Chapter Eight
Saffy
“Are you sure you’re okay to walk in those heels?” Ramon asked as he slammed his car door shut then bleeped on the locks.
She grinned. “I could run in these heels. I’ve practically lived in heels like this for the past decade.”
His eyes widened then he shook his head, grinning wryly. “The things women do in the name of fashion.”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “I’m meeting all your SWAT team mates and their mates tonight, would you have been happy for me to turn up in sneakers?”
“Only two of the guys have mates,” he said with a shrug. “And actually, I wouldn’t have minded. You look beautiful whatever you wear.”
“Good answer.”
“I thought so.”
She chuckled as she took his extended arm and let him lead her along the street to the party. Saffy hadn’t told Ramon, but she was really excited to meet his friends. It was just another step in cementing their relationship as mates. Everything had been going really well between them, but meeting the friends was a big step in any relationship. And his SWAT team were like his second family. She felt a flutter of excitement about meeting them…and more than a small amount of trepidation. What if they didn’t like her? There was no worry about the reverse, of course—Ramon had nothing but good things to say about his teammates and she trusted his judgement. If he liked them, she had no doubt that she would, too.
They chatted amiably as they walked along then Ramon led her up the path of a modest house that was small, but well maintained.
“Oh wow, what is that smell?” Saffy asked as they walked up the path to the front door.
Ramon grinned. “Honeyed buns and cinnamon rolls, if I’m not mistaken,” he said. “Maya owns a bakery, so she probably catered most of her engagement party herself. Well, it’s not an actual engagement party he said, just a small get together for team.”
The panic that had threatened to overtake her subsided enough for her to smile. Thank God it was just the team, because heels or no, she was most definitelynotdressed for an engagement party.
“A bakery, huh? Nice.”
Ramon nodded. “Gray is always bringing baked goods into work.”
“Gray?” Saffy asked.
She still hadn’t got to grips with the names of all his teammates, not helped by the fact that Ramon seemed to use their first names and their team names interchangeably, but she hoped that putting faces to the pairs of names would help.
Ramon nodded. “His real name is Cole, but Gray is his SWAT team nickname. Gray wolf shifter,” he explained.
“Ah, got it. So let me see if I got this right. There’s Gray, Ted, Ice, Kit…”
“Flint, and yours truly,” Ramon finished for her.
“How come your nickname is the only one that’s your actual shifter species?”
Ramon grinned. “Probably because hawks are the shit so nothing else was required.”
Saffy threw her head back and laughed. “Right, got it.”
Ramon knocked on the front door and it was opened a moment later by a huge shifter whose face broke out into a grin as soon as his eyes set on Ramon.
“Hawk,” he greeted him warmly. “Come on in.”
“Not too early, are we?”
“Not at all. You’re right on time.”
“This is my mate, Saffy,” Ramon introduced her, with a smile so wide it almost split his face in half. “Saffy, this is my teammate and friend, Gray.”
He reached out a giant hand and shook hers. “Hey. You can call me Cole.”
