by Lola Glass
Arla was talking when four guys stepped up around me. I recognized them as the wolves who’d formed a circle around me when I stood on the table. They’d kept other males away from me for a while, so they weren’t the absolute worst.
“We realized what’s different about your scent.” One of them said.
“What is it?” I made eye contact, though I was itching to get away from them.
“You smell like you’re constantly in heat.” He maintained eye contact.
Great. Who didn’t want to smell like mating season at all times?
“Yay.” My sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed and a few of the guys chuckled.
“We’d like to request to spend the night near you so we’re not as affected by the scent of the other women in heat when they start.” Another of the guys said. “We’ll also protect you from each other so you won’t be in any danger.”
My eyes went to Roman and I found his already on me. Arla was still giving a speech, but I wasn’t listening to her. He probably wasn’t listening either, he was so focused on me.
“Request denied.”
“Can we ask why?”
I didn’t see a point in lying to them. Maybe if they could understand the truth everyone would stop pissing Roman off and the fighting would decrease.
“None of you want to be near me when the Alpha is hit by mating season hormones.”
The crowd around us cheered and then started stripping and shifting. I noticed Roman’s focus on me as he tugged his shirt over his head. Maintaining eye contact, I pulled my own shirt off.
Roman stepped out of his pants without breaking the gaze. I did the same.
Many of the pack members had already shifted and taken off into the woods but I was still surrounded by the guys who had wanted to stay with me.
When I reached around my back to undo my bra, Roman shifted without stripping the rest of the way and stalked toward me. His low growl sent the other males running.
“Possessive bastard.” I muttered.
He growled an agreement.
“You’re going to be a freaking menace the next few months.” I stripped out of my underwear quickly and shifted forms.
Roman gave me another growl and rubbed his side up against mine. I snorted and pushed him away with my nose. In wolf form, his lying didn’t seem to matter. I just wanted to be with him.
He nudged me into the woods. I knew without words what he wanted, and my tail began to wag as I tensed in preparation. Shooting into the woods like a bullet, I streamlined my body and ran from Roman.
He liked to chase me almost as much as I loved to be chased.
The chasing turned into play fighting and the play fighting turned into cuddling. In our wolf forms, there was no drama or confusion or bad memories.
We were just… us.
In our purest and most raw forms. It was beautiful.
THIRTY
“Put the croissants on that table.” Arla instructed the caterers. “Eggs over there.” We’d headed back early to set up tables. Apparently, they rotated between cooking and having their pack get-togethers catered. I would’ve stayed in the forest and let them set everything up, but Roman made it clear he wasn’t leaving without me so I tagged along.
The pack members began wandering in while Arla and I were grabbing food. Though Roman was a few feet away talking with an older pack member, I noticed he had positioned himself where he could keep an eye on me.
Kyler strolled up to me and Arla, and I saw my Alpha tense even from where he was.
Kyler took a deep sniff of the air.
“You smell the same, Henley.” He said.
“Way to make a girl feel good, Martin.” Arla shot back. “Where’s your sister, anyway? She hasn’t been answering my texts.”
“Not feeling well. Grant gave her a prescription for some sleeping meds so she probably won’t answer for a while.” His shoulders lifted and he turned back to me. “Maybe you won’t make as many unmated guys lose their minds the next few months since the other chicks smell like you now.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed.” I said.
I seriously would.
Arla and I sat down on one of the picnic tables and dug into our food. My mouth was full of chocolate croissant when a man with sun-kissed skin and Southern-style working-class muscles sat down in front of me. He reminded me a lot of the kind of men I’d grown up around and was attractive to me because of that familiarity.
“My name is Chris Pooler. I run a multi-billion-dollar chain of dairy farms and own a six-hundred-thousand acre ranch thirty minutes from here, where I live. I’d like to be your mate.”
I stopped chewing. Arla coughed hard.
“I can provide a comfortable life for you away from the busy hassle of the pack’s skyscraper,” He continued. “I heard you’ve had a hard life thanks to experiences with previous Alphas and pack members, and if you’re my mate, you won’t have to worry about any of that. We’ll spend our time traveling between my farms and the ranch, taking care of animals, and enjoying nature’s beauty together.”
Grabbing my cup of water, I took a drink to wash down the mouthful of food that felt lodged in my throat by his words. Arla was coughing again, and if I was any stupider I wouldn’t have known she was concealing laughter.
“A life of farming is an honest way to live.” I told Chris. He nodded his agreement. “But it’s not the way I want to spend the rest of my life. Thank you for the offer.”
Chris walked away with his chin high and his hands in his pockets. My eyes found Roman. He held a crumpled red plastic cup in his hand, water still dripping from the broken bits, and wore a gaze that was somewhere between pissed and murderous. His gaze followed Chris like he was tracking his prey.
When Chris was out of sight and earshot, Arla quit holding back her laughter and let out a loud cackle.
“Is that how speed dating went? The guys just rattled off bank numbers and the kind of life they could give you?”
