Page 1 of His White Moonlight (Dominant CEO Shifter Romance #1)

The pilot announced the final approach, and I felt a surge of nervous anticipation.

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” the flight attendant asked. After I shook my head, she smiled. “You made my job easy this flight.”

Since Mom and Dad had bought all the seats to ensure I was the only person in the first-class section, I could see why.

“I hope you enjoy your stay in Motan.”

“Thanks. I hope your next flight is as easy.”

She buckled into her seat, and I looked out the window at the city I barely remembered. A city that was supposed to feel like home but didn’t.

Don’t think about it, Wrenly, I silently told myself. Focus on the positive. You’ll finally get to see Aiden and Karter in person again.

It’d been so long—seven years since I’d been home.

I studied my reflection in the glass, proud of how I’d managed to retain who I was, despite the time away.

Rather than a fashionable twist, which would have helped me blend in at school, I wore my shoulder-length light brown hair back in a ponytail.

Not a bit of makeup covered the smattering of subtle freckles along the bridge of my average nose or my grey eyes fringed by brown lashes.

I felt makeup robbed me of an air of innocent cuteness that usually kept me out of trouble.

My full lips curved at the memory of how many times Aiden and Karter had taken the blame for our trouble because I’d looked too innocent to scold when I was younger. I hoped it would be the same now, even though I was officially and legally an adult.

An adult who still has zero control over her own life, I thought bitterly.

The airplane touched down several minutes later.

While everyone sitting behind first class started to collect their belongings, I stood with my tote bag.

Almost everything I’d accumulated while at the boarding school, which wasn’t much, had been packed and shipped three days ago, so I only had my one bag to worry about.

Debarking was quick and easy, and I power-walked to the security checkpoint, where Mom had said someone would be waiting for me.

I spotted a man with greying hair who wore a suit and held a sign for “Wrenly Belak.” Definitely not either of my brothers, whom I’d been expecting.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m Wrenly. What’s my mom’s first name?”

“Pardon?” the man asked, sounding surprised.

“Just because you have a sign with my name on it doesn’t mean I’m going to jump into a car with a stranger.”

He smiled, showing I’d amused him rather than offended him.

“I don’t know your biological mother’s name,” he said, “but Mrs. Wulf’s name is Christine. Mr. Wulf sent me to pick you up. You can call him to verify. My name is Milo.”

“Hmmm…I like your level of calm, Milo. Any chance you’ll let me drive?”

He folded the sign as he studied me.

“Do you have a license?”

“I do.” Not that I’d ever gotten a chance to use it. But I flashed my most charming smile at him as I pulled out my wallet to show him my ID, which I had received courtesy of private lessons and a private, in-school exam.

He glanced at it. “Do you know where you’re going?”

I was twelve when I left. What twelve-year-old paid attention to directions?

“That’s what GPS is for, Milo.”

He chuckled and motioned for me to walk with him. The black Benz he led me to looked sleek with its chrome accents. A car worthy of the high-maintenance girls who’d attended the last all-girl boarding school with me.

Milo crushed my dream of driving it, though, by opening the passenger door for me. I stuck out my bottom lip, but it didn’t work.

“Maybe next time,” he said. “City traffic is no joke, and you’re expected at home.”

“Fine. But you just lost some points, Milo.”

“I will try to earn them back.”

With a sigh, I got in and waited for him to join me.

“So you’re employed by Mr. Wulf. Through the business or personally?”

“Personally.”

“Where do you live?”

“In the big house with my wife, Sandy. She manages the household.”

“Mmm. How many people work there now?”

“Staff has been temporarily reduced to Sandy and myself.”

I turned to look at him. “What? Why?”

“Mr. Wulf will discuss it with you when you return.”

I stared forward, not liking how that sounded. Rather than wait for an explanation, I pulled out my phone and texted the only group chat I had.

Me: What gives? Why am I being picked up by some old guy and not by either of my two favorite people? Do you want a demotion?

Karter: Sorry, Princess. Orders. We’ve been reassigned.

Aiden: No demotion! We’re owed favorite status.

Me: The favorite title needs maintenance. Be prepared to compensate me for this level of neglect. He wouldn’t even let me drive!

Both sent back laughing emojis. I tucked my phone away, leaving the rest of what I wanted to say until I saw them.

It took an hour to reach “the big house,” as Milo called it.

It wasn’t that big. The Wulfs weren’t showy with their money like that.

