Chapter 7

SAMANTHA

“Hey, kid.” ~Oh God, he can hear the panic in my voice, I know it.~ “My friend Emerick is here from work. We’re just going over some sales paperwork.”

With wide eyes, Luke’s gaze trailed from Emerick sitting at the counter to the two glasses of wine in front of us.

~Shit, there’s no paperwork…~

Luke pulled his shoulders back, stood taller, lifted his chin slightly—and smiled. “Hi. Luke,” he introduced himself. “It’s nice to meet you.”

~What the…?~

“Hey, man. Emerick.” He reached out to shake Luke’s hand. “Your mom and I were just wrapping up, so I’ll be out of your way soon.”

I could see Luke studying Emerick’s appearance with suspicion.

Most of the men I worked with at the real estate firm wore suits or at least dress pants and a collared shirt. None of them had the physique of a linebacker.

Emerick was dressed in all black and looked more like a military operative.

“Right,” Luke said slowly. “Well, don’t rush out on my account. You should stay for dinner if you don’t have plans. I had burgers with my friends, so Mom is going to be eating alone.”

My jaw dropped. ~Did my kid just set me up to eat dinner with a guy?~

I guess I had just told him Emerick was a work friend. Maybe he was just being considerate?

~Poor Luke. He has no idea our lives will be turned upside down tomorrow, or that I’m harboring a secret that will shatter everything we know.~

“In that case, should I have something delivered?” Emerick asked, turning to me. “Then we can continue going over…work stuff.”

“Umm, okay…” I bit my lip.

“All right,” Luke said, heading back toward the stairs. “I’m going to go shower. I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute.”

I needed to talk to Luke. I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about me having a strange man in the house.

~I shouldn’t have lied to him. There’s no good explanation for any of this.~

Leaving Emerick to order, I followed Luke upstairs, using the trip to steady my nerves. I knocked on his bedroom door.

Luke quickly opened up, pulled me inside, and shut the door behind me. I yelped in surprise.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” I answered, catching my breath.

“I find it hard to believe that’s a friend from work,” he said, studying my face. “First, those weird guys this morning, now him? I just want to make sure he’s not holding you hostage or something.”

Internally, I laughed.

~Was I being held hostage? Not exactly, but he did kidnap me earlier. Kind of. Probably shouldn’t mention that.~

“Oh. No, I invited him here. It’s kind of a long story, but he recently had some major life changes and wants to work with me moving forward.”

The ease with which the falsehood rolled off my tongue surprised me. While it was essentially the truth, I didn’t feel any better by lying by omission.

“If that’s the story we’re going with,” Luke said.

He continued quickly when I was about to protest: “Honestly, I was hoping you had finally met someone. Dad loved you. He would want you to be happy.”

His words left me speechless. We had never discussed the possibility of me dating again, and I had assumed he would be angry or upset if he thought I was moving on.

“You’re thirty-three,” he continued, “That’s a long time to be alone. Plus, I’m going to be going to college soon.”

He paused like he was waiting for me to say something, but I stayed quiet. My mind was spinning at the wisdom of his words.

“It’s just… The next time you decide to bring a giant home, a little warning might be nice,” he finished with a teasing smile.

I laughed and hugged my son. He was only a couple of inches shorter than Emerick even at fifteen. Admittedly, the latter had quite a bit of muscle on him.

“Thank you for the insight. Sometimes I forget how mature you are,” I said, still hugging him. “He ~is~ just a friend from work, but I will keep what you said in mind.”

“Now get in the shower. You need it.” I wrinkled my nose to emphasize my point.

We both laughed as I left his room.

I paused in the hallway and leaned back against the wall. How was it that my fifteen-year-old could be so rational and mature when the thought of finding love again tore me apart inside?

I was fifteen when I met Travis. I had never really known love aside from his. I had never even slept with another man. If I was being honest, I was terrified of the possibility.

I shook myself from my thoughts. There were bigger worries at the moment than my love life. Namely, the fact that I was a werewolf—and the leader of a pack I knew almost nothing about.

~“You were born to lead them,”~ Ayisha voiced in my head.

I smiled slightly at her reassurance. Her presence had been a warmth and comfort throughout the day, even though she had mostly stayed quiet.

Something told me she was letting me absorb it all at my own pace.

Her words gave me some relief. Maybe I didn’t know much about being a werewolf, but I knew she was with me.

I had put my life back together once. I could do it again. To keep my son safe, I would do anything.

***

“Your mom mentioned you made the varsity team this year,” Emerick said to Luke as we all huddled over the pizza box. “That’s quite an achievement for a sophomore.”

Luke shrugged. “I’m pretty tall for my age, so I guess that gives me an advantage.”

“That’s true,” Emerick agreed, glancing at me.

I’d only met Emerick that morning, but the look on his face was enough for me to discern he figured Luke’s height was due to his werewolf genes.

Did I want Luke to be a werewolf as well?

It was scary enough transforming myself. I wasn’t sure I could handle him going through it.

Plus, Emerick had told me Jackson and Jonathan needed to set up a security perimeter around the house for the night. Apparently, as an alpha, my family and I were targets now.

