I press my hands to my cheeks. My skin scorches my palms.
“Julia?” His gaze falls to the wedding band Geoffrey gave me.
I’m not sure why I’m still wearing it. At first, I wasn't ready to take it off. Then it was comforting, and I wore it as a shield. And as the years went by, it never came off.
I fly off the couch, crossing the room. I’m warm all over. Is this a hot flash? It’s gotta be a hot flash. “You need to go.” I need to get control. This, whatever this is, needs to stop. “Now.”
“Julia.” The soft command in his voice makes me turn. He’s risen from the couch, and the whole room seems smaller. “I’m not leaving.”
“Well, that’s a change.”
His face hardens, and I know the blow landed. It hurts to hurt him, but I’ll bring out the big guns if I have to. If that’s what it takes him to leave.
Because I’m not sure he’s the kind of role model I want for Geo. He may be a shifter, but he’s wild and reckless. He showed up here without a shirt and on a motorcycle. Who does that? And why? This guy is not mentor material. Besides, seeing him is sort of painful. It reminds me of better times.
Of Geoffrey. Of how lonely I am now.
“I fucked up,” he says. “I know that. If I could go back in time, I’d do it differently. But I’m here now, and I’m going to be here for Geo. And for you.” He steps close, into my space. His eyes roam over my face.
I don’t know why he added that last part–And for you.
I don’t need anything from him.
I definitely don’t want to take him up on it.
What do I look like to him? He’s changed so much, but I’ve changed, too. Is he noticing how much older I look? All the wrinkles I have? Am I still even attractive to a male anymore?
My spine turns to steel. “This conversation is over. I need to get to work.”
For a second, he stands there, looming over me. He’s a foot taller and has a hundred pounds more muscle than me packed onto his taut frame. Maybe two hundred pounds.
There’s no way I can throw him out. He could pick me up with one hand. Or carry me in a fireman’s hold wherever he wanted to go. If I complained, he’d smack my ass. Flip me down, gag me, tie me up. He probably learned all sorts of moves and ways of restraining the enemy in the military.
Um…wow. Why am I thinking about Channing that way?
My body quivers. I stiffen to get it under control.
One of Channing’s brows quirks. He takes a thoughtful inhale of my scent.
I clear my throat and raise my chin.
“I’ll let you work, but this isn’t over.” Channing heads for the door but pauses with his hand on the frame. “Geoffrey told me to look after his family. That’s what I’m going to do.”
A scoff flies from my throat. Too little, too late. “We did just fine for over a decade. We don’t need you.”
He opens his mouth to say something.
“Close the door on your way out.”
With one last lingering look, he does. I slump against the wall. I’m shaking, sweat lining my back.
He’s gone.
That’s good.
I should feel relieved. Instead, a sense of unease crawls up my spine. I totally misplayed that. Channing is literally the only person I know who can help me and guide Geo right now. Driving him away was probably not my best move.
I may have screwed up.
Channing
She’s as beautiful as ever. Silky dark hair, dark eyes flashing fire. When I got close to Geo, I thought she was going to bare her teeth and snarl at me like a momma wolf.
Seeing them up close and in human form isn’t the same as watching them on a camera or lurking behind their house as a wolf. Geo’s bigger, taller, his baby fat melted away. His voice is deeper. He’s crossing the threshold between boy and man.
He looks so much like my brother, it’s a fist in the gut.
And Julia… Julia is everything. All I ever wanted. All I’ve thought of for these past ten years. Her oval face and slender, toned body. Her scent–more complex up close–is a revelation. All the feelings I’ve suppressed rise like a phoenix, scorching my insides with fire. There’s nothing left of me and my defenses.
It’s dangerous to get so close. But I'm used to danger. I have to bear it, for Geo’s sake. This will be the hardest mission I've ever taken on.
Julia thinks she’s won this round. I lope down the driveway, listening to her moving in her home. I hate to leave her, but I need supplies.
I have a burner phone, but I’ll have to stop to buy clothes. Time to call in every favor I have.
I've got work to do. A family to protect. To reclaim.
We did just fine for over a decade. We don’t need you.
When my brother died, I was nineteen. A man-child. Selfish and irresponsible. That’s the Channing Julia knows. She blames me for going AWOL, and I understand. She sees it as more proof of my selfishness. She doesn’t know, and I don’t know how to explain why I had to leave then.
But then, having her pissed off and thinking the worst of me is probably for the best. She’s my brother’s mate. Not mine to claim, no matter how much my wolf may want her.
Chapter Four
Julia
After the events of this morning, it’s a miracle that I make my first Zoom meeting–a contract review–on time. I moved to Flag right after law school to provide legal counsel for a non-profit on indigenous water rights protection, and I worked there for almost twelve years. They closed down last year, though, so I took a lucrative but less-fulfilling work-from-home position as private counsel for van den Berg.
When Geo’s grown, I want to return to the non-profit sector, so I can make a difference in the community. Tweaking contracts for an eccentric billionaire isn’t really life purpose stuff.
My heart is still jumping from my quarrel with Channing this morning. When Geoffrey was alive, he took on handling his brother. Channing was a mess, in trouble at school, disappearing on weekends and showing up for dinner with two fading black eyes and evidence of healing road rash on his bare back. Channing lost his shirt a lot back then, too. No dangerous activity was off limits. Fight clubs, back street bike races, climbing water towers for a midnight swim–it was a miracle Channing didn’t do jail time. He always managed to wriggle out of any consequences with nothing but that dimpled smile.
Except with his brother.
Geoffrey always saw through the charm. He would pull Channing aside after dinner. Together they’d do the dishes and put up the food while Geoffrey lectured about responsibility and good behavior.
Watching these stern but gentle lectures was how I knew Geoffrey would be a good father.
But Channing…he couldn’t seem to care about his own life or the mayhem he caused around him.
And now he’s back, if stopping by for a fifteen-minute argument counts as back.
I focus on the work at hand. The contract review is for one of my boss’s many companies. The counsel for the other company has a dry-as-dust voice that drones on and on. I look serious for the camera, pretend I’m listening and nod at appropriate times. Mostly, I keep one ear cocked for the sound of motorcycle pipes in my drive.