Tiffany fell on her ass. She hit the ground hard. It hurt like hell. It infuriated her to no end, especially when the blasted vampire chuckled at her distress. He held out his hand.

She narrowed her eyes and sprung to her feet on her own steam. She didn’t need his help.

This only made Brynn chuckle even louder. “Suit yourself. Let’s take a break.”

There was a sheen of perspiration on her brow and her muscles ached. Who was she kidding, her whole body ached.

“You need to think a little outside the box. You need to be faster and smarter than your bigger opponents. You need to be willing to play a little dirty. To take all opportunities.” He sat down on a fallen tree trunk. The male was wearing another pair of running shorts. There was no bulge today.

Shit! She quickly snapped her eyes back to his. If he had noticed her looking ‒ there ‒ he didn’t let on.

“For example …” He offered her a bottle of water and she shook her head. She didn’t want anything from the asshole. What did he think, that he could throw her down one second and she’d accept handouts from him the next? Not happening.

Brynn chuckled. “See … you’re seriously pissed. It’s interfering with your mind and your thought processing. You’re acting irrational. Not thinking things through. I’m taking complete advantage of the situation.”

Tiffany chewed the inside of her cheek. He was right. The asshole was right. She rolled her eyes. “I can’t just switch off how I feel.”

“You’re going to have to if you want to win. Don’t let your opponent get under your skin. It doesn’t matter what they say or do. It’s the main rule, let’s call it fight rule one. Don’t let them get to you no matter what. I don’t care how you clear your mind. Count to ten. Focus on yourself, things you can control like the position of your legs, your arms. Focus on what your opponent is doing, their position, not what they are saying or the fact that you just saw your ass five times. The fight’s only over when it’s over.”

“I take it that’s fight rule two?”

“You’re learning quickly. When I say over, I mean dead, incapacitated or unconscious.”

“Got it.”

“No, really. Fight hard if it’s something important like your dignity or,” he shrugged, “if you decide this male is worth it. Don’t do it for pride though. There are occasions when backing down is the better option.”

She nodded. Everything he was saying made sense. She struggled to concentrate because her mouth felt really dry. She watched as he took a drink of his water. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. Brynn quirked a brow. “Are you sure you don’t want some?” He held the bottle out to her.

Tiffany didn’t want to seem too eager so she waited a second or two.

“Come on … drink it.”

She nodded once and gave him a half smile, before taking it and thanking him.

“So …” He smiled. Crinkles appeared around his eyes. He sported a five o’clock shadow and looked really handsome.

Asshole!

She didn’t want to find a bloodsucker attractive.

“How are things going with the alpha? How’s the whole ‘friendship’ thing going?” he grinned.

She’d seen Sebastian twice in the last few days. “Good. He’s a sweet male.” Tiffany smiled.

“Sweet!” Brynn barked out a laugh. Then he caught the look she was giving him and held up his hands. “I didn’t mean anything. I’m glad he’s such a good friend.”

“Well he is. I’ve even agreed to go out with him on a date.”

He raised his brows and nodded his head. “Oh, well that’s something. When is the big event taking place?”

“This afternoon.” She tried to sound upbeat. “He’s taking me on a picnic. I think it’s really romantic.”

If the vampire thought she was full of BS, he didn’t say anything.

“How are things going with the humans?” She took a seat next to him, sure to keep some space between them.

* * *

The she-wolf sat down next to him.

Good.

Great! At least he didn’t have to look up at her anymore. The female was nuts. A tight white t-shirt and a tiny pair of denim shorts was her idea of workout gear? In a way, she was even sexier in this scanty outfit than she had been naked. He knew what she looked like under those clothes. He could see right through the shirt. It normally wasn’t an issue but he hadn’t been lying when he’d said she was different from vampire females.

Those hips.

Those breasts.

Flared and full. Their cherry tips begged that he taste them. Begged! Brynn had to suppress a groan.

“So …?” She raised her brows and turned to him expectantly. “The humans, how is it going?”

“Oh …” he tried not to sound like an idiot and failed. “Yeah …” he nodded his head. “It’s going really well.”

There were several females who were really sweet … Sweet. Oh shit!

“Okay and … is it a big secret? I told you about my date with Sebastian.”

He shrugged. “Nah, not at all. I’m getting to know one of the females. Her name is Sylvia.”

“Oh. What is she like?”

“Very …” He couldn’t say sweet to her. He’d laughed at her for calling Sebastian sweet. “She’s very nice.”

Nice! Shit! Nice was worse than sweet.

