Protecting What's Hers (To Love And Defend Book 2) Read online

  “Good. I can’t stand a woman who has no meat on her bones. I don’t want a girl. I want a woman.” He winked at her.

  Mandy smiled because she didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully, he didn’t make a comment when she ordered a steak.

  Halfway throughout dinner, Clyde still hadn’t stopped talking. He was going on and on about himself. Abruptly, he lowered his fork.

  “I’m sorry. I should be asking about you. I’ve never dated a werewolf before.”

  “First time for everything.” Mandy shoved a bite of her rare steak into her mouth to save her from speaking more. Although the meat was delicious, so incredibly juicy, and the potatoes cooked to perfection, she just wanted to shove down her food and get the hell out of Dodge.

  “Werewolf.” He shook his head and waved his fork around. Clyde had gotten the surf and turf. Despite talking nearly nonstop, he’d managed to eat three-quarters of it already, and yes, that did mean he was talking with his mouth open.

  Clyde was eyeing her, giving her a look she was sure he thought was smoldering. It was all so perfected, so clearly rehearsed that she had to smother a laugh.

  “What do you get when you cross a fury with a werewolf?” Clyde asked suddenly.

  She gaped at him, confused.

  “A feminazi.” He damned near howled with laughter.

  “A feminazi,” she repeated. Dismay and anger rushed over her like a tsunami. “Werewolves aren’t Nazis.”

  “No? You all live in packs and take from everyone else and lay your claim on everything, and… no?” Clyde leaned forward, reaching for her hand, which she conveniently dropped onto her lap. “You know, I wish you weren’t a werewolf.”

  She placed her fork on her plate and sat there, spine completely rigid, so perfect in her posture that her back hurt. Was he going to crack another joke? Didn’t he realize what an ass he was being?

  “Why?” he continued as if he couldn’t see the anger in her tight jaw. He definitely couldn’t see the tight fists of fury in her lap. “Well, mostly I wish you weren’t wearing anything. Or, since you are a werewolf, I wish the ‘where’ was that you were under me. Under-where-wolf.”

  If Mandy’s water and his beer glasses weren’t empty, she would’ve dumped them both on his head.

  She pushed back her chair, the legs scraping against the floor, and jumped to her feet.

  “Are you lost, my where-wolf? I think you need directions to my bed.”

  “You aren’t a lion,” she said, her voice trembling with hostility. “You are not a king. You aren’t a man. You aren’t anything but a coward. A lowlife. A terrible person to think that cracking sick jokes will make a good impression on me. To your bed? Are you kidding me? Underwear? That’s pathetic. And don’t get me started on feminazi. You want feminazi? I’ll go Nazi on your ass. Goodbye.”

  A few of the people sitting nearby must have overheard her because they began to call out and clap as she burst out of there. She was angry, humiliated, furious, and frustrated.

  No more dates. None. Never again.

  6

  Two more years passed, and Mandy didn’t go out on a single date. No, but she did start going out more. She did make a few more friends outside of her main girls. Speaking of the girls, Alexis moved away from the hellish pack in Hazel Park but not to Toledo. Nope. She only moved to Detroit, again, moving because she found her wolf.

  While Alexis and her husband Jasper were off on their honeymoon, Mandy was watching their daughter. Lisa was adorable, and Mandy just loved her to pieces.

  After reading Lisa a fairy tale for the tenth time, Mandy closed it. Lisa was yawning and far too young to understand, but Mandy said it anyhow.

  “One day, you’ll find him. You’ll find the man for you. You won’t be worthless without him, but he’ll change you. He’ll make you stronger. He’ll push you, challenge you. You’ll love him. You’ll always love him.”

  Mandy nodded to herself as Lisa slumped in her bed, nearly asleep now.

  “And even if he leaves you, you’ll remain strong. You’ll remain the better person he helped shaped you to become. It’s not about moving on. It’s about moving forward,” she whispered to the little one.

