Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Even with her wolf shifter genes, she’s still short compared to me. She’ll still probably grow a few inches, not that that would help her when it comes to me. I’m six feet nine, and I’m sure she’ll always be at least a foot shorter than me.
She reaches up, placing her hand on my bare chest, making my wolf stir as he tries to feel her touch.
“Would you kiss me?” She takes another half-step towards me, but I take a step back, surprised by her question. Immediately, I miss her smell, and my wolf whines.
“I can’t.”
Her hand falls away and I miss the warmth of her touch. My wolf growls in my head when her smile drops away, too. He’s upset she isn’t happy anymore.
“Why?” Her voice is softer now, not as bold as before.
“You’re too young to kiss, and I will only ever kiss my mate.”
She narrows her eyes at me, the blue darkening with irritation “Wouldn’t it bother your mate that you watch me?” She raises her chin like she’s challenging me.
“I’m here to protect you.” If my protecting her would upset my mate I’d—
My brain pauses at the idea. I’d still watch her. Maybe I should steal her away, then my mate could never find me. We could live in the wild, and I could watch her all the time. I’d never have to stop.
“That’s not what I asked.” She places one hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side, waiting.
“I’ll always watch you.” This makes her smile again, and it warms me on the inside. If only I’d known this would turn out to be a lie.
Chapter 1
Gwen
Present day…
“God, I would kill to have a place like this.” Winnie flops down on my bed and stretches out.
“Not much longer and you can,” I remind her as I search through my closet for something to wear to the Fall Street Fair tonight. “You’re saving all your money, right? You’ll be eighteen soon enough and free to do what you want.”
“Whatever,” Winnie says, the tone in her voice making me turn to look at her. She has lived in Gray Ridge for a few years now with the Stockton family. They took her in after Sheriff Dominic found her out in the National Forest all alone. It took us three days to get her to shift out of bear form. Since that day she’s never shifted back. I can’t imagine what that must feel like, never letting your animal out.
“Why ‘whatever’? It’s why you started working here to begin with, right? To save up?”
She rolls to her side, propping her head up on her arm, her gold-brown eyes meeting mine, and she just shrugs. Shrugging doesn’t work for me.
I took on working at Red’s Goodie Basket full time after Sheriff Dominic mated the owner, Ruby, and knocked her up with three of his pups. I had to hire someone to help me out with the place being as busy as it is. Even with living in the apartment over the bakery, I still couldn’t get it all done on my own, even if I worked day and night. Shifters have a sweet tooth, and they cleared the bakery out daily. So keeping this place stocked is a two-person job.
“Spill it.”
“It’s nothing.” She sits up, letting her legs hang over the side of the bed, and looks anywhere but at me. She tries to avoid the question by trying to change the subject. “What are you going to wear?”
Damn, she knows my weakness. Clothes distract me easily, and I let her have this one because I don’t want to push her. Winnie retreats into herself, and that’s not what I want to happen today. We closed the bakery early, and tonight’s about having fun, something I know she needs. I like to go out and have a good time, but Winnie likes to put her nose in a book and forget the world.
“I was thinking a sweater dress with some boots.” Dresses are my favorite, and with summer long gone and the chill of winter getting closer, it’s time to put up the summer dresses and break out something new.
“God, I’d kill to have your legs. I’d wear dresses all the time, too.”
“You can wear dresses,” I snap at her, harder than I mean to, and it makes her flinch. It’s so subtle that I almost don’t catch it. Then she just rolls her eyes at me like I don’t know what I’m talking about.
It kills me when she does this to herself. She’s a beautiful girl, but growing up the last few years around wolf girls probably hasn’t helped. We’re lean by nature; it’s just how we’re all built. I can eat all day, every day and still not add anything to my hips. But the downside is a lot of wolf females are also bitches. I’m not sure if that’s by nature or not.