by Milly Taiden
Mom and Butch laughed. He winked. “Being blown up was just about the best thing that could’ve happened. In more ways than one.” He wrapped an arm around Frank’s mom. She blushed. How adorable.
Mom added, “But don’t thank me for the party. I wasn’t the one who initiated it.”
“Oh. Who did?” she asked. Behind Mom, Amie saw Mrs. Hagerty walking toward them. “Oh, no. Here comes the wolf bitch.”
“Wait,” Mom said to her. “Mrs. Hagerty.” Mom gave the woman a hug, making Amie’s mouth drop open. “Thank you so much for organizing this picnic for the town and Amie’s birthday party.” Amie’s eyeballs joined her jaw on the ground. No way would this woman do something so nice after the words she’d said.
“You’re welcome, Jean. It was my pleasure, really. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed doing this sort of thing when I was younger. I guess since losing Howard I’ve become a little crusty around the edges.”
“The edges?” Amie replied. Frank pinched her butt to shut her up. Amie squeaked, smiled, and hit his thigh. Just wait until they were alone—she’d show him what a pinch was. “I’m kidding, Mrs. Hagerty. Sometimes it takes getting out of your comfort zone to realize you’re stuck.”
The woman hung her head and covered her eyes. Amie glanced at Frank to see if he had the same reaction to what she was seeing. Mrs. Hagerty was crying? Mom hugged the older woman and patted her back.
“It’s okay, Maurine. You don’t have to say anything. We know you thought you were watching out for the town.”
“I was, but that’s beside the point. Someone could’ve died. Someone did die,” the woman said. Amie looked at Frank’s mom. Who died? She couldn’t imagine losing anyone here. “Amie, Frank. I beg your forgiveness. After seeing the story in the newspaper, I knew Amerella had to be you. I put the idea into Colin’s head about taking you to Vegas. He must have contacted them and told them you were here.”
Amie didn’t understand, but Frank stiffened and a growl came from his chest. Mrs. Hagerty shrank away from him.
“Frank, stop it. Now. You’re scaring her.”
He did, but his expression didn’t soften. “Amie,” he said softly, “Colin was the man who came to the house that morning.”
She remembered. The wolf shifter wanting to get a bounty from Uncle Giuseppe. “Oh” was all she could say. But Mom Dubois had said the woman was trying to take care of the town. Amie understood the decisions that had to be made when you loved someone. Some were good, and some not so much.
Amie stepped up and gave the woman a hug also. “You may have put the seed in Colin’s head, but it was only a seed. Colin had a choice, and he chose the one that got him killed. You did not force his hand. No forgiveness is needed since you did nothing wrong by trying to keep your town safe.”
The elder cried even harder on Amie’s shoulder. Not what she was going for there.
After a moment, the wolf shifter settled and stepped back. “I was wrong about you, young lady. You’ve been a godsend for this town. We’d all become too complacent, no longer living the life granted to us as we should every day. Thank you.” The woman walked into the crowd and disappeared.
Again, Amie was speechless. She wasn’t trying to change anyone in town while she was there, she was just making herself at home. Sorta.
“Okay,” Frank said, “I gotta do this before I puke on my shoes.”
Mom and Butch laughed. Seemed Amie missed the joke there. Frank released her hand and jumped on top of a vacant picnic table. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” A round of “Shhh” and “This is it” floated through the crowd.
This was what?
“I’m going to do this the official way, so bear with me. I’m François Dubois, Jean’s son, Amie’s mate, and little Francis’s daddy, as everyone probably knows by now. We’d like to thank everyone for coming out to the picnic today. It’s the first I’ve seen the community come together— No. That’s wrong. It’s the second time the community has come together. Both times for my mate.” Cheers rose. She could really kick Frank’s ass right now for embarrassing her so much.
“So,” he continued, “that’s why I’ve chosen to do this publicly. Hopefully not humiliating myself in front of you all.” He hopped down from the picnic table and kneeled on one knee before Amie. From his pocket, he pulled a gorgeous diamond ring.
Her heart stopped. Oh my god, he was going to propose to her again. The first time he did, she’d been overjoyed and in the same “situation” she was in now. How the past can repeat itself. She almost laughed. This time, though, no one was keeping them apart.
Amie realized Frank had stopped talking. She’d been so elated she hadn’t heard a word of what he’d said. By the way he looked at her and how quiet everyone had become, she figured it was time for her to answer. “Yes, Frank. I’ll marry you.”
The town whooped and cheered. Frank slid the ring on her finger, then stood and lifted her in a hug, swinging her around. She laughed with sheer happiness she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Francis ran over to them and demanded his daddy pick him up. “You’re getting mawwied.”
Frank nodded to his son and kissed the top of his head. “Yes. We are.”
“We’ll live together, right?” their son asked.
“Of course. We told you nothing is going to separate us. I love you both.”
Amie cleared her throat, watching both of her loves turn to look at her. “Would you love one more person, too?”
“Who is it?” he asked.
