People never got why I liked working at the candy store, and maybe at the time, neither did I. But pieces were locking into place, and now I understood what I didn’t then.
I loved the store, plain and simple. It felt like home. Charlie had been grooming April for the manager position—I could see that now.
Little did I know he had something bigger in store for me. It explained why he’d left me in charge to make decisions I shouldn’t have been making.
My legs were quickly browning in the sun, so I finished my coffee and went inside. Maizy wanted me to paint her nails shell pink. I braided a few strands of my hair, wishing I could wear it more like Ivy did. It suited her in an elegant and lovely way, whereas I would just look childish. I put a few braids in Maizy’s hair because we were going to graduate from Pretty Pigtail Day to Salon Day. After our trip to the Salon of Lexi, we devoured a homemade cheese pizza for lunch.
Austin called to check on me and we chatted for a little while. I laughed when he told me my mom was running the show like a drill sergeant, giving orders on where to paint and what not to touch. She had put Denver in charge of scrubbing the floors.
Austin told me he’d been able to secure the new house so quickly because the couple had moved out a year ago. They hadn’t gone through a realtor, so he’d bought it from them directly.
In cash.
That pretty much earned him the key on day one after signing a few papers and shaking hands.
A few minutes after Maizy went to her room with a book, I dozed off on the brown sofa. I missed lawnmowers, dogs barking, and passing cars—all the vibrant sound effects associated with living in the city.
The phone in my back pocket startled me and I answered in my sleepy voice. “Hello?”
“I hoped you would answer,” Lorenzo replied.
“Hi, cousin,” I grumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. I walked into the atrium and closed the sliding glass door behind me so I wouldn’t bother my sister with our conversation, in case she had fallen asleep. “Why are you calling Austin’s number?”
“Because you returned my phone and I had no way to get in touch with you. I was going to give Cole a piece of my mind, but I’m glad it’s you. Is he taking care of your needs?”
“I take care of myself,” I said, crossing my ankles and leaning back in the lawn chair.
“I hope you took care of yourself when you were in heat. Is that over?”
I held the phone away from my ear and looked up at the sky with my palms up.
“Alexia?” he called out.
“I’m here. All that’s over with so, yeah. I don’t really want to discuss it.”
“Fair enough, but one day, you’re going to tell me everything that happened. I hope Austin warned you that you shouldn’t have sex while in heat unless you want to get pregnant. That’s what your body is preparing for, and a baby will tie you to him permanently.”
He was trying to get me to fess up either way on what happened. I decided to whistle instead.
A deep chuckle filled the other end of the line. “I get the point. Have you decided if you want to join a pack or are you stalling?”
“What do you have to offer?”
I was only kidding, but Lorenzo switched to his business voice and decided to give me his best sales pitch. “My property is five hundred acres and I own two more lots on the other side of the city. As I’ve told you before, I control a large pack. That means safety and protection for the females who live among us. My men follow orders or there are consequences. I left two of those consequences on your porch the other day.” He paused so I could get his full meaning. “We have sixteen bitches in the pack and eleven are mated.”
“To you?” I asked in an irritated tone.
“No one is mated to me, but three share my bed when they are willing. No other male can touch the ones I’ve claimed. There’s a code we follow and no one is forced to do anything against their will.”
“One isn’t enough?”
I heard the clicking of his teeth. I’m sure he was figuring out how to answer that one without digging himself in a hole, because Lorenzo didn’t really know my stance on such things. He’d never asked me out on a date or bothered to question what my favorite food was or what I enjoyed doing on the weekends.
“All I’m saying, Lorenzo, is that most women don’t want to share any more than you men want to share. They may seem okay with it, but if you married one of them, I can guarantee you
“Which is why I haven’t mated. I’m not asking you to be my life mate, Alexia. I want you to keep my bed warm.”
“Not if someone else has kept it warm for me. And besides that—”
“If you bring up the cousin thing one more time, I’m going to come over there, throw you over my shoulder, and bring you home with me. We’re not related by blood, so let’s drop it. Are you wearing shorts?”
I glanced down. “Uh, yeah. Why?”
He laughed darkly. “I just wanted the mental image of what you’d be wearing while I was wearing you over my shoulder.”
“Someday you’re going to find a woman who doesn’t like it when you talk like that.”
“Suffice it to say I’ve never had any complaints from a woman when it comes to the private words I whisper in her ear.”
I glanced up at a red-tailed hawk spreading his wings across the blue sky and piercing the silence with a scream.
“This is who I am,” he continued. “I have yet to meet a woman who doesn’t accept that I’m a feared and respected man.”
“Oh? Is that the kind of man you think women desire? I guess you’re not the same person who wrote that poetic message on the card that came with my roses.”
“Touche,” he replied. “We are all more than who we portray ourselves to be. So, Alexia Knight, who are
Suddenly, I wanted to start singing an old classic rock song to those words. “I am a plethora of knowledge when it comes to rock and roll music. I love my family, rum makes me sick, my favorite sport to watch is soccer, and I’m a business owner.”
Wow. It felt amazing to say that last part.
“Impressive. Business owner?”
“Sweet Treats. It’s mine now. The owner recently died and left me the company.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Wouldn’t you prefer to sell it to someone with experience?”
“Not really.” The comment needled me and I pulled at a frayed piece of material on the chair.
“That’s more than a woman can handle. There’s too much involved with operating a business, and I can speak from experience because being a Packmaster is not much different.”
That peeved me. “What’s the matter, don’t like your women with a mind of their own? For your information, Austin supports me and thinks I should do it.” I heard a car pull up out front and I glanced inside. “Listen, I need to go. Don’t call me back on this phone because Austin will probably be the next person to answer, and he won’t like that.”
“Ah, but I will. If you need anything, you know how to reach me.”
Something must have happened for Austin and his brothers to come back so soon. They had planned to stay until dark and when I last talked to him, he said Reno had left to pick up a sack of burgers and fries. That let me off the hook of having to drive across town to deliver their lunch.
The hawk cried out again before disappearing. While sitting in the atrium, I’d come to the decision I wanted to move in with Austin. I didn’t know where it would lead, but I was absolutely certain of it now. My family needed protection and Austin had an accommodating house. It required enough work to keep my mom happy, right along with feeding five hungry men, who would eventually grow into a larger pack.
Then there was Maizy, who needed all kinds of protection if what Austin said was true. What if some pervert wanted to keep her as a little girl, like a Mage or something? I didn’t know much about other Breeds, but