Then again, if Luke wasn’t a werewolf, what did that mean for our relationship? I wasn’t even sure if he would be allowed to live with me on pack lands if he didn’t have a wolf.

“You look like you were into sports back in the day,” Luke said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I was more into martial arts,” Emerick replied smoothly.

“Is that code for ‘I’m in the CIA’?” Luke had a playful smirk on his face.

Emerick winked at him. “Would I be able to tell you if I was?”

“Touché.” Luke returned his attention to his pizza. “I’m just trying to figure out if Mom and I are in witness protection or something. You don’t exactly look like a real estate agent.”

“I’m more of an investor,” Emerick clarified.

“Sure,” Luke replied, clearly still suspicious.

“Hey, Luke,” I said, desperate to change the subject before someone gave the game away, “how about we watch a movie before we call it a night?”

“You know what, Mom? I actually have some homework to do. Why don’t you and Emerick watch something?” There was a hint of innocence in his voice.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Now I was convinced he was trying to play matchmaker with my tall, dark, and handsome kidnapper.

“Can’t you do it while we watch the movie? I’m sure Emerick needs to head out soon,” I said, trying to sound casual.

“I need to focus. Sorry, Mom.”

~What’s gotten into him?~

“A movie sounds great. I don’t have any other plans this evening,” Emerick chimed in cheerfully.

I turned my glare on him. ~Seriously?~

“How wonderful,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Cool. You two have a good night,” Luke said, a mischievous glint in his eye, before he bounded up the stairs.

I watched him go, knowing full well he always did his homework in front of the television. I had given him a hard time about it, but he always did well in school, so I hardly had a leg to stand on.

“Shall we?” Emerick asked, gesturing to the living room.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure, buddy.”

“It’s either a movie with you, or I have to sit in the car all night watching the house,” Emerick pointed out.

“Ah, so I’m just the lesser of two evils then.”

“Not at all.” He frowned. “I meant, I’m technically going to be here either way. This is a much more enjoyable option.”

I smiled. “I was just giving you a hard time. My son seems very determined to get me to spend time with you.”

Emerick laughed. “Well, he does make an excellent wingman. I might have to talk to him about being overly trusting with your dates, though.”

“In his defense, my dad trained my sister and me in self-defense our entire childhood, and I tend to brag that I can handle myself.”

I shrugged, “Although I was basically useless when Thing One and Thing Two grabbed me today. I’ve never had to use it. I completely froze.”

“Hmm, we will have to work on that.”

I grabbed the remote and settled onto the couch. I started scrolling through movies as Emerick sat next to me—like ~right~ next to me—and put his arm casually behind me on the couch.

I gave him a sideways glance, and he looked back at me with a slight grin. I smirked but didn’t move away.

Honestly, I liked the comfort I got from feeling his body leaning into mine. It had been a long time since I had snuggled up with someone.

For a brief moment, a pang of guilt that I was betraying Travis pushed its way into my mind, but I fought it.

~We’re just watching a movie, Sam.~

Still, I couldn’t deny the fluttering in my stomach when his fingers drew gentle circles over my skin. And I enjoyed pressing my cheek against his chest to listen to the steady beating of his heart.

When the flick ended, my eyelids were heavy, and I found myself feeling disappointed that this would probably be the conclusion of our night.

Knowing I wasn’t going to have restful sleep anyway, I turned to my movie companion. “Any interest in indulging in my late-night guilty pleasure with me?”

“Always,” he replied without hesitation.

I smiled, jumped up from the couch, and made my way over to the freezer in the other room. I returned with a carton of Ben and Jerry’s and two spoons.

As I settled back into the crook of Emerick’s arm, I handed him a spoon and reached for the remote. He looked at me with a curious grin. I smiled back before turning on ~Family Feud~.

“Game shows and ice cream,” I explained, pulling my knees up and draping a blanket back over me.

“I love it,” he said as he dug his spoon into the tub.

***

I wasn’t sure of the time when Emerick checked his watch, but based on his sigh, I knew it was late. I snuggled closer into the crook of his arm and tilted my head back to meet his gaze.

“Thank you for this,” I murmured.

He smiled down at me. “I’m sorry it wasn’t the normal night you were looking for.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I conceded. “But it was a nice, quiet evening. Something tells me I won’t be getting many of those in the coming weeks.”

He stayed quiet, and I snuggled further into his chest.

For one night, I was just going to enjoy the company of a man and pretend everything wasn’t about to change forever. Nor was I going to dwell or make this more than it was.

“I’ve enjoyed it as well. And I’m sorry to do this, but I think I probably need to get out of here before Luke gets up in the morning. Any longer here and I’ll fall asleep too.”

I shot up, suddenly wide awake. “Oh my God. You’re right.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s still the early hours. We have time.”

“I should probably head up to bed anyway.” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “I don’t normally fall asleep on the couch. Wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

“Right,” he said with a small smile and started walking to the entryway.

I wrapped the blanket around myself and followed.

At the door, he turned like there was something he wanted to say. His gaze flicked from my eyes to my lips.

~He’s going to kiss me.~

As much as I wanted it, the thought made my body tense.

He seemed to sense my unease. After kissing my forehead, he turned and walked out toward the orange glow of the streetlight.