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Conri watched the greenhouse going up. It was larger than he thought it would have been. But then, he knew very little about the management of greenhouses and how many people it would take to run it. His dearest and best friend, Brewster, told him it would require fifty people to handle the daily tasks and ten more to manage the registers and sales floor. His pack was going to benefit the most from the employment of his people working there.

Moving across the valley where his pack was, Conri, as his wolf, stretched out and let his muscles stretch as well. It was a good feeling being a wolf when he’d been a human for nearly four months without a shift to his other self. He was going to enjoy this as much as he could today because he didn’t know what tomorrow would bring.

“You’re needed at the bank.” Growling low, he asked his brother Yanick what the issue was. “The new banker is asking if people opening new accounts are shifters or not. Then, he turns them away when they answer truthfully. It’s not going to be easy for them to cash their new checks if he’s going to stop them from getting money against the checks that they’ve been waiting for. He needs to be taken to task.”

“He needs to be taken to the woods and killed.” Thankfully, his brother didn’t agree with him. “Call Brewster and see what he can do. I believe he has an interest in the bank as well. Something about him owning the land, I believe. While I have you, could you please check on the men and women at the car dealership? I know they were having some issues as well with being paid their full commissions.”

So far, the new businesses coming to town have only made it more difficult for him. Not only was it difficult to get checks cashed, but they were either not receiving all their pay or not receiving any pay at all. Having an income didn’t do them any good if they weren’t able to spread a bit of their hard-earned cash around. Then he heard from his vampire friend Brewster.

“Yanick just contacted me about the bank. I’m not going there, but my lovely wife is. She’ll get it straightened out in no time. Or we’ll need to start having a graveyard for people that have pissed her off. You know how she can be.” He told Brew that he was afraid of Calla, and with good reason. “Yes, I’d not say this to her myself, but she’s been testing herself out on some of the magic I’ve given her. Who would have thought that a tiny little human like her would come to mean so much to both of us?”

“I’m betting by the end of the day, not only will my people get their checks cashed, but we’ll need to be learning the name of the new banker. Your mate does not suffer fools lightly, does she?” They both laughed. “All I wanted to do today was let my wolf have a bit of fun. I’ve been bombarded with one thing after another since I left the pack house.”

“I would tell you to ignore all the requests for help, but you’d not do that anymore than I would. You’ve made yourself indispensable. And part of being a great leader makes it so you have no time for yourself. Sometimes that’s good, but like now, I’m betting you wish you could chuck it all and become just another wolf in a pack.” Conri agreed with him. “I know you so well, my friend. The bank manager will be dealt with even if I have to step in. What else may I do for you?”

He told him about the dealership and the lack of getting all commissions. “But I can take care of that, I think. It might be a simple thing that they’re not getting them put on the checks like they think. I don’t know. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt or assume they misunderstood something. I don’t want to jump to conclusions about something I know very little about.”

“Rette is running the daily operations of the place without the benefit of selling cars. He wanted to make things good for those that work for him. If you need me to, I can set up a meeting among the three of us so I can understand how it works as well. Like you, I have people working there too.” He said he sent his brother over there, and if he didn’t have any luck, then a meeting would be great. “Very good. I’ll look forward to hearing about it from you. How are things going for you otherwise? Has your mother been keeping you fat and lazy?”

“You know my mother well enough to know that she’s not cooking for anyone including herself anymore. It’s really hit or miss if I can get in touch with her. Did I tell you my cousin met his mate? Now, that’s all my mom can talk about. How she’ll be a great aunt and not even a grandma yet. It’s hell being this old with no one to placate your relatives with a mate and babies.”

“Everyone coming around is having babies, it seems. I guess progress makes people horney or something. Most of the people in town are having one, I swear to you.” Again, they both laughed about other people. “I must go and see if my mate needs me. She does that less and less of late. Do you suppose she’s grown bored living with a vampire?”

“Doubtful. Calla is a good person. And hellishly right all the time. Did you hear about my books she did for me? Found out I was paying taxes on the land around here that I don’t even own. While we struck a deal long ago about my pack being on your land, I know for a fact that I’m not to pay taxes on someone else’s land. And that being said, I do wish you’d allow me to pay you something for it.”