  Mandy kissed Lisa on the forehead. It didn’t pain her anymore that she and Brent hadn’t had any children. Maybe she would find someone else one day. Maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she’d be a mother. Maybe not.

  She hadn’t been looking for love the night she met Brent. She sure as hell wasn’t looking for love now. If it happened, she would try to embrace it.

  As she watched the peaceful Lisa sleep, a wave of acceptance and peace washed over Mandy. The future held so many mysteries, but for the first time since before Brent’s diagnosis, she could honestly say that she was looking forward to having a fresh start tomorrow.

  I love you, Brent.

  Although she knew it was her imagination, she swore she could hear him howl in response.

  Lisa gave the tiniest of howls in her sleep, and Mandy quietly answered her, careful not to wake the little girl. Mandy’s howl wasn’t quite as lonely anymore.

  She was going to live her life. She was going to be strong and endure. She was going to live, and if love touched her again, she would still never forget her first wolf.

  Protecting What’s Hers

  No matter the stakes, she’ll protect what’s hers.

  Werewolf Mandy Griffin is still struggling to get over the death of her husband years later. Love is the last thing on her mind.

  When a one-time blind date threatens Mandy’s parents, she returns to her roots in Michigan to protect what’s hers. Unbeknownst to her, Mandy’s parents have a new hunky of a neighbor who has taken it upon himself to be a bodyguard of sorts to her parents.

  Despite herself, Mandy can’t deny that Clint Anderson is exactly the kind of guy she might’ve fallen for if not for her husband. Is it possible to have two soulmates? Regardless, Mandy knows that she’ll die to save those she cares about, Clint included.

  1

  Mandy Davis drummed her fingers on the table. The restaurant was packed, and noise filled the background. Her empty left ring finger caught her eye, and she blinked back tears. Her husband had died years ago, but the grief remained. Brent had been her werewolf soulmate, and yet, once again, she allowed herself to be talked into a blind date.

  She couldn’t deny it. Her best friends were right. Claire Drake, Olivia Moreno, and Alexis Romero all recognized the signs. Mandy had been slinking back toward depression again. The trio hoped a blind date might help things.

  Mandy wasn’t so sure. Last time around, she’d dated a creep and an asshole with a penchant for terrible, sexist jokes.

  She hadn’t agreed to the blind date because she was looking for love. Honestly, love was the last thing on her mind. But Brent had started out as a friend first, and everyone could use more friends, right?

  Her water glass was empty. Her date was late. How had the girls found this guy? He seemed like a real winner already.

  Stop being so judgmental. Maybe he has a flat tire. It’s possible he has a legit, decent excuse.

  The waitress passed the table and sent Mandy a sympathetic look. Ugh. By the moon, this was ridiculous and embarrassing.

  Mandy shook her head. She had never been one to eat alone at restaurants, and she wasn’t willing to order yet if the guy stood her up. Fifteen more minutes. That was all she would give him. She’d already waited a half hour for him. If he wasn’t here in those fifteen minutes, she was out of here. Maybe she’d order takeout. Watch a movie on Netflix. Go out for a run and howl and stretch her werewolf legs. Something, anything.

  Somehow, she had to get out of this funk.

  But first, she had to go to the bathroom.

  The legs of her chair scraped against the floor. As she headed toward the bathroom, water sloshed in her stomach.

  She hated feeling so worthless all of the time. Three times over now, she had been fired from work. She had no issues with h
er human coworkers, but they did with her. Humans didn’t know about werewolves at least not really. Subconsciously, they knew there was something off about werewolves, which made them suspicious with werewolves in general. It made working with humans trying. There weren’t any werewolf-run restaurants here, which made her life that much more difficult.

  Her parents lived about an hour away in Hazel Park, Michigan, and they kept urging her to return to the pack there. They would mention all of the job opportunities there with werewolf-run businesses.

  But Mandy couldn’t leave Toledo. She wouldn’t. When she married Brent, she also married his pack. To leave him, to leave his burial site, to leave his people, it all felt so wrong. That talking with their mutual friends and his buddies caused her pain was a necessary burden she willingly endured.

