Page 14 of Wolves’ Midlife Reunion (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #3)

Sparks from the bonfire flew up into the night sky, and Tina tipped her head back to watch them drift like little stars into the darkness until they extinguished themselves. She relaxed into her lawn chair, pleased but thoughtful.

Dex slid into the chair next to her. “I don’t know how late your gang usually keeps this going, but I have a feeling I’ll need the jaws of life to pry her out of here.”

Tina laughed. “You’re both welcome to stay as late as you want. Some of us will be up most of the night. It might surprise you to know that my mother is usually the last to go to bed.”

Dex looked over at Maeve, where she was patiently helping the children put hot dogs and marshmallows on their roasting sticks. It was late, but she still had a big smile on her face. “That actually doesn’t surprise me all that much. She looks like she’s getting some real energy from this.”

“I’m glad you said that.” Tina sat forward a little and let her fingers trace gently along his sleeve. “I’ve got a personal Samhain tradition that I’d like to do before midnight. Will you come with me on a little walk?”

“What about Sage?” he asked.

“She’s a kid at the covenstead, which means she’s basically family now,” Tina explained with a smile.

Just for good measure, she caught her coven Sister Erin’s sleeve as she walked by.

“Since Sage has been hanging out with your little cutie pie, Arden, all night, would you mind keeping an eye on her for a bit?”

“Sure.” Erin glanced at Dex and then back at Tina, questions in her eyes but not on her lips. “Not a problem.”

Tina led the way across the yard, down a path of paver stones, and through the gate in the fence that surrounded the backyard.

“Where are we going?” Dex asked. He slipped his hand into hers.

She clasped his fingers, glad that they had a moment to do something so natural. It was hard to be careful in front of Sage, even if it was the right thing to do. “Anywhere our feet take us.”

“That’s your tradition?” he asked.

“My own personal one, yes,” she told him confidently.

At one point, she never would’ve told anyone about this.

For non-witches, it was too woo-woo. For truly dedicated witches, it didn’t feel woo-woo enough.

“It started when I was probably about fourteen or fifteen. I just had the urge to go for a walk in the moonlight, soaking up all the Samhain energy I could. It was always my favorite holiday, and I wanted to carry it around with me all year long.”

He smiled as he walked casually along next to her. “That sounds kind of nice. When I wasn’t too much older than that, my favorite Halloween pastime was getting drunk under the bleachers with the other jocks. I think yours has a slightly better ring to it.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t have thought so at the time,” she teased. “I have to wonder how you would’ve felt about this, as well.”

She turned off the sidewalk and into the entrance of a cemetery.

The newer stones were large, low hulks of granite, deep shadows against the streetlights that reached this far.

Tina moved along the twisting path that went between them, heading deeper and deeper into the graveyard where the older stones stood.

“I don’t know,” Dex admitted. “I might’ve been cool with it, especially if I was here with a pretty girl.” He squeezed her fingers slightly.

“I like cemeteries all year round, but today feels particularly relevant. Here, you can honor all of the dead, whether you knew them or not.” She looked to the left, at a towering limestone marker that was almost as tall as she was.

Much of the epitaph had been worn down over time, but a carved hand pointing upwards could still be seen.

“Speaking of, I’m not sure what to think about Sage’s experience at the altar.” He rubbed the side of his nose with his free hand.

“You worry about her a lot,” Tina noted. She’d seen how distressed he looked during the ritual, but she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with meeting so many of her friends and family at once.

“Of course. I have to,” he said. “I really wanted the ritual to go well for her. She really respects you, and she was so excited to come tonight. I didn’t want her to leave feeling like she hadn’t gotten to participate.”

Dex sighed as they moved into the oldest part of the cemetery, where the trees leaned down low over little stumps of stone that could barely be called grave markers anymore. “Then she saw Marie. I don’t know what I thought would happen, but it wasn’t that.”

“Why not?” Tina asked. “I’ve often seen my father in the mirror. He just smiles at me, or sometimes he gives me a look that tells me to get back on track.”

Dex was silent and thoughtful for a long moment. “I was worried about how it might affect her. She’s got pictures of Marie, and we talk about her from time to time. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like for her to see her mother in the mirror like that, but I thought it might be too intense.”

“That’s understandable.” Tina had been a part of these rituals since she was even younger than Sage, so to her, they were familiar and safe. “Kids are often more resilient than we think. Sometimes they’re even more resilient than we are.”

He laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.”

He let another extended silence fall between them for a few seconds. “If I’m really honest, I’ve been worried about how you feel about it.”

“Me?” Tina paused as they reached the trees that lined the back of the cemetery.

“I thought it might be uncomfortable for you, since Marie and I had been together. Plus, we were there in front of your whole family,” he explained.

“I see.” She ducked under a low-hanging branch, leading the way to a wide path that tunneled into a wooded area. “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about it like that at all. Sure, you had a history with her, but she’s Sage’s mother. I can’t possibly get myself hung up on that.”

“Good. Then that means I really can come back next year with more white chili,” he said with a smile.

“Definitely.” She took a deep breath, inhaling the damp, earthy scent of the trees and the ground. “Want to go for a run?”

He eyed her curiously. “You’re really not the same girl you were, are you?”

As an answer, she leaned into her shift.

Her wolf had been dying to get out for the past week or so, ever since she’d first seen Dex at the shop.

It was hard to find time for it, but now it craved fresh air.

The feeling of fur bursting through her skin and her bones shifting position was delicious. Much better.

Kind of like a good sneeze.