“No, I have it well in hand. As I told Calla once. I could remodel all the houses in town twice over, and it wouldn’t put a dent in what I have in the way of money. You’re a good friend, Conri, and I’d not have money issues coming between us.” Conri thanked him. “Now, I shall go and check on the poor banker. I’m betting that he’s regretting getting out of bed this morning if I know my Calla Lily.”

Conri answered questions when they were put to him, but for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, he enjoyed being his other half. Being able to run in the woods had always been a particularly good time for him. He also swam in the lake that separated the pack land from Brew’s land.

It was all Brew’s land, but he’d plotted out enough to allow the wolves free reign around his when they wanted. He would repay him at times by watching over his home and land as well. He’d recently done that when Calla’s uncle was trying to kill her because he thought that her money was his to use as he wanted. Daniel didn’t last long after he got out of jail. And the best part was no one would ever find his body or be able to test anything for DNA. They’d done such a good job of cleaning up after he was killed.

Conri was just getting into his home when he heard from Brew again. Calla had dealt with the banker, and they’d have no more issues with getting accounts opened up. He’d even gotten the commissions taken care of.

It had been a corporate thing in that the loans for the cars they sold had to wait ten days before they got it on their checks. It was in the contract the employees had to sign when they sold a car. So if, in a relatively low occurrence, they returned the car within the first few days, the commission wouldn’t be paid.

“Thank you for that.” Brew also told him that there was a new banker in the bank as well. “She didn’t kill him, did she? Christ, that’s all we need, your mate in prison for killing a stupid banker.”

“No, she made a couple of phone calls and got him fired. He wasn’t too keen on that either, by the way. So, if you’re out and about, keep an eye on her. I will kill him if he so much as looks in her direction.” Conri said he’d do that easily. “Thank you so much, my friend. Now, when the greenhouse is open to the public, hopefully, nothing goes on there it would be a great day.”

After setting up a time to meet in the coming week, Conri took a long hot shower and went to bed. He was in the habit of sleeping in the nude, and tonight was no different. Having worn himself out today, he knew that he’d sleep well. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out.

At half past six the next morning, he was up and having breakfast with his mom. The pack provided him with a cook, so it wasn’t unusual that she’d come and have the first meal of the day with him. Sometimes, his brothers would join them, but today, it was just the two of them. She told him he looked rested.

“I feel like I got a good night’s sleep too. Running around all day yesterday ignoring everything, for the most part, really wore me out. I might have to do that more often.” She asked him about the pack meetings. “They’re going to start back up now that it’s getting to be winter. With summer and kids being off from school, it’s been difficult for us to have them then. But I believe everyone is excited for them to start back up.”

“You can count on me to do the organizing of food, you know. I won’t cook anything, but I can organize the hell out of it.” She smiled at him. “You do know if you had a mate, she’d be doing this so I can enjoy my golden years with a newborn cub in my arms.”

“Mom, if it were possible, I’d knock up several humans just so you can have what you want. However, I’m not sure anyone is out there for me anymore. I had my chance at happiness, but Dad…well, you know what he did.” She looked away from him, but not before he could see the tears that she was shedding. “Carol was a good mate, and I loved her. I’m not sure that I could love like that again.”

“She’s out there. I know it.” He nodded. They’d been having this same conversation for the last fifty years or so. “All right then, I’m going to start bothering your brothers then. Kendrick is next oldest and far too old to be running around flirting with every woman he sees.”

“He’s a charmer, he is. I believe he could charm his way out of just about everything he gets into and not have any trouble.” He thought of his other brothers. All five of them were charmers when it came to women. “Maybe I need to hang out with them more. They seem to have no trouble wooing a woman to their beds.”

“Go on with you now. What a thing to tell your mother.” She stood up, and so did he. Getting a tight hug from her and a kiss on the cheek, she left him to his day. It was going to be a good day, he hoped and left his house just as the clock chimed the eight o’clock hour.

Conri thought about his mate. Carol hadn’t really been good at anything but causing trouble with him and his pack. He’d never told anyone about what really got her killed but for Brew. And only because he’d walked up on him when he was putting a gun in his mouth. It had been just too much for him when she’d been killed with his father.

