CHAPTER SEVEN

 

As she wolfed into her steak, Simone listened to her friend relate the story of Adam’s life, as much as it could be told. It was the weirdest thing how she’d barely even met the guy—she really couldn’t count the sex—yet she had an insatiable hunger to know everything about him.

“So you’re telling me he was a little furry monster all the time?”

Leigh nodded. “Pretty much. Any time he didn’t have to be human, he shifted. He was a loner for the most part, but not so much by choice.”

“What do you mean?”

Leigh shrugged, but her expression turned dark. “Wolves have what you might call poor color vision. A lot of them only ever see things in black and white. Adam didn’t fit in the way most wolves do.”

“How so?”

“He’s scary smart, for one thing. The other kids gave him hell any time he used so much as a three-syllable word. And he had no interest in sport, which of course meant he was some kind of fag.” She looked off into the middle distance. “God, he loved to run, though. Not to hunt, really, though he did his fair share. And when he was older, there was some, uh…chasing of tails, shall we say?”

Simone got the distinct impression her friend was sounding her out. Testing her for jealousy. Hell, Latina blood was hotter than most, and the thought of anyone else being with her man usually got Simone’s claws out at the speed of light. Somehow, none of it seemed to matter this time around.

Because he is not your man, doofus. He’s just a guy you fucked with your eyes first, and your body second.

“Hey, I would be shocked if he hadn’t. He might be a total prick, but uh…he’s not all that ugly.”

“This is true.”

“So why isn’t he still going wild? Living life, y’know…off the leash.”

“Har-de-har. Well, there was one thing. He always had a little trouble shifting back.”

Simone took a sip of her beer. “Really? You made it look so easy.”

With a shrug, Leigh glanced around the restaurant. “Mostly it is. For some, it can be a struggle. Kind of like insomnia. You know, when you absolutely have to sleep, and that makes you stress yourself out so hard that you can’t? It’s like that. The more you know you have to shift, the further away it seems to move.”

“And Adam has that?”

“As a kid, it didn’t seem to matter. He was happier as a wolf. It was just…”

“What? Come on, you can’t just dangle it in front of me and pull it away.”

“It became a thing. He was already an outsider, like I said. Once the other kids found out, they used to pick on him about it. Like it made him less of a wolf.”

“So that’s it? That’s what made him turn away from it?”

“No, not just that. It’s a long story.” Leigh took another sip of her wine and then screwed up her nose. “Okay, it’s not all that long, it just doesn’t feel right me telling it. It has to come from Adam. But one thing you really have to know is, he was mated before.”

“Like, married?”

Leigh shrugged and moved her head side to side. “It’s sort of like that. It’s a wolf thing.”

“You keep saying that like it means something to me.”

Leigh suddenly turned serious. “Monie, you gotta understand… I keep saying it because this is wolf country. There are bear shifters, too, and some other creatures that’d really stew your mind. But here, in this little part of town, it’s all about the wolves. So, yeah, everything around here pretty much is a wolf thing.” She put her hands on top of Simone’s. “And if you want to know Adam, you’re gonna have to allow for that.”

With a sigh, Simone turned her hands over and squeezed her friend’s. “What was her name? His mate.”

Leigh paused as if it was a hard question. Finally she seemed to resign herself to answering.

“Jennifer. But please, don’t ask me to explain it all, okay? I’ll just mess it all up. I know the facts but not the truth.”

“Okay. I get it.”

“Aw. Why so glum?”

As simple as the truth was, it felt impossible to explain. It wasn’t jealousy that he’d been married, or that, no matter how he felt about this Jennifer girl now, he’d once upon a time been crazy for her. No, for Simone, it boiled down to the fact he’d been happy with a fellow wolf. There was no way she could compare with that. She could learn every last piece of truth and trivia about Adam and his kind. But she couldn’t ever be one.

“I guess I’m scared of how hard I’m crushing on him. And how quickly. Because it feels like I won’t ever fit in around here.”

“Why should you? Adam doesn’t.”

“In his life, then. I mean, maybe he’s not with Jennifer anymore, but she clearly holds a strong place in his heart. I don’t need that kind of baggage.”

Leigh looked as if someone had kicked her puppy. “Monie, please don’t push me for details. Let me just say they were happy, but they were not in love.”

“How the hell does that even work?”

“Wolves. Remember?”

“Latina. Remember? Nosy as fuck with jalapeño blood. Explain!”

Leigh made a point of taking a long, slow sip of her wine, keeping her eyes locked on Simone’s as she did so, apparently taking great pleasure in milking the moment for all it was worth.

“There’s a process. I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s quite common to have couples who mate for life as wolves without ever feeling the same way as humans. You know, that overpowering charge that you get when you’re with the one?”

“The one?”

“Your fated mate.”

For a moment all she could think of was Adam. The fierce blades of his eyes. The frightening heat of his cock. Overpowering charge might very well be the exact way to describe how it felt when she first saw him. And when he’d touched her.

Oh, and when he’d come into her room and taken her to heaven on the end of his cock.

But it sounded so much like a fairy tale Simone was prepared to write it all off as exactly that. Or at least scratch at the idea to find out its weaknesses. “How do you really know if you’ve found them, though? This so-called fated mate?”

The smile that crossed Leigh’s face was fleeting, but so genuine it lit her up. “If they’re wolves, then both partners know it right away. And pretty much every wolf around them can scent it.” She reached across again and held Simone’s hands. “Like I did the moment you and Adam saw each other.”

Simone could feel her cheeks heating up. “Oh.” She put her hands up to cover the blush, but it was too late. About eighteen hours too late. If what Leigh said was true, then everyone at the party had known how she felt. Everyone including Adam, which must have been why he’d come into her room and fucked her so hard and so well.

And why she’d let him without even a moment’s fight.

“So if it’s true, and I’m meant to be with him, then why he is being such a prick to me? Like, all the time?” Except maybe in bed last night. “Was Jennifer so important to him he can’t move on?”

Leigh pursed her lips. “Monie, I’ll say it one more time, and that’s it. It’s not my tale to tell. I mean, guys are closed books a lot of the time anyway. But dear cousin Adam is all sealed up, and wrapped in duct tape. In a locked safe. At the bottom of the ocean.”

“Uh, I get it.”

“Seriously, though. You’re gonna have to get it straight from him, or not at all.”

“Huh. The only way the words not at all will be coming out of his mouth is when I ask him if he can resist these boobs.”

“Monie? Tread carefully, okay?”