She turned to look at him. Dex was a handsome wolf, with thick fur, wide shoulders, and intelligent eyes. Your wolf does you justice.

He stepped up next to her, letting his shoulder rub against hers. You wolf up pretty well yourself. I like looking at you in your human form, but I don’t mind this, either.

Well, if you want to keep looking, you’ll have to keep up! Tina bolted down the path, her paws flying through the leaf litter. She stretched out her muscles, really letting her inner animal loose. Though she didn’t dare lose time by looking back, she could tell that Dex wasn’t too far behind her.

You’ve got the advantage here.

Do I need to slow down? she mocked.

I’d be insulted if you did!

His voice was pleasant in her mind, a reminder that they had a connection that went much deeper than being classmates.

They’d known each other since before they were born, when their souls had been split into two.

They may have found and lost each other again and again with each reincarnation on this earth, or perhaps there were lifetimes when they never found each other at all.

Right now, with the moonlight streaming through the branches that arched over their path, Tina was thrilled to know they’d found each other once again.

The path took a sharp turn to the right.

Her paws skidded slightly in the springy pine needles, but she quickly regained her balance.

She launched up and over a slight hill, then to the left.

A sharp curve in the path told her that their run had almost come to an end, and her wolf began mourning it already.

Tina dashed around the curves and into a small clearing where a thick, twisted tree stood at the center.

Dex was right behind her. Damn. If you can run that fast in this form, I’ll bet you do pretty well on two legs. You should’ve run track or something.

And hang out with the jocks? Ew. Gross, she retorted.

She moved toward the deeper shadows under that central tree.

With no small amount of regret, Tina let her wolf go.

Her muscles contracted, and her bones pinched slightly as she worked her body back into her everyday form.

She panted as she turned her back and leaned against the tree.

He did the same, shifting in a quick flash that let her know he did it regularly. “You’re right. You wouldn’t have anything in common with someone like that, would you?”

It’d been a lifetime since they’d been in school together, but in some ways, it also felt like yesterday. Her mind fought a constant battle between seeing this handsome man as the kid she knew and the man she was coming to know. “Definitely not.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with you, either,” he said as he stepped up next to her, their feet close in the flat spot of earth among the tree’s great roots. “It’d be just like in the movies, where the guy can’t tell how hot a girl is just because she’s wearing glasses.”

She inhaled as he moved a little closer and put his hand on her waist, pulling in the deep, clean smell of his cologne mixed with the scent of the woods around them. “Does that mean she ought to take them off?” She reached up toward her glasses.

Dex stopped her hand halfway there, pulling it back down to her side and threading his fingers through hers. “Definitely not.” His eyes were intense, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed.

“Why not?” Her tongue and mouth felt alive with anticipation, a vibrating current that rolled through her body.

“Because she’s still the same girl, with or without them. He just had to be smart enough to finally see it.” Dex leaned in and kissed her.

Tina relaxed into it, very aware of the way their bodies were pressed together. His arm was strong and steady as it wrapped around her and pulled her even closer. She inhaled deeply as she felt his muscles against her softness, his hardness against her curves.

She opened up to him, her lips parting and their tongues twining.

He spread his fingers as he ran a hand along her lower back, curling them in to relish in the curve of her hip.

Dex still had her right hand captured, but she lifted her left one up and over his shoulder, skimming her fingertips through the short, freshly cut hairs on the back of his neck.

The passion she felt was even stronger than the Samhain energy she pulled in from these walks.

She was with her mate, connected, entwined.

There was a certain magic in being completely alone, without any judgment or worry, only the trees to sigh in the late-night breeze around them.

Anything could happen right now, but being with Dex already felt like a miracle.

A beeping sound cut into the air around them. Dex jumped back and grabbed his phone. “I’m sorry. That’s the notification sound for work.”

She waited, breathless from his kiss, as he checked his phone.

He groaned. “I’m sorry. I just got called in. I guess the streets are still rampant with tourists who want to have a particularly memorable time while they’re here.”

Tina pushed away from the tree, just now realizing how much the bark had been digging into her back. She’d been a little too distracted a moment ago. “Then I guess we’d better head back.”

“Listen, I really am sorry.” He caught her arm as they moved through the little clearing. The moonlight was just enough to illuminate his face and let her see how very sincere he was. “If I had any choice…”

“No,” she insisted with a smile. “That’s just life. Besides, it just means we’ll need to find time together sometime soon.”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “We can definitely agree on that.”

“I assume you need to get to work as soon as possible?” she asked as they reached the path once again.

His shoulders slumped a little. “Yeah, they need me.”

“Then I’ll race you!” Tina bolted forward, unleashing her wolf again as she ran. She went into the air from two feet and landed on four, flying as fast as she could.

You just keep surprising me, don’t you?

I do my best! The faster they went, the sooner she’d have to say goodbye to him for the night, yet she couldn’t hold herself back. Tina felt light and free, and not simply because her wolf was getting so much exercise.

Dex caught up to her this time, his paws pounding the ground right next to hers.

This wasn’t the hot jock who’d caught her eye in study hall and made her wolf swoon.

Some of that was still there inside him, and his looks had really only improved over time, but there was a lot more to Dexter Heywood now than there’d ever been when they were kids.

He was kind and caring. He loved his daughter and would do anything for her.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that he was also rather intelligent, something she’d never ascribed to all the football bros who only seemed interested in throwing around a pigskin and eating as much as they possibly could.

It was easy enough to fall for a hot guy, but there was so much more to him now.