Tiffany laughed. “Really? Nice? Not interesting or intelligent? How about fun or—”

“She’s great fun. I really like her a lot.”

Tiffany pretended to yawn.

“Sebastian is sweet and a good friend to you. You have no leg to stand on here.”

“He’s also really good-looking. Did I mention that part?”

He snorted. Sure. So attractive that she was head over fucking heels in love with him. Not!

“He’s tall and … and has huge—”

“Stop right there! I don’t need to know about his huge—”

“Muscles, you asshole. He has huge muscles and he has big brown eyes that make all the females sigh.”

Brynn got to his feet. “Oh really?” He folded his arms. “Big, brown eyes.” He nodded his head.

Tiffany nodded as well. “Yup … even my grandmother swoons whenever he’s around.” She sucked in a breath. “His wolf is just enormous. The beast is a beautiful brindle color with smudges of rust.”

“Are you attracted to the male?”

It was a simple question and yet she hesitated. Tiffany’s eyes flicked away for a second before moving back to him. “He’s the perfect male specimen.”

Brynn narrowed his eyes at her. “Yes, but are you attracted to him?”

“I like the male. I’m spending time with him to—”

“If there is no attraction then you are wasting your time, you know that don’t you?” Sometimes the truth hurt. He didn’t know this female very well but he liked her. He didn’t understand the drive inside him to help her but there it was anyway.

She chewed on her bottom lip for a beat or two. “Mating with Sebastian is the logical thing to do. It would make my family happy. It would—”

“What about you? Shouldn’t you be happy?”

“Sebastian is a good male. He would take good care of me. I think that he has real feelings for me.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to dissuade her further. To tell her that she would be doing the male a disservice by mating with him regardless of his feelings for her but he held back. He had no right to do so. Within the next week or two, he would never see her again. “That is important,” he mumbled.

“He’s everything a female could wish for. It’s only a matter of time before I fall in love with him. I’d always thought that I would see a male and know instantly that he was the one, but I have since realized that you can’t trust such base emotions.” She put her hands on either side of herself, leaning back on the trunk.

God but she was stunning. Her scent floored him. It was delicious. Vanilla with hints of chocolate and melted marshmallows. It was crazy but that’s what he got with every breath. The scent of her beast was intermingled but he found that he didn’t mind it. Normally the strong musky scent of a shifter’s animal was off-putting, but not when it came to her.

The attraction was a little unnerving. A she-wolf. It was the last thing he expected.

“That’s where you’re wrong, it’s those very base emotions ‒ as you put it ‒ that give us non-humans an edge.” Saying what he had just said made him a little uncomfortable, although he couldn’t say why exactly.

Then again, he knew what it was, he needed sex. It was that simple. Brynn was training hard, and rutting would help him to stay strong. Help his body to heal.

Tiffany was an attractive female. Small, yet plump in all the right places. Her eyes were just about the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

She licked her lips, clearly mulling over his words. Fucking sexy lips. Shit!

“I’m also going on a date,” he blurted. “That female I was telling you about, Sylvia.”

“Oh.” The word came out sounding timid. A little hurt. Nah … he must have just imagined it because she smiled. “That’s great news! What do you have planned?”

Brynn shrugged. He hadn’t really given it much thought. “It’s this evening, so, a dinner-date. I was going to have them fix us something and pick it up. I thought we could just hang at my suite. Nothing fancy.”

The she-wolf choked out a laugh. “Do you want to get to know her for the purpose of possibly mating her or do you want to rut her? If you take her to your place, she will think the latter. I’m just warning you. Sebastian has filled me in on some of the dating rules.”

“Why does it have to be so damned complicated?” He shook his head.

“It’s called life. It wouldn’t be so much fun if it wasn’t a little bit complicated, if there weren’t a couple of twists and turns along the way.” Tiffany jumped off the tree trunk.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “You’re right on that one. I’ll have to think of something.”

“I can only talk for myself but I think that all females are similar deep down. We like to know that you went to some effort. It shows that you care.” She lifted her eyes in thought and tucked a few wayward strands of hair behind her ear. “You could set up a dinner somewhere outside under the trees …” She looked around them, her eyes wide. “Or ‒ I don’t know ‒ somewhere special to you. Or to both of you. What is she like?”

“Like I said, she’s really nice. She smiles and laughs a lot. She’s very pretty.”

“What does she look like?” Tiffany seemed to hold her breath.

“She’s small. All humans are small.”

Tiffany nodded.

“She has blond hair all the way down her back and the bluest eyes.” Talking about her made him look forward to tonight. He hoped to get to know her intimately, and soon. Sylvia was exactly his type. She was a human.