They had kids a bit older than Shane. Her husband, Don had developed type two diabetes and had been in and out of the hospital as they’d tried to get it under control.

“That’s good to hear. You know, I met someone. Married her. I hope some day I can have as many years under my belt with her as you and Don do.”

She laughed. “Oh that’s wonderful news! You two fighting? Is that why the long face?

Let me give you some advice, doctor. Love isn’t enough. Love isn’t enough so you have to work your tail off to make up that last twenty percent. Don’t rely on love, rely on your head and your heart and the knowledge that working and being in love is way better than

slacking off and having it all fall apart later. Some people are doormats, that’s not working love. But some people expect the other person to just drop everything. What do you want? What do you want together? Once you know that and once you’re both working on the same team, you’re unbeatable.”

Love wasn’t everything or she’d be there with him now, having given up her entire life to be his wife. And if he really loved her, would he want her to do that?

“Your kids are lucky to have you and Don as an example.”

She shrugged. “We had our moments. Our thin times. People make mistakes, sometimes big ones that hurt. Sometimes you can forgive but forgetting is another thing. But I love that man and he loves me enough to give up all thosecarbs and refined sugars.”

Squeezing his shoulder, she dropped off the check. “You be sure you work hard for this girl. And bring her around here so I can check her out. I’m off shift and I need to get home or I’d stay to hear all about her. You come back in here soon, you got me?”

He nodded. “Tell everyone I said hello.”

“You tell your daddy the same.”

Dropping the money on the table, he headed out. Was he supposed to go to therapy now?

Have someone tell him his mother issues keep him from having a real relationship with…holy shit, he was acting as if he was starring in a Woody Allen movie.Hekick his own ass.

Yes, his mother was the source of a lot of this but so was his father and he was way past the age where he could be blaming his damned parents for being an idiot.

Since his mother doggedly refused to answer his questions about her discussion with Megan, he finally drove over to his parents’ house to demand answers. He needed to move forward in his life.

His mother waited at the door for him as he approached. “It’s about time you showed your face around here. Youhaveto tell me, don’t you?”

He opened the screen door and dropped a kiss on her cheek before going into the house.

The house he’d grown up in and had always felt like he should appreciate but one he was relieved to move out of for college and medical school.

“I hear tell you’ve had a little chat with my wife and I thought I’d see just exactly what you said to her since you wouldn’t tell me over the phone. I figured Dad would have told you about me and Megan.”

His father sat in his favorite easy chair, near the big picture window looking over the wildness just a few blocks away. Shane suddenly got it and part of him ached for his father while another part raged.

“Don’t expect me to do your work for you, boy. Anyway, what exactly would I be telling her?”

“Hey, Dad.” He paused to kiss his dad’s temple and a bloom of emotion unfurled, comfort, he realized and wondered if it had to do with a father-son thing or a werewolf thing. God he was messed up.

Tension thickened the air in the room though. Expectancy hung heavy and he realized it was all the avoidance he’d built up over the last month.

“I’m glad you’re here, Shane, and I hope you’re here to tell us you’re moving to Seattle to be a husband to your mate? Or is it that you chose the easy route of self loathing and stayed here while your beautiful Megan floundered? What will you feel when she finally gives up and finds some measure of happiness with another man?”

He looked at his father, hurt stinging his eyes and all the words built up over his lifetime threatening to explode.

“That’s rich coming from you!”

His dad heaved a sigh. “It is.”

“Enough! So you went to Seattle to see her then? Did you turn furry at her beck and

call?”

He turned slowly at the verbal slap. “What did you say to her?” He tried to keep his temper down. She often made him antsy, made him feel his skin fit all wrong.

“What did she tell you I said? I imagine it was quite a tale. Her kind doesn’t seem to know her place.” The bitterness in his mother’s voice cut at him. Why was she so unhappy?

“Haven’t we done enough to mess with him, Sheila? He has the chance to be happy, why can’t we unite to help him? And if you recall, I’m her kind. Your son is her kind.” His father rarely engaged with her but anger flashed in his eyes just then. “Why don’t you tell us both what you said to the girl?”

“Mess with him? By keeping him away from that world and grounding him in one where there are no monsters? We did what was best. You and I agreed! As for the girl as you call her? I told her she wasn’t good enough for him and she isn’t! This chemical mumbo jumbo makes him want to rut on her but that’s all it is. Sex. He can’t love her. She’s a monster. I told her she’d make his life a hell unless she gave up being a werewolf like you did.” She turned back to Shane. “He did it for me and she could do it for you if she wanted to. But she won’t because she’s an animal. You’re better than that. I was just saying what had to be said. I love you and I want what’s best for you. If you wanted this girl you wouldn’t be here, you’d be there. That’s proof enough.”