Page 2 of Virgin for Next Door Wolf Daddy

Talia raised her eyebrows at her father. Funny how she had said these words to Darius the day before. “Are you breaking up with me?” she asked jokingly.

“Kind of,” Heidi said. “Your father and I have decided that we are going to move to the shifter world for our retirement. The house is yours.”

“Now, you can just live there instead of trying to find a house or apartment for yourself,” Theo said. “It’s paid for, so you don’t even have to pay rent.”

“I wouldn’t feel right freeloading off of you guys,” Talia protested.

“You aren’t. Consider yourself a caretaker. You can redo the master bedroom and use that for yourself. The few times a year we come back to the human world, we’ll just stay in your room.”

“That doesn’t feel right either,” Talia protested.

“Why? It doesn’t make sense if you are in your room while the master bedroom is unused,” Theo said. “We’ve even ordered a new mattress for the bed.”

Talia blushed at the implication and groaned. “I don’t even want to think about that, Dad.”

Everyone laughed.

Talia spent the next couple of days packing up the studio apartment. She and her friends had one more farewell party at the local club.

“Don’t look now, but here comes Darius,” Jennifer said.

Talia groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What is he doing here?”

She could feel his presence like a dark cloud before he even got close to her. He pushed past her friends and glared into Talia’s eyes.

“Look who it is,” Darius said. “Miss Independence herself. Are you all packed up and ready for your new life?”

“My life isn’t any of your business,” Talia said. “Please leave me alone.”

He grinned evilly, and leaned in close to her, his hot breath on her cheek. “I just want to make one thing clear before you leave Albuquerque.”

Jennifer pushed against him and said, “Back off. You’re in her space.”

Darius ignored her and whispered in Talia’s ear. “You’re going to regret the way you treated me.”

A shiver shot down Talia’s spine. She stared back at him, refusing to let him see that he unnerved her. “Are you done? Because you’re just embarrassing yourself at this point.”

“I’m not finished with you…” he said. His words were interrupted when two bouncers pulled him away.

“Well, that was fun,” Jennifer said, raising a glass.

Talia raised hers, too, and then they drank the shot of whiskey. They hung out for another half hour, but a pall had come over their happy mood. They hugged and Jennifer promised that she would visit soon.

The next morning, Talia loaded up the rest of her belongings in her car and headed for home, slowing the car when she hit Angel’s Creek city limit. She looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed. Sighing heavily, Talia knew that it would be an adjustment. Small town living in Angel’s Creek versus the bigger city of Albuquerque would be a huge change. Plus, a lot of her friends that she hung out with in high school had moved away. Her parents were even going to leave.

As she pulled into her driveway, she noticed Sebastian Garner pulling his motorcycle into his garage and walking to his mailbox. Her breath caught in her throat. That man was even hotter than he had been six years ago. Talia had the biggest crush on Sebastian when she was in high school. She had invented hundreds of different scenarios in her mind about how the two of them would end up together.

He had bought the house next door to her parents when she was fifteen and he was nineteen, although she had known him her entire life since he was a member of her wolf shifter pack. Sebastian was incredibly sexy and had made her heart race the first time she laid eyes on him. He never noticed her. Back then, she was just an awkward-looking teenager with stringy blond hair and braces. Her straight body, without any curves, never caught his attention. He pretty much ignored her at all of the wolf pack functions. If he did notice her, it was just to say “Hi.”

Her mom and dad rushed out to greet her and grab her bags. Theo reached for the boxes in the trunk, but Talia said, “Just leave them. We’ll get them later.”

Heidi made Talia’s favorite meal for dinner. While they ate, Theo looked at Talia and grinned. “You got your degrees and your big girl job. When are you going to settle down with a man?”

“I don’t know, Dad. I’m thinking that I’m going to be one of those old spinster ladies who teaches school for the rest of my life, like Eliza Jane from Little House on the Prairie. I don’t think that there’s anyone in Angel’s Creek who is for me. All of the good men are spoken for.”

“What about that boy you’ve been seeing for the last couple of years?” he asked.

“I broke up with him. He was getting to be too controlling. He had to know where I was going and who I talked to. He was constantly criticizing what I wore and accused me of flirting with a man if I smiled at him or talked to him too long.”

---