  Willingly endured but added to her depression. Tomorrow would be the four-year anniversary of when Brent had died in her arms. Werewolves were powerfully strong creatures, but even they could be cancer victims.

  Her business in the bathroom done, Mandy washed her hands and then her face. Her light brown hair was falling out of her braid, and she had gnawed off most of her lipstick. She should be so nervous, and it wasn’t really nerves that were bothering her. It was guilt. She shouldn’t have agreed to another blind date. Her friends had meant the best two years ago, and they did now, but Mandy just wanted… Actually, she wasn’t sure what she wanted.

  Doing her best to keep a smile on her face or at least not have resting bitch face, Mandy made her way back to the table. What had Claire said the guy’s profession was? Maybe she shouldn’t have tuned out that detail. If he were a doctor or something important like that, it would make sense for him to be late.

  Or the guy had stood her up.

  I’ll never trust a guy name Jacob ever again.

  Mandy waited for a waiter to pass and headed toward her table when she halted, hesitating. The guy sitting at her table was one who looked vaguely familiar. Her stomach twisted, and bile threatened to come up in the back of her throat.

  The guy there was none other than Jack Roberson. She would recognize the tall, thin man anywhere. His nose was longer than she remembered, and he had gone overkill with the hair gel as he had the first time they had gone out on a blind date.

  He’d been the creeper.

  Why was he sitting there? Had he lied to be the blind date?

  Mandy whirled around. No way did she want to spend any time with him. After the world’s most awkward date when he hardly spoke to her, he’d tried to cap it off with a kiss. She’d turned away, but she could still feel his nose touch her neck. Even worse, he’d inhaled. Creep was too nice of a word for him.

  Forget those fifteen minutes. Whether or not Jack Roberson was her blind date, she wasn’t hanging around any longer.

  A large table decided to leave at that same moment, and she was stuck waiting behind them. A hand gripped her shoulder, and she whirled around, fists up, ready for a fight despite the public location, despite the humans enjoying their meals. Humans. She forced herself to take a deep breath and reverted her claws back into fingers.

  But then she spied who had touched her, and her fangs descended. Humans be damned.

  “Don’t touch me,” she said, eyes narrowing to tiny, angry slits.

  Jack held up his hands, but he didn’t back away. With the crowd still taking their time gabbing as they were leaving and the crammed nature of the restaurant, Mandy was trapped.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.

  Already, he’d said as much if not more to her than he had during the first terrible blind date. His voice was as low as she remembered, so gravely that it sounded like he was howling every word.

  “Why were you sitting at my table?” she demanded. “Were you spying on me?”

  “Of course not,” he said.

  Surprisingly, he didn’t seem nervous or frightened. If anything, he seemed more polished and smooth than she remembered from two years ago.

  “I’m your date,” he added.

  “No. My date was someone named Jacob…” She trailed off. “You tricked my friend. You tricked me.”

  “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he said in a rush, his words laced with urgency. He went to grab her again, but she snatched his wrist and squeezed.

  “You stay away from me,” she growled. “I don’t appreciate duplicity. I want nothing to do with someone who would lie in order to see me.”

  To her dismay, Jack merely smiled. His thin lips twisted, and he leaned in close to her. She tried to pull away, but when she released his wrist, he grabbed onto hers.

  “I was that desperate to see you again. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

  “Yeah, that I should get a restraining order,” she snapped, yanking free of his hold. “I’m serious. Stay away or else you’ll regret it.”

  Mandy didn’t care. She plowed into people in her rush to get away.

  One guy touched her arm. “Mandy, are you okay?”

  She jerked back and went to yank herself free when she saw who it was. Mark Harrington. Her first ever blind date. It hadn’t gone well because he’d been a jerk, but legitimate concern and worry shone in his eyes.

  “Walk me to my car?” she murmured without moving her lips.

  “Of course,” he murmured. He reached to put his hand on her back but then hesitated.

  Maybe he’d picked up a tip on being a gentleman since their date nearly ten years ago.

