I dreamed about her all night. On one hand the dreams were good, and I’d gotten my first hours of sleep in over a month, but on the flip side, that couldn’t be a good thing. Dreaming wasn’t something that happened to me much—just like sleep wasn’t. Why had that girl gotten under my skin? She was human. Wasn’t she? If she were something else maybe she could have sent the dreams to me, but a human? That would be impossible. I needed to have a talk with my mom and soon. One night of dreams was a good thing. Multiple nights was going to bring me into dangerous territory.

By four a.m. I’d had enough sleep, and I needed to clear my head. I lived in the middle of nowhere. I liked having easy access to the woods when I wanted to shift, but even more than that, I liked the silence. I’d grown up outside town as well, but as a kid my house was never quiet. I had cousins running around all the time. That was then, and this was now. I lived alone, and I had no plans to change that.

I reached out to see if I was truly alone. I wanted to shift into my favorite animal for running, but it could easily get me into heaps of trouble.

I felt no one, so I focused my thoughts on a large grey wolf. My body convulsed, and I was enveloped in the familiar intensity of heat. My vision deepened, and I fully accepted the change. I ran deep into the woods, trying to push off thoughts of Mattie, my upcoming birthday, and the wolves in town that would do almost anything to get rid of me.

Maybe leaving Willow Harbor was the right thing to do. It might bring new dangers with it, but at least I wouldn’t be running from people that had once been my friends.

The forest flew by as I sprinted, pushing myself to the limit. I brushed against damp plants and shrubs, glad for the recent rain. The sky was dark, but I could see perfectly—a nice perk of my shifter nature. I ran deeper into the forest, keeping my ears trained for danger but hearing only birds and insects. I jumped over a hole in the ground and turned, taking a longer loop back toward my house.

I was no longer alone, and the realization another shifter was in these woods pushed me to run home faster. I wasn’t up for a fight. I reached my back deck and shifted back to my human form, slipping inside before the pure wolf-shifter I sensed could catch up with me.

I went right for the shower. There was no reason to put off starting my day.

My phone rang as soon as I got dressed. I saw my Mom’s name show up and considered letting it go to voicemail, but I needed answers from her. Getting even further on her bad side wasn’t going to help anyone. “I need you to come into the library today.”

“You do?” I wasn’t surprised by my mom’s lack of a greeting. She never used greetings, which was nice sometimes but also annoying.

“You need to explain the systems to her.”

She didn’t need to tell me who ‘her’ was. “What systems? You won’t let me put systems in the library.”

“We have a system.”

“You have a card catalog.” If my mother wanted to keep the library in the stone age, it wasn’t my problem.

“But we have discussed…”

“Mom, I have actual systems to work on. And actual IT.” The only years I spent away from Willow Harbor were for college. Unfortunately, my computer science degree didn’t get me far in a city that eschewed technology.

“It will only take an hour of your time. Be there now.”

“Be there now?” I felt a growl develop under my skin. “You do realize that’s impossible.”

Mom didn’t answer. She had already hung up.

I wasn’t a momma’s boy, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t afraid of making her mad. Most of the time she didn’t care what I did, but when she wanted me somewhere I had no choice. She’d sacrificed so much to protect me, and my guilt was never going to disappear.

I put on my shoes and grabbed my keys and wallet. It looked like I was stopping by the library before work.

The temperature had dropped over night, but I didn’t mind the chill in the air. I ran hot, and winter was my favorite time of year. Sometimes I fantasized about moving up north, where the temperatures fell below zero more often, but leaving the safety of Willow Harbor was a huge decision, and I wasn’t ready to do that yet. Besides, I couldn’t leave my mom. She needed me, and she would never forgive me if I left.

I made the quiet drive into town with the windows down. I left my radio off, enjoying the feel of the wind and the relative silence. I drove down Main Street, parking right in front of the library as I had the night before. Mattie’s car was still there, as I expected, and I couldn’t help but notice the pile of sweatshirts and books in the backseat. I wondered if her car was always that messy or if it was because of the trip.

Not that it mattered. I headed inside. The sooner I got this ridiculous task over with, the sooner I could get on with my day.

The library wasn’t officially open yet, but as expected the front doors were unlocked. I stepped inside, marveling as I always did at the cathedral height ceilings. It was a testament to the town that they put so much work into the library when Willow Harbor was first founded in the early years of the 19^th Century.

Mr. G, whose position I never quite understood, was seated in his usual spot at the front information desk. I wasn’t sure why my mom kept him around, but I had learned sometimes it was better not to ask questions.

“Morning, Mr. G.” I nodded at the older man.

He grunted something.

“Same to you.” I smiled before searching out my mom.

“And the break room is through those doors,” Delpha voice carried from out of sight.

Oh man. Delpha already had her claws into Mattie. The new girl was toast. I hoped she had enough of a backbone to survive. Delpha had a good heart, but she was the reason the saying ‘if you give a hand, they’ll take an arm’ was invented.

“Pierce, finally!” Mom hurried out of her office. “What took you so long?”

“I left my place as soon as you hung up on me.”

Mom frowned and looked over her shoulder. “I did not hang up on you until the conversation was over.”

