Cody
I shifted and ran through the forest until every ounce of desire for Quinn was gone. It took so long that the sun was coming up as I was heading back home, but when I walked back through that door, I was confident that my emotions were trapped in an iron cage.
Then I saw her asleep on my bed, tangled in the blankets I’d never bothered to smooth out. Her hair, tangled and falling out of the bun she’d half-heartedly created the night before, the loose strands fanned out on my pillow. She was so peaceful, so calm and soft and vulnerable.
That iron cage? It cracked like an egg the moment I saw her face.
I swallowed, hard, when I caught her scent in the air. She still smelled citrusy and sweet, the way she always did, but this time I could smell something else entwined with her scent.
She smelled like me.
The pride and joy that filled me when that realization hit me was so strong that I had to turn right around and walk out of that door before I took her up on the offer she’d made to me last night.
I sat down on the couch next to Sebastian, who was still lost in the book he’d been reading since I’d got home.
“Quinn seems nice.” He offered, putting down the book for a second.
“Liar.” I muttered, fighting off the memory of her sitting on his lap in her underwear. “She’s a sexy piece of work.” I leaned my head against the wall.
Sebastian didn’t respond to that, and when I looked over at him, he was back in the book. Mine and Sebastian’s friendship worked well. We both kept to ourselves for the most part, but he got lost in fiction a lot and tended to forget his common sense. I was a logical opinion he could bounce ideas off of, and he was much more laid-back than anyone else in my family or life.
“She wants me to sign away my rights as her soulmate, like some kind of a divorce.” I spoke again. He dropped his book and his eyebrows raised high into his forehead. “She’s determined to piss me off until I hate her enough to sign.”
Sebastian grimaced.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I admitted. “What would you do?”
“Well I wouldn’t sign the paper.” He pulled off the glasses that I knew were only for reading, so his eyes wouldn’t hurt when he stayed up all night with his nose in a book. “I guess I’d try to convince her that I could be worth more to her than whatever reason she wants the paper signed for.”
I nodded. That was a better idea than mine. I’d just been planning on waiting her out, hoping she’d underestimated how important she was to me.
Sebastian and I both looked to the door when we heard a car door shut in the parking lot, and we waited as there were feet on the stairs. The doorknob turned, and Tanner stepped inside the apartment. Hallie followed him inside, holding his hand.
“Why aren’t you with your woman?” Tanner frowned. “She can’t piss you off while she’s asleep.”
“She smells like me.” I shrugged and folded my arms. “She’s tempting enough when she’s fully-dressed and not in my bed.”
“Ah.” he grimaced.
Hallie let go of him and crossed the small room to give me a quick hug.
“She’ll come around.” Hallie promised. She let go and took Tanner’s hand again.
“Dad wants us there now, before most of the pack is awake. Can you wake up your soulmate, or is that too much of a temptation?” he grinned, and Hallie rolled her eyes at him.
With my luck she was probably naked at that point, thinking I’d climb into bed with her before I realized it.
“I think I’ve got it.” My voice was dry and sarcastic.
When I walked back into my room, I closed the door behind me in case she really still wasn’t dressed.
“So I’m a temptation?” Quinn’s lips curled up in a sleepy smile, and she stretched her arms over her head. When she stretched, I saw that she was wearing one of my t-shirts. That was just as sexy as when she’d only been wearing underwear.
“Eavesdropper.” I ignored the question and offered her my hand. She took it, her mouth still slightly curved.
“At least I’m a tempting eavesdropper.”
She slipped out of bed, and I noticed that she wasn’t wearing any pants.
If I hadn’t heard Tanner’s and Hallie’s voices in the other room, I would’ve yanked her to me and kissed her.
“Here.” I let go of her hand long enough to grab a pair of basketball shorts out of my dresser. “To complete your outfit.”
Her smile grew, and she stepped closer. As she took the shorts, she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
The gesture was so small and cute that the wolf in me rumbled in satisfaction.
“Thanks.” She pulled them on without stepping away, so her body brushed mine as she moved. “Ready?”
She opened the door and stepped outside, leaving me to grab both of her suitcases. My backpack of clothes was still in the car, and I wasn’t going to bother bringing any more of my stuff to her house until I knew if she would be safe on Mount Edge.
I left in time to catch Hallie giving Quinn a huge hug.
“It’s so good to meet you.” Hallie smiled at my soulmate.
“Then Cody must not have told you much about me.” She smiled, but I could see in her body language that she was uncomfortable.
When Hallie laughed, Quinn relaxed a little.
“You’re my sister now, you can give my brother as much of a hard time as you want.” She wrapped her arm around Quinn and steered her out of the apartment. I could hear them talking and laughing like best friends, despite having just met.
“With Hallie and Emma on the welcoming committee, how could she ever leave?” Tanner grinned and slapped me on the back.
“Hopefully she can’t.” I agreed.
“You guys take Cody’s truck.” Hallie called out, as she and Quinn opened the doors to Tanner’s. “We’ll follow you there.”
I bit back a protest. Tanner was right. If Quinn became close with my sisters, there was a better chance she’d decide that we didn’t need to part ways after all. I had to use everything I had going for me, including my family.