Page 18 of Tempting Fate

I really don’t have time to argue. They’ll start arriving at any moment. And Dax will be here, sure, but he’s meeting the new housemate as Vince’s boyfriend, so I’m not sure how much he’ll be able to help me out.

Fine. Be there in 15.

Oh, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do when Flynn gets here, no doubt. I don’t have time to dwell on it. The door opens and Vince and Dax spill inside, Vince giving me a little wave as he heads over to Cecile. Dax comes straight to the bar and then pulls a face.

“You seem worried.”

“I’m not worried.”

He leans in closer, which is a nice gesture, if a pointless one. Cecile surely already knows what I’m feeling, and so will every other wolf who approaches the bar. “I can smell it on you,” he murmurs.

I shrug. “It’s fine. How are you?”

Dax eyes me shrewdly—he’s been spending too much time with that new pack of his, to have picked up a look like that—but when he shakes his head, he drops the matter. “Good. Really good. They’re opening the gym next weekend. Vince is so excited.”

Reluctantly, my gaze flicks to Vince, who looks to be fully engaged in conversation with Cecile. His body, though, is angled towards Dax, in that subconscious way that seems to happen between mates.

The gym is a labour of love for the two of them, truth be told. Vince started self-defence classes for us all over a year ago, mainly as a way of reassuring those who don’t tend to fight that they’re perfectly capable of defending themselves. The classes still run a few times a week, but Alpha Kieran’s pack officially bought out the old warehouse they’ve been using and soon it’ll be a regular gym, open to the public.

I’m kind of excited to see it. I’m not really a gym goer myself, but I think they’ll have some fun stuff for wolves and the like in there, which will be a nice change.

“Are you?”

“Yeah. Of course. But a little…”

“Nervous?”

“He wants me to teach a class on my own. Not right away, but—I can’t do that, right?”

I snort. Best to cut to the chase with Dax, though no one quite gets to him the way Vince does. “Yeah, you can. I bet Vince hasn’t been the only one to tell you that, has he?”

Dax’s cheeks go pink. “No. Cecile said it too. And Dante and Ophelia and Adam and…”

“Everyone, basically?”

“Yeah. But what if they’re just being nice?”

I huff, annoyed that I’m not on the other side of the bar so I can’t gently shove him for that foolishness. “They’re not lying to you, Dax. You don’t have to rush into anything, but for what it’s worth, I think you’ll be good at it, too.”

His responding smile is pleased, but all of that flies out of my head when the pub door opens again and I get a whiff of the people stepping inside.

Nick is first and easy to dismiss, though I know I shouldn’t. Especially not when I get a hint of nervousness from him—he might not have been told that there are wolves in here, but he’s not behind the door. He knows not everyone in here is human.

Then Jamie, and I get that pull in my gut I’ve experienced before. My wolf perks up as I greedily trace his features. His gaze meets mine for a second. My heart skips a beat.

Maybe he is my mate? Maybe—

The final man—the new housemate, I have to assume—follows them both in and a chill sweeps through my entire body, followed quickly by a rush of heat. He has a pretty, delicate face and blinks owlishly behind round, wire-framed glasses. He’s as tall as Nick, but slender, and when Nick and Jamie lead him over to Vince and Cecile, he ducks his head adorably, a flush crawling up the back of his neck.

He’s my mate.

Is this why I’ve had such confusing feelings around Jamie? Except when I look at Jamie now, that feeling doesn’t fade. My hands shake, so I press them against the counter in front of me.

“Patch,” Dax murmurs. He looks stricken.

“I—” I swallow, throat dry. “I don’t know what to do.”

“We can go somewhere else. We don’t have to stay here.”

I shake my head. Cecile’s gaze flicks our way. She’s heard us, but at least she’s discreet.

“No, I—” I know my smile doesn’t reach my eyes. I should be elated, and part of me absolutely is, but this man is Jamie’s new housemate, and things are already so strained between us, and I don’t want to make things worse for anyone here. “I’ll be fine. Flynn’s coming.”

Dax gives me a look like he doesn’t believe me, but Vince, oblivious to all of it, shouts him over. Dax reaches across and squeezes my arm before he leaves.

When I look at the group again, Jamie is watching me. A small frown furrows his brow and my body heats again. Why couldn’t it have been him? I like him. We get on well, despite the distance I’ve been creating between us.

Jamie looks sharply away. He nudges the new housemate in the side, then grins up at him, and I see the desire that crackles between them.

Oh, fuck.

I really am about to ruin everything, aren’t I?