa said.
He watched them leave, then turned his attention to Angelina. "Let me put that stuff away. You have all done enough today."
"Just about finished here anyway, and it was no trouble. I enjoyed it. We all did. You're like a member of our family."
"I'm hoping I will be some day." There, he'd put it out there. Might as well see how Angelina reacted.
She paused and leaned against the sink, her arms crossed. "Are you in love with my daughter?"
Love? What did love have to do with any of this? This was about primal urges, about the need to choose a mate. Wolves didn't love. He didn't love. "I want her."
She arched a brow. "Well, at least you're honest about your feelings. But wanting someone and loving them enough to spend the rest of your life with them are two different things, Max. I know Shannon. She won't settle for less than your heart."
He reached inside the box nearest him and unwrapped some glasses, placing them in the cabinet. This conversation had suddenly grown uncomfortable. Lying to Angelina about his feelings for Shannon wouldn't have been appropriate, though, even if it would have been more convenient to just say he loved her.
"Right now, your daughter can't stand the sight of me. So I'm pretty sure she doesn't love me, either."
"Maybe. Maybe not. But if you're not open to the possibility of love, it might pass you by. Are you willing to gamble on losing Shannon because you can't feel enough for her?"
"Angelina, I feel a lot for her. I just don't know yet if it's love."
She took the glassware from his hands and set it on the counter, then grasped his fingers in hers. "Fair enough. I feel what's in your heart. I'm not a mind reader, and neither are my children. Shannon can read your emotions unless you're very good at masking them. Sending her mixed signals will only make her back away from you. If you want her, you need to let her know in no uncertain terms how much."
He started to speak, intending to tell her that he wanted Shannon more than he'd ever wanted another woman, but she stopped him. "I don't mean just physically, although that's important, too. But you'll have to give up your heart to win her, Max. You'll have to do something monumental, something that will prove to her that she's the only woman for you. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance."
Moving away, he scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck and shook his head. "I won't tell her something I don't feel."
"Good. Because that girl has the best bullshit meter I've ever seen. She only wants your honesty. If you can give her that, it's a good enough start."
"I'll do that."
"Now, I think it's time I round up my family and leave you and Shannon alone." She turned and headed for the hallway, but then stopped and looked at him. "Max, remember what I said. I know you're very powerful. So am I. Don't hurt her."
He knew she'd back up what she said. "You have my word."
After she left, he stayed in the kitchen as the parade of Storms came by and wished him well. Shannon stayed outside, no doubt completely unaware that her family had abandoned her, leaving her alone with him.
He glanced out the back door and saw her at the water's edge, sitting on the dock and wiggling her feet in the water. The orange sun had begun to dip toward the trees, bathing her in its glow. Long shadows signaling the coming fall season drifted toward her from the overhanging trees.
Soon it would be dark. He looked up at the sky, not yet seeing the silvery orb, but instinctively knowing what kind of night it would be. He felt it surging within him, the call to turn, to run free, to find others like himself.
Or to make one like him.
It was time to set thing straight between him and Shannon. Time to lay it on the line and tell her his thoughts and feelings. One way or another, their futures would be decided tonight.
Tonight was the full moon.
Determination firmly in place, he headed to the refrigerator, thankful he'd had that appliance delivered early. Grabbing a bottle of wi
ne and a couple glasses, he filled a basket with cheese and slices of French bread.
He opened the back door and stepped out on the porch, a mix of certainty and uncertainty racing through his mind and heart.
Did he love her? Was he even capable of it? He was a cold, calculating, unemotional bastard in business. Arrogant, self-assured and damned successful.
With women, though, he'd never had to prove himself. They flocked to him like moths to the only light for miles. Not once had he given his heart. It had never been necessary.
Maybe it would be, this time. Shannon infuriated him. She was bossy, as arrogant in her business demeanor as he, and as alpha a female as he'd ever met.
She was his match in more ways than just sexually.
Sucking in a deep breath of courage, he pushed the screen door open and went to her.
Chapter Nine
Clouds gathered overhead and the wind shifted, coming in off the water. Shannon felt the change in the weather deep inside her, as she always did when her season came about.
Sometimes she wondered if the elements reflected her moods. Other than the ones she conjured up, of course. But sometimes the overall weather patterns in the fall seemed to come from within her. She'd asked her mother about that once, but had only been given a vague "it depends" as an answer.
She splashed water onto her legs, cooling her sun-heated skin, content to just sit here and brood.
Something would happen soon. Something major. If she had a better handle on her emotions, she'd be able to get a clearer picture of what was on the way, but she was too mixed up right now to discern what it was that unsettled her--the weather or her feelings about Max.
Try as she might, she couldn't put that needed distance between them. And because she'd been so damn stubborn, all it did was cause friction between them. Maybe it was time that she just played out this game with him and see where it led.
Down the road to disaster, no doubt. She'd walked that road before with a man she'd been highly attracted to, and what she'd felt for him was nowhere near the jumbled sensations that electrified her whenever she was around Max. Given that even being near him threw her emotions in a state of chaos, giving in to her feelings and attraction for him couldn't lead anywhere good.
