“All clear,” he says after a few sharp turns.
“I fucking hate my life,” I offer before I sit up, making the seat return to the right position.
“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out,” he offers, rubbing my leg.
“I’m not sure we will,” I say, looking at him. “Kairo, this is our first date and it’s been interrupted no less than three times. Tomorrow is not about anything other than what I did tonight. And it’s not going to be about what you did, but what I did, what I let happen.” I take the hoodie off my hair and press the button to open up the soft top again; I want to feel the same thrill I felt on our way to our date.
Kairo’s hand shoots up towards the sky, and he slows the car down.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t think,” I screech over the wind vacuum I caused, without realising. I nearly ruined his car.
“Bit of warning would be good.” He laughs. He keeps his hand on the roof as it retracts further down before the car does the rest and secures the soft top in the back of his Wrangler. And then he accelerates faster, making the wind whip in my hair and giving me a sense of freedom again.
He yells over the wind. “Have they had issues with who you’re out with before?”
“I probably date more… discreetly, so who and when I date isn’t usually a topic for discussion,” I yell back at him, shuffling around to watch him again.
And it is hard to hear because of how fast he is driving. It was not like this on our way here, but both are good fun.
He nabs my hand and brings it to his lips for a kiss. “Fine, then we go discrete. I can do that.”
“I should have known the results of the auction would be an issue,” I muse loudly, while smiling like a loon.
He makes me feel free. Free from the responsibility of being who I am, to be just a woman on a date with someone who stirs a lot of sudden and unexpected feelings.
“How so?”
“Pack Lowly, the ones at the bar, are Board endorsed.”
“Your dates with Packs have to be approved by the Board?”
“Pretty much,” I offer.
“Yeah, well that shit’s going to stop now,” he snaps.
“How?”
“Finding your scent match, Heidi, kind of takes precedence over all those other things. Our bond can’t be ignored, and you meeting the rest of my pack is a given. I hope. I mean, shit… here I am getting as demanding as they are.”
“I assure you, it is very different.” I grin at him.
“Good, because our match is something important that is hard to dispute.”
“I understand the implication of finding each other, but I also know there are more important things than being scent matched.”
“How can you say that?” he barks incredulously.
I shrug. “Past experience is a good precursor for future actions.” I sound like an old person, but sometimes feel like one after carrying around my legacy since the day I was born.
“Bullshit!” he yells, before driving faster.
“No. It’s not. I wish it was different, but in my world, Kairo, it’s not bullshit. At the end of the day, love and compatibility do not matter.”
“You have first-hand experience?” he asks, stunned, and clearly annoyed if the sharpness of his scent is anything to go off of.
Of course, he asks the one question I wish he wouldn’t. Barely anyone knows that Ayden was my scent match, except for him—not that he has ever admitted it—and my girls.
He slows down and waits until we don’t need to yell over the wind. “How many other times have you scent matched with an Alpha?”
