Nick watched Hayley laugh at an over-the-top baby monitor, which included two swiveling video cameras, multiple sound receivers, and a state-of-the-art screen on which to view anything happening in the baby’s room.

“This could only be from Will,” she said.

“I tried to stop him,” Eleanor said, laughing, “but once he saw it, he fell in love.”

Everyone laughed at Will’s expense who, to his credit Nick decided, nodded proudly. Will seemed like a pretty damn good alpha. Vigilant and possibly paranoid, but fair and still able to let loose a little bit.

Hayley smiled at Marius, who was already taking the monitor out of the box. Her blue eyes danced, but Nick wasn’t affected. Nick had been chasing a dream about Hayley. He’d built her up in his mind as his mate, but it had never been her. It couldn’t have been, because what he was feeling for the woman seated next to him was a thousand times more powerful, more intoxicating.

He wanted Becca.

She was everything, and his wolf seemed to know it, too.

While everyone was distracted with trying to assemble the high-tech baby monitor so they could play with it here in the bar, Nick tugged on Becca’s chair so that it—and she—were turned slightly toward him.

Her beautiful sea-green eyes stared at him, wide with surprise. “What are you doing?”

“Talking to you. They seem a little busy.”

She turned quickly and likely noticed that her friend, Summer, was completely distracted with the baby monitor and her mate’s attention in pointing it at her. Sighing, Becca turned back to Nick.

“This is weird,” she said.

“You mean our sudden, inexplicable and yet undeniable attraction to each other?”

A soft blush formed on her cheeks, making her eyes look even greener. “That’s not what I was going to say, no.” Then she paused and grinned. “But you’re attracted to me, huh?”

“I’m semi-hard just from sitting next to you.”

Her gaze flicked to his crotch and then quickly back up to his face. “You’re a bit too forward for my taste, sir.”

He doubted it, if the scent of her arousal was anything to go by. How much did she know about the shifter pride she was hanging out with? Was she aware of the whole concept of mates who were fated to be together? Or would he have to ease her into it slowly? He’d never dated a human before. His pack back in Wisconsin had been large enough that there were always young shifter women to date. And then he’d met Hayley and sworn off other women, believing Hayley was the one.

Ha. It would be easy to let his previous conviction shake his current conviction in Becca, but impossible. Every muscle, sinew, bone, and thought in his body was about this woman with the sea-green eyes.

“Well, my apologies, then,” he said, watching her carefully. “I don’t want to offend the person who hit me with her car.”

“I think we should let that go,” she said in a loud whisper.

“You mean the past is in the past?” he asked.

Suddenly, the table had gotten very quiet, and Nick looked over to see everyone watching him and Becca, expressions of interest on their faces.

“Soooo,” Jackson drawled, “how did you two meet, anyway?”

Becca’s cheeks flushed even more.

Nick grinned. “She ran into me. With her car.”

“What?” Summer’s alarmed gaze flicked from him to Becca, and back to him again. He could practically read the warning in her dark brown eyes: She doesn’t know.

Nodding, he said, “Yeah, I was going for a quick run. She hit me, and that was that.”

“That was that?” Becca said, sputtering. “You were naked. Who goes for naked runs in the woods?”

“People with an appreciation for being one with nature,” he shot back.

“This is insane,” she muttered.

“The best part,” Nick said, “was how she agreed to give me a ride back to town, but she made me ride in the trunk of her car.”

Marius laughed the hardest and loudest at that, but it was worth it to Nick to see the beginnings of another smile on Becca’s face. Her smile was so pretty. She had to know how gorgeous she was. Could she be seeing someone already? He looked at her hands. No wedding band. Well, that was good news.

“You know, you’re all right,” Marius said, pointing at Nick.

A witty comeback was on the tip of his tongue, something about not needing Marius’s approval, but Nick swallowed it. “Uh, thanks.”

“It’s a good thing, too. I didn’t want to have to take you up to Mount Lisle and beat your ass.”

“Oh, yeah, that trailhead,” Jackson said. “Perfect spot for a beating.”

Becca stared at them, her mouth open in shock. “What is wrong with you guys?”

“Don’t mind them, they never learned manners,” Will said, shooting disapproving looks at Marius and Jackson.

Becca settled back into her chair. She was the only human in this group of everyone else who knew what the real story was.

His thoughts skittered this way and that as he watched Becca interact with the Dark Pines Pride. She’d said something about not being as close to her best friend now. If he had to hazard a guess, he’d say it was because her best friend was now in the pride, and Becca had no idea there even was a pride. She’d be forever an outsider until they clued her in to the shifter secret. Something hit him in the chest at that thought—sympathy. He felt bad for her, and he wanted to confess everything. They were both outsiders, but at least he knew where he stood. Becca had no fucking clue, and that was hardly fair.