The air left her lungs in a whoosh. “Wow.”
“Sorry, I was being honest.”
“And you are probably right. But I have no choice.”
“I’m giving you another choice. One where Milo will be welcomed.”
“Wait.” She held up her hand. “We don’t know each other. I can’t just agree to stay.”
“There’s a job and somewhere for you to live right here. Milo would have all the freedom he needs to run and play. That is better than where you are heading.” He really did want her to stay. Worse, his arguments were starting to sound more plausible.
“Mom!” Milo called her from the beach, and she turned away from Logan and went down the steps without answering. His words pierced her heart and even though she knew he wasn’t being unkind, she was wounded by the truth that he laid out before her. She was taking Milo to Helena’s, even though she had her reservations about where they would live. But her sister loved them and would help them. Penny could depend on Helena. Staying here would be a leap of faith. “Mom!”
“Coming.” Penny reached the bottom of the steps and her feet sank into the soft sand. With an effort, she waded forward onto the harder sand. Milo was farther down the beach and for a moment she was scared he’d gotten stuck in the wet sand or perhaps gotten wet in the tide. But as she drew closer, she saw him pointing at something swimming in the ocean. “Do you have sharks here?” Panic bloomed in her heart, there was something in the water.
“No,” Logan said as he joined her. “No sharks.”
“It’s a dolphin.” Milo turned an excited face toward her. “A real live dolphin.”
“There are dolphins here?” Okay, she was sold. If dolphins liked to visit Wishing Moon Bay, then it must be a good place.
“Okay, there’s probably something I should tell you.” Logan ran forward and positioned himself between Milo and Penny and the ocean.
“I want to see the dolphin,” Milo protested and ducked around Logan to peek at the creature swimming toward the shore.
“It’s going to get stuck on the beach.” Penny dodged to the right of Logan as he went left to try to grab hold of Milo.
“He’s not going to get stuck,” Logan assured them as he tried to shield them from the dolphin who was in the shallows and definitely about to get grounded on the beach.
“What the hell!” Penny staggered backward as the air around the dolphin shimmered and it just kind of disappeared.
“Where did it go?” Milo stopped and put his small hands on his hips. “There is magic in Wishing Moon Bay. I knew it.”
“It’s a man.” Where a dolphin had been only seconds before stood a man, his feet in the shallow water as the waves lapped around his ankles.
“Logan.” The guy nodded and then grinned before he set off down the beach at a run.
“The dolphin turned into a man.”
“Cool!” Milo exclaimed.
Cool was not exactly the word circling around Penny’s head. But some words were not for the ears of a small child.
Chapter Eight – Logan
“What just happened?” Penny turned on Logan as her mind tried to figure out exactly what she’d just seen. “Was that some kind of a joke?”
“No joke.”
“It was magic. I knew there was magic,” Milo said happily.
“There’s no such thing as magic,” Penny told her son firmly.
“There is, we just saw it.” Milo ran to Logan and grabbed hold of his hand. “It was magic, wasn’t it?”
“Sort of magic, yes.” Logan looked down at the small child at his feet. “The dolphin was a shifter, a person who can change from a human to an animal and back again.”
“Like a werewolf?” Milo made his hands into claws and growled.
“No, werewolves only turn when there’s a full moon. Shifters can shift from animal to human whenever they want.” His anxiety spiked as he watched Penny’s expression turn from shock to anger.
“Don’t.” She held up her hand to Logan before she reached for Milo’s hand. “Come on, buddy, we’re leaving.”
“I’m not going,” Milo insisted and yanked his hand out of hers.
“Milo, we can’t stay here.”
“Yes, we can. There’s magic in Wishing Moon Bay and I want to learn all about it.” Her son crossed his thin arms across his small body, looking vulnerable next to the huge Logan who towered above her son.
“There is no such thing as magic. Logan just played a trick on us.”
“How?” Milo asked, looking up at Logan with uncertainty.
“I don’t know. Special effects of some kind.” She turned in a circle looking for a projector or a camera, something that would help explain what had just happened.
“It was real. I wouldn’t play a trick on you and I wouldn’t lie to you,” Logan insisted.
“That wasn’t real. Things like that do not happen.” Penny eyed her son, he could see the uncertainty on her face. She was scared of losing the boy who she loved so much and it broke Logan’s heart to be part of the cause of such pain for the person he wanted to protect above all others.
Show her, his wolf told him.
“I can prove it’s real,” Logan stuttered.
“How?” The challenge flashed across her eyes. “How are you going to prove it’s real?”
“I’ll show you.” His heart hammered in his chest as he took a couple of steps away from her. “But you have to promise me you won’t run.”
“Run?” She looked around. “Where are we going to run to? We’re stuck in this town with no car, remember?”
“When you see...” He paused, not sure if he should tell her why she might decide to grab her son by the hand and run as fast and as far away from Logan as she could. Or whether to simply shift into his wolf with no warning. Either choice might be a bad one. Either choice might lead him to losing his mate.
“When I see what?” Her hands were curled into fists as she leaned forward, a fierce mother who was ready to fight to protect her child.
“Are you an animal, too?” Milo’s question was simple, and his tone held no fear.
