She snorts in contempt."You think that I cast a love spell.On you.Of all the wolves in the entire freaking universe.”
I struggle for breath.The need pulsing under my skin is scrambling my brain."I'm desperately searching for an explanation for what I am experiencing right now.”
"You are literally the last wolf on this earth I would waste a love spell on," she says."If I could do love spells — which I cannot, because that is not how plant magic works, you massive tool — I would sooner cast one on a flatulent wildebeest."
I snort in contempt."A flatulent —"
"Wild.E.Beest.”She bites out each syllable, eyes sparking dangerously.“Before I did one on you."
I don’t want her to like me, but also, how dare she?"I'd do one on a rabid porcupine before I did one on you," I say coldly."For the record."
She glares at me.“I’m changing my choice.I’d find three-day-old skunk roadkill, find a re-animator, get it re-animated, and cast a love spell on that before I did on one you.”
“You can’t change your choice.”Why did I just say that?
Because she’s so fiery and I want to feel the heat of that fire.
Damn my life.
“Says who?”she says incredulously.
I double down.“Says me.You’re stuck with a flatulent wildebeest.”
She tosses her hair and glares at me.“Good.Then you’re stuck too.Enjoy doing it with a rabid porcupine.Because I don’t care what my body is saying right now, Andrew Rat-Bastard Ward is not my fated mate.”
“Yeah, well, Henrietta Henny Penny Pain In The Ass Romero is not MY fated mate.”I pause.“Just out of curiosity, what is your body saying right now?”
And why does thinking about it send blood rushing south of my belt buckle?
“Why do you want to know?”she scoffs.
I shrug.“Scientific curiosity.”
“You want to know?Fine.I’ll tell you if you tell me.”She lifts her chin and meets my gaze defiantly.“The second I looked at you, it felt like someone flipped a switch and my entire body was electrified.And my wolf went absolutely insane.She's been doing backflips since the moment I laid eyes on you, which is humiliating, because she has terrible taste and I raised her better than this."She pauses."Also there is a very inconvenient amount of heat happening in my nether regions that I am not going to describe in any further detail."
Yes, I know.I can scent her arousal, and I am sure she can scent mine.
Why.Just why?
She straightens up and looks me dead in the eye.
"So obviously this is a nightmare that I will wake up from any minute now."
Silence.
We both wait hopefully.
A crow calls somewhere outside the shed.
"Not yet, apparently."She exhales through her nose."OK.Your turn.What happened to you when you saw me?”
I let out a low growl of exasperation.“When I saw you standing by the cornfield," I say, "my wolf woke up and tried to escape, and I almost shifted right there.I just felt this insane urge to stalk over and throw you over my shoulder and…you can stop looking so horrified!It’ll never happen, trust me."
She is watching me with those wide dark eyes and I make myself keep talking.
"And the heat — yes.I'm aware of it.I will get it under control."I cross my arms."My wolf is currently under the impression that you belong to him.He is wrong.I've made that clear.He is not listening."
“Well, make him listen!”Her voice rises in hysteria.
