“Of course! First floor, first door to the right,” I say. “Oh, don’t worry about the otter in there. He is just swimming in the tub.”
Dario stares at me. “Did I just hear the word otter?”
“Oh, the one from last night,” Felix grins. “I forgot. So, he stayed?”
“They never leave,” I explain. “Even if I leave the door open. Once I take them in, they just follow me around and stay.”
Dario looks at me curiously. “Interesting. Was it always like that with you and animals?”
“I always had a good way with them,” I admit. “But not like… this.”
“When did it start?” he asks.
“A couple of months ago.” I pause. “It’s weird, isn’t it?”
“It’s peculiar,” Dario says. “Not weird.”
My gaze wanders from Dario to Felix. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“I have an idea,” Felix says.
Dario nods. “Me too.”
For a moment, they exchange a look, and then both of them nod again. When Dario heads to the restroom, Felix and I start to prepare our afternoon snack – though snack is an understatement for the amount of food they brought along – and I pick the topic up again. “What do you think is going on?”
“Might be your gift,” Felix says. “Did you get tested as a child? What was the outcome?”
“I didn’t get tested.”
Now he stares at me in shock. “They didn’t test you?!”
“I am half human.”
“That’s not a reason,” he exclaims. “You are also half shifter. It doesn’t matter that you are a hybrid; you could still test positive for beta. Then it would mean you have a gift.”
“But… I don’t have a wolf spirit,” I mutter.
He looks at me thoughtfully. “Do you know that for certain?”
“I mean, there is no other presence in me. I don’t feel it.”
“Never?” he pushes.
“Sometimes it does feel like something is pushing me in a direction,” I admit. “Like when I saw you for the first time. It was just… But if it’s there, why wouldn’t it talk to me?”
“Two things can be true at the same time,” he says. “You definitely smell like a wolf, although it seems wolf shifters can’t take up your smell. But I can, and Dario can, too,” he pauses. “My dad and my brother Liam are very good at finding the connections to our lycan and delving into said connections. They might be able to help.”
My heart makes a cautious jump of hope. “Really?”
Felix smiles before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer. “Yes. If you give my family and my pack a chance, I am sure they will happily help as much as they can.”
Moving my hand over his back, I brush through the hair at his neck, butterflies fluttering through my stomach when Felix pulls me into a kiss. Goddess, my skin seems to burn whenever I feel him up close. Since Brandon, I didn’t feel like getting close to a guy again, but this man here makes my head spin.
We pull apart when we hear Dario return. He has splashes of water on his shirt, making both Felix and me laugh. “The otter?” I chuckle.
“Yes, it’s like a water pup,” he says. “I guess it wanted to play.”
“Oh!” Felix looks at me. “I just remembered… You haven’t introduced me to Marina yet.”
