She laughed and agreed. “You know, I’ve never had my own dog before.”
“Stop,” he drawled out. “This isn’t a dog you want. Trust me.”
“I like him.”
“Don’t tell him that, you’ll make him worse.”
She cheesed really big. “Wolf, I like you. You may remain obsessed with me, and sleep at the end of my bed whenever you want and protect me like a guard dog.”
“Eat your food,” Dodger said and returned his attention to his lunch.
She hadn’t missed it though.
He was smiling.
After lunch, Dodger wouldn’t let her do much. He cleaned up their trash and threw it away, then helped her off the bench and wrapped his big hand around hers as he led her back toward her car. She liked this. She liked that he was dominant and masculine and protective and a gentleman. She liked that he could destroy anything or anyone that came at them in a moment, but with her, he was tender.
Her heart tethered to him a little more.
It wasn’t until they were a few yards away from her car that he stopped suddenly and just stood there, frozen. He turned his face and lifted his nose higher into the air as he inhaled.
“What is it?” she asked, looking around at the woods in the direction he was glaring.
He didn’t answer her though. Instead, he pulled her by the hand, unrushed, and settled her into the passenger’s seat of her car.
She could see him so clearly as he stalked toward the picnic table they’d just been at, attention scanning across the forest beyond. He stopped twice, and scented the air, then changed directions, and melted into the trees.
Destiny felt exposed without him here and hit the lock button on her door. Her gun was in her glove compartment, andshe pulled it out and set it on her lap, attention on the woods where Dodger had disappeared.
A couple of tense minutes later, he returned, eyes troubled and downcast.
“What happened?” she asked as he adjusted her driver’s seat so he could drive.
He shook his head. “I’m smelling things. My wolf got all ramped up but there was no one out there. He did that at your house this morning too. Made it seem like I was smelling a werewolf, but it was just me.”
She slid her hand to the inside of his bicep. “He probably just needs some time to settle down. The last few days were hard.”
He nodded, and forced a smile, then leaned over and kissed her. As he eased back, he said, “Even so, keep your weapon on you, okay?”
She nodded. “I carry it everywhere it’s legal to.”
He huffed a sigh and turned her car on, then slid his hand over her thigh as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward his worksite.
The drive to his worksite was shorter now as the work crew had cleared a half mile of limbs away from the powerlines. When Dodger pulled onto the shoulder near his work site, he hesitated on getting out.
“Maybe my wolf just needs to be around you more. Maybe that’ll settle him down. Do you still want to see him?” he asked.
“Now?”
Dodger snorted. “No, goofball. We both have to get back to work. I mean later.”
“Hmm. The last time you promised a werewolf date where I would see you Change, you freaked out and blocked me.”
The tension was leaving him, she could tell, and his smile wasn’t forced or tight anymore. “I won’t this time.”
“Okay,” she said. “When?”
“Tonight. It’s the calm before the storm up in Rogue Pack territory. It won’t be peaceful for a while after this week. Now is the best time for you to see my life and decide to go deeper or cut us both loose.”
