“You did what?” Duke yelled, staring at Brick with a look of astonishment, as he held his knife in one hand and his fork in the other. “You sent her a dick pic and told her you’d fuck her?”

“Yeah.” Brick ran his fingers through his hair and then reached for another French fry. He popped it into his mouth, finishing off the third large order. “I don’t know why she got all bent out of shape. I showed her what I can give her and told her I would. She’s supposed to be my mate, right? What else could she be interested in? My dick’s a big part of the process.”

“I can’t even….”

“What?”

“I guess we’ll have to sneak you in the rear entrance of the building, or you can stay at the hotel, while I search for the book.”

“No, I’m going!”

“You’ve accepted that she’s the one, huh?”

“I can’t fight it anymore.”

Duke smiled and said, “I’m happy for you!”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

“But all the bars and all the willing women….”

Duke waved his fork in the air and swallowed.

“Doesn’t matter. Look. What we do is fun. Of course, it is! But that’s not a real connection like we’re intended to have.” He sliced into his ham and murmured, “I wish the Hunger would strike me.”

“You do?”

“I’m lonely, Brick. I want a wife and kids. The picket fence. The whole thing. Whatever she likes, I don’t care.” His gaze fell to his plate. “I want a little pack of my own.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“And ruin our nightly romps, with as much pussy as we can get until it hits me?” Duke’s head jerked up. “Or see the look on your face that you have right now, like you feel sorry for me? No, thanks.”

“I’m a lousy alpha and best friend. I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not. How would you know?” Duke shrugged. “But now, you do. So, let’s focus on you getting your woman, and hopefully later, I’ll find mine.”

“She doesn’t like my dick,” Brick grumbled at the same time his stomach rolled yet again. “What do I do?”

“I have no idea.”

“Flowers,” said an older grizzled male voice from behind Brick.

“Why are you helping them, Arnie?” another one chimed in.

“They’re idiots!” the first guy replied. “Just like we were back then. I gotta help ‘em out. It’s my duty as a man who’s been through that shit!”

Brick turned around as much as he could in the diner seat to see where the comments were coming from and said, “Did you say something?”

“You got woman problems, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Get her a bouquet of beautiful flowers and get on your knees, son. Whatever you did, apologize!” He wagged a finger at Brick. “Even if you don’t mean it, or if you think you didn’t do anything wrong!”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“An alpha doesn’t kneel,” Duke said under his breath with a chuckle.

“He will if he wants to be in good graces with his female, if you know what I mean.”

“Where do I get them?”

The elderly man pointed across the street.

“There’s a shop right there.”

“You think it’ll work?”

The man rolled his eyes.

“How dense are you? They love that girlie shit, and it’s our job to give it to them! Whatever she wants, give it to her. Then,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows, “you get what you want.”

“Thank you!” Brick said, throwing some bills on the table. He stood and slapped a fifty on the one where the elderly men were eating. “For your guidance.”

A few minutes later, he and Duke entered the florist shop. Brick stopped in his tracks, dumbfounded at the vast amounts of bouquets, potted plants, and pictures on the walls that displayed other options.

“There’re so many,” Duke whispered behind him. “How are you supposed to choose?”

“Hey! What about that one?” Brick said, pointing to an arrangement fashioned into a heart, covered with pink carnations.

It sat on a thin metal easel, with a ribbon crossing the center.

Duke read the inscription aloud: “You’ll always be in my heart.” He shrugged and said, “Since she’s your mate, that’s true. Why not?”

Flagging down a passing clerk, Brick gestured to the flowers.

“I’ll take that one.”

“Oh…” The smile on her face fell. “...I’m so sorry for your loss, sir. I can make sure that it arrives at the funeral home today. How would you like it personalized?”

“Huh?”

“For your deceased loved one. We make several deliveries daily.” She glanced at her watch. “We can have it there between 3 and 5 p.m. if you place your order now.”