“The life thing was new, but yes to the bank account. I had no idea there was so much money in the pack.” I looked around at the people piling food on plates. “Most of them just asked me on a date after telling me how much money they have.”
“And that worked?” Arla asked, incredulously.
I shrugged.
“I’d never been on a date until Grant took me to lunch yesterday. So yeah, for the guys that had ideas for dates that sounded fun, it worked.”
Another guy sat in front of me.
“Hello, Henley.” He grinned and held out his hand. He was cute without being pretty, but I wasn’t about to touch him.
“Not a fan of touching strangers.” My eyes flicked pointedly to his outstretched hand.
“Understandable.” The guy nodded, his eyes still bright as he moved his hand away. “Has anyone ever told you that your hair is pink?”
“Never.” I said dryly, and his grin grew.
“Have you been surfing? I used to be a professional, and I make a trip out to the coast every week or two. I’d like to take you with me and teach you next time I go.”
“Depends.” My eyes swept over his body position. Relaxed. I could dig it. “Can Arla come?” I tilted my head toward the Alpha female, who lifted her eyebrows and glanced at something behind me.
Her brother, probably.
“Sure. The more the merrier.”
I handed him my phone, and he put his number into it before leaving us to our food. It occurred to me I’d never gotten his name after he was gone.
“Roman’s taken you on dates before. You guys got pancakes that one time and you cook for each other and share a bed and shit.” Arla said. I noticed ears perk up around us, gossipers greedily taking in every tidbit about my relationship with the Alpha.
“That was different. It was never like we were dating. He just kind of told me he was going to convince me to mate with him and refused to leave. Plus, that’s over now.” I changed the subject. “Why haven’t I ever seen anyone
hit on you?” I bit into that heavenly chocolate croissant again.
“Roman scared them all away.” Arla over-focused on the quiche she was taking a bite of.
“Liar.”
If he could do that, I wouldn’t have twenty unopened texts about dates to put on the calendar.
“What are we lying about?” Jamie sat beside Arla.
“She’s lying about why guys aren’t hitting on her.” I gestured to the Alpha Female.
Jamie smiled. Arla groaned.
“The last time someone tried to make a move on Arla, she kneed him in the balls so hard she popped one of them.”
My mouth fell open.
“You didn’t.”
“I scare easily.” She protested.
“None of the guys in the pack have come within four feet of her knees since then.” Jamie said. “Unless you count Kyler.”
“Why wouldn’t you count Kyler?” I took another bite, feigning casualness. “He’s hot and funny.”
A growl came from off to my left, where I knew Roman stood. And listened apparently. Though I didn’t turn around, the familiar noise made the hairs on the back of my neck raise.
“Reasons.” Arla shot Jamie a warning look and Jamie rolled her eyes.
I can’t believe I thought she was a statue.
“You’re going to stay to help clean after everyone eats, right?” Arla quickly changed the subject. I could feel Roman’s eyes still on me without turning around. If I left, there was a good chance he’d follow.
“Don’t think I have much of a choice.”
Arla and Jamie looked at Roman and then back to me.
“I appreciate the help.” Arla smirked.
“Don’t push it. If I leave, your cleanup crew will be out one set of very large arms.”
Arla and Jamie both grinned.
“So you made up?”
I snorted.
“If you call Roman telling me I’m his and throwing me into the shower for smelling like another guy making up, then yes. If not, that’d be a ‘hell no’.”
“There was kissing involved too.” Roman’s low timbre sent goosebumps up my spine as he sat smoothly on the bench beside me, his hand finding my lower back and curving around to rest on my waist. I shoved his arm away and he withdrew it but didn’t scoot away from me.
Both girls were grinning like idiots.
“You still lied to me and I’m still seeing other people. I’ll stay where you can see me for a day or two so you don’t kill anyone out of jealousy while you adjust to mating season, but I consider myself single right now.”
I slipped out of the picnic table and carried my half-eaten plate to the trash. Tossing food felt like a waste, but I wasn’t hungry anymore.
“If it isn’t my best bartender.” Kyler waved me over to his picnic table, just a few feet from the trash bin. A bit reluctantly, I made my way over.
Couldn’t people just let me stew a bit?
“Hey.” I said.
He sat with a group of other unmated guys and I wasn’t keen on being around them. Especially with the monster of a man who I knew was watching me like a freaking mountain lion ready to pounce on anyone who so much as looked at me weird. Kyler stood and stepped away from the table, meeting me a few feet from the other guys.
“Can we talk in private?” he asked.
I glanced over at Roman and found laser-eyes glaring at my boss.
“Better not.” I looked back to Kyler. “I’d rather you stay alive.”
Kyler focused on Roman for a long few seconds.
“Does he hurt you, Henley?” The words surprised me. I thought everyone knew Roman was about as gentlemanly as a man who was half animal could be.
A light breeze caught my hair and pulled it over my eyes. That was one topic I wouldn’t let the pack even consider—and they were obviously listening in on our conversation. Roman may have lied to me, but he wasn’t like Ledger.
Or his father.
“Never.”
