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.You took off for five dayswithout a word to him.You re lucky he lets you out of his sight.Shannon nodded her agreement.Shape-shifters were extremely possessive, especiallywhen newly mated. You don t know the half of it, Mary Elizabeth told them. When I got homeSaturday, there was a surprise waiting, and not a good one.Interest piqued, Shannon said,  Well, don t hold back.Tell us what happened.Mary Elizabeth looked around to see if anyone was listening and then motioned themcloser.Quietly, she stated,  Charles came to visit.Kiesha sucked in her breath sharply. Are you serious? Why didn t you tell me aboutthis before? Isn t Charles your brother-in-law? Shannon asked. Mary Elizabeth s needy brother-in-law who s been trying to get her to move backhome, Kiesha explained. How did Hugh react? That s what Shannon wanted to know.You do not mess with ashape-shifter s mate.Trying to convince Mary Elizabeth to leave Refuge, and subsequentlyHugh, qualified.32 Zena WynnMary Elizabeth looked at them both, obviously trying to decide which question toanswer first. I haven t had the opportunity.And Hugh s still pissed, so please don t mentionthis in front of him.By the way, Charles is dead.Oh, and I shifted into a bear.Shannon and Kiesha stared at her, eyes and mouths wide open.Mary Elizabeth looked around awkwardly, then tucked her long brown hair withblonde highlights nervously behind her ear. How long do we have to sit here before we getany service? Someone should have been over by now to take our order.They could have atleast asked if we wanted coffee.I ll go and get us some. She slid out of the booth. Move another inch, and I ll sic Shannon on you, Kiesha threatened.Shannon nodded.If Mary Elizabeth thought they d be satisfied with the tiny piece ofinformation she d thrown at them, she deserved to be bit.She growled at her for goodmeasure, flashing a glimpse of her canines.Mary Elizabeth narrowed her brown eyes atShannon but sat back down as directed. Okay, now start again from the beginning, Kiesha commanded. And this time, don t leave anything out, Shannon added. And what was that bit about shifting into a bear? You shifted? Kiesha s voice rose. I ve been mated for over a month now, and I haven t fully shifted.Mary Elizabeth shushed them, waving her hands for silence as she looked uneasilyaround the diner. Keep your voice down.I don t want everyone knowing what happened. Start talking, or it s going to get ugly, Kiesha threatened.Mary Elizabeth relented and explained in greater detail.She finished with,  I got somad at the things Charles was saying that I saw red.I didn t know I d shifted until Hugh toldme.Apparently strong emotions bring on the change.I don t know how Charles went frombeing in jail to crashing his van on the road out of town.And to be frank, I don t want toknow.I m just glad the man s finally out of my life. I always knew there was something wrong with that man. Kiesha nodded her head inan  I told you so manner. How did he find out where you were living? I thought youhadn t given the folks your address.Mary Elizabeth sighed. I hadn t.He used my mother against me.She called beggingme to come home for a visit.When I said I couldn t, she guilted me into giving her my homeaddress.Charles must have been sitting right there with her when she called.Shannon looked at her. Aw man, that s deep. You re telling me. I can t believe your mother helped Charles like that.Then again, knowing her and theway she s always treated you, I shouldn t be surprised, Kiesha acknowledged. Sorry, butyou know it s the truth.Nikolai s Wolf 33Mary Elizabeth gave her a smile of understanding. I know, and it s okay.I ve made mypeace with Mother.She is who she is.She couldn t have gotten away with half of the thingsshe did if I hadn t enabled her.I could have broken free a long time ago.I guess that Iwanted to feel needed and connected to my family, no matter what form that connectiontook.With Hugh, I m finally starting to understand what a real family is supposed to be like.Coming here was one of the best decisions I ve ever made.I don t know about anyone else,but I m getting hungry.Since we can t seem to get any service, I ll go and get us some coffee.Does anyone need a menu, or do you know what you want to eat?Both Kiesha and Shannon knew so Mary Elizabeth got one of the order pads, wrotedown their orders, and stuck them in the window.While she was standing there, theswinging door that led into the kitchen opened, and Hugh came out.He grabbed MaryElizabeth by the hand and tugged her back through the door.Kiesha gave Shannon a knowing look. Think we ll get our food anytime today?Shannon smiled. Only if there s another cook back there.They laughed as Kiesha got up to get the coffeepot and some cups.When she returnedto the table and they d both fixed their coffee, she asked,  How s things going with yourbrother? He still driving you crazy?Shannon rolled her eyes. Is he still breathing?  Cause the only way he couldn t makeme crazy was if he were dead, and even then I m sure Rory would find a way. Why has he suddenly begun hanging around so much? That s what I don tunderstand.You ve been here for almost a month with no contact, and suddenly he s hereevery day. He knows something is going on with me, but I won t tell him what it is.It s put himinto full-blown big brother role, which for Rory is taking protectiveness to the nth degree.Kiesha winced. While I never had any siblings, I m learning through Alex that a maleshifter in protective mode was no little thing.It has the power to drive any self-respecting,independently thinking, mature woman positively batty.Do you think he d let up off of youif he had something else to do? He has other things to do.The man owns a construction company, for God s sake.You d think he has enough to do without bothering me all the time.I can t even work in myown home because he s always underfoot.I didn t see this much of him when we lived in thesame house.Kiesha pounced on her statement, eyes gleaming with excitement. He owns aconstruction company? You think you could get him to do some finishing work for me at thestore? The contractor I hired went to another project he d committed to prior to hisaccepting my bid.I knew it was a possibility, but I was hoping we d be done by now so thatit wouldn t be an issue.34 Zena Wynn All you can do is ask.I m sure he won t turn you down, if for no other reason thanthat it gives him the opportunity to check you out, Shannon said ironically.Mary Elizabeth came back to the table with her lips swollen and a glow on her face [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]