Page 46 of Daddy Wolf's Secret Baby

Jace set down his piece and looked at them very seriously. “We don’t judge other people because of their pizza choices. It’s not nice and is bullying. My pizza doesn’t hurt you at all.”

Zahra clapped. “Nicely done, Jace.”

“I’ve been practicing those lines. I taught them to a kid at school who was being bullied because of his clothes.”

“Nice job,” Josiah said. “I’m proud of you.”

Friday morning,Zahra took the day off. Beth, her best friend Savannah, called Savvy, Taryn, and Olivia met at Isobel’s house. They were going dress shopping together. This would be Taryn’s first time going, but since she was thirteen, her mom wasn’t going to let her out of it.

They had a lot of fun shopping. Zahra couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so much.

Isobel found a burnt orange dress that she instantly fell in love with. “The nice thing is that, thanks to chemo, I don’t have to make sure a dress doesn’t clash with my hair color. I just need to find a scarf that matches this color.”

As if by magic, a hovering sales woman instantly found something that matched the dress perfectly. Zahra found a strapless blue dress with a light shawl to cover her shoulders.

After lunch, the women had their nails done.

“This is the first time I’ve ever had my nails done professionally.”

“That’s obvious,” the technician said, snarkily. “These are a wreck. One of them is jagged and you tend to chew on them.”

“Maybe, sometimes.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Everyone laughed.

Zahra couldn’t remember the last time that she had so much fun. She hated for the day to end, but she could see that her mother was getting tired and Zahra worried about her.

Jace was spending the night with his father, so after dinner with her folks, she walked back to her place.

A cold chill walked down her spine. She was sure she was being watched, although she wasn’t sure if it was a vampire,hunter, or one of Elias’ men. Not wanting the person to know she was aware of their existence, she forced herself to keep walking at a normal pace. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out the bear spray. She carried it with her everywhere. Luckily, she was able to cover the distance between the two houses very quickly.

Her hands shook and she struggled to get the key into the lock. She could almost feel an evil shadow swallow her. Finally, the door lock and the deadbolt clicked. She rushed inside and slammed the door shut, locking the door behind her, and quickly disarmed the alarm.

Zahra breathed heavily for a moment. Her heart thundered in her chest and she felt as though there was a knot in her throat.

“Breathe in through the nose to the count of four, hold it to the count of four, breathe out to the count of four, and hold out for the count of four.”

After a couple of minutes, she keyed in the code to let the alarm system know that she was in for the night. She briefly thought of calling Zac.What would I tell him? I had a weird feeling? He would believe me, but unfortunately, the person would be gone by the time he got here.I’m in for the night, so it’s all good.

Jace was excited the next morning. He and all of Conner’s pups were going to be spending the night at Savvy’s and Rory’s place. Rory’s housekeeper, groundskeeper, and cook were considered part of the family and were bear shifters.

“We’re going to stay up all night watching movies, eating popcorn, and drinking soda.”

“Are you now? Aren’t all of them a lot younger than you?”

“No. Savvy’s daughter and son are just a little younger than me.” He made a face at her. “It’s not like we’re going to be up all night watching crazy movies. I think Cat likesThe Lion King.I want to watch one of the full-lengthScooby-Doocartoonmovies, like the one where they get stranded on the cat island, and its full of zombies.”

“You meanScooby-Doo on Zombie Island?”

“Yeah, that one.”

She dropped a very excited Jace off at Savvy’s house. Zahra remembered Rory, who was now a very prestigious attorney and part of the pack. They assured her that Jace was in good hands. As soon as she met Amy, Rosa, and Colby, she knew that Jace would be very well protected.

Zahra took a long time fixing her hair. She wanted to look perfect. Her first struggle was deciding whether to curl it and leave it down or to braid it and wear it like a coronet. She finally decided on the braid.

She put on a dab of makeup and slipped into the blue dress. Zahra was putting in her sapphire earrings that matched the dress when Josiah rang the bell.

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