  She nodded, and he hardly touched her as he guided her out of the restaurant and to her car.

  “Someone giving you a hard time in there?” Mark asked, throwing a glare over his shoulder toward the front door.

  “Something like that. Thank you.”

  “No problem. Do you want me to follow you home?”

  She hesitated and then shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You sure? Want me to rough up the guy?”

  Mandy tried to laugh but couldn’t, and tears blurred her vision. She gave him a teary smile and drove off. Her heartbeat raced, climbing as steadily as the speedometer of her car as she zoomed her way back home. It wasn’t often that she felt so vulnerable, so frightened, but she did not like the look in Jack’s eyes. She hadn’t liked him from the first, and her impression of him hadn’t changed.

  At the last moment, she opted not to park and drove on past her house. The house she and Brent bought. The one they had hoped would be where they would have children.

  Shockingly, the heat of her anger surpassed the numbness of her depression. Regardless, she sped along to the cemetery. Her thoughts were buzzing, and she couldn’t concentrate. All she wanted to do was sink into Brent’s arms, to inhale his clean, fresh scent, to bury herself in his love and warmth and perfection. He had been everything to Mandy, her entire world, and she both hoped and feared that she would never get over him.

  Move forward, her friends had been urging her. Don’t move on.

  So much easier said than done.

  Mandy had driven to the cemetery and traipsed through it so many times that she could reach Brent’s grave with her eyes closed. That had been a boon the first year consider that her vision had been so blurry with tears she had barely been able to see.

  Hot tears did fill her eyes today, but they did not spill. She refused to cry. Not today. Her anger was keeping her strong to some extent.

  “Brent, I’m sorry,” she said, her fingers trailing along the letters in his cold headstone. “I never should’ve agreed to another blind date. I told you before about the other two. This one was terrible. As bad as the others. I mean, it’s not as if you can always find the love of your life after a terrible blind date twice.”

  She smiled and choked out a laugh. Her first ever blind date hadn’t been completely terrible. It just hadn’t been that great either. Later that same night on her drive home, she’d met Brent, and they’d immediately hit it off. Love at first sight.

  “I miss you,” she
whispered. “I know you probably don’t want me to come visit you all the time. That you would say I’m just talking to a bunch of dirt. But I can’t let you go. I won’t. Not yet. Never. You’ll always be a part of me.”

  Mandy rubbed her chest. Losing him still hurt as much as it had when he’d first passed away.

  Blinking back tears, she glanced away from his grave in a desperate attempt to compose herself. Not too far away, a figure stood beneath a tree. The branches cast him in shadows. When the person saw her looking in his direction, he straightened and then walked away, head down, hands in pockets.

  A shudder ran down her spine. Graveyards were desolate, lonely places, even when the sun shone down on her. It was late summer, and the sun hadn’t laid to rest just yet.

  “I want… What I want can’t happen,” she said sadly, still talking to Brent, pretending the figure hadn’t intruded. “What do I need? Another job. I’m sick of waitressing. I’d gone to cosmetology school, but I never could cut straight, and my perms always came out wrong. Never spent the money on going to college because I could never settle on what degree I wanted. All of these crummy waitressing positions… Different restaurants, same drama. Bickering between the wait staff and the cooks and the hosts… For as large as the pack is, why can’t there be one run by a werewolf? Deep down, humans always can tell that something is off with us. They don’t know we exist, but when push comes to shove between firing a werewolf and a human, they always fire the werewolf. Subconsciously, they don’t trust us. I don’t know. I just don’t know. If I could figure out my work situation, maybe life would fall back in line. Maybe.”

  Mandy brushed her fingers along the roses she’d planted years ago. They were still thriving, a symbol of her love for him.

  “You enjoyed being a truck driver, didn’t you? Maybe I should look into that. Can’t be too hard. No offense.”

  She smiled, imagining him teasing her back for ribbing him. His deep blue eyes would sparkle, and he might run a hand through his blond hair before knocking his hip into hers. They used to tease each other all the time, and she missed that as much as she did him.