“Oh, no.” Penny shook her head. “Is that what you’re about to do?”
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
“Not cool.” Penny reached for Milo and wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m a wolf. Not a werewolf, a shifter. I can change at will and I want to show you that there is nothing to be afraid of.” He also wanted to get down on his knees and beg her to stay. Logan would do anything not to lose her. For a man who had steered clear of most people these last few years, this was huge. He actually wanted to share his life with others.
“A wolf.” She pressed her lips together and he wasn’t sure if she thought he was making the whole thing up or if she thought he was a freak. “You’re going to do what the dolphin man did and change from one thing to another?”
“Yes.”
She sighed, the color in her cheeks rising as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. “Go ahead then.”
“And you promise not to run?”
“Only if you promise not to eat us,” Milo giggled.
“This is not funny, Milo.”
“It’s exciting. Logan is going to change into a real live wolf. I wish I could do that. I could run over the mountains.” He looked up at her mom and stopped talking at her warning look.
“I don’t understand what is happening,” Penny put her shaking hand to her forehead. “But if you want to show us, I guess we can watch. And we won’t run.”
Logan eyed her nervously, unsure if she planned something else, but his wolf was too excited to be contained for much longer, he wanted to be free, he wanted to meet Penny. She is our mate. I want to feel her fingers in my fur.
“Okay. Stay there. Right there.” He looked around to check that there was no one else close by. If Penny screamed, he didn’t want to draw a crowd, but it was early in the morning and no one else was down by the beach.
Penny tightened her hold on Milo as Logan took another couple of steps backward. He rolled his shoulders and tried to relax. He didn’t want to mess this up.
When have we ever messed up shifting? his wolf asked.
There’s always a first time and with so much riding on this, I just want to make sure we get it right. Logan stood still, his eyes fixed on Penny and Milo as he finally let go of the world around him.
His wolf wasted no time taking his place, but Logan still feared that in the split second they were gone, his mate would disappear into thin air. Which was not being overdramatic when a world of magic surrounded them. If they had been followed down to the beach, if someone decided to mess with him...like a certain warlock who didn’t like cold showers, then his mate might be gone.
She is here. His wolf stood on four paws, his head low as he waited for the shock to register on Penny’s face.
“You’re a white wolf.” Penny seemed more surprised at seeing his snowy white wolf pelt than just the fact that he was a wolf.
“He’s adorable.” Milo’s reaction wasn’t quite what Logan was going for, but he’d live with it. “Can I pet him?”
Milo tilted his head back and looked at his mom. “I’m not sure. Wolves are dangerous animals.”
“But this isn’t a wolf. This is Logan. Can’t you see the wolf and Logan have the same eyes?” Milo stepped toward the wolf, but Penny tightened her grip on him and held him close.
Logan’s wolf stepped forward and then waited. Then he took another step, leaned forward, and sniffed the air, taking in the scent of his mate and her son. He so wanted them to touch him and pet him and maybe he could even roll over and play in the sand with the boy.
“Mom, we have to say hello.” Milo threaded his fingers through Penny’s and pulled her forward.
“If you hurt him, I will hunt you down and skin you alive,” Penny said as she shuffled forward to meet the white wolf.
The wolf gave them a quizzical smile. They had no idea he would rather die a fiery death than hurt either of them. But they would know. Soon, they would know exactly what they were to him.
Maybe one slow step at a time, Logan said. Finding out about shifters is one thing, finding out that you are bound to one for all eternity is another. Humans are used to free will.
Logan had no free will.
Milo petted the wolf’s head, burying his fingers in the soft fur. “He’s real, Mom.”
Of course I’m real, the wolf said.
They can’t hear you and I guess they might have thought you are just a projection. We grew up knowing about shifters the same as everyone else in Wishing Moon Bay. But Penny and Milo had no idea we were real.
“Be careful,” Penny warned.
“It’s safe. He won’t hurt you, will you, Mr. Wolf?”
The wolf shook his head.
“You can understand what we’re saying?” Penny asked.
The wolf nodded and stretched forward to nuzzle her hand. Penny froze for a moment and then relaxed and opened her hand so he could sniff her. She smelled divine.
“This is amazing.” Milo let go of Penny’s hand and dropped to his knees. With a sigh of contentment, he stretched out his arms and buried his face in the wolf’s soft fur while clamping his arms around Logan’s middle.
“He’s not a toy,” Penny warned. “You have to be careful and not hurt him.”
Logan’s wolf rubbed his muzzle on Penny’s thigh and nudged her. She petted him lightly, running her fingers along his neck. This couldn’t have gone any better and both sides of Logan were relieved.
“I wish I could ride on his back.” Milo sat back on his heels and stared at the wolf. “He’s nearly as big as a pony.”
“No,” Penny said firmly, even though the wolf could easily have carried the boy and would have done so gladly. But their mate didn’t know that.
There is time for that later, Logan told his wolf as he pondered how he could tell Penny that it was okay for Milo to sit on him. Baby steps, remember?
“Okay, I think we need Logan back here so we can talk about...shifting.” Penny took hold of Milo’s hand and backed up. “You can change back again at will?”
