Three

BRANDON

I see her the moment I walk in, and she looks exactly the same as I remember. Same loose blonde hair, same tan skin, same wide eyes that I feel like I could get lost in.

Alicia.

I’ve thought of her idly, of course, over the past twenty years. And not just because of the way she rejected me. I’m sure everyone has thought about her to some degree. The prodigal daughter, the one who got out…it’s impossible not to wonder what her life must be like out in the human world. Now here she is, sitting at a table just a few yards away from me. It’s like I’ve fallen into some kind of surreal dream.

I don’t know how to feel about it. I don’t know how I feel about her.

I wonder if she’s seen me yet.

I’m on my way over to her before I can think twice about it. It’s not like I’m going to miss the opportunity to talk to her after all these years. It’s like having someone famous show up in the middle of the pack. The woman she’s with turns, and I see that it’s Kayla. I like Kayla, and despite the fact that both of us love to have a good time, she’s one of the few women in the pack near my own age who I haven’t slept with. I’m not sure why. It’s just always felt like it would be crossing some kind of line—which is ridiculous, because Alicia and I were never an item. Still, I can’t help how I feel.

“Brandon!” Kayla says now. “Sit down.”

She doesn’t move over to make room for me on her side of the booth, though, so I just stand there awkwardly, wondering where she expects me to sit.

It’s Alicia who breaks first. She shifts to one side on her booth seat, and I ease in next to her. It’s definitely awkward. The last time I saw this woman, she was declaring her rejection of me in front of the whole pack.

“Hey,” I say, feeling ridiculous. She glances at me. “Hey.”

“You’re back.”

She frowns at me. “I’m not back.”

I’m not sure what she means by that, since she obviously is back, but I decide to let that go.

“How are you ladies doing tonight?”

“We’re good!” Kayla says. “Just getting out of the house for a while. Alicia hasn’t been to the pack bar in decades.”

“They haven’t done any work on it,” I say. “I hope you weren’t expecting to find the place spruced up.”

She shakes her head. "It would have been a mistake if they’d done that,” she says. “This place has character, I’ll give it that.”

I grin. “Sure does. How are things out in the human world?”

She shrugs. “Can’t complain.”

“You should visit Alicia in the human world,” Kayla suggests. “Go see her place.”

The bartender brings the women a couple of beers, so I’m spared having to answer that. “Can I get one of those?” I ask, and she nods and disappears.

Kayla drains her beer in a single long swallow and gets to her feet. “I should go, actually,” she says. “I was going to meet Alistair.”

“Kayla, hang on,” Alicia objects.

“I’ll see you back at the house!” Kayla says. She hurries away out the door.

I get up from Alicia’s side of the booth and take the seat Kayla vacated so I can look at her head on.

“You know she just did that to give me hell, right?” Alicia says. “She knows how awkward it is for the two of us to be here together.”

“Does it have to be that way?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…Okay, so you rejected me. That was twenty years ago. I’m over it. I’m guessing you are too.”

She chuckles. “Well, yeah.”

“So can’t we just sit here and have a drink together like any other two people?”

She cocks her head. “You think?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Okay,” she allows. “Catch me up on what’s been going on in your life. Get into any fights lately?”

I laugh. Alicia’s father is the alpha of the Greystone Pack. I’m not about to get into a fight with him. He’s almost thirty years older than I am. It would be in poor taste, and none of the other guys around here are worth the time and energy it would take to slap them down.

“No fights,” I say, accepting the beer the bartender hands me as she walks by.

“Really? That’s hard to believe. Last I saw you, you were in a fight every other day.”

“Yeah, well, times change,” I tell her. “I’m not eighteen years old anymore.”

She cocks her head. “Kayla did say you were different.”

“Did she, now?”

“Yeah. But I think she was trying to get me to hook up with you while I’m home.” She grins. “Kayla’s always trying to hook everyone up.”

It’s true. But to be honest, in this particular case, I wouldn’t be opposed. Alicia is just as hot as I remember her being. She’s older, of course—she has the ghost of laugh lines around her eyes, and the shape of her figure is fuller and curvier now. To tell the truth, I’m digging it.

I drain my beer. “I’ll tell you what,” I say “What would you say to walking me home?”

She raises her eyebrows. “To your house?”

I’m making my move, and I can tell she recognizes it. “Why not?” I say. “We haven’t seen each other in a while. We could catch up in a quieter, intimate space.”

She narrows her eyes at me. It’s very clear to both of us, I’m sure, that I’m not talking about conversation.

For a moment, I really think she’s going to tell me to go to hell, that she’s going to storm out of the bar, and that will be it. I almost regret asking her—but I had to take my shot.

And then she shrugs her shoulders and grins.

“Why the hell not?” she says. “It’s been a while.”

I get to my feet and lead Alicia out of the bar. The wolf in me is growling under the surface, and we can’t wait to taste her.