Damn, why is it so cold in here?
Maybe the HVAC was on the fritz again.
“Because I’m adorable and I know how to show a female a good time.” He used a tone that was as smooth as melted chocolate and nearly as sweet.
I raised an eyebrow and glanced up just in time to see his perfect pink tongue swipe out over his lips.
What else can that tongue do?
No… no, no, no.
“Fen,” I said, crossing my hands over my desk to lean forward. “I’ve got a shifter in labor, an elder with severe chest pain, and six other patients with various maladies that need to be taken care of. I don’t have time for a good time, regardless of how adorable you may or may not be.”
He scoffed. “You don’t think I’m adorable?”
“I think you’re annoying,” I said, “and I think you want something. You just don’t have the guts to say it. So spit it out or find someone else to pester.”
I’d known Fenris nearly all my life. He and Vermillion were in the same year growing up, practically more brothers than friends. There had been a point in my life when I’d harbored a little crush on him, but that had quickly passed when I realized he’d never give me the same attention he gave anyone else in the pack. To him, I’d always be Vermillion’s kid sister, and to me, he’d always be the rebel without a cause.
I had no room for rebellion, not when one wrong decision could mean the difference between life and death.
“What? A guy can’t check in on his favorite healer?” He feigned offense. “What is this world coming to?”
Realizing I wouldn’t get rid of him without giving him the attention he so clearly wanted, I sighed and leaned back in my seat. My head throbbed, and my torso quivered, but I ran my gaze over the length of him and analyzed. Being the healer meant I saw with more than just my senses. I had to use the pack’s magic to intuit what was wrong with a patient if they couldn’t talk.
He had bags under his eyes, hinting at sleepless nights, but that could be from his extracurricular activities. By this time last year, he would have been half a bottle of whiskey deep at the party with my brother, but Mill had recently mated Maeve Vanderbilt and would likely be attached at her hip for most of the evening. I wouldn’t say Mill was Fen’s only friend, but certainly his favorite. And with Mill suddenly devastatingly in love and decidedly distracted, it probably left Fen feeling nostalgic and lonely.
“What?” Fen said, blinking as he rested his fingers over his mouth. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You know,” I started. “It can be hard when our friends find their mates. They don’t want to do the things they used to do. They don’t come around as often. Check-ins become less frequent.”
Fen smirked. “What are you?—”
“Mill still loves you. He’s still your buddy. It’s just different now.”
A pause hung between us as a slow, hesitant smile speared his lips. “You think this is about Mill?”
“C’mon,” I said. “You live to aggravate me, but you’ve never invited me to a party before. You’re lonely. It’s okay to be upset that your buddy has someone new in his life. It’s okay to be jealous?—”
“Jealous?” At that, he threw his head back and laughed, and my fangs ached to elongate, desperate to sink into the corded muscle on his neck. Another surge of heat rushed through me, quickly followed by chills.
I’m just tired. That’s all.
No cause for concern.
I could use a nap.
I’ll find a dark spot to curl up once I get through these charts. Once I finish my rounds. Once I check in on Justina and the babies.
“Wyn, I’m not lonely,” he said through broken chuckles. “And I’m certainly not jealous. Maeve is gorgeous, but she’s not exactly my type.”
I snorted. “I thought anything with legs and nice hips was your type.”
“Hmm.” He rubbed his long index finger over his lips and narrowed his baby blues. “Maybe once upon a time.”
I scrunched my features in disbelief. A wolf didn’t change its coat, or whatever the elders said. Once a heartbreaker, always a heartbreaker, and I had better things to do than get wrapped up in…whatever this was.
“When was the last time you let anyone take you out?” He pursed his lips in expectation.