Amie knew she had to make this quick or the surprise would be taken away from her. Thank goodness, her scent hadn’t changed enough for him to know, at least that’s what Mom told her. Frank wouldn’t notice unless he really looked for it. “Take a deep breath, shifter.”
Frank took a loud inhale of air, then his eyes widened in surprise.
Mom Dubois winked at Amie and yelled in the crowd. “This is awesome. I have two grandchildren now!”
Frank hugged Amie tight and kissed her neck. “How did you know when you’re not shifter?”
She pulled back and met his curious gaze with a grin. “Francis noticed my scent change. I knew I had limited time to tell you before it wouldn’t be a surprise any longer.”
“This is the best gift you could have given me. Two kids.”
She laughed and kissed his lips. “I aim to please, but don’t get any ideas from the rabbits. I’m closing shop at three.”
He gave her a wicked grin and rubbed his jaw by her ear. “I bet I can get you to change your mind.”
Her body shivered and dirty mental images took over her brain. Yeah. She bet he could change her mind, too.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My kids: Aiden “Pukibear”; Alan “Platano King”; and Angelina “Ballenita.” You guys make my life brighter and happier. Thank you.
Tina Winograd—You’re an amazing friend who is always there to help me with making my work superb. I can’t thank you enough for being so freaking awesome!
My mom and sister: Thank you for always being so supportive.
My street team, reader group and readers: You all make writing so easy. Every time you ask me for more, it inspires me to keep going. Thank you.
Keep reading for an excerpt from
DANGEROUS MATING
Coming soon!
Kari Tomlin threw open the entrance door to the FBI building, stubbed her toe on the metal floor transition piece, then stumbled into a lady holding a cup of coffee, waiting in the security checkpoint line.
“I’m so sorry,” Kari said to the woman’s scowling face. The woman said nothing, just turned. Under her breath, Kari retorted, “Well, good morning to you, too.” God, she hated being awake this early. Her brain didn’t function until after seven a.m. And that’s with two cups of coffee in her system.
She glanced at h
er watch. When her boss called forty minutes ago, he sounded as if aliens were attacking the planet. The director wanted to see her right away. Top secret information had arrived and they needed her.
She’d met the director once, if you called shaking his hand as he handed over her FBI certification a meeting. She’d never forget that day, not because she became an official FBI agent but because she tripped over a taped-down microphone wire on the stage and took out the podium. It was the fault of the stupid high-heel shoes she’d worn. She was more of a flip-flop kinda gal.
After getting through security, she hurried to the elevators. One started to close and she dashed between the doors, which left her facing the other occupants. There wasn’t enough room for her to turn around. She barely fit, and her bag didn’t. The briefcase crunched between metal before the security feature kicked in, and the elevator doors popped open.
“Oh, crap,” Kari said. She pulled her briefcase toward her and turned around, which jostled everyone behind her. She cringed at the moans.
When she got off at the top floor, she rushed down the hall to the director’s door. She took a deep breath and smoothed out her suit jacket, then knocked. She heard “enter” and opened the door.
Director Lancaster, the head of her division, grabbed his cup of coffee off the desk and leaned back in his chair. On the other side of the desk sat two older military men in highly decorated military uniforms. She didn’t know the ranks of the armed forces, but both men had two stars on their collars. “And here she is now, gentlemen.” Lancaster looked at her. “Come in, Miss Tomlin.” She plastered on a fake smile and reminded herself to breathe.
“Good morning, sir,” she managed to get out.
“Good morning, Miss Tomlin.” He gestured to the two men. “These are Generals Smithton and White.” She nodded and mumbled a good morning as they did the same. “Miss Tomlin, thank you for coming in early. We’ve received intel from the field we need decoded urgently. The CIA has had it for several hours and are making slow progress.
“I’ve been telling these guys,” Lancaster gestured at the men sitting in front of his desk, “for a while now that you are a miracle worker when it comes to this kinda thing.” The director winked at her. “And now we get to put our money where our mouth is, if you get what I mean.”
She had no idea what he meant, but she’d play along. “I’ll try, sir.” He handed her a sheet with classified stamped on it. That was normal for her. Most of her work was fresh off the press with a get-it-done-yesterday deadline. “Do we know the originating country?” she asked as she scanned the lines of gibberish.
“Russian, we think,” General White said.
“What about the intended recipient?”
The director answered, “Mexico, we’re guessing.”
Russia sending coded messages to Mexico—not what she’d expect.
“Do you need to go back to your desk?” the director asked.
“No,” she said, “I have my laptop with me.” She pulled her bag around, the one crunched by the elevator. Inwardly, she groaned. Please, don’t be broken. “I just need a place to set up.”
“Go on next door to the deputy director’s office. He doesn’t get here till noon most of the time.”
“Thank you, sir.” She hurried out. Standing in the hallway, she leaned back on the closed door and took a deep breath. Why was she so nervous? She’d met high-ranking people without flipping out. Too badly. But those people weren’t depending on her to decipher something important enough to start a world war if she got it wrong.