“Yes,” Logan answered when he replaced the wolf.
“Great.” She chewed the inside of her cheek. “How does it work?”
“Shifting?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. It’s part of me, part of my genes.” Logan had never thought too much about how he shifted, it was just something that happened when a shifter reached puberty.
“Can you teach me?” Milo asked excitedly, straining to break away from his mom.
“No, sorry, Milo. I was born this way. Unless one of your parents is a shifter, then it’s not something you can learn to do.”
“Oh.” Milo’s disappointment was tangible but there was no point getting his hopes up. Shifting was in Logan’s blood. It was not in Milo’s blood.
“Is everyone in town a shifter?” Penny’s next question threatened to open up a whole can of worms.
“Not everyone is a shifter, no.” Logan winced, he was holding back on her. It wasn’t as if he was lying, he was just not telling her the whole truth.
“This is just the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” She put her hand on her cheek and shook her head. She looked pale and for a moment Logan worried she might faint but then she sniffed loudly and sighed. “So what now?”
“What now?” he asked in confusion.
“What’s the point in showing us all this? What’s the reason you keep asking us to stay?”
“I think you would be a good fit for the town,” Logan told her.
Lame, his wolf complained.
“A good fit for the town.” Penny tightened her hold on Milo. “I think it’s time we went back to the hotel and collected our stuff.”
“No,” Milo complained.
“We’re going to see if the car is fixed and we’re leaving,” Penny said firmly.
“You’re my mate,” Logan blurted out.
“Your mate. And what exactly does that mean?”
“It means that we’re meant to be together. That you and I...” His gaze slid down to Milo and he clamped his mouth shut, this was not a conversation he wanted to have in front of the boy.
“Meant to be together.” Her face paled and he was sure she was going to cry but she held it in.
“It’s a fate thing. One true mate. That kind of thing.”
“Fate.” She covered her mouth with her hand and looked out to sea. “And you believe that?”
“Yes. It’s what I’ve grown up believing, it’s what I’ve seen with other shifters. It’s real.” He wanted to go to her and hold her. Logan had no idea why this piece of information hit her so hard.
As she stood gazing out to sea, Milo turned to her and hugged her around the waist. “Don’t be sad, Mommy. This is where we belong.”
The sound of her phone ringing broke the silence between them. “Hello?” She listened to the caller and then said, “Thanks. We’ll be right there.”
Logan ran his hand through his hair. “Frank?”
“The car is ready.” She put the phone back in her pocket and leaned down to pick Milo up.
“We’re not leaving,” Milo said firmly.
“We have to go pick up the car,” Penny told him. “I have to go pay Frank for the work he’s done.”
Logan followed her up the beach like a condemned man. When she met his wolf, he thought it was all going to be okay. Now he was not so sure, and he had no idea what he’d said to blow the situation.
After unlocking the truck, he waited while they got themselves into the passenger seat and then went around to the driver’s side. He couldn’t just drive them back to the garage and let them pick up the car and leave.
We could hold their luggage prisoner. His wolf’s idea was not helpful.
We have to let them go, Logan said miserably. If that’s what Penny wants, we have to let them go. We mig
ht not have a choice over who we love but she does. She was married and raised a child with another man. Maybe she still loves him.
That idea nearly wrenched his heart out of his chest. Penny might be his fated mate, but she might believe her ex-husband was the man for her. She might still be in love with the father of her child.
He knew she was wrong. But he had no right to tell her that.
Of course you do, his wolf said heatedly. You have every right. Don’t start being polite now. It doesn’t become you.
As Logan started the engine, he was ready to fight for his mate. Whatever it took.
Chapter Nine – Penny
Penny had nothing to say as Logan drove away from the beach. Her mind was racing, there was so much to process. Too much to process.
Logan had two sides. A human side and a wolf. How was that even possible?
Then to tell her they were fated mates who were meant to be together. It was the craziest thing she’d ever heard. Okay, second craziest to him being able to shift into a wolf.
“Mommy.” Milo threaded his fingers through hers and looked up at her, searching her face.
“I’m okay, buddy.” She leaned forward and dropped a kiss on the top of his head, hating to see the worry on his face. He’d seen her at her worst since his dad left. He’d seen her broken and vulnerable and that was not a face she wanted him to see again.
“Are we really going to leave?” he whispered as they drove toward the garage.
“I don’t know.” Her eyes went to Logan’s face. Was she just running away, afraid that this man might hurt her just like Kelvin had?
He’d said they were meant to be together forever but that was what Kelvin had promised her on the day they were married. She needed time to think things over. Time to come to terms with what Logan had shown her and what he’d told her about them being mates. Yet she didn’t have the luxury of time. She would have to decide whether to stay or leave very soon. Once she picked up the car from the garage, she would have to go back to the hotel to get their luggage. But what then?
As they neared the garage, the thought of continuing their journey to Helena’s felt wrong. There was no other way to describe it. Wishing Moon Bay gave her a sense of coming home. It was as if she belonged here. Hadn’t the town opened itself up to her, revealed the way in when normally it remained hidden? If she left, there might be no way to return.
The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay Page 6