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“It doesn’t hurt bad if they do it right, and I bet Mikel will.” Red reassured her at her silence.
Her gaze zeroed in on the pale skin where Red had pulled the neck of her sweater aside to show her, and the silvered scar there, round and…teeth shaped, she realized. Violet’s brain short circuited.
“You said breeding, but Daniella…Dani…she’s a woman, right?” Apparently, her brain to mouth filter had also crapped out.
“Two words,” Red said, looking positively delighted. “Werepenis. Or is that one word? Either way.”
Her brain just flat refused to absorbthatas fact. A hand landed on hers on the seat, Red seeming to sense her distress.
“I know it’s a lot, but you really will be okay. The Bluff is a pretty cool place, you seem like a cool chick. It’ll get easier, promise.”
Violet shook her head. “And what if I don’t want to be mated or bitten or any of that?”
This seemed to shock her. “You’re probably the only woman in town under forty who feels that way. I mean, not many admit it because of the history weirdness but girl.” Red shook her hand like it would wake her up. “Mikel’s hot, he’s actually a good guy, and he has that whole dark and mysterious thing down pat. Something made him choose you. I say at least give it a chance.”
It didn’t sit right with Violet that Red seemed so against her having a choice. “What’s the alternative, if I’m not interested in any of that?”
She felt the temperature in the cab drop.
“Well, most of them would just uh—make sure it got done.” Violet was equal parts disturbed by this development and pleased that Red seemed to understand it was fucking wrong. “But if you don’t get mated, I guess, uh, he’d probably be in trouble, and I imagine you’d be under the bow again because he couldn’t integrate you. Maybe they’d give you one more shot with someone else; I don’t know.”
A pause hung pregnant between them.
“You really don’t like him?”
“No,” Violet was quick to say. “He’s—” she searched herself for the right word, the rightfeelingand came up empty. “I just—I don’t know him and now I’m supposed to… It’s a lot.”
Red squeezed her hand. “Yeah. Just take it a day at a time?”
Violet nodded, taking the out that was offered to her.
“Want to get a panini or something?” She nodded again, a smile touching her features which Red caught immediately. “What?”
“Just Mikel, trying to get food here. He asked for a black coffee and a chicken sandwich.”
Red burst into laughter. “Oh my god. I can totally see that.”
It felt good to laugh with her, a break in the pressure that had been building in Violet’s chest since they’d seen the exit.
“Yeah,” she finished, hating how fond she sounded. Red gave her a knowing smile.
“You’ll be all right, babe. Come on, chicken sandwiches for two.”
THE SUN WASsetting by the time Red parked the van back in the shop’s driveway, hopped into her own little red car, and bade her goodnight. Violet was surprised to find she was sad to see her go. Red was an easy companion and only two years Violet’s senior. For a few hours, it had been easy to fall into being with her. Red reminded her how long it had been since she’d had an actual friend.
The house was quiet when she pushed open the front door, and she marveled for a second at the fact it was unlocked. Something in her brain sat up again and pointed a finger at her freedom in that moment, with Mikel nowhere in sight and only the quiet forest outside. She squashed it because it was just an illusion, for now.
It was a relief to set his credit card on the kitchen counter. Red hadinsistedshe use it for her lunch, and honestly, Violet’s brain hadn’t realized she didn’t have her own until she’d already ordered and was staring at the cashier, lost. It was different somehow when he was buying her the clothes. She’d felt vindicated, like he owed her then in a way she wasn’t as sure of now.
A quick check of the bedroom and his office came up empty. Ignoring the little bit of foreboding that came with his absence, she made her way out into the cooler air of the shop. It was silent save for a soft, rhythmic hiss and click at the far end of the space. Quietly, she moved through his pieces, trying to place the noise.
She couldn’t.
Neat stacks of wood lined the walls and formed tidy aisles where she walked. Violet realized the space was so much bigger than she’d imagined—a woodworker’s paradise. The sound grew louder, and she thought she heard a grunt or a breath. She peered around a high shelving unit, telling herself it was ridiculous to be so on edge, and he was there.
Of course,her brain said. It was impossible Mikel looked the way he did and didn’t use a gym. Another hiss sounded when he pulled the bar down, weights behind it rising while the muscles in the back of his arms strained. He was sweat shined and shirtless, lying on the bench pumping the bar again and again, weights clicking every time he let the pressure go.
Thenice offersRed said he’d gotten made a lot of sense. He looked cut from stone, his strong jaw set and focused, every line of his abs pulled tight while his arms pumped and pumped. Something in her stomach jumped when she realized she could see the gold in his eyes, the wolf, or what was left of it.
