Page 170 of Dominion
“Can we keep the bikes?” Angie wants to know.
I bought both the kids bikes this morning at Target. I put everything any one of them looked at or picked up in the cart. Colleen took about half the things back out, but when I picked up the two bikes, she didn’t dare override me. Not when her kids looked so excited.
She just stood there with tear-bright eyes and nibbled on her lips.
“The bikes are yours,” I say. “No matter what. But I want you to stay.” It’s our turn at the front of the line. I escort the pups forward then hold Colleen back. “We’ll wait for you where it gets out,” I tell Jayden. “Take care of your sister.”
He nods, like the responsibility was his honor. He’s an amazing kid.
I put my arm around Colleen and usher her to the place where the ride lets out. “For every lie, you owe me a truth,” I tell her.
“I didn’t li?—”
I stop her with a finger on her lips. “Don’t do it again. Remember my tally.”
Her lips move up at the corners, but her smile is sad. I would bust this world apart to figure out how to make it shine.
She turns into me and puts her hands on my chest. “A truth,” she murmurs. “Okay. Here’s a truth. I never orgasmed with a male before last night. You were my first.”
Aw, fuck. I shouldn’t be so goddamn proud—it’s been over twenty years since I first learned how to get a female off—but I am.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her against my body. Her cinnamon scent nearly turns me feral. “That’s a good one, babygirl.” But because I’m a greedy fucker, I push for more. “Give me another one. Tell me something, angel. Are you not sure of me or not sure what you want?”
Pain flits across her face, and the need to avenge her for every wrong ever inflicted nearly makes my wolf canines pop out. “Not sure of what I want,” she croaks in a rusty voice, but it smells like a lie.
I narrow my eyes, thinking hard. She doesn’t seem scared of me, so it must be something else. I have to prove myself in some other way.
If only I could get her to open up, to tell me what’s going on in that gorgeous head of hers.
“One more,” I say.
Vulnerability flashes in her eyes, like I’m asking far too much of her. “What is it?”
“If your future hadn’t been sold at age eighteen, what would you have done with it?”
Her lips tremble, and she rolls them inward to hide it. “I don’t know. I planned to go to college, but I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to study. I wanted to get out of our small town, maybe live in the human world. Earn a decent living.”
“What did you like in school?”
She shrugs. “I was good at math and science. I liked to draw. I thought maybe I could go into architecture or engineering. But that ship has sailed.”
The gate opens, and people pour off the ride. She pulls away from me to open her arms for Angie, who barrels into them.
“Right. Ride over. Okay. What’s next, kids?” I ask, letting them lead.
I didn’t think I’d have pups or a mate. At age forty, I’d long since discarded any hope of a family, but here I’d found my mate, and she came with two precious pups. I’d thought my calling was law enforcement, but that all changed yesterday.
Now I’m sure of my life’s purpose. It’s these three shifters right here. I just have to get them to let me care for them.
At the next ride, I excuse myself to make a call.
“Jenson, it’s Mark Ruhl.” Jenson is on the shifter council. He’s an old bear shifter from Wyoming and is the councilmember who I report to.
“What’s up?”
“There’s a she-wolf and two pups under my protection. They ran away from an abusive male—the alpha of a pack outside of Lexington, Kentucky.”
“The council doesn’t get involved in domestic quarrels.”