“But… she’s not dead.” Brick looked at what he’d chosen in confusion. “She wouldn’t like that? It has lots of flowers. It’s pink and girlie. It’s big. The guys told me to get something like that to make her happy.”

“Oh, I see.” She laughed, touching Brick’s forearm. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”

Both of them shook their heads, and the gleam in her eyes returned.

“So, this is for a woman you’re interested in?”

“Yeah. I mean, just me.”

“Okay. Let me get a few details, and then we can figure out what would be best. Is this a new relationship, or did you mess something up?”

“Uuuh… both?”

“How much do you want to spend?”

Brick withdrew his wallet and handed her his credit card.

“Max it out if you need to.”

Duke turned into the parking lot of Penwell’s Peculiars and pulled into the spot closest to the door.

“Do you know what you’re gonna say?”

“Yeah. I’ve been running it over in my head.”

“Are you really gonna kneel to her?”

Brick didn’t respond. He couldn’t tell Duke how low he was willing to prostrate himself to make her, his mate, see him in a different way and accept him. He was prepared to do whatever it took, regardless of the cost to his pride, something unthinkable to him in the past.

“Okay. I’m gonna go back to the hotel until you give me the word to pick you up. Just text me.”

Brick’s focus was on the bouquet sitting between his legs. It was an arrangement made of Stargazer lilies, pink and Sahara roses, purple orchids, eucalyptus, and at his insistence, magnolias. The clear vase was wrapped with a purple ribbon. A box of gourmet chocolate-covered strawberries that the clerk had recommended was on the dash in a gold box.

Brick looked at his reflection in the visor, smoothed his hair back, and patted down the front of his body. He’d chosen to wear a black long-sleeved dress shirt, with matching black trousers and a belt with the crest of his pack on the buckle.

He opened his door and stepped out, holding the vase full of flowers.

“Break a leg, Alpha! You got this! You look good!” Duke smiled and gave him an encouraging wink. “Go get her!”

Brick breathed into his hand and sniffed, smelling the mints he’d been scarfing down. They served not only to freshen his breath, but also to settle his fluttering stomach a bit.

“Stop stalling.” Duke grabbed the box and handed it to Brick. “I’ll get everything set up on the lawn for you two. Remember what that lady clerk and those old dudes told you to do and how to act!”

“I will! Thanks!”

Brick turned and sauntered towards the building. Hopping up the steps, he opened the door and went inside. The desk Ivy was usually seated behind came into view, and there she was, typing on her keyboard, with her cellphone propped between her shoulder and ear.

“Yeah, I’m close to finishing it up, Moira. I’ll send it to you later this week, so you can look over the reports and appendices and let me know if you have any questions that I need to answer or other feedback before you submit it.” She swiveled in her seat, saw Brick, and then turned back around. “I have to go. Dick pic Brick is here.”

Whoever she was talking to responded in an excited voice. Brick stepped back, so as to not intrude on their conversation, hoping she would see the change in his demeanor.

“No, I’m not sending it to you.” She pinned Brick with a glare and curled a strand of her hair around her ear. “I can’t. I deleted it, but I can give him your number. He’s so proud of it, I’m sure he’d send it to you, too.”

“You’re different,” he mumbled.

“Sure, I am,” she shot back at him with the tiniest of grins.

“Are we going to talk with your friend listening in?”

“Why not?” She pressed a button and set the device on the top of the desk. “Moira, you’re on speaker.”

“Okay.”

Ivy said, “Well, you’re here, and you’re not dressed like a bounty hunter, so what do you want?”

“Ivy, will you please come down here?”

“Oh, my God, Ivy! His voice….”

“Shut up, Moira.”

“Girl, listen to him. Mmmm! I know you’ve still got that picture. No way, you got rid of it.”

Ivy rolled her eyes, as she went down the steps from the elevated desk, to the floor. Rather than her usual hoodie and leggings, she wore a black slim-line dress. The bodice hugged her breasts, and a belt was cinched at her waist. The hem of its skirt was snug, brushing against her knees, as she approached Brick. The overall effect was a stunning display of her curves.