“You mean when you decided the conversation was over.” There was no reason to sugar coat it.

“That’s the same thing.” Mom tapped her toe.

“What am I supposed to be doing exactly?” I glanced at my watch even though I wasn’t really in a hurry.

“You’ll see.” Mom started across the room through the non-fiction section to the break room. “Matilda?”

Mattie stepped out of the break room with a grimace. She must have really hated her name.

“You remember Pierce, right?” Mom pointed to me. Was she serious? The girl had just met me the night before.

“Of course. Nice to see you again.” Mattie smiled. It looked forced.

“Same to you.” I wasn’t lying. It was nice to see her. She looked different from the night before. Her long dark brown hair fell over her shoulders, and her navy dress revealed curves her sweatshirt had hid the night before.

“Pierce runs everything computer related for the library. He will get you set up with everything you need.”

“Great.” Mattie turned to me. “What kind of system is your catalog on? Are you part of a library cohort or—”

“We use a card catalog.” I saved her the breath.

“Wait.” Mattie’s expression turned quizzical. “An actual card catalog? The thing with all those little paper cards in it?”

“That’s it.” I held back a laugh. Her expression was priceless and completely normal. I was nearly positive this was the last library in the U.S. with a card catalog.

“Oh.” She was trying so hard to keep a straight face.

“But we are having discussions over switching to a partially digital system,” Mom quickly added. “Pierce is working on it as we speak.”

I wasn’t. Mom had made it clear it wasn’t time yet, but I’d let her tell her new employee whatever she wanted.

Mattie nodded. “So what kind of computer stuff do you do here then?”

“Not much. I make sure the Wi-Fi works and keep the few computers up to date so the public can use them.”

“Oh, interesting job.” She seemed to be working hard to maintain eye contact.

“I do the same sort of thing for everyone in town, and a few of the businesses have actual IT needs.”

“We have IT needs.” Mom sent me a warning gaze.

Mattie looked between us before settling her eyes on me. “Ok, and do I need an email address, or an account, or anything? What do I need to do to set it up?”

“I will do the email for you today. You can change your password later.”

“Great.”

I looked at Mom. What else did she expect me to do?

Mom smiled. “And make sure she has Wi-Fi. Did you set it up in Matilda’s apartment yet? You know the network we have down here isn’t going to work well for her upstairs.”

“You didn’t ask me to.”

“I am asking you to now.” Mom had the ability to say more with her expressions than her words could ever do.

“Oh, there’s no huge rush.” Mattie’s face didn’t match her words. She wanted Wi-Fi.

I didn’t blame her, but I hoped she wouldn’t get too frustrated about the limitations of the internet in our town. “I’ll come by this evening and set it up.”

Mom smiled and headed away.

“Make sure you do it before the party tonight.” Delpha patted my shoulder.

“Party?” I raised an eyebrow. “Throwing a party I wasn’t invited to?” I didn’t care. I wasn’t much of a party person.

“I’m throwing it for Mattie. You know, to welcome her to town.” She leaned against a bookcase.

“You’re throwing her a party at her own place?” I was admittedly surprised. Delpha was usually out there, but this was extreme even for her.

“Our place.” Delpha put her arm around Mattie. “Isn’t that right?”

“Explain.” I glared at Delpha. I felt surprisingly protective of Mattie, but I would have been of anyone when dealing with Delpha.

“There’s nothing to explain. We’re going to have a blast being roommates.” Delpha grinned.

“And Cad is ok with this? He seems pretty happy about your living arrangement.” If Mattie weren’t around I would have phrased it differently.

“I haven’t told him yet. Wait, this is perfect. You can tell him. He’d rather hear—”

“Not a chance,” I cut her off. “You deal with him yourself.”

“He’s going to be pissed.” She bit her lower lip. “You know he is.”

“Yes he is. Really pissed. You’re dumping him, and he’s in love with you.”

Delpha groaned. “Love? Come on, Pierce, don’t be ridiculous.”

“He’s been in love with you since high school. No sense denying it.” I’d spent enough years listening to Cad obsess over her. He was a different guy when they were together—happy, excited, fun. When they broke up, which happened more than you’d think, he was despondent.

“Please. I’ll owe you.” She pressed her hands together as if in prayer.

“I’m not getting into that. You know Cad and I are kind of friends.”

“Kind of?” Mattie put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, that is just a funny way to describe it.”

It wasn’t funny if you understood how things worked in Willow Harbor, but to an outsider maybe it did. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I said nothing.

“Piercy, please.” Delpha gave me puppy dog eyes. “I’ll be forever grateful.”

“Piercy?” I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve never called me that.”

“I need your help on this.” She batted her long eyelashes. “It’s going to be so much harder this time.”

I shook my head. “The answer is no, and it will continue to be no. It’s bad enough you’re barging in on Mattie. She’s too polite to tell you herself.”

Mattie opened her mouth and then closed it.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Delpha put her hands on Mattie’s shoulders. “You’d tell me if you did, right?”

Mattie looked away. “Uhh.”

Delpha released her shoulders. “Good. It will be fun. Living alone can be so boring.”

