Chapter One
Dodger Nause wished he was anywhere but here.
It was cold in Coeur d’Alene today, and the snow had piled up around the main road here. Currently, he was the only one sitting outside of Copper’s Brewery by the single space heater. He glanced over at the flower shop across the street, but Delta Harrington wasn’t off work for her lunch break yet. He’d gotten here early.
Why had she called him? Why did she want to do this? Why was he even freaking here?
A snarl rattled his chest and he shook his head hard. The wolf had been harder to manage lately, but he couldn’t figure out why.
It was probably Nate’s fault. Or Vic. Or Tabian. Or Liam. All of the werewolves in the Rogue Pack were pissing him off.
Another snarl vibrated through him, and he shook his head hard.
“H-hi,” a timid voice uttered.
He ripped his glare from the door of the flower shop and turned to the waitress. “Water is fine.”
The pretty woman frowned. “Uh, okay.”
“Thanks,” he grunted.
“Right. I’ll let your server know.”
He’d swung his attention back to the flower shop but jerked his gaze back to the lady. She was walking away.
“Hey,” he called.
Slowly, she turned around. Her cheeks were rosy with a blush, and she was looking down at the snowy ground.
“You aren’t a server?”
“Oh, no. I don’t work here.”
Dodger cocked his head. She was maybe in her late twenties to early thirties, with a burgundy beanie over mouse brown curls. She had skin-tight leggings that hugged her lean legs, and wool lined snow boots. She wore a bulky beige sweater and a deep red scarf. Her eyes held him though. They were a strange mixture of blue with brown near her pupils. She probably looked like a werewolf in saturated sunlight. Definitely human though. She smelled slightly of animal, but from the fine gray hairs on her leggings, she had a dog or something.
“What do you need?” he hadn’t meant for his voice to come out all growly, but again, his wolf was a lot and he’d been startled by the woman.
“Ummm…” She shifted her weight on her other leg and gestured inside the restaurant. “I’m sitting in there.”
“Congratulations?”
“Right.” She inhaled deeply and gave him a little wave. “Have a nice day.”
A frown took his face as he watched her walk to the door to go back inside. “Why did you tell me you’re sitting inside?” he called.
“I just saw you out here alone, and I thought you could be warmer in there.” He’d never witnessed this shade of red on a human’s cheeks before.
“You were inviting me to sit with you?”
“Y-yes.” She let off a nervous laugh. Cute. “Also, my mom dared me to come talk to you.” She gestured to the window of Copper’s again, and sure enough, there was a lady sitting at the table by it, watching them.
Humans. Most of the time they saw a werewolf, and scurried away, but sometimes they lacked survival skills and got curious.
He shrugged and shook his head. “Did you look up local werewolf registrations?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. You’re Dodger.”
He pursed his lips and cast a glance at the flower shop to see Delta jogging across the street toward him. “I’m waiting on a friend. I prefer to sit in the cold.”