Kyler nodded and opened his mouth to say something else. I interrupted.
“Don’t worry about me.” Giving him a quick smile, I turned to the Alpha who was stalking toward my boss with murder in his eyes.
I met Roman in the middle and grabbed his arm, towing him off to the side of the pack breakfast. We were far enough to avoid curious ears before Roman demanded,
“Is he one of your dates?”
The man wore wolf hair on his arms like a long-sleeved shirt. Since he was bare-chested in the freezing cold, he probably needed it.
“No.”
Roman visibly relaxed, and I released his arm as his fur sank back into his skin.
And then he grabbed my face and kissed me, hard. The move surprised me so much it took a minute for me to pull away.
“You’re giving me whiplash.” I pushed him off of me.
“To clarify, when I took you out for pancakes and cooked for you and came by to spend time with you, those were dates. We were dating.”
“Take a hike, Ellis.” I stomped off toward Jamie’s place. I needed a shower, and all my stuff was there. Roman matched my stride, walking leisurely at my side.
“Will you come with me?” he asked. I shot him a questioning look. “On my hike.”
“You’re taking a hike to get away from me, so no.”
“But if I planned a hike, would you come?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether or not it’s a date.” I thought about it a second. “And whether or not there’s trail mix with chocolate and cashews.”
“Do you want it to be a date?” Roman asked. His hands were in his pockets, and although he looked relaxed I could sense his hesitation.
“Do you?” I countered.
“I just want to be with you. Couldn’t care less what we call it.”
“But you just said you considered spending time with me dating. So to you, it would be a date regardless of what I call it.”
Roman made a noise of frustration.
“You told Arla you agreed to go on dates if they sounded fun.”
“Haven’t done a lot of cool things in my life.” I shrugged.
“So I’ll take you to do the things those guys planned and you can cancel.”
“Roman.” I protested.
“Henley.”
“You’re an asshole.” We got up to the door of Jamie’s and Oliver’s place. Roman grabbed the door and pulled it open for me, and I mumbled a thank you as we went inside together. He followed me up the stairs and into my room.
“I hope you’re not trying to worm your way back into my shower.” I warned. He gave me a slow grin.
“Is that an invitation?”
Ducking into the bathroom, I grabbed a bar of soap and chucked it at Roman. He dodged and laughed.
“I’ll stay here.” He took a seat on the bed, kicking his feet up as he stretched across the pillow.
“Get your shoes off my bed.” I hollered, locking the door behind me. After a quick shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped out. Getting my clothes before the shower would’ve been a good idea, but it hadn’t crossed my mind.
Roman’s eyes tracked me as I rummaged through the duffel bag at the foot of my bed.
“You’re staring at me.” I muttered.
“It’s hard not to.”
I grabbed my clothes and stepped back into the bathroom, getting dressed quickly. I’d picked out a modest long-sleeved top and a pair of jeans that were among the least-revealing clothing I owned. The beginning of mating season was not the time for exposed skin.
Roman was asleep on my bed when I made it back out. My gaze caught on the dark circles beneath his eyes and I felt just the slightest hint of guilt for making things harder for him.
Was it really so bad that he wanted me to lead the pack with him?
Roman was a survivor of abuse, and the way he refused to drink and made a point to always be gentle with me showed his determination not to follow the path
his dad and grandpa had gone. He wouldn’t put himself in the position to hurt me.
That didn’t excuse him from lying, but it did soften me toward him a bit. I slipped under the blankets beside Roman and rolled onto my stomach, near him but not cuddling with him the way we usually did when we shared a bed.
The quiet was peaceful, and my body practically hummed with contentment at how close I was to Roman. His warmth seeped into me and for some reason, made me feel safe. My eyelids refused to stay open any longer.
Our nap didn’t last long. My phone buzzed on the mattress beside us, waking the man beside me before I lifted it to my ear.
“Hello?” I whispered, hoping he’d go back to sleep. He’d seemed to need the rest.
“Where are you guys? You promised me a pair of beefy arms to help clean this mess.” Arla complained. “He’s not answering his phone so I know he’s with you. Unless you’re boning, you’d better get your asses back here.”
I glanced over at him and found him staring at me with tired eyes. He lifted a strand of my hair and twisted it around his fingers before bringing it to his nose.
“Henley?” Arla sounded irritated.
“Sorry. We’ll be there in a minute.”
I hung up before she could lecture me again.
“I’ll step down as Alpha.” He said. The words shocked me.
“What?”
“You’re more important.”
“No, what—stop. The pack needs you. There are a shitload of werewolves here and if another Alpha came in he could do some real damage. Don’t do that.”
“You’re it for me, Henley. If you’re not comfortable leading, I’ll step down. It’s simple.”
“We need to go help Arla.” I blurted, practically jumping out of bed and away from my Alpha. Roman followed me out of Jamie’s place, calling a couple of his enforcers on the way to ask them to help with the cleaning. They were arriving as we did, and Roman went to move tables and stuff while I headed over to help Arla and Jamie pack up leftovers to put in the Ellis’ fridge.
