Reece had a pleasant morning helping Maddison and her family unload her things. Every box carried the woman's scent and his wolf reveled in having it so close. As he often did, Reece wished he could have a word about boundaries with his wolf.

  However, tonight was a full moon and there would be no reasoning with his wolf till it waned. Werewolves weren't forced into changing during the full moon like folklore would have one believe, but it did call to them. All of his instincts were sharper the closer to the full moon it was. Right now he was more then content to bask in the Bonding Call he felt when he was near Maddison.

  The last two days were a slow torture waiting to see her again. His wolf kept urging him to track her down, to make sure she was well. It was hard ignoring the Call but he did. About the fastest way to scare her off would be getting caught stalking her hours after their first meeting. That was a good way to get a restraining order placed against him.

  Now she lived under the same roof as him, and his wolf was satisfied. For now at least. He knew his wolf would only be happy with that for so long before it demanded that they keep their mate closer. Hopefully he would be able to convince Maddison to go out with him before that happened.

  First he would have to confess to her about what he was. He wanted no secrets between them, and if she found out about him being a were by some other means after they begun to date she would be pissed. He'd seen it happen before with pack-mates.

  God, he'd have to introduce her to his pack as well. That would be an event. His pack was -how did she describe her friend? Rowdy.- his pack was rowdy to say the least.

  Though, really, he was already way ahead of himself. She was not a werewolf, and therefore did not feel the Call like he did. Nor did she have the instincts that drove him on, with the need to take her as his mate. As a human she wouldn't even understand. To her, he would likely seem like a crazy stalker a best. So he would have to take it slow.

  On the bright side, he had now met her family and they seemed to approve of him on a surface level. He never would have guessed she was the daughter of one of his favorite authors. It played out well for him though, as it was an easy way to break the ice with her father.

  Her brother was a good kid too. When he told them he was OWPD he thought they would be repelled. Most humans looked at the OWPD with anything from disdain to fear. Not Maddison's family, however. She seemed curious, her father indifferent, and her brother suddenly seemed to hero worship him. That was a pleasant surprise.

  Reece liked Chase. He asked an unending number of questions and wasn't afraid to call out bullshit where he saw it. He and the kid had a lot in common.

  Still, Maddison herself was a bit of a mystery. She had yet to say anything about herself, and kept the conversation light and pleasant. He could tell she had some concern over her friend, Kalie. He suspected the two were close. Perhaps they were a pack of two?

  Greg- as the man insisted on being called- came back with the last of Maddison's things just before the furniture trucks arrived. They hurriedly got the boxes up stairs before he and Greg set about helping the movers.

  He let Chase sit behind the wheel of his mustang while they carried the heavy furniture. Maddison seemed concerned by this, but he assured her he would be keeping the keys and her brother wouldn't be able to do any real damage to the car. Chase agreed and was happy to listen to the radio while pretending to race his ride.

  Maddison herself directed the men to where she wanted the furniture placed, and they complied easily. He was surprised to find that she must have bought all her furniture the day before.

  She inquired about the nearest laundromat, but Reece told ger there was no need. His laundry room was in the basement and she could get there from the door on the side of the house. It took some convincing to get her to be okay with using his washing machines.

  To ease her mind about it, he brought her down to the basement through the side door. She seemed worried that she would be disturbing him.

  "See?" he said, unlocking the door and leading her down the short stair case. "Unless I'm already down here I wouldn't even know you were."

  She gazed around his finished basement. Besides the small alcove he used to house his washer and dryer, there was also an assortment of exercise equipment and a small sitting area, complete with a small flat screen television hung up on the wall.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  "Feel free to hang around down here while you do your laundry if you like." He told her. "Its sound proofed. The friend I bought this place from had illegal fights down here on the weekends and didn't want the neighbors complaining."

  She spun on her heel and looked at him in alarm. He chuckled.

  "Don't worry, I assure you I will not be hosting fight-night next to my dirty underwear."

  "You have friends who host illegal fight clubs?" she asked nervously. He didn't like to see her upset, but he had already promised himself not to hide things from her.

  "He was a really old werewolf. From a time that hosting a fight in a basement was that persons business alone. For the old Others change is hard..."

  He was worried then that she would run from him. Perhaps she would stay in the apartment, but she may never talk to him again. He waited with held breath.

