The alpha snorted, his lips curving up. “Not that invasively!”
“Maybe you should! Just in case!”
Immediately after, Mathlin realized his mistake. He couldn’t have Titan watching him around the clock. But it would look suspicious if he changed his mind now.
Titan watched him, a smile playing on his lips. “If that’s what you want.”
“Yes. Wait. Did I just ask my boss to jerk off while watching me?” Mathlin blurted. “Because that escalated quickly.”
3
THE CONTRACT
Titan swallowedthe first response that came to mind. “I’m not jerking off while I watch you. For one, I can’t use either of my arms.”
Mathlin looked down and winced. “Oops.”
“We’ll have to discuss that. For now, let’s move this indoors before someone else finds us out here. Everdin’s gossip is going to spread like wildfire.”
Who knew what she was telling her friends and neighbors?
Worse—how long would it take for the news to reach Titan’s pack?
Titan shuddered at the drama that would explode from such a juicy piece of gossip. “C’mon, I need to send a message.” He winced as he got to his feet. “Fuck, the ground is hard on my knees.”
“Does that mean you’re growing old?” Mathlin blurted. And promptly hid his face in his hands. “One of these days, you’regoing to fire me for something I said, and it would be so offensive that I would agree with you.”
“I highly doubt that would happen,” Titan said drily.
Mathlin followed him into the bakery. While Titan located his phone, Mathlin shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Sorry about the gossip. I had no idea what else to say. But... you can pretend that Jannie is yours, for now.”
Titan swallowed. “That’s very generous of you.”
Before his injuries, he had been helping to care for the pups in his pack. But he had never gotten the chance to pretend that a pup was his.
This was... dangerous.
He couldn’t bring himself to turn down Mathlin’s offer.
In the kitchen, Titan bumped his nose against his phone; it unlocked with his face. “Open pack chat,” he said. The phone navigated to the chat he shared with his packmates, and he used voice-to-text. This was something he had already been doing since his hands were always covered in flour.
Titan
Hey. Just wanted to let y’all know. I told Everdin a white lie. Please play along. Don’t blow my cover.
Crush
What’s the lie? So we can make sure our stories match.
Titan
Sigh. She caught me licking the parking lot. Mathlin was with me and he told her I did it to earn his forgiveness. Because supposedly his pup is mine.
Vigil
You have a pup?
Titan
