Page 66 of Nothing Ventured

For a moment, Sam thought about laughing. The sound nearly escaped his mouth, but he slapped a hand over it. He glanced over at Vaughn then at little Ollie.

Neither of them were smiling.

“Okay,” Sam finally answered. “So, werewolves are real and let me guess: you are one.”

Ollie’s head bobbed up and down. “And he’s thebossof werewolves, Sam. That’s what an alpha is. My friends said so. And he’s going to help us get away from Mrs. Foote. Aren’t you, Alpha?”

Vaughn looked down at Ollie. “Who’s Mrs. Foote?”

Ollie’s lip trembled and his eyes glassed over with tears. “She’s really mean, and she hit Ben today really hard. And he’s my favorite person and he’s really tall and lets me ride on his shoulders sometimes but Mrs. Foote said he was just a dumb old bear. That’s not nice, is it? Ben’s not dumb. But he is a bear.”

Sam leaned forward in his seat. “Did she hit you, Ollie?”

Ollie paused and leaned into Vaughn’s chest. He nodded.

Vaughn closed his arms around Ollie again, the rumbling growl from earlier returning.

Sam had to force himself to calm down. He took a deep breath, and watched as Vaughn did the same.

“So, bears are a thing too? Like, they are… werebears?”

Vaughn glanced at him, and then back to Ollie. “Shifters. We’re usually just called shifters. And I know you have questions, probably about a million of them, but I need—”

“To find out where these kids are. Got it. Let’s go.”

“You aren’t coming, Sam. This is pack business.”

“Fine. Then I’ll call the police. I have no problem doing that. It’s my job as a teacher. I signed an oath and everything.”

Vaughn growled, low and deep. “Don’t threaten me.”

“It’s not a threat. It’s a promise. Take me with you and let me make sure these kids are okay. Then you can plan on answering about a billion questions because my brain is kind of filling up with them as we speak.”

Watch for more Sweet Nothings September 2018