Page 7 of Wolves’ Midlife Reunion (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #3)

“Oh, really? That’s awesome.” Tina had found Erica Palmer, who’d been her chemistry partner. The two of them had been stuck together in class. Now, feeling just as awkward and alone as she had on the first day of that quarter, Tina had gravitated toward the first person she knew.

“Yeah, I think it’s pretty exciting, really.

” Erica adjusted her glasses. “At least, I think so. Most people don’t want to hear about bioengineered plastics unless they’re already in the industry, but it’s going to make a big impact on our world.

I think we should all find it at least somewhat interesting. Anyway, what are you up to?”

Tina accepted the cup of punch that Erica handed her. “I run a shop downtown, actually. The Crystal Cauldron.”

“Oh. I mean, that’s great!” Erica had put some enthusiasm in her voice, but she couldn’t quite get her face to cooperate with the lie.

“Don’t worry,” Tina told her. She arched her back slightly, wishing the zipper on her dress didn’t itch so much. “I know it’s not all that glamorous.”

“I was just surprised, that’s all. With your grades, I guess I just thought you’d be doing something different,” Erica explained.

“I could get through the classes, but that only let me know I didn’t want to get into those fields for the rest of my life.

I had to figure out what I really wanted to do.

Do you remember when Mr. Johnson started offering that entrepreneurial class?

” Tina tugged the skirt of her dress down, wishing she’d gone with something a little longer.

“Oh, yeah. I heard he had to teach an extra class as punishment for not properly supervising kids on a school trip. I never knew if that was true or not.”

Tina had heard the same rumor, but all that really mattered was how much she enjoyed the class.

“For our main project, we had to set up our own small business. It sounded kind of lame, but I actually really liked it. It all kind of solidified for me when I took some marketing classes in college. When I started seriously considering doing this, I found the perfect building. Then I knew I had to do it.”

Erica smiled. “You’ve got to admire someone with true passion.”

“Thanks.” Tina reached up and adjusted the strap of her dress.

She wasn’t used to wearing anything remotely formal, and it was making her extremely uncomfortable.

It didn’t help that her wolf was starting to go batty, as well.

It churned inside her, poking at the underside of her skin, growing more insistent by the moment.

Fur prickled down her spine, making the zipper feel even more itchy than it had a moment ago.

Tina took a deep breath, trying to keep it under control.

Then she turned her head to find Dex heading straight for her.

Erica turned as well, and she arched a brow. “Hey, I remember him. He was on the football team, wasn’t he? I always thought he had a thing for you.”

Tina had never been close enough to Erica to tell her about her true connection to Dex. “I don’t know about that. We’re just friends.”

“If you say so,” Erica shrugged. “I think I see Bethany. I’m going to go say hi to her.” With a wink, she drifted off.

Now Dex had closed in on her. Those brilliant eyes were focused right on her, as though she were the only person in the room. She couldn’t even pretend he was looking at someone else, and then when he smiled, she didn’t want to.

“Hello,” he said as he walked up. “You know, I just can’t shake this feeling that I’ve met you before.”

“Is that so?” she asked innocently. It gave her an excuse to study his face. An ancient sculptor couldn’t have made a man more handsome. His button-down shirt was a tad too tight in the shoulders, but she didn’t mind. “I don’t know about that. I don’t think I’ve seen you anywhere before.”

“Well, maybe I should lean casually against a locker and pretend that I don’t care about anything,” he returned, his smile widening. “Or we could figure out which room they’re currently using for detention, and I could hang out there. Then maybe you’d recognize me.”

“We could do that,” she agreed, playing along. “That means I should probably hold a student council meeting or sit in the quietest corner of the library.”

They both laughed, and now Tina’s wolf was bugging her in a completely different way. It was active, yes, but far less agitated now that she was talking to him once again.

“Hey, I wanted to thank you for helping with that necklace the other day.”

“Did your daughter like it?” As much as she’d enjoyed their little jokes about who they used to be, a simple purchase at her store sounded like a far safer topic.

“She loved it.” His eyes got slightly different, but they were soft as velvet. “It made her a bit sad, though.”

