AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lovely to meet you,” Cortana answered with a pleased smile.
“Come on, let me get you a cone.” Walking gingerly, Gwennie nodded to the counter. “Whatcha want, wolf?”
Startling, Cortana froze on her feet and shot a look at the alpha male. Riaz, however, took no notice, beckoning her forward with a lilt of his head.
“I’ll take the old standby, sweetest.”
“And you, young one?”
It took a moment for Cortana to realize Gwennie was speaking to her. “Oh, um … I just wanted to pick some to go. For the kids back at the …”
She still didn’t know how much Gwennie was aware of, and she masked the hesitation by peering through the frosted glass, biting her lip as she surveyed the myriad of options.
Gwennie laughed behind the counter. “Oh, I know that part of Riaz’s order by heart. Five Woofmallow Pupcups, extra sprinkles. What about you? Not a sweets fan?”
“She’s more of a meat-eater,” Riaz added without missing a beat. “The bloodier the better.”
“After your own heart, no doubt,” Gwennie countered, brown eyes narrowing on his with clear affection.
“My heart?” A laugh. “Cortana would love to sink her fangs into it, I’m certain.”
As she glanced back and forth between them in shock, she gathered that the casual way they interacted with each other signified a lengthy relationship. But that would be ridiculous: a human couldn’t know of the immortal world. It was taboo, a near impossibility. For Gwennie to know of the werewolves meant she must’ve been born to an immortal couple and elected to remain human.
Gwennie handed over a double-stacked cone to the wolf waiting across the counter. “Your regular: one scoop Superman and one scoop Hot Fudge Sundae.”
As Riaz thanked the shopkeeper, Cortana titled her head to the side and studied the cone. “That’s an odd combination.”
After a liberal lick to the top scoop that had Cortana’s hormones misfiring, Riaz clarified, “Wasn’t my idea originally, Pet.”
“And whose was it?”
Cackling, Gwennie grabbed another cone. “Mine! Because he’s Super-Hot!”
Shaking her head at the dynamic, Cortana stood mutely as Gwennie scooped out another cone for her. This time, she dug into a container with a moon label before offering it across the counter.
“This one is my specialty. I call it the Midnight Howl: mocha ice cream with maple bacon bits. You strike me as one who might enjoy a bit of a walk on the wild side.”
With a suggestive wink, Gwennie left them to themselves, disappearing to the back room. Riaz nudged her toward a table, then gallantly pulled a chair out for her. Eyeing him suspiciously, she seated herself on the white metal and took a good look at the mocha ice cream.
Everything in her revolted at the idea of taking a bite. Though she’d been the one to suggest their outing, now she was having second thoughts about her ability to bluff through the act. Her face, clearly, betrayed her dislike.
“You don’t have to eat it, Cort,” Riaz said sympathetically in between licks of his own, the ice cream rapidly disappearing.
“I’m just … we can eat food, but it’s like eating dirt. We hate it, and there’s absolutely no nutritional value.”
“Luckily for you, I can always handle eating. You might call me a master of the art.”
Without any warning, he leaned across the small round table and took a hefty bite of hers. Exclaiming a gasp at the audacity of him, Cortana yanked her cone away from his grinning face.
“How dare you!”
“What?” He smacked his lips together, clearly enjoying the flavor before returning to his own cone. “It’s not like you were gonna eat it anyway.”
“No?”
Pouting her lips in a seductive smirk, Cortana caught his eye. Slowly, she delicately skimmed her tongue over the chilled treat, holding the intensity of his unblinking eye contact. His eyes hooded, mouth parting as he watched her every lick. Delighted by his attention, she moaned slightly as though it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.
“Oh, you gotta stop that, Pet,” he purred, his voice deep and gravely, “or my wolf is gonna demand a taste.”
