“Fine,” she said jutting out her chin, but she still directed me back to her house.
I muttered something under my breath when I realized. Her hand flicked out faster than I could even process and squatted my hand.
“I warned you.”
“I didn’t curse,” I insisted. “I swear.”
“You don’t swear in my presence.”
I sighed in frustration. I was done with this crazy old bat. I decided I’d help her into the house, call Kyle or Patrick and report her as a danger to herself and society and wash my hands of it all.
Somedays I still wished I’d stuck to that plan.
Instead, she manipulated me into coming inside, cooking her dinner, calling Doc, waiting with her until he arrived, and staying even after he was gone with instructions for her to go on a strict diet and ensure she got her necessary fluids in.
“Basically, you’re dehydrated. This diet will help you get extra hydration because I know you aren’t drinking like we talked about.”
“Hogwash. I’ll eat and drink whatever I want.”
“And as long as you are actually eating and drinking then I’ll let that slide, but it’s clear you aren’t,” Micah, the pack physician, explained to her.
“You have to drink,” I said ready to kick myself for opening my big mouth.
“Who are you?” Micah asked.
“That’s my grandson. He’s new in town,” Nonna had told him.
My jaw dropped opened, but no words came out.
Micah looked confused. “I didn’t think you’d ever had children.”
“He’s adopted,” she said as if that explained everything.
“Oh, well, good. Make sure your grandmother drinks plenty of fluids. Trust me, trying to hold her down for an IV is like battling a force of nature.”
I snorted. “I don’t doubt that.”
My life had been in a whirlwind since the moment I laid eyes on that woman. If only I’d known then what was yet to come.
“Nonna,” she corrected Micah. “I’m far too young to be a grandmother.”
Micah and I shared a look as he bit back a grin.
“Okay then. I’m going to leave her to your care. Good luck.”
He slapped me on the back and left despite my protests to the matter.
I could have been absolutely anyone, a serial killer even. The way he’d left her in my care hadn’t sat well with me at all. It opened up a protective nature I didn’t know I possessed. Foxes were known to be over-protective of those closest to them, but at the time there was zero reason for me to feel that connection to this crazy old woman.
“Look Miss.”
“Nonna. You can call me Nonna.”
“Nonna, look I just arrived here and I’m starting a new job in two days and I cannot stay and take care of you.”
“Who’s asking you to? I can take care of myself,” she said stubbornly.
Having only known her for a few hours, I wasn’t entirely sure of that, but we’d said our goodbyes. I shifted into my fox and ran back to my vehicle.
The next day I officially joined Westin Force. It hadn’t been easy and came with a lot more baggage than just hacking. I suddenly was expected to run and get in shape, not that I’d been horribly out of shape to begin with, but I was more desk jockey in shape, not elite special ops in shape. It had been hard at first, but I kept to myself, my head down, and did whatever was asked of me.
A week later I was ready to quit and move back home. I didn’t think I was cut out for this line of work and wasn’t sure I wanted to be either.
I’d been assigned to Bravo company. They were the best of the best of the elite. I didn’t stand a chance.
I drove up into town to the one small grocery store there to buy a few things. The woman working the register was cute. I smiled at her popping a lone dimple on my left cheek. These days I wore a tight beard that hid it well. I’d found it was too memorable for my line of work, but back then while still clean shaven, I had frequently used it to my advantage.
“Hey there, handsome. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. I’d remember.”
“Are you flirting with my grandson?” a voice I recognized all too well said from behind me.
I slowly turned and there she was. Her spikey hair was now dyed a hot pink at the tips, and she glint in her eyes told me she was just as feisty as I’d remembered.
“Your grandson?” the girl had asked.
I genuinely smiled this time.
“Didn’t expect to see you here, Nonna. Are you feeling better?”
I wasn’t trying to play along with her grandson bit, it was just that Nonna was the only name I knew to call her. It clearly pleased her that I had too.
“I’m feeling much better, thank you. Of course, if you ever bothered to stop by for a visit, then you’d know that.”
The cashier’s breath caught, and she glared at me.
I groaned, but when I looked back at Nonna, she was well pleased with herself. Apparently that girl hadn’t been worthy of me for a variety of reasons that only an old gossip would even know. But that was the start of the weirdest and greatest relationship I could ever have imagined.
She was nothing that I wanted and everything I had needed. When she invited me to dinner, I’d surprised us both by accepting. Because of her I had stuck it out with the Force too and faced the hard stuff head on. In the end it had cultivated a family I had desperately desired and friendships that were stronger than blood.
I smiled thinking back on it all that had changed in my life over the last three years, much of it was thanks to Nonna even, but I was happy with my life just the way it was, and I absolutely had no desire to take a mate not now, and maybe not ever.
Susan
Chapter 2
“You wretched girl, where are you this time?” my mother yelled.
I tried to stifle my yawn as she barged into my bedroom. It had been a late night, not that I’d dare tell her that.
She threw open my curtains. “You’re late.”
I looked at the clock sitting on my nightstand. It was 7:30. I yelped and jumped from the bed pushing past her as I ran to the bathroom.
I never slept in like this. I was always up by 5:30am no matter how late I stayed up. I didn’t feel sick or anything, heck, I was a shifter, so I didn’t even know what it really felt like to be sick, but something was certainly wrong with me.
I knew I had been staying up into the wee hours of morning every night for weeks, but I hadn’t realized it was wearing me out quite so badly.
I was still groggy as I took a shower, quickly applied enough makeup to look sort of human, and ran out of the house. In record time I was across the street to Shay Vous Café. My mother thought it was a cute play on words with her name. The problem was, we lived in the middle of nowhere in Idaho. People here had no idea it was a play on the term “chez vous” which was French for “at home”. And since it was mostly over their heads, and the café was really more like a small-town diner, the locals had shortened it to simply Shay’s.
Shay Dubois was a force to be reconned with. She was larger than life and often self-absorbed. She wasn’t very good with commitments. She was only seventeen when she got pregnant with her first born, Sapphire.