Barlow growled as he sensed the approach of another wolf. He slowed his pace and waited until he caught a flash of brown fur and a whiff of a familiar scent. Roxanne.
He bared his fangs as she pranced onto the path in front of him. The smaller wolf padded towards him, and he held still, waiting to see what she would do. He would never underestimate this she-wolf.
The wolf stopped a few steps away and bared her neck. He let out a grunt, to show he acknowledged her submission.
The she-wolf panted and took the last few steps towards him. She started licking him, and he butted her away, but she tried it again and again.
Barlow pushed the shift and slapped her muzzle. “Enough, Roxanne,” he yelled.
The wolf peered up at him until she too flickered to her human form.
“Don’t tell me you’re rejecting me for that human you’re following around like a puppy?” she scoffed.
“No.”
“Liar!” she screeched.
Barlow winced at her tone. Well, partly no.
“Roxanne, I’m not interested.”
“We were good together,” she cooed, trying a different tack.
“We had sex – that’s it.”
“We could pick up where we left off,” she continued, undeterred. “I know you left me because of your mother.”
Barlow glared at her. “My mother has nothing to do with this!”
“You’re afraid of taking a mate because you don’t want to lose her – lose me.” She pouted.
Barlow inwardly snorted. He had never considered taking Roxanne as anything.
“But you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. We can work through your problems together.”
It dawned on him that while they were together, she had also been sleeping with her psychiatrist – she fancied herself an expert on all matters mental now.
“No, Roxanne.”
She glowered at him. “You actually prefer that stupid little human to me?”
“Actually, yeah,” he chuckled. In every way possible.
“You’re not mating her are you?”
“No, but you’re engaged to Edward.” Seemed like the time to remind her of that – she had apparently forgotten.
Roxanne sniffed. “I’m planning on breaking it off – he wants me to be a step-mother to his children. As if I want that!”
“Lucky Edward.”
Roxanne rolled her eyes. “He’s twenty years older than me. He’s just a middle-aged man going through a mid-life crisis. Don’t spare him your sympathy. I didn’t ask him to leave his fat wife – he did that of his own accord. Soon, he’ll be looking for someone younger than me.” She smiled. “In just a few weeks, we could be together though?”
He told himself not to ask, but he couldn’t help himself. “A few weeks?”
“Yes, Edward is selling his family vacation house. He put it in my name for tax purposes or something, so I’ll have all the proceeds. It’s worth a few million, easy.” She virtually licked her lips at the idea of that much money.
Lord, Roxanne seemed to be getting more vicious with age.
“We could be very happy together.”
“No, we couldn’t.” That was something he was certain about.
Roxanne pushed her breasts out. “Don’t you want me?”
“No!” he shouted. What would it take to get it through to her?
“You’d rather sleep with her?”
“Yes, a thousand times yes.”
Roxanne frowned and, unexpectedly, launched herself at him, trying to kiss him. He gripped her shoulders, holding her at arms length before her lips could make contact.
“Enough,” he roared.
He gave her a small shove, pushing her away.
Roxanne let out a yowl of frustration, and her form melted back into her beast. She curled her lip at him and bounded away.
Good riddance purred his beast.
Boy, how he wished he had never said yes two years ago when she asked him up for coffee.
*
Susie relaxed in the sauna. Ah, this is the life. Turning the fan off, and running the water really hot in her bathroom back home so the air got all steamy just did not compare to the real thing.
She was also grateful that the pack didn’t seem too bothered about the sauna. She had it all to herself. She asked Jules to join her, but she pouted and said no way – her wolf would hate that.
Susie wiped a strand of hair off her face.
She didn’t expect the scavenger hunt to be fun, but dang it, it was. Jules loved organizing these sorts of things, and usually, her teammates were Candace and Lila, so being with Barlow was a very welcome change. Spending time with him was always welcome. He was funny and good-natured and never made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. When she actually thought about it, Allen always used to make her feel like he was ‘slumming it’ by being with her. Yeah, he dressed it up and told her he loved her, but Allen was always trying to change the way she dressed, the way she ate, the way she laughed and was always harassing her to quit her job. Barlow just seemed to like her no matter what.
When they were setting off for the hunt, she managed to slip and fall her butt. She sprawled on the snow with ripped pants, flashing her pink heart-decorated underwear to him. Yeah, another banner day for her, but one that thankfully the rest of the pack missed. But she only cared about one man’s reaction.
Barlow didn’t immediately flame with mortification and snarl at her to get her ass off the ground and cover her shame. No, Barlow threw back his head in laughter while hauling her to her feet and checking her for injury. Instead of huffing and puffing impatiently, he waited while she ran back to the room for new pants, and when she came back, he smirked and asked if she had changed her panties too.
Instead of making her feel foolish, he made her see the funny side of it, made her see that something like that wasn’t worth hiding her head in shame. It was just one of those things that happened, and it was better to laugh than cry about it.
She loved how laidback he was. Well, not loved, she thought hastily. She meant… she didn’t know what she meant.
Susie leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to think of another subject other than Barlow. It wasn’t easy.
Her eyes snapped open as she heard movement outside the door. She tightened her towel around her, expecting someone else to enter the sauna. No one did.
She shuffled over to the door and tried to peer outside. She caught a flash of movement – someone in black scurrying away. A feeling of dread stabbed at her.
Susie grabbed the door handle and gasped. It was locked.