Chapter Seven
By the time Dominic and Cole stepped over the threshold of his home, the massive knot of aggravation had diminished.
Seeing the alpha and Erica together had sparked something akin to unfounded possessiveness, just like when Wyatt and Gage talked about her at the meeting.
At least he had enough self-awareness to bank the fire that threatened to blaze up at the worst moment.
At first, Erica had seemed so obstinate and closed off to any help he was willing to give.
Asking if she needed assistance with the sink was more of a formality because as soon as he smelled the spilled sink water from the porch steps, he knew what he was going to do.
What he didn’t expect was to draw so close to the edge of his own control.
Seeing her in her work clothes, how the skin of her belly played peek-a-boo through the slight tear in her shirt, her face flushed with exertion, and then the way she sat beside him while he worked on the pipes, all of it drove him mad.
As soon as he finished, he had planned to ask her to dinner, or to follow through on that offer to teach her how to cook, anything to spend more time with her and continue their conversation, no matter how dangerous it was.
What she revealed made so much more sense now.
Each time they talked, a little more of the curtain drew back.
He wanted the time to learn more about her to fill in the rest of the gaping holes in her story, while carefully avoiding the truth of his own.
Cole’s interruption deprived him of that chance.
Dominic turned to the cop, a low fire burning in his eyes, and momentarily resented the old alpha.
But the moment he took in that troubled, introspective look, his own expression softened.
His wolf told Dominic that something wasn’t right.
Cole’s repressed pain seeped into Dominic’s bones, and he scorned the connection they shared.
He wanted to be mad, but under the circumstances, it was impossible.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as they made their way to the living room.
The sheriff shook his head. “Nothing. I just came to let you know about Lincoln.”
Dominic blinked at the randomness. This couldn’t have anything to do with the young lone shifter who was taken into Cole’s pack three months ago. “What about him?”
As if one distress suddenly overshadowed another, Cole sobered and said, “He got fired again.”
Dominic rolled his eyes, annoyed that his time with Erica was cut short by a visit that could have been a text or phone call. He took a seat on the sofa and glanced at the book he had discarded earlier. “How’s he doing on rent?”
Cole leaned against the cased opening that led into the foyer. “It’s due next week, and he says he’s short a hundred bucks. I’ve already got him filling out applications, but he won’t get paid in time.”
Dominic nodded in understanding. Lincoln needed money or an extension on his rent, both of which the Prime Alpha could accommodate. “Tell Hank to take out what he needs from the account, but it’s a loan.”
“Customary fifteen percent?”
He nodded. Any loan offered to a shifter was given with the condition that it would be paid back with that interest compounded monthly, just as any bank would do.
He hoped that Cole hadn’t heard the discount he had given Erica.
She wasn’t a shifter, but to his wolf, she was worth more than any member of his pack, for better or worse.
“Also, I need you to get another booth spot open for the festival this weekend. We’re going to have one more vendor.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed. “You know it’s already packed as it is. Did you forget a promise?”
Dominic lifted his chin and wondered how much he wanted to tell him. “No. I just made a new one. I need a table and a tent. You can put it in front of my shop if there’s no room elsewhere.”
The sheriff crossed his arms. “I don’t know if Mary will like you dropping this on her at the last minute. She’s already been going out of her mind with the planning.”
Golden eyes wanted to shine along with a strong pulse of dominance to make Cole give in, but Dominic gritted his teeth. “I understand that it’s going to upset her, but you can blame me. I don’t care. I just told Erica she could have a table for her photography business and—”
He stopped himself in mid-sentence. There it was again.
Cole’s expression stayed blank, but there was a notable change in his wolf.
Something in what he just said triggered him.
Dominic had seen this man go up against active shooters and take down unruly shifters twice his size.
In all those confrontations, he had never been this scared.
Dominic pointed at him. “What was that?”
Cole dropped all pretenses and took a deep breath. “Erica just … she reminds me of someone.”
“Weren’t you from Decatur?”
Cole nodded.
“You probably left there before she was born, though. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Almost twenty-five years.” Cole’s gaze became distant as if he were remembering his old home and all he had left behind.
Dominic wasn’t completely familiar with Cole’s past before his pack came to Tolstone.
All he knew was that it wasn’t on good terms. The hunters had closed in on them, and everyone had to leave behind something they loved.
“Maybe you knew her mom,” Dominic offered. “I saw a picture on her fireplace mantel, and they look a lot alike.”
Cole seemed dazed as if he were in the midst of a dream while still wide awake. “Maybe,” he mumbled.
Dominic watched as this hardened cop evolved into someone he remembered from his childhood.
He had almost forgotten those times when he looked at Cole and saw the shadow of some sad, ambiguous emotion pass over his face.
No one else saw it, and Cole never talked about it, but it affected him just the same.
Now, all of that seemed to be resurfacing, just because of a pretty face.
“Is there going to be a problem?” Dominic scrutinized the old alpha for any sign of true weakness that would hinder him from doing what he needed to do to keep this town safe. While he cared for Cole, that was Dominic’s main priority, even above Erica.
Cole snapped to attention. “No. Not at all. I just wasn’t expecting to … It’s not a problem.”
He hated to see one of his most trusted mentors suffer like this, but if Cole said he was fine, then Dominic would take him at his word. If Cole’s condition worsened, if he became too listless and distracted, Dominic would take action. Until then, he’d just watch.
*
Only two hours into the springtime festival, and town square was a hive of excitement.
Just as Dominic said, it seemed like the whole town had shown up for the event.
Families browsed from booth to booth, couples joked and flirted as they wandered, children ran and chased one another around the fountain, and elderly couples sat on the benches and watched the children play.
The police had sectioned off the roads that led into the town square and redirected traffic through the residential districts.
Before the crowds showed up, Erica counted at least two dozen booths or more lining the sidewalk and opposite curbs.
Many business owners that she had met earlier that week had shown up with full, vibrant displays.
Erica had been placed just outside Renewed Relics, squeezed in a corner between a historical society booth and a lemonade stand run by a group of girls who belonged to an after-school program.
The event coordinator, a lady with the chamber of commerce, told her over the phone a couple of days before, in a less-than-friendly tone, that Dominic had taken care of everything for her, including the tent and table.
She owed him a lot more than the table fee plus interest.
Plenty of people stopped by her simple booth to look at samples of her work, compiled in two photo albums she scrounged together the night before.
She had to drive thirty minutes north to find a copy center where she could have them printed, along with a sizable table banner.
The cost alone in the rush job would set her back for a while, and she saw plenty of Ramen noodle dinners in her future, but it was worth it.
In just the past two hours, she had scheduled four more family portrait sessions.
Every time she heard the shuffling of feet on the sidewalk behind her, her heart skipped a few beats, and she had to take a peek to see if it was Dominic, even if she was in the middle of a conversation.
She hadn’t seen him since that day he fixed her sink.
The sign on the shop was turned, but part of her anticipated the man to come strutting out the door at any moment.
During a lull between guests at her table, Erica’s eyes skimmed over the crowd and searched for Dominic, though she wondered what she would say to him if he did happen to come up to her table.
She thought about it all night and still didn’t have a plan.
All she knew was that she had to at least thank him and ask about the cost of the booth spot so she could make a plan to pay him back.
“Erica!”
She looked and saw two ladies come forward out of the crowd. One was Gwen Gabors, and she didn’t know the other woman, though she had a fair guess who it could be.
Erica smiled and greeted them both.
“The restaurant had been busy all day,” Gwen said and gestured to the other side of the square, “but I wanted to come over and introduce my daughter, Madison.”