ONE
NAOMI
A Book by Its Cover
“I’m sorry, I just don’t see a future with someone who can’t shift.”
I blinked at Jason over the tiramisu we were feeding each other. It was our third date, and I was beginning to feel safe and connected enough to invite him back to my place for a different kind of dessert.
And maybe also because I wanted to get laid. It had been alongtime.
“After all, what if we have kids? How will you be able to watch over them or bond with them if they’re running around as wolves and you can’t catch up with them? Or what if they’re like you?”
What if they’re like you?
What if they’re likeYOU?
It took all my willpower not to take my spoon and stab it into somewhere soft on my fellow shifter. He had such a condescending yet magnanimous look on his face, like he wasexplaining simple logic to dumb, little ol’ me; it really made me rage inside. Surely the expression could only be helped by the subtraction of an eye…
“I’m sure you understand,” he said, his words dripping with so much artificial sweetness that it would have made the tiramisu feel insecure were it sentient. Like he was justoh so benevolent and caring,he set down his spoon and patted my hand. “I’m happy to stay friends, you know, keep each other company and all that, but this isn’t something I can be serious about.”
Finally, I found my language center that wasn’t just repeated swears and insults one right after another like a filthy ticker tape. “This is our third date,” I murmured. “And I’ve been up front from the beginning about what I am.”
“I know, I know. It’s just that you’re sucha great person, and I really wanted to see if I could overlook it. But what would my pack say?” He shook his head likehewas the one getting dumped because of a cruel twist of nature that made a shifter unable to shift.
It seemed like an oxymoron, and honestly, sometimes it made me feel heavy on themoron,but it was a rare phenomenon that had been whispered about throughout history in pretty much every shifter community. The reasons were as varied as the stars, ranging from “You better eat your veggies or you’ll never be a real wolf!”to “Their souls are actually demons that have possessed a shifter child to devour their animal spirit and bring evil to the pack.”
I’d heard from people on both sides of that and pretty much every increment in between. Honestly, I was getting fucking sick of it.
“No different from whatmypack says, I imagine.” God, I wanted to lunge across the table with all of my five feet and single inch and chew his nose off with my very non-canid teeth.
Unfortunately, even if I had the enhanced strength that most shifters did in their human form, that was a fight I would lose. Because, again, as much as I wanted to, I ultimately wouldn’t be able to shift. Granted, it wasn’t likehewould, considering we were in a human restaurant, but still… I wouldnotwant to go toe-to-toe with an alpha.
“If that’s the case, I’ll head out,” I said, standing and trying to be graceful. Which was a word I was pretty sure thatno onewould use to describe me. I was a dog-walker, so my calves were about as impressive as one would expect from a barely over five-foot-tall distance stroller.
Even though I hadn’t inherited an inner wolf like the rest of my family, Ihadinherited the Bracken body type, which was stocky, strong, and looked built to play a contact sport. I couldn’t even say how many times in college I was asked if I was on a scholarship for the lacrosse team. Really missed my calling on that, apparently.
Yeah, words like elegant or graceful weren’t exactly synonymous with Naomi Bracken, but I was trying my best since anything else would make me dissolve into tears.
“Wait!” Suddenly, his broad, warm, and calloused hand gripped my wrist with just enough pressure to hint at the alpha strength I knew he had. “Look, just because being mates isn’t in our future doesn’t mean we can’thang out,ya know?”
Hang out.
Oh, of course,hang out!
It was a code I was well familiar with, and it made my toes curl in the cute, sensible wedges I was wearing. I’d broken out the heelsandshaved for the shitshow that had just happened. Even as a latent shifter who had a stunted version of the advanced healing abilities my people were known for, shaving my thick leg hair was a pain in the ass!
At least I’d only trimmed my bush. Because if I’d gone totally bald and opened myself to all those ingrowns for a guy who was basically saying I was good enough to sleep with but not good enough to date, I might actually go mental and become the Joker.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hissed through my gritted teeth.Whoops, sounded like the filthy ticker tape got loaded onto my speech center after all.
What a tragedy.
“Aw, come on, don’t be like that. You’re a cool girl, Naomi.”
“Woman,” I corrected sharply. I was over thirty years old, so the only people who got to call megirlwere charming butches, glamorous drag queens, and elders more than double my age.
But he continued on like he hadn’t heard me. “I’m analpha,Noms, you know that. And alphas will be alphas. Animal needs and all that.”