  After a moment she nodded sadly. "I guess I can understand that... my great grandfather died in his late nineties and he was a racist right to the end. He wasn't mean or hateful with it you know? But he would say things that weren't really appropriate these days..."

  "My friend is like that too... the law says that fighting is prohibited, but to forbid the werewolves getting out their aggression or denying them their long standing right to fight for their place in the pack seems wrong to me."

  Maddison smiled and he felt some pressure lift off his chest. "So you are one of those cops then?" she laughed. "The type that lets the petty criminals go with a warning? Not the hard by the book type."

  "I guess I never really thought about it that way..."

  "I'm okay with that. Don't tell Greg though. He is a stickler for by the book law."

  Reece couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes ma'am."

  When they returned outside, Greg was saying goodbye to the movers. Maddison went over to say her thanks, and Reece wandered over to his car to check on Chase.

  The kid had the window rolled down and had a local radio station turned on. His nose was red because of the wind but he sported a rather big grin.

  "So how does she handle?" he asked as seriously as he could manage.

  Chase laughed and flashed him a smile that Reece was willing to bet was already catching the eye of a few unsuspecting girls at his school.

  "Great!" he said gleefully. "Hey, you think that next time I come visit my sister we could go for an actual drive in this?"

  "Sure, why not. Maybe I'll even let you park it if you think your sister wouldn't kill me for it."

  "Awesome! She wont mind so long as you are in the car with me. Dad's let me park the SUV a few times."

  "It's a deal than."

  "Man the guys are going to be so jealous!" suddenly, Chase grew serious and sized Reece up like a property he was thinking of buying. "Do you like my sister?" he asked, completely catching Reece off guard.

  "Why do you ask?"

  "Cause you are being super nice. My friend, Daniel, has and older sister and whenever someone wants to date her they are always super nice to Daniel- us too when we are with him."

  Reece sighed and smiled kindly at Chase. "You're a good man to look out for your sister like that." He said " and you are right, I do like your sister. But we just met and she doesn't seem the type to want to date someone two days after meeting them."

  "She isn't" he said in all seriousness. "and if you think I'll put in a good word for you just because you let me hang out In your car then your out of luck."

  "I wouldn't want you to put a good word in for me." Reece said in equal seriousness "I'd like to win her over on my own I think. But that doesn't mean I don't want your approval. I don't mind winning you both over Chase."

  The kids face was shadowed by his shock of golden brown hair, several shades darker than his sister's. But when he looked up he was smiling.

  "I like you Reece. You seem to be a cool guy."

  Reece chuckled, surprised by how relived he actually was. "Well thanks Chase. And you are free to visit whenever you like. Whether or not I can convince your sister I'm a good catch."

  "Awesome."

  "What are you two talking about?" Maddison called out as the moving truck pulled away.

  "Nothing!" they both shouted at the same time. They shared a conspiratorial smile.

  "That sounded convincing..." he heard Maddison mumble. Not being a werewolf, Chase heard nothing.

  "Alright Chase!" Greg shouted out to his son after hugging his daughter. "Lets go. It's a school night and you haven't done your homework yet."

  "Argh..." Chase groaned, collapsing back into the driver's seat. "Having a teacher for a dad sucks."

  Laughing, Reece helped the boy out of the car and walked back with him to the SUV.

  "See you later Punk." Said Maddison to her brother, scooping him into a hug. He was almost as tall as she was. She pushed the reluctant kid toward the passengers side door then leaned in to the driver side window to give her father a peck on the cheek. "I'll call tomorrow around lunch."

  "Alright. Nice to have met you Reece. Keep an eye on her for me, yeah?" said Greg, giving Reece a hard look over the top of his glasses.

  "Greg!" huffed Maddison.

  "Both eyes." He said with a small two finger salute. When Greg turned to check over his shoulder as he backed up, Reece winked at Chase. The boy started laughing.

  "I'm a little weirded out that you get along so well with my family..." said Maddison with a small smile. "What were you and Chase talking about?" she asked with squinted, suspicious eyes. Those eyes! If he didn't think it would upset her he would spend hours staring into them.

  "A good police officer never gives up his confidential informants." He said, sage like, with his hand griped behind his back and his spine deadly straight.

  "Pfft." She laughed. "I'm afraid I don't want to know."

  "You probably do not."