“You look beautiful.”

She scrunched her eyebrows together, as she approached him.

“I may have plans later. I’ve been talking to a few guys on a dating site, now that my time is freeing up.”

Hysterical laughter burst from the phone, as Brick loosened his grip on the vase, which he was close to breaking in jealousy.

“Stop lying to him! No, she doesn’t! Don’t believe that, Brick!” Moira called out. “She’s complaining about that picture, but let me tell you, I know her, and she never would’ve mentioned it to me unless—”

Ivy sped over to the desk, grabbed the phone, shouted, “Bye!” into it, and then set it down.

While her back was turned, Brick dropped to one knee and set the vase on the floor. He watched and waited for her to look his way again, begging her in his mind to listen to and forgive him. She looked over her shoulder and then flipped around.

“What are you doing?”

“Apologizing.”

“For...?”

“Where do I begin?” He sighed. “I guess, for everything.”

She arched an eyebrow and said, “Too vague.”

“For being unable to control this overwhelming Hunger that I have for you. It’s something that hit me when we first arrived, and it’s consuming my every thought and influencing my actions.”

“I thought that might’ve been just a myth.”

“You’ve heard of it?”

“Of course, I’ve heard of it. My thesis is on shifters’ place in the modern world, as related to their beginnings at the dawn of creation. It’s fascinating stuff, to say the least.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, and it’s going to blow academic theory sky high once it’s published. Well, I hope it does.”

“That’s why you were chosen as my mate,” he whispered. “Our goals are the same, defending the shifter species.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m not planning on settling down any time soon.”

Brick stood and approached her slowly.

“That’s what I thought, too, but I was wrong.”

“So, this is supposed to be a done deal, then?” She waved a finger at him and her. “You and me?”

He looked deeply into her eyes, searching them.

“Are you telling me that you don’t feel the pull to me that I do to you?”

“I’m not trying to be mean, but you’re not my type.”

He noticed she didn’t answer the question he’d asked; instead, she deflected. Undeterred, he pressed on.

“What kind of man are you attracted to?”

“Educated.”

“I have a Masters in Animal Husbandry, and I completed our military academy training faster than anyone else in our pack’s history.”

“You’re making that up to try to impress me.”

“No, I’m not. Ivy, I was motivated by a very deep loss and the heavy weight of being an alpha on my shoulders. You only know what you’ve seen of me this short while, and it hasn’t been my best. I’m trying to show you that I don’t have a jock strap for a brain. What else?”

“I want a man who respects me.”

“That’s why I came to you on bended knee. To ask for your forgiveness for my actions... and to give you these.” He picked up the flowers and handed them to her. “I hope you like them.”

After taking them from him, Ivy lifted them to her nose.

“I love magnolias. They’re my favorite.” She raised her head to look up at him. “How did you know?”

He nodded at the wisdom of the men at the diner advising him and also to his wolf, acknowledging the recognition of what he’d been trying to communicate to his human side.

“When I got here, it was the only thing I could smell. I figured something was messing with my wolf. I was right, but not in the way I thought. He found you.”

Desire to gather her into his arms and run away into the night flooded through him, as he watched her face break into a smile, while she touched the petals. But then she returned to her normal shielded bearing.

“Thank you, but.... I don’t know what to think about this, Brick.”

“Don’t, then. Have dinner with me, and let’s get to know each other.”

At that moment, soft music filtered in from the outside.

“What’s that?”

“Come see,” he said, holding out his hand to her.

Both of them stared at his outstretched palm.

Please take it. I won’t hurt you. I’d rather die than do that. Touch me.

“Just a meal?” she asked, her voice quiet and wistful. He nodded. “Okay.”

She slipped her small hand into his large one, and he drew her closer. Then she touched his chest.

“My God! It’s like a brick wall,” she murmured.

“Built to protect you.”