It had been a good afternoon, all-in-all. Once Harper had managed to get Matty settled, reassuring him repeatedly that he hadn’t done anything wrong, that accidents happened. Finally, it took her promising that if he wanted to help her fix it, he could come by and she’d show him how she worked glass.

She doubted she would ever forget the look in Matty’s eyes when she offered to teach him something. In that moment, she realized that whatever life he had lived up to that point, had not been a pleasant one. Yet, somehow, despite what he may have gone through, he still had a sweet, untouched innocence about him, that made her want to cuddle him up and keep the big, bad world at bay. It was a feeling she saw the other boys, older and already more hardened, would do anything to protect.

Once Matty was calmed down and the other boys were sure he’d be okay, they helped her store the remaining crates under her direction, dividing them into supplies set into a small storage room and crafted goods set in the center of the large, open front room that faced out to the main thoroughfare.

Harper decided she’d go through those all later, but she did want to check the crate Matty had dropped. He hovered around her, fidgeting, as she popped the crate open. Glancing inside, Harper saw that many of the glass rods inside had indeed shattered, but the majority of it was all in large shards.

Waving Matty closer, Harper carefully pulled out one of the larger rod shards. “See, Matty? These are just glass rods I use to add colors and designs to a piece, and I usually cut them down to size when needed. I can also use powders and other things. But I also make other types of glass art, besides blowing glass, so it’s not wasted at all. Besides,” she leaned in and added in a conspiratorial whisper, “Glass is just melted sand, sweetie, so it’s pretty easy to make more.”

Matty’s brilliant grin, one that lit up his entire face and made his dark brown eyes gleam bright, was totally worth it. Yeah, she’d have to do some work to make the glass usable, and as she carefully placed the shard back into the crate, made a mental note to make sure she packed her heavy work gloves before opening the crate again.

“Okay, boys,” she said as she rose to her feet, dusting off her rump as she looked around at them. “Let’s go upstairs and y’all can help me make some lunch and get those cookies and cupcakes started.”

There was a chorus of cheers, whoops, and hollers that had Harper laughing as she led the pack upstairs. She set Erik and the second eldest, Vinnie, to organizing the other three and helping her make sandwiches. The other three, she kept busy by having them do the mixing for the hummingbird cupcakes and the death-by-chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, while she gave them directions.

It was something she had never really experienced before, being around young kids, especially boys who seemed equally adept at talking about their favorite superheroes (currently, it was Team Thor vs. Team Batman, apparently) and football as they were talking about guys they found attractive. She got more than a few teasing comments from Vinnie, the jokester of the group, about just how hot her mate was.

The afternoon passed in a blur, until finally it was time for her to get ready for her date. Not wanting to disturb the boys, who were currently watching some movie on Netflix that involved men in spandex and armor fighting some army of robots or something over her head. Leaving Erik in charge, asking him to keep an eye on the oven, Harper grabbed some clothes and disappeared into the thankfully full-sized bathroom, pausing only long enough to grab her phone and headset.

Closing the door behind her, Harper tried to still her racing heart as she put tucked her headset into her ear. Thumbing on her phone, she pressed the button to pull up Bard’s contact information, feeling a spurt of heat race through her chest at the sight of his handsome face grinning at her, eyes gleaming from behind his loose bangs.

Activating the call, she held her breath as it rang.

“Heya, darling. What’s up?” His voice was husky and warm, and Harper could see the flush on her cheeks as she stared at herself in the mirror. It was hard to believe the rosy-cheeked, wide-eyed, grinning girl in the mirror was the acknowledged Bitch Queen of Atlanta’s legal halls.

“Bard, I was just calling to…” No, that was the old Harper, the one she was trying to leave behind. With a laugh and a shake of her head, Harper said, “Right, I actually just wanted to hear your voice, but figured I’d check and make sure that we were still on tonight?”

She may have held her breath, and crossed her fingers, on both hands, and her toes, of both feet, as she waited for his response.