Now, there was a bastard. His father had caused so much trouble in the pack that even his brothers were considering leaving for another group. The day that he’d been killed by the pack, including him and his brothers were in on it, had been a great day for everyone. Then, not a week later, his wife had committed one of the worst laws by selling images of herself changing from human to wolf and profiting off it. Needless to say, when she was dealt with, he thought that the world was coming down on his head.

He’d also found out that Carol and his father had been stealing from the pack funds that his dad had been in charge of and buying themselves a big house out in California. Why there? He had no idea, but the fact that he found out more and more about them over the next few decades just went to show him how blinded by love he’d been. It had also soured him on finding anyone to mate with since then.

He would play the game about finding himself a mate with his mom as she had no idea what secrets he’d been hiding. Not even his brothers knew of all the things that he’d found out. But he wasn’t going to look for a mate again. One had been more than enough for him.

The first thing he did was go over his appointments for the day. He had two this morning and nothing for the rest of the day. Not that people wouldn’t be coming in and out of his office all day, including during the times someone had actually made an appointment, but he felt in a better frame of mind to deal with it.

After lunch, he decided to go to town and see about the new banker. He had no idea how long the man would be in his offices since he was new, but he did want to go and get the lay of the land, so to speak.

The man wasn’t in his office like he thought that he’d be. Instead, he was sitting at a makeshift desk, signing up his people for checking accounts for their new paychecks. He liked a man who got down and dirty with his employees, and when talking to Mr. Roger Hamlin, he decided that they couldn’t have done better with getting someone to take over for the other man. Hamlin was a wolf shifter and a part of his pack as of the moment they got a moment to sit down and talk.

“I should have come to you sooner, but I wanted to get this taken care of. But I would enjoy being a part of your pack. My other pack leader isn’t thrilled that I’ve come here, but he’ll get over it. My boss from the bank was none too happy to get the call from Calla Smith yesterday.” He smiled a little. “She was none too happy to be making the call either, but we don’t do that to prospective accounts. Banks need all the new accounts we can get.”

~*~

Yuri watched as the line behind him got longer and longer. He’d only stopped by the grocery store to pick up some milk and eggs. Had he known some crazy couponer was in the store, he’d have gone someplace else. As it was now, he had a lot of things to do tonight, and one of them wasn’t standing in line with a couponer person.

He knew that coupons saved money for those who used them. He’d been guilty of that, too, by holding up the line because his coupon hadn’t worked the way he had thought that it should. But this woman had hundreds of them. And the way she was watching the cashier, he knew she was wanting to get every one of them to work.

“She’s scanning them too quickly.” He might not have heard the woman behind him if he didn’t have special hearing because he was a wolf. But she might be right. Watching the cashier scan the coupons, it looked like she was having a race with herself to get them scanned. “The system will shut down if you keep this up, Milly.”

Intrigued, he turned to look at the woman. Christ, he nearly swallowed his tongue. She was that beautiful. Instead of saying something stupid, he asked her what would happen if she did shut the system down. She eyed him with a cocked brow.

“I didn’t say anything.” He nodded and said that she had, and he would like to know if he had to get his milk and eggs elsewhere. “I’d say yes. If the system shuts down, then neither register will work, and they’ll have to void all of her purchases and redo her order. And I didn’t speak out loud. You must have heard me whispering.”

“I did.” He looked at the couponer and then at the cashier. “She’s going to fuck it up for all of us, isn’t she?”

“I’d say that’s about right. Milly thinks that if she beats the computer on the register—has the coupons still ringing up when she’s finished with them, she gets herself a mental prize. Only she knows what that will be. But she’s done this before.” She eyed him hard. “What are you? Wolf, I’m thinking.”

“You’d be correct.” He turned back to her, winked, and then smiled. “My name is Yuri Valley. I’m with the local pack that’s around here.”

“Good for you. I’m Cassidy Warmer. I work here a few days a week. I also work at the Warmer Horse Farm too. Yes, I’m related, but I don’t have any money, so save your flirting for someone else. My sister, perhaps.” He couldn’t help it, he laughed. Then he asked if she was as pretty as she was. “Cynthia is gorgeous. She tells me that all the time.”

