Page 9 of Sass Me Again

“And honestly, have you seen all the humans at Twisted Tail these days who have been gifted with their own wolves? It’s pretty incredible if you ask me.”

“Wow! I guess I hadn’t realized, but you’re right. There has been. Why do you think that is?”

Rafe scratched his head before answering. “I’m really not sure. I think something in our world is changing, but I really don’t know why. The Gods have something to do with it. I just wish I knew what the reason was.”

“You really have no idea?” Ian asked.

“None. But I will say this. The Fates have chosen Emily for you. There must be a reason. It’s time to stop fighting your fate and start fighting for it.”

6

Emily rolled over and glanced at the clock beside her bed. “Noon, already.” She stretched her arms above her head. Her body was deliciously sore—like that of a woman who had been loved up the night before.

“Mmmm.” She sat up and pulled her robe around her. Grabbing her phone, she checked her missed calls.

“Ugh!” Fifteen missed calls from her mom and seven texts from her dad. “Great!” Emily knew she needed to come up with something to tell her parents. It wasn’t like she could say, ‘Oh hey, I hooked up with Ian last night. No biggie.’ Both of her parents would lose their ever-loving minds. They hated Ian and had warned her time and again to stay the hell away from him and anyone like him. What they had refused to come out and say was that they didn’t want her around shifters. At all. Ever.

Their demands had included Jenn as well, but she had fought tooth and nail to keep that friendship. Jenn was her only true friend. The only one who had ever been there for her through thick and thin. She never understood her parents’ attitude towards shifters or any other supernatural beings for that matter, and they refused to talk about it every time she brought it up. None of it made any sense.

A loud knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts.

“Awesome.” She knew who it was without even opening the door.

“Emily! I know you’re home. Open the door!” Her dad shouted.

“Coming!” She pulled her robe around her and went to calm her dad down.

“Hi, Daddy. What are you doing here?” she asked as she opened the front door.

“Your mother and I have been worried about you. You haven’t answered any of our texts or calls. We stopped over last night and found out that you didn’t come home all night. You know better than that!” He stomped through the front door.

Emily had seen her dad mad on plenty of occasions through the years. This was something more than his standard mad. He was pissed. Pausing halfway through the door, he leaned in toward her. If Emily didn’t know better, she would have sworn her dad sniffed her. What an odd thing for him to do.

“Where were you?” he shouted.

“I was out with Jenn last night. What’s the problem?” She lied through her teeth. If her dad knew she’d been with Ian, there would be hell to pay.

“Just Jenn? Did you spend the night at her house?”

“Where is all this coming from?” She changed the subject instead of digging herself deeper with the lies.

“I’m the one asking questions. Not you.” His voice turned to more of a growl, surprising Emily. Something was off.

“Yes. We went to dinner. I had a few drinks and didn’t want to drive home. My car is still at the restaurant,” she shouted at her dad. Her voice was far more forceful than she had strived for, but the line of questioning was maddening. She was an adult. A full-fledged adult. It wasn’t like she was just over eighteen and a newborn adult, or in her early twenties and a toddling adult. Why was it such a problem that she had spent the night away from home? Instead of dropping the issue like she normally would, she continued. “I’m thirty-five. I’m an adult, and if I want to spend the night out with a friend, I will.”

Emily stormed off toward her kitchen, leaving her father standing there with his mouth agape.

“There isn’t enough coffee in the world to deal with this shit today,” she muttered to herself.

“What has gotten into you?” Her dad followed her to the kitchen.

“Really? You have to ask that?” Emily poured a cup of coffee for herself and one for her dad. “I think it’s time for you and mom to quit treating me like a kid. I’m an adult and it’s ridiculous that you’re beating down my door because I had the gall to go out with a friend last night.”

“We worry about you,” he replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Why? We live in this tiny town with next to no crime. What are you afraid of happening? That I’m going to get a paper cut and die from an infection?” The more she thought about it, the more pissed off she got.

“Em, you know that because of my job, our family is heavily scrutinized. We have to watch everything we do and say. We can’t get into any trouble that would lead to bad press.”