Page 17

17

THORN

When we arrived home and were putting the last of the boxes in the spare bedroom, a delivery van arrived with a package for me.

“I didn’t order anything.” I looked at the sender. It was my uncle’s name, but the envelope was from Noah’s firm. “This is odd.” I glanced around, wondering if someone was watching us, but of course, Cougar Lake was so small, Noah had probably witnessed us driving into town.

“Open it.” Wilder reached for the parcel, but I yanked it out of his reach.

We went inside and tore it open. There was a sheaf of papers and a social security card, and some newspaper clippings. I shuffled through the papers while my mate looked over my shoulder.

“Now I understand.” He’d come here to save Cougar Lake after a cougar, Stiles, saved him when he stumbled upon my uncle who had fallen and couldn’t get to help. I didn’t love that he hid it from us, but I understood. If our family and his friends were involved, they’d have pushed the lodge to become more human, and I could easily have inherited a condo complex instead of the shifter oasis we were working so hard to restore.

“Your uncle was a good guy,” Wilder mused.

“Did you know this? What he’d been up to?”

Wilder nodded. “Sort of. It was before I was born when most of this happened.”

Maybe I should show this to my dad. It would explain why Uncle had set himself apart from the family and how he’d done nothing to rehabilitate his reputation. But how could I without giving away the shifter community here? I’d think of something. His memory deserved better.

“Oh, Uncle.”

We jumped right back into work, getting the place ready for opening. Every morning we drank coffee and planned our day and every night we fell asleep in each other’s arms. Today I focused on getting the website ready to go and it was finally time.

“This is it!”

I clicked and our booking site was live.

It’d been easy enough to set up the website. Getting it to accept bookings and the payment system had included a lot of hair pulling, teeth grinding, and shouting. But we’d done it with a little help from Saul. Who knew the kid who worked at the diner was a tech whiz?

Turned out he was also a wolf shifter.

We’d cordoned off the entryway in the house to be the reception desk. Uncle had had guests wandering the house when they wanted fresh towels or their toilet was clogged, but I couldn’t live like that. The main house was my home, and I needed my privacy.

Saul had agreed to be a part-time receptionist, saying he wanted to keep his job at the diner because he got free meals. He was also maintaining the website site because neither Wilder nor I wanted to be on call 24/7.

We employed one of Wilder’s cousins to clean, and Wilder would continue to do the repairs and maintenance.

“How long has it been?” I’d walked away from the computer, unable to stare at the seconds ticking away.

“Five minutes.”

I’d hoped one of my former colleagues would have taken pity on me and booked a room, even for one night. But even though I’d sent them the announcement of the official opening, no one had responded. Out of sight, out of mind, I guessed.

There was a tiny ping, one that wasn’t familiar. Both Wilder and I looked at our phones. Nothing. My eyes locked on his, and we both leaped up and raced to the computer.

“We have a booking.” We grabbed hands and danced in a circle, shouting, “We have a booking.” It was for five days, ten days from now. My mind whirred, thinking about bedding, did we have enough, and food. We were providing breakfast, or the lodge was, but Wilder and I weren’t.

Neither of us were accomplished short-order cooks, and I didn’t want to be up at four every day prepping food for holiday makers.

We’d lured one of the diner chef’s to cook breakfast, though like Saul, he’d continue to work the evening shifts at the diner.

I was worried there'd be too much money going out and nothing coming in, but Wilder said we couldn’t wait and see. We had to be prepared.

Neither of us could concentrate. I’d walk into the kitchen, straining to hear that distinctive ping. One of us had to be close to the computer to let the other know if something happened.

“Was that one?” I yelled.

“No.”

Damn. After the first one, I was convinced we’d get a stream of bookings, and I was disappointed, thinking my dream was going to crash and burn. Wilder said we should go for a walk but neither of us went far before racing back to the computer.

We got three bookings in a few hours. One was for a week, so I scribbled lists, crossing out and adding items as my brain whizzed back and forth.

My eye caught the scrapbooks on the shelf, and I thought of the photos with Uncle and the cougars.

“We should commemorate the cougars of old and hopefully the ones in the future.”

Wilder grinned. “There you go again. We’d have to have a lot of sex and produce many babies to repopulate the cougars.”

“The sex I wouldn’t mind. Not sure how many babies we’ll have, though.” I explained we should make one of the cabins the Cougar Cabin and fill it with photos and other memorabilia from the cougars’ heyday.

