Page 4 of Wrong Number, Right Cougar

Fuck. I was the worst. That meant when I brought him milk, that was probably his last day. If only I’d known to say good-bye. Not that you ever really knew.

Stan had been town sheriff since… my entire life, I think, or at least close. Police in bigger cities had a lot of stress, and from what I understood, many of them retired pretty early on, but here, his job was a whole lot of nothing—which was perfect. That’s the kind of place you want to live.

“I feel bad. I didn’t know.” That’s what I got for being a freaking recluse. “Is there a funeral?”

“No, he didn’t want one. Guess he left his place to some city slicker.” That was another thing about places as small as this one, there was always enough gossip to go around. Unfortunately, this gossip had my cougar on edge.

“Great.” I didn’t even hide my disappointment in that.

“Hey, it won’t be bad. Apparently, they’re going to turn this into some sort of a tourist destination.”

“A shifter one?” That was the only way I could see that as a positive.

The sheriff was a wolf, which was unusual around here, but it meant he understood why I was grumpy about this.

“Nah. Everything I could tell is he’s human. Just like Old Man Blaze.”

It struck me for the first time that I didn’t even know the guy’s first name. That was how he’d been introduced to me and how everyone referred to him. The first time I heard it, I thought it was rude, but he seemed to like it, so who was I to judge?

“Well, that’s gonna suck. They’re probably gonna make it all fancy, with marble staircases and shit.” Everything I knew about human resorts I learned from sitcoms, but given that marble staircases were in a lot of them, I assumed there was some truth to it.

“Rumor has it, the thought is maybe turning it into a condo. You know, for investments.”

Rumors weren’t truth; still, it had me on edge.

“I understand that this place isn’t what it used to be, but how is this gonna help make it better?”

The sheriff shrugged. “It won’t. But you know, sometimes holding on to the past isn’t the way to go, either.”

“If condos is the future...” I didn’t bother finishing my thought, because if this was true, there was nothing either of us could do about it.

We chatted a few more minutes, then he excused himself. He had a school visit today and was going to teach the students all about his job. I loved the way he lit up mentioning his next stop. It was nice to see him excited about his work.

And besides, this hadn’t been the conversation I wanted to have today.

I walked up to the windows, looking inside each one, and everything was still there. It was like nothing had changed.

“Why did you do it? Why did you give it to some city slicker? You could’ve left it to the town. Or, I don’t know—not fucking died.”

I pounded the side of the building a little too hard, my emotions getting the best of me.

Once I pulled my shit together, I started back toward my house, my cougar taking over and shifting part way there. I’d have to come back and grab my shredded clothes later, not being one to, you know, litter. But for now, this would be the best, because holding him back when he was this frustrated wasn’t going to work.

The fact was, he was stressed and frustrated because he knew I was. I made him that way, and I knew better.

But condos? This place did not need condos. Better off just to raze the place to the ground and let the wildlife take over. But that wasn’t gonna happen.

Neither would condos—if I had any say in it, which sadly, I was pretty sure I didn’t.

3

THORN

“It is better to sell, right, Dad?”

My omega dad was what people called “a free spirit.” I hated that expression, not that Dad gave a damn. He was passionate about saving the forests, the whales, coral reefs, and protesting big corporations that took advantage of the little guy. And I was proud of him.

After I left home for college, he was able to pursue his dreams and he was to be found in far-flung corners of the world. Like right now!

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