“No,” he said matter-of-factly. “Last night you asked me if I broke your window. Sounds like you’ve got trouble.”
“Just some kids.”
“Was it about the same time you found me? My wolf wouldn’t have attacked a group of rowdy boys. And I don’t think any kid would have the balls to knock an alpha in the head, even on a dare.”
I set down my fork. “I thought alphas shared headspace with their wolves? Do you black out like the rest of us?”
“No. But sometimes I get tired and let him take over while I sleep. I trust my wolf. I just wish he’d woken me up when it mattered.”
“What time is it?” I peered around Tak, but the microwave clock was showing the remaining seconds of whatever I’d last heated up.
“I guess ten by now.”
“Ten?” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. “It can’t be.” I cleared the microwave cooking time and stared at the clock display. What if I’d missed the repairman’s call? Had Joe locked up the store like he promised? What if they weren’t able to replace the pane and all my merchandise was wide open for anyone to steal?
“It’s ten fifteen?”
Ignoring me, he continued stuffing his face. “I’ve never seen a woman sleep in so late. Is that how city wolves live? Instead of waking up when the rooster crows, you wake up at the honk of a horn?” He touched his chin with the prongs of his fork. “I guess if you do all your hunting at the grocery store, there’s more time for sleeping in.”
“I have to go.Youhave to go.”
“You didn’t finish your breakfast.”
I slipped on a pair of sandals and grabbed my purse. “Come on!”
“I’m wearing a dress,” he pointed out.
“I’ll drive you back to your motel. Now let’s go.”
Tak stood up and swaggered toward me, the blue sarong fitting him more like a napkin around his waist. “In this?”
“If you’re too good for it, then leave it behind. But I’m not lending you my brother’s clothes. It would be disrespectful to him since you’re not even supposed to be here. You wouldn’t fit in them anyhow.”
He smoothed back his hair and locked his fingers behind his head. “Have it your way, Duckie.”
I was about to admonish him for giving me that silly nickname, but when I opened the door, the words dissolved on my tongue.
Folded neatly in the hallway at the threshold to my apartment were the clothes I’d worn on the day I went joyrunning.
The ones someone had stolen from my car.
Chapter 10
“What’s upset you?” Tak asked for the second time.
Or maybe it was the third.
“My mind is on the store,” I said in all honesty.
He rested his elbow on the car window and moved his hand in a serpentine motion against the wind. “Then we go there first.”
I decided not to tell him the truth. Alpha wolves could be unpredictable. Some had an innate desire to sniff out trouble and punish the wicked.
Whoever had stolen my clothes knew where I lived. Melody’s brothers might have pulled such a prank, but they were out of town along with everyone else I knew. Could it have been Tak? How much did I really know about this guy? He clearly had a sense of humor, and his timing couldn’t have been more impeccable when he drove up. Maybe in the middle of the night, he ran out and retrieved the clothes to mess with my head. If he had some kind of vendetta against Lakota, then harassing his sister made sense. But logic went out the window when the ridiculous image of him running down the street naked entered my mind. What would be the point?
The moment the light switched to green, the car behind me held down the horn. I glared in my rearview mirror, wondering why two seconds was too long to wait.
Tak suddenly opened the door and got out.
