Zach grinned at him. “Hey, I’m a kind and sensitive alpha, my wife says so.”
“Yeah, well, she’s still in the honeymoon phase. Which is a neat trick, since my understanding is you haven’t even taken her on a honeymoon.”
“It’s in the works, man. With a mate, things happen fast. But it takes time to plan a stellar honeymoon. And I’m not giving her anything less than stellar.”
“You’re liking this whole mate thing. You’ve been looking forward to it your whole life, I guess?”
Zach tapped his fingers on the wheel as he drove and considered his answer. He glanced over at Adam and nodded. “It’s hard not to, when you grow up seeing how amazing it is for two people to be so much a part of each other. I see human couples in love, and it’s great, don’t get me wrong, but there’s so much potential for disaster, and it’s awful. With mates, you just don’t have those misunderstandings, or the change in feelings. You don’t grow apart, because you’re growing together not just in each other’s company, but as part of each other’s souls.”
“Deep, man.”
Zach laughed. “The other night, Hillary had to get up early and I was doing some paperwork, so she went to bed before I did. When I went into the bedroom, I was surprised she was on my side of the bed. I figured maybe she was doing something corny like wanting to sleep where my smell was stronger or something like that. I went into the bathroom, trying to be all quiet like, and when I came back, she’d moved to her side.”
He slowed for the turn to his house and shot a grin at Adam. “So I get in, and it’s nice and warm in there, and she snuggles right up to me. Our legs tangle, like they do, you know, and one of my feet hits her side of the bed, where it’s cold. And it hit me. She’d done that to warm up my side of the bed. Now, I’m not saying human couples don’t do that kind of thing. I’m just saying it’s more natural, more instinctive, with mates. It’s just…more. And it’s awesome.”
“Can’t argue with that, I guess. I just haven’t been up close to wolves enough to have seen it in action before. But you guys, your brother and his wife. It all seems so intense.”
“Yeah. But not in bad way.”
They drove up to the house, and he wasn’t surprised when Hillary opened the door to greet them before they’d even exited the truck. She walked straight into Zach’s arms like they’d been separated for weeks instead of hours.
She gave Adam a hug goodnight, giving him an extra squeeze. “I’m glad you’re here.”
He nodded. “Me, too. You’ve got it good out here. I’m happy for that.”
Her smile was dazzling. “I really, really do. And I want that for you, too.”
He got into bed and thought about his cabin in the woods. From this place, this time, it seemed small and cold and empty. He tried to tell himself that it would all go back to normal when he got home, but he wasn’t sure he believed it. Wasn’t sure anymore that was what he wanted. Maybe it was time to transition to a new phase in his life. Didn’t mean he had to go full-on pack member somewhere. But he could find a better balance than lonely hermit.
Maybe.
He reached out and grabbed his phone without quite knowing he was going to do it. It was late, later in St. Louis. Did she leave her ringer on while she was sleeping? Maybe he could leave her a massage, apologize for earlier. He could probably send her a text message, but he wasn’t sure what to say. And there probably wasn’t an adequate smiley-face-thingy to say it for him.
Rather than spend more time thinking about it and worrying that he really was regressing to adolescence, he touched her name and heard the phone start to ring.
She answered immediately, but still sounded a little sleepy and breathy. “Adam.”
“Hey.”
“Hey. You okay?”
“You need to stop worrying about me. I’m not your responsibility.”
She didn’t answer.
“I called to apologize for earlier. You, uh, caught me off guard and I was getting ready to go meet Alexis and her family, and…”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I had no idea that would happen.”
He could hear the rustling of sheets, tried very hard not to picture her lying in bed, naked. Body flushed with arousal, licking her lips in anticipation as she—
“I know you’re not my responsibility,” she said after a moment. “But I’d like to think you’re my friend. And I care about how you’re doing.”
He stared at the ceiling, trying to banish his inner video and concentrate on what she was saying. “Okay. How about you. Glad to be home?”
The silence stretched on a little longer this time, but he waited.
“Mostly. I don’t know, everything feels different somehow. I’m starting to wonder if I’m reacting to the Arizona stuff more than I’d realized. I—” She broke off. “I’m sorry, you don’t want to hear about that.”