It was just the biggest house in the expansive gated community known as Alpine Run.

Surrounded by lawns, gardens, and trees, the house had been a dream come true for six-year-old me when I first arrived.

During my childhood, I’d gone on countless adventures with Aiden and Karter, who were three years older than me.

I waited for Milo to park in the circle in front of the house drive before I bolted out of the car. The oversized front door banged against the wall as I rushed into the foyer.

Breathing in deeply, I turned a slow circle, taking it all in. The house was exactly as I remembered it.

Home. Finally.

“I’m home,” I called out.

“So I see,” a deep voice returned.

I spun around toward the stairs and saw Bennett descending.

He wasn’t the first person I’d hoped to see. Or the second…or third. Honestly, he was almost at the bottom of the list. Not that I hated him or anything. He was just…Bennett. Seven years my senior, he’d always been distant and stuffy, not fun like Aiden or Karter, his younger brothers.

Bennett had changed a lot since I last saw him.

Seven years.

He’d been about nineteen, my current age, back then. He also might have even gotten taller by an inch or two, which wasn’t fair since that meant he towered over me by an unreasonable fourteen inches.

He looked handsome…and even more uptight now than he had the last time I’d seen him.

He no longer wore high-end athletic clothes, but a tailored suit that showcased his broad shoulders and narrow waist. However, some things hadn’t changed. His dark hair was still neatly styled, and his expression still didn’t give away his thoughts as his dark brown gaze locked with mine.

The pack girls had all raved about how hot he was even back then. They hadn’t lived with him, though. I pitied the poor pack girls who had their sights set on him now.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

Mom and Dad had let me know they wouldn’t be home, which was why they’d sent someone to pick me up. But I thought Aiden and Karter would have been there at least. Granted, it was just after noon on a Wednesday, but still…this was my first time home.

“Out,” Bennett said, continuing down the stairs.

“Out?”

“Out.”

Yep, still the same Bennett, I thought.

“Okay, then.”

Milo entered behind me with my bag, which I took from him.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said. “Don’t forget I get to drive next time.”

He looked over my shoulder at Bennett.

“If there’s nothing else today, Sandy and I will leave early.”

“Thank you, Milo,” Bennett said.

I watched Milo leave then looked at Bennett, who was watching me from the base of the stairs. I wanted to ask where Milo was going since I thought he stayed at the house with his wife, but Bennett didn’t look too happy, so I swallowed my question.

How exactly had he gotten stuck being my welcoming committee? Not that he was giving much of a welcome.

With a mental shrug, I started walking across the foyer.

When I passed the base of the stairs, he asked, “Where are you going?”

Where did he think I was going?

Rather than answering nicely, I said, “In.”

Damn, that felt good.

Smothering my smile, I went to my old room on the first floor.

When I opened the door, I froze. My bed…my things…they were all gone. The room was now an office space, which didn’t make sense. Mom and Dad both had offices on the other side of the house on the first floor. Why did they convert this room? My room?

I was confused and trying hard not to feel hurt by what I was seeing so that Bennett wouldn’t smell it.

Obviously, a lot had been happening at home that they’d kept from me.

“Why bother making me come home if I don’t have a place to stay?” I asked, knowing Bennett was behind me.

“You have a place. It’s at the end of the hall upstairs,” Bennett said behind me.

“The hall to the right or left?” I asked.

“The left.”

I turned around without looking at him and made my way back to the stairs. He caught my arm and took the bag from me.

“You’re angry.”

“You think?” I said, annoyed I hadn’t suppressed my emotions enough.

Not fighting him for the bag, I marched up the stairs.

He followed closely, not saying anything until we reached the door.

“Mom made sure everything was the same.”

She truly had. From the wallpaper to the posters to the way my bed was situated. Yet, there were changes, too. She’d added a vanity, and I saw I had an en-suite bathroom and a huge walk-in closet, where someone had already unpacked the things I’d shipped.

My modest wardrobe was either hanging or folded in the custom cabinetry drawers. The section dedicated solely to purses and shoes was empty. I didn’t look forward to explaining what happened to the gifts she’d sent over the years.

Bennett walked past me and set my bag in the closet.

“Do you need help unpacking?” he asked, sounding borderline impatient.

“No.”

He stared at me for a long moment before walking away. I watched him pull his phone from his pocket as he left my room. He was probably giving Mom an update, confirming he’d done his duty.