Page 23 of Fated to the Alpha

Green eyes flickered with confusion. “Because it just can’t. We’re in Tolstone. You and your pack will be gone eventually, or my pack will, and we’ll never see one another again. It’ll be just like before.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” Shane didn’t expect his words to be as husky and dripping with insinuation.

Kimberly caught onto it and he saw her cheeks colored. “Besides that, you’re an alpha. And I’m … I am what I am. It doesn’t work.”

“That wasn’t going to stop us before.”

She closed her eyes tight, and it was as if his world went dark with them. “Things are different now.”

Without thinking, Shane cupped his palm against her jaw, his thumb resting on her cheek, silently begging for her to grace him with her gaze again. “Just give me a chance, Kim. Just one night. If you think we’re not worth trying, I will keep to my word and leave you alone as best I can in a town the size of a matchbox.”

That earned him not only a look from her glistening eyes but a tiny smile at his joke.

“Just one night.” He prayed. “That’s all.”

An hour ago, she couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him for longer than necessary. Now, he had both hands touching her, in an intimate way that he could have only dreamed about for the last ten years. To kiss her now, even on the cheek, would have been like the big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a hot, steamy brownie. Shane wouldn’t risk that much, though.

Kimberly gave her answer. A small, almost imperceptible nod that transferred like a bolt down his arm and into his heart.

*

For the first time in weeks, perhaps even months, Kimberly felt … alive. Really alive. The touch of Shane’s hand, the tenderness in everything he said and assured, made her wolf just a little more awake. And it stayed awake. Hope, probably a little premature, blossomed in her, and Kimberly didn’t know what to do with this new feeling.

Shane was gone now. They had each other’s numbers, and he promised to check his schedule to see what day might work best for their exploratory date. And that was just what she considered it to be. Exploratory. Maybe not a true date. Just, as he said, a chance to get to know each other as adults. It was both exciting and terrifying, because Kimberly still didn’t know what to expect. Maybe he was truthful, that he hadn’t become the type of alpha his father would have wanted. Maybe Shane did break away and reject his father’s teachings. But, if Kimberly had learned anything in the last ten years, it was to never get too comfortable.

As much as she didn’t want to let her guard down, the confirmation that getting closer to Shane and reliving those happy bits about what it meant to be with him was definitely healing her wolf in some way, assured her that it would probably be okay to let loose for one night. Just to see what would happen if she really let all the trauma of her attack be forgotten. That was why she agreed to it at all, despite all the reasons she listed to him of why getting involved was not a smart idea.

Kimberly stood behind the front counter, admiring her build-your-own-bouquet setup with its final touches, when her phone buzzed on the countertop near her elbow. Her skirt had no pockets. She couldn’t remember the last time she snatched up her phone that quickly, hoping it would be Shane’s name at the top of her screen. It wasn’t, but the caller was just as welcoming.

“Hey, Mom,” she answered.

In the background, Kimberly thought she heard the whirl of the kitchen hood vent. Her mom, Stacy, was likely cooking lunch.

“Hey, sweetheart!” Her mother’s forever cheerful voice had been grating in the first few weeks after the attack. Now, Kimberly could hear it without feeling pangs of guilt.

Kimberly never told her parents what happened. Texts and calls went unanswered for a while before she had the courage to talk to them. Telling them that she was attacked by a more dominant shifter would only accomplish a number of things she certainly did not want. First, her father would likely go into a long lecture about how he was right all along, and she wasn’t safe in her present pack. Second, her mother would likely agree, and they would persuade her to leave Tolstone. To ensure Kimberly did, Stacy would be in town in less than twenty-four hours to help her daughter pack and hightail it back to Missouri.

If none of that happened, then at least her mom would insist that she come to look after her for a couple of weeks. Kimberly and Stacy hadn’t stayed with one another under the same roof since before she left for college. While she got along with her mother, Kimberly wasn’t keen on letting her into her space that she had carefully curated to be her own. Moving out fresh out of high school had given her a true taste of independence and letting her parents break that seal in any way made her uneasy.

They worked through the usual pleasantries of their phone calls. Stacy talked about their little farm, how hard Patrick, Kimberly’s father, worked on a certain project or task. She spilled about some juicy pack drama, which Kimberly always enjoyed. Stacy was one of those women who liked to be involved in her community, coordinate fundraisers, cook for homeless shelters, have a few close friends to go out with once a week, and above all, take care of her family. With Kimberly gone, her full attention flipped to her husband and her pack, which wasn’t entirely a bad thing. When Stacy looked after Patrick, he seemed to be in a better mood. More forgiving and less dictator-ish. As if having a housewife stroking his ego made him feel like he didn’t have to overcompensate.

Kimberly told her about the build-your-own-bouquet idea, and Stacy showed a healthy amount of interest, despite the background bustling that made it clear she was multitasking. Her mom could be a combination of whimsy and domestic powerhouse.

“I hope Margaret knows she’s got a real gem of an employee on her hands,” Stacy said before mumbling out some spice ingredient measurements.

Kimberly allowed herself a smile at the compliment. “I think she does.” Then, she took a breath and plunged into the biggest news. “Guess who came to Tolstone?”

“Oh, no. Anyone we know?”

That was typical of Stacy, to be concerned about others. Coming to Tolstone wasn’t the same as another shifter coming to visit or moving into their territory. It wasn’t something to celebrate, because it always meant some misfortune followed them.

Kimberly took a steeling breath. “Shane Snyder.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and she got the impression that all movement had stopped. Only the bubbling of some stew and the drone of the vent fan told her that her mom hadn’t dropped the phone or hung up.

“Oh … That’s interesting.”

The note of confusion and wonderment in her mom’s voice told Kimberly that it was time for the details. So, Kimberly filled her in as much as she thought was appropriate. It wasn’t her place to tell her mom about what brought Shane’s pack to Tolstone. That was clearly a sensitive issue, and Kimberly wasn’t the gossipy type. She did, however, tell her mom that Isaac was dead and Shane was now the alpha.