“Oh, no. Why?” Tina’s heart immediately went out to the little girl that she’d met only for a brief moment. “Was there something wrong with it?”

“No, no,” he assured her quickly. “It’s perfect. It’s just that pink moonstone was her mother’s favorite.”

“Was?” She felt her mouth and her heart twist with compassion. That didn’t sound good at all.

“Marie passed away three years ago,” Dex explained.

Tina’s heart sank into her stomach. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like for anyone to lose their mate, nor could she fathom what Sage must’ve gone through at the loss of her mother. “If I had any idea, I would’ve picked a different necklace.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He glanced at an open table behind them. “Would you like to sit down?”

“Sure.” She carried her drink over, surprised when he pulled out a chair for her.

“I admit I haven’t been keeping up with everyone over the years.

I didn’t know you…had gotten married.” She stumbled over the words, unsure which ones were the right ones.

Tina was desperately curious as to Dex’s current situation, even if she didn’t plan to do anything about it.

He considered this a moment before he answered, his thumb gently rubbing against a bit of condensation on the side of his punch cup.

“I think, as you get older, you get to a point of knowing there’s a time limit.

Marie and I weren’t fated, but we got along well enough, and our relationship just sort of happened.

We both really wanted to have kids, and we were blessed with Sage. ”

“She’s a lovely little miracle.” Tina meant it, too. She was a bit jealous of this mysterious woman who’d managed to get Dex to walk down the aisle when Tina hadn’t even gotten to go to prom with him, but she could see how much Dex loved his daughter. That was all that really mattered.

“I think so, too,” he agreed. “She can be a handful, though.”

“I’m sure my mother would tell you the same thing about me when I was a girl, and probably my sisters, too,” Tina laughed. “I haven’t been fortunate enough to have kids, but plenty of them are always buzzing around the covenstead. They’re all a bit of a handful.”

He pulled in a deep breath and moved in his chair, making his knee bump slightly against hers. “You know, running into you again might be very good timing.”

“Oh?” That slight bump of his knee was nothing, pure coincidence, yet it’d driven all the air out of her lungs. “Why is that?”

“Well, Sage has some magical abilities,” Dex explained.

“They’ve been budding here and there for the past year or so.

I was kind of excited at first, because I knew she had to have gotten it from me.

I’m the only one in my pack that has any magic, other than my late grandmother.

The thing is, I don’t practice anymore. I haven’t in a long time. ”

The last sentence was almost quiet enough that she couldn’t hear it over the music, but she understood.

Everyone had either seen or witnessed the fight between Dex and Chris ‘Killer’ Kelley.

Dex’s magic had turned the fight in his favor, but it’d nearly killed Chris in the process. “I can understand.”

He pulled in a deep breath. “Anyway, that’s left me feeling a bit lost when it comes to Sage.

She knows a few little tricks, things that could be dismissed as stage magic if the wrong person saw, but I’ve been starting to think a lot about what happens as this progresses.

If you’ve got any advice, I’m open to it. ”

“That’s difficult,” she admitted, thinking back to her own childhood.

“Just like anything else that a kid has to learn, there are rules and techniques. Some of them you can figure out on your own, but I don’t think a person could really master their magic without at least some teaching.

I was fortunate in that sense. I was completely surrounded by adults who knew and supported magic.

If I didn’t want to listen to my mother, then my Aunt Lucille or one of the other coven members was there to help me. ”

“I wish Sage had something like that,” he admitted.

His head was bent toward hers, and it felt like they were having a secret conversation, even though they were in a room full of people.

“My family is great, of course. I rely on them a lot as a single parent, but they don’t know how to help with this. ”

An idea hit her. Tina hesitated for a moment, unsure whether she should say it or not.

“What is it?” Dex asked, as if reading her thoughts. “Like I said, I’m open to advice.”

“This could be a little more than that,” she said slowly. “How would you feel if I became a mentor of sorts for Sage?”

He blinked. “You would do that?”

“Well, sure.” The idea was still new to her, but it felt right.

The Artemis Eclipse Sisterhood helped their own, but they also reached out to other shifter witches who didn’t have a coven or who needed support.

“In fact, the rest of the coven would probably be happy to help, too. Sage might find a lot of people to talk to.”