Lone Wolf(10)
“Doesn’t matter. I won’t live in Shiftertown forever.”
Ellison didn’t like that. “You can’t be planning to move back in with your brother.”
Maria stopped, her braid swinging. She turned warm brown eyes up to him, but they held a hint of steel. “Of course not. This is America. I don’t have to live with my brother, or with Liam, or Sean. I can live in a place on my own.”
“Alone?” Ellison blinked. “Why would you want to?” He couldn’t imagine living by himself, without sister, nephews, cubs, parents, pack—family.
He was almost alone here, head of a pack of four. No mate of his own, no cubs. Lone Wolf, the other Shifters sometimes called him.
“It’s different for me,” Maria said. “The idea of being alone is . . . splendid.”
“Lonely.”
“Peaceful.”
“Boring.” Ellison shook his head.
“I wouldn’t sit at home and do nothing. I would . . .” Maria bit the corner of her lip then drew a breath. “If I tell you this, will you keep it to yourself? Andrea knows, and Glory. And Connor. No one else.”
“Connor?” She named Liam’s nephew, younger than Ellison’s nephews, all of twenty-one.
“Yes, Connor. He’s good at keeping secrets. I want to go to school. I’ve been saving up for it, and I’m already working on my application and looking for scholarships. Connor’s been helping me study for the tests called SATs. I’ll be taking them this Saturday.”
“Community college, eh? Maybe a good thing. You could drive Connor—the kid’s a maniac behind the wheel.”
“No, not community college. University. UT Austin.”
Ellison whistled. “They don’t take everyone—they don’t take Shifters at all. Maybe you should start with something smaller, work your way up to it.”
Her indignant look could have lit a fire. “There is no reason to start small. If you want something, you go for it. You never know in this life when it will all be taken away.”
So true. Maria spoke from her own experience, and look what had happened to Deni.
Maria’s anger made her shake. She needed reassurance, cried out for it, though Ellison knew she’d never admit it.
Ellison put a hand on her shoulder. Quietly, like he would for a cub who was upset.
But Maria wasn’t a cub. She was a beautiful young woman, alone, unprotected, yet gutsy and strong for what had happened to her.
Ellison’s touch of reassurance turned to a caress, the backs of his fingers brushing her skin. “You go for it, Maria. Aim as high as you want.” And if you fall, I’ll be here to catch you.
Maria’s expression softened. She had a round face, pretty, ringlets of black hair trickling loose from its binding. Ellison’s need to kiss her rose like a newly kindled fire, to press his lips against the soft red ones, to taste the moisture inside her mouth.
“Is everything all right with Deni?” Maria asked.
“Yeah,” Ellison said, jerking his gaze from her lips. “She’s fine now.” Ellison had left her sleeping, Andrea holding her hand.
“I’ll go over and see her tomorrow, all right?”
“Yeah, she’d like that. But if she gets . . . you know . . . forgetful, you get out. Dominant female wolves can be very dangerous.”