Again, he couldn’t help himself. He laughed. She was delightful and funny. And he had no doubt that Cassidy was much more beautiful than her sister was and twice as engaging. He was just about to ask her out when she groaned.

“Cassidy, can you be a sweetheart and open another line for me? Milly has her hands full.” Instead of answering him, she told him about the coupons and explained how Milly was going to shut down the computer. The man, he assumed the store manager, came out of the little cubby hole he was in and put his hand on the scanner. “Milly, if this shuts down again, I’m going to fire you. I’ve had enough of your shenanigans. Stand there until the computer has time to catch up.”

She did, but she wasn’t the least bit ashamed of her actions. Instead, she popped her gum loudly and glared at Cassidy. The manager asked her again if she’d open up a register for him.

“It’s my day off.” He said he’d pay her double. “Whatever. Just bring me out a clean drawer, and I’ll take the customers in line right now. Then I’m going home. I have a life other than this, you know.”

“I know, sweetie, but Milly didn’t tell me that Mrs. Craine was coming in today. I would have scheduled you to take the order. You get her in and out quickly.” Mrs. Craine said she didn’t bitch as much, either. “There is that. All right, everyone, just go to the other line, and Cassidy will get you all out of here lickty split.”

In less time than it took her to count out her drawer, he was on his way home. But he didn’t want to go and had even thought about staying in Milly’s line so that he could linger around more. Taking his purchases to his car, he decided to go back in and ask Cassidy out. He felt like they’d had a personal connection. But by the time he was back in the store, she had gotten the other customers out of her line and was in the cubby hole with the manager. He didn’t want to interrupt her, so he waited until she was finished before smiling at her at the door.

“What do you want?” He laughed. He’d laughed more today than he had in a few weeks. He asked her to go to dinner with him. “Are you addled? I said my sister was way prettier. Not to mention better at dates than I’d ever be. I’ll even give you her phone number.”

“How about you give me yours instead?” She blew her bangs off her face, and he wanted to see if it was as soft as it looked. There was something about this prickly little thing that had him wanting to take her out and pamper her. And he had no idea where that thought had come from. “I’d very much like to take you out to dinner. What harm can come from that?”

“You have no idea. All right. I’ll give you my number and my sisters. I’m sure that once you think about it, you’ll come to the conclusion that I’m not proper date material. I blow my nose at the table, and my mother thinks that I have no idea which fork to use. Why would you need so many forks for one meal? Anyway.” She pulled out a small paper bag and wrote down her number in small numbers and her sisters in large ones. He was still laughing when she left him there with his paper bag.

By the time he was home, he was smiling. Making reservations at his favorite restaurant that had about anything you could want on the menu, he picked up his cell to call Cassidy. He should have known she’d not give in that easily when he got Cynthia on the line. She asked him who he was.

“Yuri Valley. And I’m trying to find your sister, Cassidy. I had made plans with her to go to dinner.” She said that her sister didn’t live in the big house but she’d go out with him. “I’m sorry, I don’t know you. I was really hoping to get Cassidy.”

“Oh, you can get to know me over dinner. You can pick me up at the big house, that’s where I live with mommy and Daddy. Cass, as I said, doesn’t live here anymore. Is six all right with you?” He was stuck, and he had a feeling that Cassidy had done this before and gotten away with it. He told Cynthia that he’d call her and see if they were still on tonight. “Oh, don’t bother her. She never dates. That’s why we don’t get along all that well. She is a fuddy-duddy. And not nearly as pretty as I am.”

There it was, the, she told me that she’s prettier than I am, quote. Getting off the phone with Cynthia was harder than he thought it would be, but she was wearing him down. Instead of giving in to her whiney attempts to get him to go out with her, he told her that he had to go. He had things to do.

“I’ll see you at six on the dot. Don’t be late. Also, I need to know what sort of dress to wear too. Will this be a fancy dinner or just a regular meal? I mean, how many people will be there to see me?” Yuri asked her if she cared what he looked like. “I’m assuming that you’re related to the Valley family around here. I’ve seen most of you running around. All of you are hunky men that I don’t mind being with.”