“Have you ever lived alone, Delpha?” I asked a question I very well knew the answer to.

“Once. I think.” She shrugged. “But maybe not. It’s hard to remember.”

“Don’t be afraid to say no to her.” I caught Mattie’s eyes and for a moment got distracted. They were a gorgeous shade of brown “It gets easier the more you do it.”

Delpha snorted. “The same can be said about you.”

“About saying no to me?”

“About you becoming easier the more someone does you.”

Mattie blushed.

“Trying to embarrass me isn’t going to help your cause, Delpha. You’re an adult, deal with your own problems.” That was the moment when I would have normally left, but it was hard to do with the way Mattie looked at me.

“I don’t get it.” She looked between us. “The more someone does him the easier he is? I assume you mean sex, but how does he become easier? Like if you can get in his pants once, you can do it again?”

Hearing her talk about getting in my pants succeeded in making my pants very uncomfortable. “I’ve got to go.”

“Sure you do.” Delpha glanced down at my crotch for a second too long. “Be sure to come by and set up our internet later.”

“I will. For Mattie.”

“She’ll share the password with me.” She put her arm around Mattie’s shoulder.

“Don’t do it, Mattie. Then she’ll never leave.” I winked before walking out the way I came in.

Because things weren’t messed up enough already, Delpha of all people now saw my weakness. I had it for the new girl. She’d never let me live it down, especially since I refused to help her with Cad. But I stood behind my decision. Cad wasn’t a perfect guy, but he loved Delpha. If she had issues with him, she needed to tell him to his face.

My phone buzzed in my pocket less than a minute later, before I even made it to the health clinic to start my work. It was a text from Cad. Delpha said you needed to talk to me. Everything ok, man?

Unbelievable. I fired off a reply before he could ask anything else. Nothing to talk about. See you around.

Delpha could tell anyone she wanted about my reaction to Mattie. It would be better than taking the brunt of anger from Cad.

I reached the clinic and headed right inside. Marla, the secretary sent me right up. The clinic was one of the few places in town that actually needed my help for more than Wi-Fi.

“Pierce, that you?” Anderson yelled as soon as I reached his floor. He was the CEO of the clinic, and I wasn’t exactly sure what he did.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“The server is down. Get it back up.”

“Nice to see you too.” I didn’t actually mind. It was in all of our interests that the clinic stay on top of things. The residents of Willow Harbor had little interest in going to another medical center.

“Ah, come off it. Fix the server, and I’ll play nice.”

“Give me a few minutes, and it will be done.” I checked out the error message displayed on a couple of computer screens before grabbing a laptop and heading into the server room to get to work.

“Hey, did you hear about the new librarian?” Butler, the business manager of the clinic, walked into the already cramped room.

“Yes. I’ve met her.” I tried to play it cool while I checked for bugs. They were in desperate need of some new equipment, but I’d already told them that ten times. An eleventh time wasn’t going to change anything.

“She cute?”

“Maybe.” It was easier to play it down when I was busy messing with the computer.

“Come on, we haven’t had any new blood in town for a while—”

“And you won’t be having her blood.” I would be make sure of that.

“Whoa. Calm down. I didn’t mean it that way.”

I narrowed my eyes. “When a vampire talks about new blood he only means it one way.”

“Kind of like when a shifter talks about fresh meat.” He raised an eyebrow. “Two can play at that game.”

“No. Not the same.” I got back to work and tried to tune Butler out.

Unfortunately he didn’t get the hint. “Is she single? Or trying to do the long-distance thing with someone?”

“That’s none of our business.”

“Of course it’s our business.”

“Because you care so much about a girl’s status? Suddenly grown a conscience have you?”

“Hey, I’m just being careful.”

“She is off limits.”

“Off limits?” Anderson strode in. “And why is that?”

Suddenly I was eager to work on that Wi-Fi for Mattie. And to warn her to stay far away from Butler and Anderson.

“Are you going to Delpha’s party tonight?” Anderson went with a different question.

“Yes.” I was now. If these guys knew about the party, everyone did. I owed it to my mom to be there to protect her newest employee. And that was the only reason I was going.

“Wait. What?” Anderson laughed. “You are going out?”

“Mattie works for my mom. I kind of have to.” The excuse sounded good to my ears.

“Mattie? I thought her name was Matilda.”

“She likes to go by Mattie.” And what she liked mattered to me.

“Oh, she likes it now?”

I didn’t need to turn around to know Anderson was grinning like an idiot. At least he wasn’t talking about fresh blood. It was bad enough that these two vampires ran the urgent care clinic, and half of their staff were vamps too.

“Shut up. I feel bad for her. New in this town as a human? My mom was cruel to hire her.”

“She must have been desperate for a job to take this one.”

He was right, which made me wonder yet again about the whole situation. I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with my mom without her getting all bent out of shape about why I cared. But she’d been the one who insisted I see Mattie today. There had to have been a reason for that. Maybe she wanted to make her new employee feel well taken care of. I couldn’t come up with any other possibility, unless... no, I shrugged off the thought. There was no way my mother had hired this human for that reason. There was absolutely no way.