“It’s okay.” He headed outside to breathe, to chill, to stop in its tracks the desire to scoop her into his arms and hold her close, inhale the scent of her, and…
Stop. Stop it. Calm down. It was intense right now. All things wolf were intense at twenty-one, though he’d been leveling out lately, finally, as Patrick had promised him. Maybe the discovery of his mate was enough to heighten his wolf instincts all over again. In any case he could not carry Lucy around the campus grounds howling with joy. Humans would know his true nature. Oh, and probably call the cops. Worse, if she were a reasonable woman, Lucy would freak out.
But how could he let her walk away without knowing who she was to him?
No. Worst idea ever.
On his heels came her signature scent, the soft sound of her footsteps on the grass. “Is something wrong?”
“No.”
He turned to face her. Her mouth was pursed in a frown, but she didn’t walk away. She waited for him to explain his apparent escape from the classroom and from her.
“Sorry,” he said. “That was rude.”
She shrugged, but her eyes were sharp.
“Let’s start over.” He smiled, hoped he didn’t look tense. “Nice to meet you, Lucy.”
“You too, Jeremy.” She cocked her head. “How tall are you?”
The tension left his shoulders for real as he grinned. “You could try to be original.”
“What?”
“If you want to get to know me. Strangers in the grocery store ask me that one.”
“Well, at this moment, you and I are strangers.”
Ouch. Accurate. He knew that. Only his wolf instincts didn’t. “Fair enough. I’m six-five.” And a half, but whatever.
“Wow.”
He smirked. “How tall are you?”
“Five-eight.”
She said it as if her taller-than-average height were somehow preordained just for them. Did she know? No. Her DNA was one-hundred-percent human, unlike his eighty-six percent. She didn’t know the wolves who lived outside town. She didn’t belong to the pack.
“Do you want to get coffee?” Lucy said.
He blinked. “You just said you don’t know me.”
“And I don’t love that fact, and I’d like to fix it.”
“Okay,” he said. “The little indie café in town.”
“Right. Never a chain when there’s an alternative.”
“Right.”
She shifted her book bag strap from one shoulder to the other. She studied a long moment with those steady eyes, no shyness, simple open interest in him. “Why are you saying yes? I might be a psycho with a dozen exes.”
“Because I don’t know you,” Jeremy said, “and I’d like to fix that.”
And protect you with my life. Claim you for my mate. Build a life together. Maybe someday make pups with you.
He nearly growled. He needed to talk to Patrick. Really really needed to.
