Charmed Wolf by Aimee Easterling (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

after we sat down. Unlike with my Consort dates, she knew that Natalie and I were friends. So there was no need to watch my cutlery management this time around.

There was, however, need to watch Natalie’s ordering. “We’ll both take pancakes and hot chocolate. Tara wants hers with strawberries and whipped cream.”

“That’s dessert, Natalie....”

She spoke right over my objection. “If Ash is out of your good graces, then nobody’s been cooking for you. You deserve a treat.”

Megan scratched notes on her pad, which didn’t prevent her from nosing into my business. “Too bad Tara turned down that hunk she came in with last time. This order’s on the house, by the way. Because I kept my trap shut just like you told me to when he asked about the mess at the end. And he gave me a fifty dollar tip to thank me for cleaning up.”

That was a stark contrast from other Consort dates. Most had stormed out after my dunking, slamming the door so hard it rattled. Once, Megan had been forced to call the police after a rejected applicant started breaking chairs.

The thought of Rune sliding Megan a fifty dollar bill in apology for something that hadn’t even been his doing made me smile. And my friend noticed.

“Aw!” Natalie reached out and poked my dimple. Then, turning to Megan, she stage whispered: “Good thing Tara changed her mind about ditching him then.”

“She did?” Megan sank into a chair rather than heading back to the kitchen. “Really?”

I gazed back and forth between their eager faces. I felt like I’d fallen into an alternative reality. Or maybe into a romantic comedy, the sort in which the heroine kibitzed with her two best friends over tea.

But I wasn’t an overworked wage slave trying to make it in the big city and Megan wasn’t on my very short list of trusted parties. My Consort choice had nothing to do with hefty tippers and overwhelming hormones. I couldn’t forget I was Alpha, above and apart.

So I speared my friend with a telling stare. “Natalie, I’d rather not talk about this here.”

“Are you going to keep seeing him?” Megan interrupted.

Despite everything, I nodded. Because I was seeing Rune at that very moment. Through the plate-glass window, I watched as he pulled Old Nellie into the parking lot with Kale in the passenger seat. The baby, I could only assume was strapped in back.

None of them should have been there. So much for emulating a character in a chick flick.

“Cancel our order,” I told Megan, voice harder than it should have been around humans. “Natalie and I have to go.”

Chapter 31

The baby wasn’t in a car seat. She was in Rune’s lap. No wonder Natalie blew her lid when my Consort unfurled himself with her daughter in his arms.

“Do you know how many children die in car crashes every year?” she demanded, snatching her infant. Her glare took in me and Rune equally. Which was fair. I’d been the one who vouched for Rune’s child-care abilities.

“What’s...?” I started. Only to be cut off by two different males.

“I smelled fae in Kale’s bedroom,” Rune told me via that connection that really shouldn’t have existed. At the same moment, the boy in question communicated in an entirely nonverbal manner. He flung himself at my chest.

The gesture must have looked like an attack for the fae-obsessed. So I wasn’t entirely surprised when Rune lunged to intercept.

Natalie, in contrast, was surprised. Or maybe enraged. She roared like an overprotective mother elephant. And—

“Stop it!” I demanded, knowing full well my command wouldn’t work on any of them.

The order did, however, prompt both adults to pause long enough for Rune to see that Kale wasn’t threatening anybody. He was hugging me. The kid knew something was seriously wrong and, wolf-like, he was seeking comfort through contact with a pack mate.

Meanwhile, Natalie narrowed her eyes, decided Kale was safe in my arms, and returned to checking over her other child for lack-of-carseat damage.

So I hugged Kale. The kid needed hugging...and so did I, if I was honest. “Are you certain Kale was impacted?” I sent down the tether that tied me to Rune.

Rather than answering, Rune shook his head. He’d smelled evidence of fae—which we both knew hadn’t been present in Natalie’s house yesterday—and he’d gotten the kids out of there. It was exactly what I would have done in his shoes.

So I sent something soft and warm back down the connection that bound us. A thank you, and a little more, although I didn’t let myself analyze the extra. Then I turned to Natalie. “We need to get out of here.”

I saw the moment mom turned into scientist behind her eyes. Her gaze spun over the rest of us, stopping on Rune whose body language clearly pointed toward Kale as the danger. Eyes narrowing, she opened her mouth, then closed it. Opened her mouth again and spat out a single word: “Okay.”

She was going to trust me. I exhaled relief as Natalie turned toward her car, the one that did have a carseat in the back even if Rune hadn’t used it.

Meanwhile—“Kale can ride with me,” Rune said, aloud this time. It was clear he intended to separate the potential danger from the rest of the human family for everyone’s safety. After all, that smell in Kale’s room could easily mean that my buddy had once again been charmed.

But the boy clung tighter to my middle. He might enjoy Rune’s company when he felt safe, but Kale had been spooked by recent occurrences. He needed someone familiar beside him.

Someone familiar who could handle the fae if necessary. So I shook my head.

“You go with Natalie and the baby.”

For one split second, the wolf rose behind Rune’s eyes. He was stronger than me. I could feel the undertow of his protective dominance....

Then it receded as quickly as it had lapped at me. Rather than commanding obedience, he merely shot over one final silent question. “Do you have