Sitting behind the desk next door, she pulled out her laptop and set the paper in front of her. She stared at the strange symbols and their layout. Russia and Mexico. In her head, the patterns and similarities formed. She googled Russian language and took a minute to look it over. It’d been a while since she’d dealt with that part of the world. Ever since she started working for the FBI, where her primary focus had been the Middle East.
Skimming through the Russian alphabet, diphthongs, and sentence structure, facts and figures soaked into her head. She puzzled out the basic possibilities. Her mind filled in letter combinations and translated them into Spanish and Russian for decryption. She counted characters, looking for a hidden pattern. Then she saw the trick to solving. Every letter that corresponded with a prime number was a dummy character. Those fake characters being removed allowed for intelligible arrangements of other pieces.
She went through and crossed out the third, fifth, seventh, eleventh, letter up to the last. Her mind sorted and resorted. Then she noticed something about the structure. The words were not arranged in sentences. They seldom were. Those were too easy. After a quick mix in her brain, it was done.
Reading the message, she thought Russia was trying to get their asses in trouble. If they thought they could get Mexico to fight a war against the U.S., they had another thing coming. She closed down her laptop, stuffed it into her bag, and left the office.
She knocked on the director’s door. Getting the go-ahead, she entered, trying to be more confident. She should be.
“I have the decoded message for you, sir.”
The two generals gawked, then their eyes narrowed quickly. They didn’t believe she’d done it. She’d gotten that reaction all the time. Nothing new. Ever since the childhood accident that nearly killed her, she’d been a wiz at math and puzzling solutions. She wished she had the same ability with her social and love lives, which were both in the toilet.
The director grabbed his cup of coffee and sat back in his chair. She came up to his desk and handed him the paper. When she scooted to the side, her elbow hit the picture frame on the corner of his desk. She quickly knelt to pick it up, apologizing profusely. She put her hand on the desk to help get her back to her feet and her hand knocked over a bronze flag statue, which in turn set a rubber band ball rolling across his desk.
She leaned over the desk to grab the ball and her fingers brushed over pens in a black mesh container, sending them sprawling. Still apologizing, she scooped the pens back into their holder. The rubber band ball was somewhere on the floor. Then she straightened from leaning over the desk and her elbow bumped the same picture frame to the floor.
She sighed. The two generals continued to stare at her again. This time for a different reason. So much for her coming across as a professional agent. That was the story of her life. Whenever she was on a roll, doing great at something, she’d ultimately end up with egg on her face.
The director leaned forward and put his coffee on the desk. “As I said, gentlemen, she’s the best there is for decoding.”
She looked at the military men. “Would you like me to explain the patterns or would you rather I just talk to your guys?”
“Just talk to our guys” was all they managed to say. Typical. Most people didn’t understand the cryptography anyway. She took the proffered business card one of the generals presented and walked out of the room.
The card had the symbol of the CIA stamped on it. Looked important, unlike hers. Wait, scratch that, she didn’t even have business cards. She figured someone had forgotten to order any or just deemed her unworthy of such distinction to have her name on something.
But despite all that, she was the first to know things no one else did or would ever know. The airplane crash over the Ukraine—it wasn’t caused by local dissidents as the news reported. Nope. The world knew North Korea was working on nuclear capabilities, but had no idea about the biological chemicals the country was stocking by the ton.
And some things, she was sure the world was never meant to know. One was what really happened in the infamous Area 51 and the other about a non-human species blending in and living among us. What would the world be like, she wondered, if the public knew of this species? It’d probably go to hell in a handbasket quickly.
The funny thing was no one would believe her if she did tell them a
ll she knew. That was one thing that kept her from having the meaningful relationships she craved with girlfriends and boyfriends. Her social IQ was about as low as it could go. Growing up as a freak to her peers started it. Now knowing little of the world beyond work, she had nothing to talk with others about.
She tried to get into the TV shows she overheard other women talking about. Oprah, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz. But a lot of the things discussed were flat out wrong. Especially about foods. One would think organic meant coming from your grandmother’s home garden. Not the case. So much so, she ate fruits and vegetables from cans. Preservatives were better than things used in the organic world.
Once, she dared to tell a few ladies she wanted to befriend in her apartment building about the hidden aspects of the food industry. They looked at her as if she were from a different planet. Who would they trust more? Dr. Oz with all his commercial backing or a person they hardly knew who wouldn’t tell them where she worked or what her job was.
Well, piss on them. She didn’t need friends who didn’t get her. She could make it on her own. As long as batteries for her rabbit were in stock.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Milly Taiden is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous series, including the Paranormal Dating Agency, the Sassy Mates books, and the Federal Paranormal Unit novels. Milly loves writing sexy stories so hot they sizzle your e-reader. When her curvy humans meet their furry alphas, inhibitions give way to animal instincts—and carnal desire.
Milly lives in Florida with her husband, children, and spunky dogs, Needy Speedy and Stormy. She is addicted to iced caramel lattes.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
* * *
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.