His warm chuckle had her toes curling for entirely different reasons. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, darling. That pack of wild wolves I reluctantly call my family couldn’t keep me away.”

The relief she felt escaped in a breathless giggle. She slapped her hand over her mouth and stared at herself in horror. Inside, her inner Bitch Queen was shrieking like the Wicked Witch had just stepped outside into a torrential downpour. Clearing her throat, fighting the foolish grin twitching at her lips, Harper finally managed to respond.

“Yeah, well, you keep the big, bad wolves away and I’ll try and keep the wicked witches away. Deal?”

“Ah, darling,” his voice slid even lower, deep and velvety, and Harper would swear he had just reached through the phone and stroked his fingers down her spine. “That sounds like a deal then. My oath on it!”

That growled vow vibrated through her, on an unerring and blazing path direct to the very core of her being. The intensity of that sudden gush of liquid heat was unreal, unlike anything she had ever felt before, and she must have gasped aloud, because she swore she heard a low, masculine chuckle come from the other end of the phone.

Struggling to regain her composure, particularly since there was an entire pack of young boys on the other side of the bathroom door, Harper managed to say, “Right, in that case, I have a pack of hungry pups I’m going to load up with cookies and cake before I start getting ready.” Yeah, those boys were all shifters, there was no way she was going out there until after she showered. “I’ll see you at six?”

“I’ll be there,” he promised instantly, and she felt a part of her that had dreaded this was all just some kind of dream, again, relax.

“See you then, Bard.” She didn’t want to let him go, she loved hearing his deep, rich voice. She laughed off the silly thought. She’d be seeing him soon enough!

“Okay, it shouldn’t be difficult to disconnect the phone.” Maybe admitting it aloud wasn’t part of the ‘Play Hard to Get’ handbook, but Harper wasn’t interested in playing that particular game. Nope, she had an annwyl to claim! “I’ll see you tonight, sweetie. Bye!”

Clicking off her headset to disconnect the call, Harper tugged it off her ear and leaned against the counter. Meeting her eyes once more in the mirror, Harper shook her head and told her, “Girl, you’re fucked.”

If we’re lucky! Hunh, that might have been the first time both the Bitch Queen and the Southern Belle had ever agreed on anything.

Stripping out of her clothes, she let them fall where they would as she stepped into the shower cubicle. Normally, she would wait until the water had warmed up, but this time, she needed that cold spray to cool her engines!

GASP!

Shoving her fist into her mouth to stifle the shriek as the icy water splashed over her heated flesh, Harper jumped out of the cubicle.

Okay, I’m awake!

Once she was satisfied the water was finally hot enough, she stepped back in. She gave herself only a few minutes to just luxuriate in the steamy spray, but as she found her thoughts turning towards thoughts of Bard’s naked body, sweaty and wearing only that kilt—that man could make even a leather skirt sexy—she quickly turned her mind to the task at hand. Briskly and efficiently, she finished her shower.

Stepping out, as she plugged in her hair dryer to give her thick mane a thorough brushing, as her eyes slid downwards, she was truly glad she had splurged a few years ago for laser hair removal and now only had to go in for a touch-up treatment about once a year. She had gone a few weeks ago, so she was still good-to-go!

She had already pulled out the closest thing she had to “casual” but comfortable clothes, a pair of designer jeans and a long, hooded shirt that laced up the sides in a vaguely medieval style, and truly emphasized her figure while also being semi-dressy. Paired with her low-heeled slouch boots, a chain belt, and her hair pulled into a neat braid, she felt confident she wouldn’t stand out too badly, no matter what they ended up doing for their date. Just in case, she also wore a set of lingerie she had purchased on a whim a couple of weeks ago.

Harper may never have been a Girl Scout, but she liked to be prepared for any eventuality anyways!

You know, “just in case.”

By the time she was done getting ready, the boys had finished up their movie, and Erik and Vinnie were struggling to keep the younger three from devouring all the cookies and cupcakes before they had fully cooled.

