I made it back to my apartment without even realizing I’d driven home until I was unlocking the door and slamming it shut behind me.
I leaned against it and slid down to the floor, then buried my face in my hands as I tried to catch my breath and slow my frantically beating heart. Did Lanche seriously think I was his viramore? How could he possibly believe that I, of all people, was his one true soul mate?
It made no sense whatsoever.
I was a boring guy who did boring things. Hell, even my job was boring—from other people’s perspectives, according to everyone I’d tried to date the last seven years.
Boring, boring, boring.
Lanche was a three-hundred-year-old snow yeti who’d traveled the world. What in the fuck could I possibly bring to the table? I was a thirty-five-year-old werewolf who’d never even left the city.
The most exciting thing to happen to me was being bitten by a werewolf and turned. And while it’d been horrifying and traumatic, it wasn’t like that’d bring anything to a relationship with a damn old-ass yeti.
But he’d seemed so sincere, so sure.
Not to mention the werewolf curse kept weres from ever finding a viramore.
Maybe I should’ve told him no about the date and sent him on his way to find his actual viramore.
But… but there was something about him that made me want to… see what might happen. And there was no way I could’ve told him no and seen that adorable face of his turn sad.
Surely, he’d come to his senses tomorrow night. After spending another night with me, he’d see that he was mistaken.
Yeah. I’d make sure of it.
With a heavy sigh, I climbed to my feet and headed for bed, giving my very small tabletop Winter Solstice tree I had on my TV stand a little tweak as I passed by.
As I sat in my car, I contemplated going back inside and grabbing the icicle. It felt weird leaving it at home, but at thesame time, was I really expected to carry the thing around with me everywhere I went?
For some reason, I kind of didn’t want other people staring at it. Wasn’t sure why I even cared about that. But I had a feeling people would be curious and would want to look. I mean, who wouldn’t if they saw some random stranger carrying around a chunk of ice? That’d be so weird.
Sigh.
My fingers tapped on the steering wheel as I debated, but my phone buzzed, interrupting my annoying thoughts.
Jed: Have fun on your date!
Before I could respond, another text came through, and I seriously had no idea how the man could type so fast. Did he use vampire speed when texting?
Jed: I like Lanche, but I’m gonna need you to text me when you get home tonight, okay? I need to know you're safe.
Anton: Text in the group chat, please. I want to make sure you’re safe as well.
I blinked and looked at where Jed was sending messages, then rolled my eyes. I shouldn’t even be surprised. Last night, he’d created a group chat calledDain’s Dating Supportand added all of his siblings, Anton, Keryth, Oakley, Roman, Tan, and even the damn king himself, although Garrick hadn’t texted anything in there yet. He didn’t need to with how many texts his viramore, Jed, Oak, and Ker had sent last night.
Everyone knew my history, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised by their concern, but I supposed I was. I wasn’t completely oblivious. I knew they were my friends, but the way they’d been treating me lately felt like… more.
Shaking that off, I focused on the chat and grimaced. While I’d been daydreaming, more texts had come through.
Ker: Definitely let us know, but have a really great time!
Oakley: Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
They sent a winky face with that. Sigh.
Tan: Your parents are in this chat, Oak.
Oakley: What? I didn’t say anything specific. I mean, I totally could go into details about the very short, and I mean short, list of things I wouldn’t do.
