“Go ahead,” Dylan said.
“I was just going to ask, would it be rude of me to ask if you’re committed to the guy who gave you that mark?” Steve put his foot down and leaned forward, gesturing at Dylan’s neck. “It’s just, I’d really like to take you out on a date.”
Dylan’s mouth suddenly felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. He looked down at his coffee cup, his head feeling fuzzy, not sure what to say.
“I’m going on a date with him on Wednesday,” he finally decided.
“That’s not a no,” Steve said, his voice dripping with satisfaction.
Dylan bit his lip. “I don’t like to date several people at the same time,” he said.
It wasn’t a situation he’d ever had to consider before, but Dylan knew himself well enough to know that he wouldn’t be comfortable doing anything with Steve without first decisively ending things with Dr. Schaffer.
“I can respect that,” Steve said, sounding disappointed. “What’s his name? There aren’t that many werewolves in the city. I probably know him, if only by reputation.”
“Dr. Schaffer,” Dylan said, realizing that he didn’t actually know Dr. Schaffer’s first name.
“August Schaffer?” Steve asked.
Dylan nodded uncertainly.
“I think so.”
“You think so?” Steve’s grin turned teasing. “He marked you up like that and you don’t know his first name?”
Dylan blushed.
“Brown hair, in his mid-thirties, looks like he should be starring in cheesy made-for-TV rom-coms?”
Dylan thought the wordsleading manwould be more accurate, but the person Steve was describing did sound like Dr. Schaffer. He nodded.
“Has to be August.” Steve narrowed his eyes. “You know he’s got a mate, right? Are you going out with both of them?”
“That’s the plan.”
Steve raised his eyebrows. “Good for you,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee and swirling the liquid in his cup. “You must be sturdier than you look if you think you can handle two alpha werewolves.”
The words sent the blood rushing to Dylan’s head, and he could feel his blush like a tide of pressure washing over his face.
“I don’t…” he trailed off, not sure how he was supposed to respond to a statement like that.
Steve’s grin turned wistful. “Well, you could do worse. They’re rich as fuck, and I haven’t heard anything bad about them through the grape-vine.” He wrinkled his nose. “Though the way they hog the north end of the preserve on full moons is pretty selfish.”
“They do?” Dylan asked, desperate to move the conversation away from the topic ofsharing.
Steve nodded emphatically. “You get within a mile of their territory and suddenly they’re chasing you through the woods and throwing you in the river. It’s so annoying. The whole preserve is supposed to be neutral, so the idea that they’ve even claimed a territory up there is just fucked up.”
Dylan pictured Dr. Schaffer – who he was pretty sure was an inch or two shorter than Steve – chasing Steve through the woods and tossing him in the river.
He suppressed a smile.
“Well, if things don’t work out with August and Ryker, maybe you could give me a call and I could take you out?” Steve held out his hand, palm up. “I could put my number in your phone? No pressure.”
Feeling like he was doing something he maybe wasn’t supposed to, Dylan handed over his phone.
Steve accepted it eagerly, turning it around to unlock it with Dylan’s face before leaning back into his chair and grinning down at the screen.
Dylan watched him start typing, no doubt entering his information, but then he lifted the phone up and held it at arm’s-length and took a picture while he flexed his bicep.
