Not until I found out who had attacked me and why.
My virus sulked at the condition, but as I hadn’t given her a condition before, she settled more than I expected.
“That snort tells me I was just rejected.”
“You can’t be rejected when you haven’t asked. Do yourself a favor. Don’t ask.”
“May I inquire on why I should not ask?”
“Until I find out who infected me with the virus, I refuse. I won’t accidentally become the toy of the bastard responsible for my infection—and I don’t trust it was a female wolf.”
“There aren’t precisely a lot of female wolves who’d attack another female unprovoked. That’s usually the doing of some idiot male, no matter what the CDC may have told you.”
I nodded, and I gestured in the direction of where I’d parked. “Here’s the deal, Barnes. Starting now, you’ll do what I say and only what I say until Wednesday morning. You’ll have to deal with being a missing person for a few days, as it’ll ruin my fun if your pack decides to join in. In exchange, I’ll listen to your proposal, and barring anything particularly heinous, I’ll sign your lease agreement. I’ll even sign the paperwork tonight, assuming you brought it with you.”
Wayne lifted his briefcase. “It’s in here, along with my laptop.”
“If you want some fancy hotel room, you’ll have to pay for it, because I can’t afford your standards,” I warned.
“I’ll tell you what. Tonight, I’ll live at your standards. Tomorrow night, we’ll live at my standards. We’ll play it by ear after that.”
“Deal.”
“Then we have a deal. I’ll do what you say and only what you say, and I’ll accept my unexpected vacation with grace. I’ll even enjoy the fallout of my pack getting riled up when I don’t show up for the pack meeting tomorrow.”
Crap. “Will the pack hunt for you?”
“Inevitably.”
Double crap. “Will they be able to find you?”
“Not likely, unless one of them decided to investigate my odd behavior today and noted I left here with you. If they report you as a suspicious person, I’m not confident they’ll get the answer they’re looking for from the police.”
I imagined not, as the police would see my status as an unmated lycanthrope female. “An unmated lycanthrope female stealing an unmated lycanthrope male is not worth their time to investigate.”
“Precisely. Then they’ll be annoyed for not realizing a lone wolf resided in our territory.”
“I refuse to be a part of a pack.”
“Negotiable.”
“It is not negotiable.”
“It is negotiable.”
“How do you figure that?”
“My pack will help identify who attacked you, and should the bastard be in the pack, they’ll taste lycanthrope justice. But, one thing matters over all.”
“What one thing?”
“I have never, nor would I ever, attack someone, especially not without provocation.”
“I’ve been told by the CDC being young and a woman is provocation to some wolves,” I spat, unable to mask my disgust of that memory.
“I am not one of those wolves, and I look forward to proving that to you.”
“Is that a threat?”
