Thomas Durling escaped his small-town upbringing for over ten years, until a single phone call drew him back. Told his mother has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, he returns to the small northern Michigan town he once called home to find a mute stranger taking care of her in his stead.<br><br>On the surface, Andre seems harmless enough, but Thomas has enough problems trying to deal with his mother’s illness. He doesn’t need a gorgeous young man to distract him, especially in a town that drove him away once already with its homophobia.<br><br>But Andre has nowhere else to go. A wolf without a pack, he’s been on the run since witnessing his father’s murder, always looking over his shoulder, never looking ahead. Taking care of Thomas’s mother has given him a welcome sanctuary, as well as a place he can call home for a couple months. He wants to stay, but more importantly, he wants to help, even if Thomas isn’t ready to accept that they could actually be friends ...

Moon-Touched

“I don’t want to do this in front of all creation.” He nodded around the side of the house. “Let’s go out back.”


Andre would have followed him anywhere.


No telltale scents clung to Thomas to reveal where he might have been, and the shape in the bag was too uniform to discern what he carried. As hard as it was, Andre kept his curiosity and concern in check. Thomas would tell him when he was ready, though when they finally came to a stop next to the old swing set, Andre was poised to pounce.


“Do you have any family left at all?”


The question wasn’t what he expected. Had Thomas run into some of Perry’s scouts in Mellowbush? Was it time for Andre to move on? No more secrets, they’d decided, but how did he go about explaining a psychotic cousin who wanted him dead because he was the only one who would reveal the truth about what had happened to their real pack leader?


He shrugged. He didn’t know what else to say.


Chapter 36