Page 30 of Wrong Number, Right Cougar

“That’s only because I have the best mate to share it with.” His lips brushed against mine.

“I love your world.” It wasn’t where I’d want to live, but I now saw that if he ever felt the need to move back, we could make a good life here. “And I love you, Thorn.”

“As I love you, Wilder. As I love you.”

17

THORN

When we arrived home and were putting the last of the boxes in the spare bedroom, a delivery van arrived with a package for me.

“I didn’t order anything.” I looked at the sender. It was my uncle’s name, but the envelope was from Noah’s firm. “This is odd.” I glanced around, wondering if someone was watching us, but of course, Cougar Lake was so small, Noah had probably witnessed us driving into town.

“Open it.” Wilder reached for the parcel, but I yanked it out of his reach.

We went inside and tore it open. There was a sheaf of papers and a social security card, and some newspaper clippings. I shuffled through the papers while my mate looked over my shoulder.

“Now I understand.” He’d come here to save Cougar Lake after a cougar, Stiles, saved him when he stumbled upon my uncle who had fallen and couldn’t get to help. I didn’t love that he hid it from us, but I understood. If our family and his friends were involved, they’d have pushed the lodge to become more human, and I could easily have inherited a condo complex instead of the shifter oasis we were working so hard to restore.

“Your uncle was a good guy,” Wilder mused.

“Did you know this? What he’d been up to?”

Wilder nodded. “Sort of. It was before I was born when most of this happened.”

Maybe I should show this to my dad. It would explain why Uncle had set himself apart from the family and how he’d done nothing to rehabilitate his reputation. But how could I without giving away the shifter community here? I’d think of something. His memory deserved better.

“Oh, Uncle.”

We jumped right back into work, getting the place ready for opening. Every morning we drank coffee and planned our day and every night we fell asleep in each other’s arms. Today I focused on getting the website ready to go and it was finally time.

“This is it!”

I clicked and our booking site was live.

It’d been easy enough to set up the website. Getting it to accept bookings and the payment system had included a lot of hair pulling, teeth grinding, and shouting. But we’d done it with a little help from Saul. Who knew the kid who worked at the diner was a tech whiz?

Turned out he was also a wolf shifter.

We’d cordoned off the entryway in the house to be the reception desk. Uncle had had guests wandering the house when they wanted fresh towels or their toilet was clogged, but I couldn’t live like that. The main house was my home, and I needed my privacy.

Saul had agreed to be a part-time receptionist, saying he wanted to keep his job at the diner because he got free meals. He was also maintaining the website site because neither Wilder nor I wanted to be on call 24/7.

We employed one of Wilder’s cousins to clean, and Wilder would continue to do the repairs and maintenance.

“How long has it been?” I’d walked away from the computer, unable to stare at the seconds ticking away.

“Five minutes.”

I’d hoped one of my former colleagues would have taken pity on me and booked a room, even for one night. But even though I’d sent them the announcement of the official opening, no one had responded. Out of sight, out of mind, I guessed.

There was a tiny ping, one that wasn’t familiar. Both Wilder and I looked at our phones. Nothing. My eyes locked on his, and we both leaped up and raced to the computer.

“We have a booking.” We grabbed hands and danced in a circle, shouting, “We have a booking.” It was for five days, ten days from now. My mind whirred, thinking about bedding, did we have enough, and food. We were providing breakfast, or the lodge was, but Wilder and I weren’t.

Neither of us were accomplished short-order cooks, and I didn’t want to be up at four every day prepping food for holiday makers.

We’d lured one of the diner chef’s to cook breakfast, though like Saul, he’d continue to work the evening shifts at the diner.

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