Clapping her hands, Harper called out, “Okay, okay, that’s enough of that. We made plenty, so why don’t you each have a cookie while we frost up the cupcakes, then we’ll pack you all up a tray so you can take them with you.”

Ignoring the groans, Harper firmly but laughingly, herded the three little ones away while she frosted up the cupcakes. Once she was done, she put the cookies in little bags, three cookies for each of them, and two cupcakes a piece set on a large party platter. Covering it with some cling wrap, she handed the entire tray to Erik with a smirk, “There you go. Payment for services rendered.”

Glancing around at the others, she quirked a brow, “I could probably use some more help around here, if you boys find yourselves looking for stuff to do and aren’t too busy.”

The boys quickly looked up at Erik, who after a few moments, and with a hesitation that tugged at Harper’s heart, he said in that rough, scratchy voice of his, “Yeah, we could probably help out around here, if we’re not a bother, and if Ace and Drey don’t have us doing anything…if you don’t think we’d be a problem?”

“No, you guys are definitely not a problem! I woefully underestimated how much work it’s going to take to get things going, and the Faire hasn’t even started!”

Tilting her head thoughtfully, she continued, “Any help you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your studies or anything.”

“Studies?” Vinnie piped up, his eyes locked on the tray of cookies and cupcakes Erik was carrying down the stairs, “Man, we ain’t been studying anything except grifting, rifting, and glamouring.”

Following the boys as they trampled down the stairs, Harper grabbed her coat and purse, though she had to pause to try and translate Vinnie’s words. Nope, no luck. “Grifting, rifting, and glambamming?”

Erik cast Vinnie a disgusted glare before turning an abashed look towards Harper. “Grifting, you know? Running a scam? Tricking the Unaware.”

“Yeah,” Vinnie said with a wide grin, completely oblivious to Erik’s disgusted look as he beamed up at Harper. “Rifting is jumping between this place and that place.” He blinked, obviously struggling to figure out how to explain it. “You know? Finding portals, knowing the Sanctuaries and the Laws, where to hide and where to not go.”

With a sigh, Erik nodded, “And glambamming is using glamour against humans and other supernaturals. Though, since we’re all pure wolves, we can’t do much of that, and we don’t know much about pack magic, so we just pay attention so we know how to avoid getting glambammed ourselves.”

Taken aback, Harper was about to comment, when she caught the subtle shake of Erik’s head. Figuring it was a battle worth taking up later, and it would be a battle she was already gearing up for, she gave Erik a small nod of acknowledgement.

Reaching the door outside, Harper instead chose to give each of the boys a quick hug of thanks. It was instinctive, an impulse even she couldn’t fully explain since she wasn’t exactly a touchy-feely type, but as each boy briefly stiffened then relaxed into her embrace, Harper felt a warm glow of success.

They didn’t know it yet, but Harper had just officially adopted them, and anyone who stood between her and her boys would find just how wicked a witch she could be!

Looking up, she caught sight of Bard strolling up the path. The setting sun cast his hair in a golden nimbus, and it was once more neatly pulled back into a neat tail. He was wearing a plaid shirt, which normally would have drawn a teasing comment about him and Sam shopping from the same catalogue, but the man made it look so much better than Sam could.

Sorry sister-of-my-heart, but while your chest is impressive, his shoulders and those arms win every time!

The man’s denim-clad legs were unreal, the thickness of his flexing thighs as his boots kicked up small puffs of dust, and the fabric was shiny from the strain of containing those muscular limbs. His black leather jacket and those cowboy boots only further enhanced his masculinity…or was it his raw, potent masculinity that enhanced his clothes?

Clothes may make the man, but this was a man who made those clothes!

When she caught the gleam in his eyes, and he gave her a small grin, one both boyishly sheepish and panty-dampening sexy at the same time, Harper knew she had finally found where she belonged.

And she had couldn’t have been happier than to have finally found her place.