“We can charge more for it.”

I went through the scrapbooks while Wilder collected bits and bobs from his place, and we spent the afternoon putting up pics on the cabin walls and rearranging the space. We took photos, and I added them to the lodge website, along with details, and upped the price.

Did you just double the price on one of the cabins? That was Saul. Glad to see he was keeping tabs on the site.

Wilder yawned. “We don’t have to sit up all night and watch the computer, do we?”

“Nope.” I had to be up early for an interview on a local radio station breakfast show.

“Okay. I’m beat.” He kissed my nose. “I’m headed home.”

I didn’t want him to leave. Not tonight, not ever.

“What if this was your home?”

Uncle’s house was dry and warm, but it needed updating. That would come when the lodge was full every night, we’d made back the money I’d spent on the renovations, and there was enough money in the bank in case something went wrong.

“Are you asking me to move in with you?”

It made sense. We were mated, but with all the changes in our lives, we hadn’t made the final commitment to one another.

“I am.”

Wilder gazed around the room and ran his hand over the sofa. “I’ve spent so much of my time here. Your uncle welcomed me into his home and his life. Part of him will always be here, and I’m sure he’s hovering overhead, urging me to accept your offer.”

“Please tell me you won’t move in just because Uncle would have liked it.”

Wilder laughed and pulled me onto the couch. “It’s you and me, kid.”

I grimaced. “Sounds like a line from a movie.”

“Might be, but it’s right for us. If Alexei were here, he’d be beaming. He used to talk about his family, especially when he had a few too many beers.”

That hurt. Him out here and us not far away, me growing up and not knowing him. Not being here for him.

“You know what he used to do to celebrate?” Wilder’s eyes gleamed. Whatever he was about to say, I wouldn’t like it.

“You’ll tell me whether I want to hear it or not.” I rested my head on his shoulder but sat up again almost immediately. “Wait, what are we celebrating?” If it was the new bookings, that was reasonable. It was the beginning of something new and exciting, and glancing upward, I imagined Uncle looking down as Wilder had said.

“Oh, you know.” He walked his fingers up my arm. “Lots of things.” He lifted my chin so we were staring into one another’s eyes. “To the success of the business.”

“Anything else?” I deadpanned.

“Hmmm.” He screwed up his face. “Now there was something else, but I can’t quite recall what it was.”

Gods, he was drawing this out, but he had to say it. I refused to do it for him.

Wilder drummed his fingers on the coffee table. “Right. I have a new home. Two, actually.”

Oh, he was keeping his old place. I understood that. Everyone needed a bolt hole.

“One is this building, bursting with memories, a place where we’re going to create more.” He patted my chest. “And here. That’s the second.” My mate took my hand and placed it over his heart. “And this is your home too.”

I couldn’t speak as my eyes blurred with tears, and I blinked them away. He was my home, even if the business failed and I had to work at the motel cleaning rooms.

“You still haven’t told me what Uncle did to celebrate.”

Wilder smirked. Oh gods, whatever it was he had to spit it out.

“He used to run through the woods naked, yelling at the top of his voice. But it had to be in the middle of the night. He didn’t want to scare any hikers.”

“What did he shout?”

“Anything that was relevant.”

It was dark outside, but it was still early. I wouldn’t last another hour. Not waiting for any more information from Wilder, I stripped off my clothes and raced out the door. I didn’t have Wilder’s shifter enhanced sight, but the moon was out as I made my way along the narrow path by the lake.

“We have our first guest,” I screeched at the top of my lungs.

My mate caught up to me. “And the love of my life asked me to move in with him.”

“How lucky am I?” I screamed.

“I’m the lucky one.”

A cloud passed over the moon and it was pitch-black. I skidded to a halt, and Wilder took my hand. I was panting from my run, and I bent over, but a streak of lightning zigzagged across the sky, followed by thunder booming, and I clung to my mate.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“You mean who it is.” Rain pitterpatted onto our heads, and we turned around and headed for home.

“Uncle.” I was certain he was up there having a beer and playing cards, telling everyone about us.

“Alexei usually ended his runs with a swim.”

But I didn’t intend to die when lightning struck the water.

“Not tonight. I need to sleep with you cuddled up beside me.”

“Every night, not just tonight.”