“All right.”
After her mother left her alone, Braelyn pushed some of the bags aside and sat on the bed. Even though she mostly just sent out autographed pictures of herself to every person who wrote to her, she read every letter.
The first two letters turned out to be what she’d expected—teenage males writing to say how much they loved her. Braelyn put those aside to send a photo. The next envelope didn’t have any return address on it. She ripped it open and pulled out the single folded sheet of paper. Unfolded, she scanned the words printed in a large font.
Braelyn swallowed when she re-read the letter. It wasn’t exactly a fan letter, and it wasn’t the first of this type she’d received, either. Only a few short sentences, it said she was nothing but a slut who would one day get what she deserved. It also said that whoever had sent the letter would be the one to give it to her, and that she’d beg for more while it happened.
Even though there weren’t any identifying marks to give any clues as to who had sent it, Braelyn felt sure this letter had been from the same person who’d sent her the two other similar ones the month before. The large font used was the same, and the subject of the letter almost identical.
She wanted nothing more than to rip the letter up into shreds and burn it, but Braelyn refolded it instead and put it back in the envelope. The other two letters were back in her apartment in LA, and she’d save this one as well. So far, all she’d gotten were the letters, but in case it turned out she had a stalker and things got progressively worse, she needed to keep them as evidence.
Feeling a bit spooked, Braelyn finished reading the rest of her fan mail. The offending one, she stuck in the very bottom of her suitcase. She didn’t need one of her parents to find it. For now, she’d keep them to herself.
Chapter Four
By the time Skylar was ready to head back to San Francisco to pick up Braelyn, Roxie and Beowulf had already left the mansion. Dirk and Kye had gone with them. Later that night, Skylar would take Kye’s place and stay the night along with Dirk. Until Roxie gave birth, Saskia had decided two Protectors needed to spend the night with the couple to be on hand in case their former brother-in-arms made a power play during that time.
Miles, who was Saskia’s true brother and at one time a Protector, had gone to the dark side when he’d made the decision to make the switch five hundred years before. Instead of protecting the one they’d all sworn to do so with their lives, Miles wanted to gain control of the foretold one and use that person as a figurehead to rule the werewolf packs himself.
So far they’d managed to keep Roxie’s identity a secret from him. And, with the events that had occurred after Miles had taken Leif hostage, as far as Miles knew, his own daughter was the foretold one. It had been Jaden’s idea to pose as Roxie when her father had demanded the foretold one in exchange for Leif, her mate. At the time none of them, not even Jaden, had known Miles was her father. But when Roxie had turned Jaden before making the exchange her scent had changed, bringing out some of Miles’ recognizable scent that declared him her father.
As Skylar slipped out of the mansion and went to the garage, he pushed thoughts of Roxie, Miles and Jaden from his head. He got into his charcoal grey Infiniti G37 sport coupe and backed out onto the drive. Once he hit the street, he drove in the direction that would take him to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.
Thoughts of Braelyn surfaced while he made the drive. He’d done a lot of thinking about her during the hours he’d had to wait to see her again. It also hadn’t helped when he’d come out of the shower to find someone—more than likely Leif—had shoved a copy of the latest Victoria’s Secret catalogue under his door. Skylar had looked through it a half dozen times at least, staring at every page Braelyn appeared on. It was bad enough he’d have erotic dreams of her when he slept that night—thanks to the mating urge—but the catalogue only added fuel to the fire of burning need that hadn’t really left him since he’d met her.
Finally across the bridge and in the city, Skylar drove to the address Braelyn had given him. When he arrived, he pulled over to the curb and parked in front of the house. It was situated in a modest neighborhood. He saw Braelyn’s BWM parked in the drive along with a Buick Regal. She’d said she had come to San Francisco to visit family, and from the look of the house, Skylar bet this was where Braelyn’s parents lived. It only made sense she would stay with them while here.
Skylar got out of the car and took a moment to straighten his clothes. He wore black jeans, a dark grey button-down shirt and his shit-kickers. When he’d dressed, he’d thought he would be dressed up enough for the Supperclub, but he hadn’t thought about the chance of having to meet Braelyn’s parents on their first date. He knew he would have to at some point since she was his mate and he had no intention of walking away, but he’d figured it would be sometime down the road after he’d claimed her.
After he shut the car door and used the remote on his key ring to lock it, Skylar walked toward the house. On the porch, he smoothed his hand along his hair to make sure all of it was still inside the ponytail at his nape, then rang the doorbell.
The door opened, and Skylar met the gaze of a smiling woman who appeared to be close to fifty. She had the same emerald green eyes as Braelyn and shared some of her looks. This obviously had to be his mate’s mother.
“I’m here to pick up Braelyn,” he said.
“You must be Skylar,” she replied. “Come on in.” Once he had, she closed the door behind him and held out her hand. “I’m Braelyn’s mom, Bev.”
Skylar took her hand and gave it a shake before he released it. “Yes, I’m Skylar. And it’s nice to meet you.”
“Braelyn will just be a few minutes longer. Why don’t you come and take a seat in the living room while you wait?”
He nodded and followed Bev into the room just off the front entranceway. The living room was done in light colors and had a loveseat, couch and armchair. He chose to sit on the couch. Braelyn’s mom sat in the armchair kitty-corner to the couch.
“My husband is working late tonight, something spur of the moment, or you’d be meeting him as well,” Bev said. “I’m sure you didn’t count on having to meet Braelyn’s parents when you asked her out.”
Skylar smiled. “I can honestly say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.”
“Well, don’t worry too much about it. Neither my husband nor I are the type of parents who have to know everything our grown-up daughter is doing. So you won’t be getting grilled this evening.”
He felt himself relax. Bev reminded him a lot of Braelyn personality wise. They both were down to earth and a bit on the laidback side. Skylar could see himself having no problem getting to know his mate’s parents—at least her mother—better and grow to like them.
Just then, he heard the sound of someone walking down stairs. A few seconds later, Braelyn stepped into the room. It took everything he had not to jump up, take her in his arms and kiss her senseless in front of her mother. She wore the same short, black dress she’d bought that afternoon. He remembered it well since she’d modeled it in front of him. The dress showed off her long legs. He wanted them wrapped around his waist as he sank his cock into her pussy over and over again.
Desperately trying to pull his mind away from anything dealing with Braelyn and sex, Skylar swept his gaze up her body, starting with the black, strappy high heels she wore all the way to her face. She wore makeup, which she hadn’t had on during the day, giving her a sexier look. A small smile played across her lips as if she knew exactly what he’d been thinking seconds before.
He stood and closed the distance between them. “Are you ready to go?”