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“That sounds like a good childhood, minus your mom leaving.”
The smile was so pretty on her face. “I didn’t have a hard time with my mom leaving after a while. It felt normal, and my dad gave me everything I needed. I had good relationships with some of my friends’ moms, and they gave great advice and took me under their wings.” She shrugged. “When I look back, I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. I was an outsider in my mom’s new family. I went and visited her and my stepdad a few times, but they had their house and their routine and I was a guest. It was awkward at times. I found myself just wanting to be back home with my dad.”
He liked the bell-tone that her voice took on when she was telling him about her memories. It was like a story. He could see it in his mind—her riding horses over hillsides with her friends. It sounded so…normal. Like a regular kid’s life on some television show or something. Humans were so interesting. So…regular.
He got lost in it.
“When I was eighteen, I’d gotten this little scholarship to a community college and went there for two years, and then I transferred to Idaho and finished college there. Two of my best friends went with me. We got an apartment together and just…lived it up.” She grinned. “Partied way too much sometimes, maybe let my grades slip a little, got my dad on my ass about graduating, pulled it together last semester and did graduate with a degree in biology.”
“Smarty-farty.”
“Right?”
“So where did you start working with that biology degree, fancy pants?”
“I work at the hospital in the bloodwork lab. I poke people with needles all day.”
Tabian was stunned. “For real?”
“For really real. I can find a good vein on anyone and get it first try. It’s my super skill.”
“Well, color me impressed.”
“I’m not rich,” she pointed out. “Just so you know that. It makes me enough to pay for my little house and my car and bills and breaking even without too much debt each month. I have a sixteen-year-old to feed. They eat a lot.”
He chuckled. “God, I remember when I was sixteen. I was eating my dad out of house and home. It was a little different though. I’m a natural born werewolf, so at sixteen, my appetite was ridiculous.”
A flash of something washed across her face, but before he could ask, she rearranged her lips into a smile once again. “What was your favorite food at sixteen.”
He frowned, trying to think back that far. “In my human body, cheeseburgers. In my wolf body, rabbits. I still like rabbits, and why don’t you look grossed out at all?”
Her eyes went wide and she stopped nodding like she understood. “Uuuh, I just assumed the wolf side likes live prey.” There was a hitch to her tone that said she wasn’t being entirely truthful though. Huh. Okay, mystery girl.
“Why are you raising your stepson? Where’s his dad?” he asked. This had been eating at him since he’d met her yesterday.
“I…” She frowned and pursed her lips. “I’m not ready to talk about it.” Oooh, hurt soaked her words.
Tabian’s hackles tingled up his spine. “Why not?” he asked. Yeah, he knew he was pushing.
“Because…” She forced an empty smile. “Talking about it doesn’t fix anything. I made mistakes. I wrestle with it. Daily. I messed up, and I didn’t listen, and I threw away my support system for a man who hadn’t earned any loyalty.” She blew out a long breath and stared at something over the camera. “If I could go back and do it all over again, I would change everything. That’s what I think most days. But…”
“But what?”
A soft smile stretched her lips. “Then Bayen will have a good day with me, and I think I was supposed to make all those mistakes.”
“Bayen is your stepson?”
She nodded.
“Cool name.”
“Bayen Alexander. He gets the first and middle name when he’s in trouble, which is all the time,” she said, huffing a laugh. “He keeps me on my toes. Ninety-five percent of the time, I’m convinced I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with him. But that five percent…oof.”
“Pretty fulfilling, huh?”
Her smile got even sweeter. “He’s growing protective of me. Sometimes he hates me, but sometimes he talks to me like I’m a person.”
“Teenage boys can be tough.”
