He stepped away from me. “Go out if you want.”
Go out? He was just going to let me go out without consequences? Without guards? Without protecting me from rogues? I arched a brow at him. He would never do that. “What’re you doing?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He shrugged his shoulders and stepped away from me, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Do whatever you want to do.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. This was not how he worked. He wasn’t supposed to let me do whatever I wanted. He was supposed to fight with me. He was supposed to try to control me, try to dominate me.
“Later, Isabella.” He turned and walked all the way down the hallway toward the exit doors.
No way was I going to let him just walk away from me. I stepped forward. “You might not have a guard out there, Roman,” I said. “But you’ll be out there, waiting for me.”
With one hand grasping the doorknob, he gazed back with those dangerous eyes of his. “That’s where you’re wrong.” Then he walked right out of the building, leaving me dumbfounded.
I shook my head and growled under my breath. If he wanted me to go out tonight, then I would go out to get myself into trouble. Bratty? Yes. But he liked bratty. He was giving me a chance to do what I wanted. Whether he came out to get me or not, he would be watching.
Mr. Beck chuckled from his wheelchair. “You two are something else.”
“We aren’t anything.”
“I’ve been around for too long.” He gazed back out at the cardinals and grasped the mate’s necklace he had around his neck. “I know it when I see it.”
“You know what?” I asked, snatching his wheelchair and wheeling him to his room. “That he’s an asshole about 99% of the time?”
He swayed back and forth. “That you like him.”
I scoffed. “I do not like him.” His cock, maybe, but not him. Not someone who didn’t respect me. Not someone who placed me in the hospital when I was the best warrior he ever had. Not someone who got on every one of my nerves.
“You do, and that’s why you’ll go out tonight. You disobey him to get his attention.”
I clenched my jaw. Here I was standing in the hospital, listening to an old man tell me exactly how I was feeling and why I was feeling it. And the craziest part of this whole thing was that it was all true. Mr. Beck was right.
My wolf and I wanted his attention.
I didn’t know why. Maybe we had a connection… maybe he was my—No. He couldn’t be. A wolf wouldn’t disrespect his mate. Mates lifted each other up; they didn’t tear each other down.
After pushing Beck into his room and turning on the TV for him, I sighed. “Okay, well… I’ll be off.”
Before I could leave, he grasped my hand. “Isabella.” He pointed a finger at me. “I’ll be expecting those details tomorrow.” He elbowed me. “If he doesn’t lock you in his bedroom first.” Then he burst into another fit of laughter, his dentures nearly falling out of his mouth.
~~~
I tapped my fingers on the coffee table at The Night Raider’s Café, a large tree-shaded café perched between five different packs that doubled as a club during the wee-hours of the morning. Men and women from all the nearest packs bustled around it. I gazed down at the two extra-fudge brownies with cute little Moonflower-shaped sprinkles that sat in front of me and then the door. Where was he?
While trying to keep my eyes open until Derek got here, I rested my head on the window. It felt like forever since I hung out with him, even though it was just yesterday. All I wanted was to gush about my time with the Lycans last night, but Derek would blab to Roman about it. He was one of those goody-two-shoes. Not a brat like me.
“Your mate wear you out last night?” Vanessa sat down directly across from me, her screechy voice ringing in my ear. “Derek issucha cutie,” she said, annoyance laced in every word.
What was her problem? One moment she was angry that Roman was flirting with me, the next she was angry that Derek was mymate. She was so damn confusing, and I didn’t even want to deal with her. But… I had to keep up that lie so she didn’t find out about Roman and I.
When she found out about us, everyone would know. Even though I would leave this pack soon to become a Lycan, I didn’t want any rumors like that to spread.
And, plus, there was no harm in having a bit of fun.
“I know.” I smiled at her.
She placed an elbow on the table and leaned toward me. “Is he good in bed?” she asked with a blank face and curious yet angry eyes. “Tell me.” Her voice sounded almost desperate.
I grabbed her hands, hoping that she would stop. Stop this. Stop prying. Stop being so annoying. “He’s amazing!”
