Page 12 of Shifted Desire

“Could you two take a break from arguing while company is here?” Shane sighs.

“Yeah, quit fighting and come say hi!” I open my arms to Max, who hugs me back with a laugh.

“Hey, Uncle Nathan.” There’s a lightness in his eyes that’s long been absent, and I’m sure that has a lot to do with his fiancée, whom I’ve yet to meet.

“Wow, you look…rough,” Samantha says, giving me a once-over.

“Gee, thanks,” I snort, oddly appreciating her candor.

I know better than to expect a hug from my friend’s prickly youngest daughter. Her siblings may call me Uncle Nathan, but in reality, I’m more of a stranger that shows up once a year with presents they’ve already outgrown. Like some shitty version of Santa.

So when she begrudgingly opens her arms to give me a side-hug, I take a moment to realize what she’s doing. When I step into the cursory embrace, I laugh, filling my lungs with her scent.

My heart stops.

My limbs freeze in place, eyes widening as a roiling hunger threatens to engulf me.

Oh shit.

No. There’s no way.

But there’s no mistaking her scent.

Fuck.

Samantha is the mystery woman I fucked last night.

5

Yikes. Guess I wasn’t missing out on anything avoiding hugging Nathan all these years, because the man is the most wooden hugger I’ve ever met. So much for trying to be nice out of sympathy for his haggard appearance. I’m not subjecting myself to that again.

His eyes widen for a split-second when I pull back, and I frown.

“Do I smell or something?” I joke under my breath, but he hears it because his nostrils flare.

Oh. Maybe I do.

Some of the food at the tasting was pretty garlic-y. Good thing garlic repelling vampires is a myth, otherwise Mona’s bestie Blair wouldn’t be able to come to the reception. Though it might be in my best interest if she weren’t there. Whenever I see her, she gives me the stink eye for daring to go out with her girlfriend once. They were broken up, and it wasn’t even a date, but I guess vampires are as possessive as most other monsters.

Couldn’t be me. I may have guarded my toys from my siblings when I was young, but I share well with others now.

“Why do you look like shit?” The words slip out before I can lock down my defensive gut reaction to my possible stinkiness.

Nathan blinks at me like I’m an alien, looking perplexed rather than offended by my rudeness.

“Samantha!” Dad snaps, glaring at me from where he’s stirring the risotto.

“What? He does.”

The look my father gives me is a rare one of anger. I bet he wishes he could tell me to go to my room now that I’m back living with them.

Ugh. Such a delightful reminder of my lot in life.

My baby brother is blissfully in love, Maggie has her happy little family, Claire has a baby on the way, and Mom and Dad are as obsessed with each other as they were forty years ago.

All I have is a bitchy attitude and a string of hookups I’ll never see again.

The only one here as pathetic as me is the werewolf who looks like he hasn’t slept in months and is clearly in love with my parents, given how he’s never been in a serious relationship in all the years I’ve known him and visits like clockwork every Samhain to rehash stories from their youth.