Page 31 of Shattered

“I know. There’s too much shit going on with us—all of us.” He drove out of the parking lot and headed to Keeley and Kalkin’s house. “But, I think I know of a couple of guys who can help you out. They should be home today.” If anyone could help him, it was his older male cousins, Nicolas, Aiden, and Colin. Each of them had been through their first full moon in the past couple of years, and they’d be able to ease his fears while also razing the hell out of him. “They’re your built-in support system. They’re your cousins and your peers. Use them wisely and just relax. It’ll get better over time.”

“Where you gonna be?” Liam flicked his gaze in Mackenzie’s direction.

He laughed. “I’m going to pick up supplies for dinner.”

If Mackenzie remembered showing up at her apartment almost two weeks ago as a wolf, he hadn’t said anything, nor had Aurora. She figured it was something Mackenzie needed to work out on his own. Telling any of his brothers would probably embarrass the guy, and she wouldn’t do that, either.

Unfortunately, it made things awkward between them. Because she didn’t want to bring it up, and he didn’t appear to remember, she’d been forced to keep things light and her conversations with him to a minimum—which she did often since most times, she’d been on her way to work after picking Abby up from school.

Maybe it wasn’t Mackenzie, though. With her luck—if it wasn’t bad, she wouldn’t have any—it’d been some random wolf prowling the area looking for scraps or whatever. Aurora frowned. Why did the thought of the wolf not being Mackenzie bother her? It wasn’t as if he’d made any attempt to kiss her or hold or...Do you really want him to kiss you?Well... Sure. Perhaps she did. He did leave a bite on her neck, after all.

So, why didn’t he realize it was done by him?She’d thought about it since the night they had dinner together. None of it fit. He didn’t remember all of the Halloween party or more specifically the shifting, let alone nipping and licking her...Dammit, don’t think about it right now. Not while you’re at work.She glanced around the secured area and grimaced. They were busy, and if she continued to think about Mackenzie and what all he’d done to her; she’d combust there and then.

Girl, you’ve got it bad.

She sighed and scrubbed her forehead.Well, at least today isn’t a slow day.Most of her shifts were. It seemed like the only time there were issues in Window Rock, was when the full moon hung high over the town, then the crazy shit happened. For the fun of it, she’d read over previous month incident reports to prepare herself. What she read... Whoosh. It could make a radish blush.

Last year, a teen couple-over the age of eighteen—had been caught doing the naughty in the small park off Main Street. The first boy was knotted in his male partner while another female had taken advantage of the situation, causing the bottom—she thought was the right term—to be knotted within the female. According to the notes on the file, the girl was eager to find her mate and had been discovered in other compromising positions before. If Aurora remembered correctly, the girl’s name was Gwen. She’d heard it mentioned around the Raferty house during the Halloween party because three pups were dropped off right around the time Gwen should have given birth, if she’d been pregnant. Of course, it was all speculation on Kalkin and the Sheriff’s Department part. Since the boys didn’t want a DNA test due to the humiliation of not only being caught but then violated, they let it go. They didn’t want the reminder of what happened to them hanging over their heads.

Aurora didn’t blame them.

In another incident, a mated couple drank too much and were caught in their wolf forms doing the naughty in front of a church. The priest called the Sheriff’s Department, because fornicating on the lawn of God’s holy temple was a no-no in the Catholic religion, even if they were married. It turned out, they’d done it on purpose as a “fuck you,” to the church. Sometimes, Aurora didn’t understand people.

However, it did give her some perspective where Mackenzie was concerned. As wild as the full moon could make shifters, it could also temporarily knock them stupid. In her estimation, they had no control over themselves, and their animal instincts, good or bad, took over. Which also didn’t clear up why Mackenzie would come to her apartment in the middle of the night, in his wolf form, just to prowl around and get a couple of licks in. Nor did she understand why Logan, who was married/mated to Mackenzie’s niece, she later found out, would piss Mackenzie off.

What if it wasn’t Mac?Again, the thought had circled through her mind a dozen more times. It was plausible. She’d have thought if the wolf had been Mackenzie, he’d have smelled Logan and realized the other wolf wasn’t a threat to her. She groaned. None of it made any sense, and she was driving herself insane questioning it.

Aurora glanced at the new computer system Keeley had upgraded for the Sheriff’s Department and grabbed her headphones off the hook beside her. Before slipping them on, she hit the call button on her keyboard. “Apache County Sheriff’s Department, what’s your emergency?”

The door opened to the building and Mackenzie walked through. He carried a plastic container, and he appeared absolutely put-out being there. Still, as soon as he spotted her behind the bullet proof glass, his features softened. He headed straight for her. Aurora held up a finger as she took notes about a cat/dog hybrid thing digging through an older woman’s trash.

“Ma’am, could it be a raccoon?” Aurora asked, trying to keep her voice at an even keel.

“I don’t know. It’s fat, black and white and hisses when I tell it to shoo. I want your best deputy out here to get rid of it. My yard is a mess! It’s been going on for three days now.” The shrill sound of the woman’s voice made Aurora wince.

“I will send someone out to you shortly, ma’am,” Aurora said while pulling up the closest deputy. She grimaced when she saw the name.

“Be sure that you do, young lady.” The woman hung up with such force the clatter of the plastic receiver hitting the base startled Aurora.

Who knew old people still used regular telephones?Or, perhaps the woman broke her cell phone when she tried to hang it up. Aurora shook her head and rubbed her ear before hitting the dispatch mic. “Dispatch to Seventy-seven.”

“Seventy-seven, go ahead,” Nico Lopez said.

“Hey Nico, I have a disturbance at Juniper Plaza and Nickle Street. 12702 Nickle Street is the address. A cat/dog aka raccoon is digging into a homeowner’s trash, and she wants the vermin removed.”

“Are you yanking my chain, dispatch?”

Aurora smothered a laugh before answering. “I wish. She said the uninvited guest has been squatting there for three days and has littered her yard with garbage.”

“Jesus wept,” Nico grumbled. “I’m on it.”

“10-4, marking you on a call. Good luck. Hopefully, the raccoon won’t resist.” She took her finger off the button and laughed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Mackenzie approaching once more. His gaze kept darting toward Kalkin’s office and down the hall to where the locker rooms and break room were located along with their investigators’ offices. She frowned. Was he looking for Hayden? She spilt her time between the Sheriff’s Department and Vigilante Security, mostly so she could hone her computer hacking and technology skills with her aunt. Today, though, she had the day off because her daughter Emmeline had a checkup appointment with Danielle. But, Mackenzie should have known that.

“Hey, Aurora,” Mackenzie said, his gaze wandering everywhere but on her. “I thought you might want cookies.”

He placed the tub on the counter. The red-lidded container definitely had cookies in it. “Uh, thanks.”

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