Christ, she was a piece of work. “I’m not going to be picking you up, Cynthia. I’m looking for your sister. It’s been nice talking to you, but I have to go.”

“I’ll see you at six on the dot then.” Yuri closed the connection. He didn’t want any trouble with this woman or her family, but he’d not called her to have a date. Picking up the phone again, he called the store that he’d met her in. It was a long shot, but he was going to see if he could get in touch with Cassidy that way.

“Oh, she’s here right now. Came in to pick up the things that she’d had in her hands when I asked her to work.” He asked if he could talk to her. “Sure, sure. I’ll go get her. Hang on, young man.”

It wasn’t as long as a wait that he’d thought it would be. As soon as she said her name, he told her that her sister was expecting him to pick her up at six. Then he told her what kind of things she’d said to him.

“She’s really good at getting what she wants. If you have money, which I’m assuming you do, then she’ll be on you like white on rice. Cynthia has long claws, and they’re dangerous.” He said that she owed him. “Owe you what? I told you that I didn’t want to date. How is that my fault…Well, I guess it’s my fault that Cynthia caught you off guard. I tell you what. I’ll go out to the big house, and you can pick which one of us you want to…no, that won’t work either. She’ll take one look at your truck and be all pissy about you not having a limo or something. I’ll just meet you at the house for dinner. I have to go there anyway, and you might as well suffer the way I do. All right?”

“I’m having dinner with you and your family then.” She told him that if he had to have dinner with her, it had to be there because she’d been summoned home. “Summoned? They really do that?”

“You have no idea the links they’ll go to reign me into their world.” She was hurting, and he could tell. “Do you still want to date me? I mean, after this one time, you’ll see why I never date.”

“Yes, even if I have to have dinner with your family, I want to see you.” She told him to dress in a suit and tie then, and she’d be in a dress. “What’s happening at this dinner? Should I have a heads up?”

“I honestly have no idea. I’ve been summoned, as I said, and once I get there, I’ll be told. We should have exchanged blood or something. That way, I could tell you to run to the hills if necessary.” He said that they could still do that. “All right. I don’t know you all that well, but I would like to keep you from harm. They can do what they want to me, but I’d hate for you to get caught up in things. Cynthia has been ordered to stay for dinner, too, so that gets you off the hook with her.” Yuri started to tell her that he wasn’t planning on dating her anyway when Cassidy spoke again. “I’m sorry I got you into this. You can change your mind if you want. There will be no hard feelings, I promise.”

“I’ll be there. And we’ll exchange blood so that I can cheer you on if you need it.” She laughed like it had surprised her somewhat. “There you go. It’ll be fine. I’ll be there at six with my best foot forward. All right?”

“Yes, all right. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He wasn’t worried that she had tried to talk him out of coming. He was more worried about her. And in that moment, he realized something else. He wanted to protect her with all that he was. And he also knew she wasn’t his mate, so he was confused about that.

Going to his closet, he was glad that he’d just got his suit out and had it cleaned. It was black with silver pinstripes that he wore when he had a meeting with someone. Finding a tie that he loved that was sort of neutral, he decided to polish his shoes as well. Then he thought about his boots and took them off to be cleaned up. Yes, he thought, he was going to make an impression if it was the last thing he did.

Conri came over just as he was trying to get his tie on right. Taking over for him, Conri had him fixed up in just a few minutes. Then he asked him where he was going. After telling him the entire story about how he’d been tricked and was now going to go to dinner with her family, Conri asked him if he was sure that he wanted to do that.

“I do. I don’t know why, but I do want to see what they have plans for her. I’ve been thinking about her since I got out of the shower, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want to date her so much as I want to protect her. Isn’t that weird?” His brother said that it was. “Thanks. I can always count on you to bring me back to earth, can’t I?”

“If you need me or any of us, let me know. I’ll be ready to come and get you if you need me. Something about this whole thing makes me a bit nervous for you.” He thanked him again. “I’ll be on standby for you. Just don’t…I don’t know. Don’t get married or rooked into getting married while you’re out there.”

Now, he had something else to worry about. Not getting married, he knew they couldn’t do that to him, but what else could be going on with this family? He wished now he’d taken the option of bailing out. He might well have saved himself some headache.