Small Town Love

Interlude: Hiding in plain sight

Realisation is the matter of becoming conscious of that which is already realised.

Wei Wu Wei

"Frigid bitch. "

That were probably the worst two words that Harrison Michaels could utter at that moment.

Especially if he didn't want Stephen's son to kill him. Not that Stephen could fault Luke for that.

But he hadn't expected how terrifying it would be to see the actual aftermath of these words.

For a moment it was quiet on that back porch.

Luke pushed Daphne behind himself in one smooth motion, as he growled, eyes flashing amber, a partial shift rippling through him.

Stephen couldn't help but rear back in surprise at that. Partial Shifting was something that came with age.

Luke was 17 years old. That was incredibly young for him to...

"Luke, you need to let her go," he said carefully. He really didn't think that his son had in any way or shape the needed grip on his wolf and having Daphne caught in the crossfire...

"No," his son growled, the black hair starting to spread down his face.

"Lucas, let her go. Now!" He snapped, letting enough of his alpha bleed into his voice that his son was properly chastised, not that it helped much again the partial shift that seemed to grow less partial with every passing second.

He stepped to the side though, letting Daphne out of the corner who was glaring daggers at Harrison.

Not what he had expected.

What he had expected even less was the way her purple eyes seemed to flash amber as well, a shiver running through her that told Stephen that her wolf was far higher under the surface than any of them expected.

Luke hadn't been the one Stephen had needed to worry about. Not when Daphne was lunging at Harrison with every intention, fury on her face that he had never seen on the gentled and easygoing girl before.

He caught her around the waist, pulling her back, even when she was still kicking and growling, quick enough that his son shifted in the blink of an eye, 300 pounds of wolf attacking Harrison who at least had the mental presence of shifting himself.

Not that it helped much. Luke had him chased off the porch and into the forest in seconds and he could see that his son had him pinned to the ground even quicker.

Daphne growled sharply.

He caught her scent in that moment, more strongly than ever before, helped by the fact that she was shuddering with barely contained rage.

It felt like somebody hit him with a sledgehammer.

Oh, God.

Because with that...suddenly the pieces started to come together in Stephen Schuyler's mind. He started at his son's mate, taking in the bright blonde hair that was high up on her head right now.

That platinum blonde hair that made nobody take a second look at her.

He should have recognised it when he first met her. He should have recognised her scent. Of course, there was the tropical scent that she had inherited from her mother's side of her family, the pineapples that Luke was able to smell on her. But there was that other scent as well.

Warm and sweet, more like vanilla or sugar cookies. Unlike Caroline's more sour scent that always reminded him of iced Tea.

And there was only one person that Stephen had ever met that smelled like sickly sweet Sugar Cookies.