Finally, she couldn't take the ache anymore. “So… how did you get in with Shifters, Inc, anyway?”
“I know Dex from when we served together. He got out before I did and got a gig with Shifters Inc. We had a lot in common. Both of us lost our parents young, never had a family group to take us in. Grew up in foster care, I mean, not together, on opposite sides of the country. When I was dishonorably discharged, he hooked me up with Stef.”
She noted the way he consciously, deliberately said “dishonorably discharged”. Like he was probing a sore tooth with his tongue, to see how much it hurt. His hands were tense on the steering wheel, his fingertips white from the pressure.
“They mean the world to me.” He said the words so softly that she almost didn’t hear them.
Then he snuck a quick glance at her.“Uh, I know I don’t have any right to ask for any favors, but if you have any mercy in your heart, don’t tell Mal and Dexter I said that.”
She nodded in understanding. “Because they’d feel obligated to feed you a ration of crapola about it.”
“It’s the army way.” He smiled ruefully. “I’d do the same to them, I guess, if I ever caught them saying something mushy.”
“They’re your pack now,” she observed. “They really do mean everything to you.”
“Yes.” Then he shrugged, grimacing, trying to sound dismissive. “I guess.”
“I understand that wolves are pack animals. I see how important they are to you. That’s why you threatened to get my license yanked.” She needed a reason. She needed to know he had been forced into it.
“That was part of it.” He glanced at her ruefully. “But mostly it was because you were the only ‘in’ we had. I don’t know if I could have made myself do it in the end though,” he said.
“Oh,” she said, feeling something tight inside her loosen at the admission.
“But if you push Stef, she would in a hoofbeat,” he added. “She does genuinely like you. I know her. She’s not faking, she doesn’t do that. But she’ll play whatever card she has to in order to get what she needs. And she needs to find Ethan and keep a shifter war from boiling over in this valley—which is what will happen if the Coffman kid has been caught up in some sort of sick game out here. His father will rain down hellfire on their heads, believe me.”
No pressure, then. “Fine. Go down that road there.”
The silence was a little more companiable now. About five minutes later, he parked in a weedy gravel parking lot by the side of a silvery lake.
He made quick work of setting up the tent while she leaned on the truck and watched. When he was done, she gave him a thumbs-up.
“I’m sleeping in the truck,” she said.
He gave her a thoughtful look, but to her surprise, he didn’t argue. “Okay,” he said. “But will you sit outside with me for a little bit?”
The air was deliciously cool, and a faint breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees by the shoreline. She’d forgotten what the country sounded like at night, no traffic sounds, no blaring sirens every ten minutes, no chatter of conversation right outside her window. Out here you could hear yourself think.
“I’d love to,” she blurted out. Then she winced at her burst of enthusiasm until she saw the big, genuine smile spread across his face. Suddenly the night air didn’t feel so cool after all. In fact, she felt very, very warm, more so in some parts of her body than others.
She fanned her face with her hand. “Woo. It’s a scorcher.”
“Seriously,” he said, looking worried. “Are you feverish or something? I have aspirin… I could drive you to a doctor… I’ll get the aspirin.”
“I’m not sick! It’s you!” she spluttered.“It’s… you have a certain effect on me. Apurely physicaleffect,” she added quickly.
“Oh,” he said, and then his smile threatened to split his face in two. “Ohhh. Well, you have the exact same effect on me. But you already know that.”
They sat down, a foot apart from each other, on a felled log, tension crackling in the air.
What had he meant by that? She wondered. Why had he used the word “exact?” It sounded like he was saying she only had a physical effect on him, too. Fine. That was just fine. Better than fine. Good. Excellent.
Big stupid jerk. Fated mate, her furry ass.
“So, you know about me now,” he said.“Are you going to tell me about you? The stuff that’s not in our files?” She knew what he was asking. What dark cloud hung over her departure? Why was she so dead set on never setting paw here again?
“Quiet,” she said intently.
He froze.
