“Nah,” he said, his voice rough and thick, his clean masculine scent calling her. He moved in close to her, sex oozing from his every pore. Sage’s body leaned in while her mind screamed, ‘He’s avod. A VOD. Avod! Avod!’ She backed away, brushing imaginary ice off her sleeves to hide the complete opposition of her mind and her body. Her body wanted to frog smash the male to the floor and jump him, public place or not but her mind would not shut up about his wolfish nature.
He placed the steak on the side of the freezer, flashed her a grin and said, “It’s all yours. But that grill offer stands.” He strolled away, giving her a view of his muscular backside, thick muscles bulging in his jeans.
Sage watched, and then he turned, catching her at it. He grinned and said, “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Sage hid her face and jumped behind a ten-foot-high display of beach chairs, considering making a run for the front door. The male was sexier in person than she’d ever dreamed he would be… and he wasclearly interested in her. If she wanted to bounce and spin on him, he was down for that. She pondered if she wanted to bounce and spin on him. She’d had a crush him for so long… would a one-night stand scratch that itch? She wasn’t a virgin and she almost certainly didn’t have a fated mate. She was an adult. She could sleep with whoever she wanted… as long as her family didn’t find out. Her aunts and her nana would disown her if they knew she was even thinkingabout it. She shook her head and decided running really was the best thing to do.
She peeked out and didn’t see him anywhere, so she made a run for it, heading for the double doors… they whooshed open and she ran through and she was free…
But there he was, leaning against the wall in the cold sunshine, one big boot crossed over the other. He smiled at her, like he’d expected her. She stopped short, startled and captivated by him.
“If I can’t grill you a steak, can I buy you one?” He lifted his chin at a steakhouse—Carnivore Cuts—across the street.
With the male here in front of her, looking all hot and muscular and sexy, her brain did a 180. Thevodloved Carnivore Cuts and thefoxenavoided it on principle, so she could be certain there would be nofoxenthere.
Sage looked back to Canyon and opened her mouth to say, “Whatever creep, leave me alone,” but what she really said was, “Where’s your groceries?”
He turned and motioned to the doors. “I paid a worker $20 to stash my cart in the fridge till I come back.”
Sage clamped her lips tight together, not sure what to think of that. He was honest, that was good, but he would’ve had to have done that immediately to beat her outside. He’d predicted her. His nostrils flared and he grinned at her, telling her nothing mattered to him but what he could scent, and he could clearly scent how her body was responding to him. Dear deae—she was in trouble.
She took a step back, knowing he thought she was a human. He was flirting with her, wanting to fuck her, nothing more.The vodfucked humans all the time… but that thought that should make her run was intriguing her instead. Could she fuck him once and be free of him forever?
Maybe. All she had to do was say ‘yes’ to Canyon Wheeling. One time.
“Yes,” she blurted out.
He cocked an eyebrow at her.
She panicked, then covered. “I want the most expensive thing on the menu.” She turned and walked toward her car, showing him her backside, then turned back and caught him looking. “I’ll drive myself.”
He raised both eyebrows and she turned back to her car so he couldn’t see the grin on her face, feeling powerful, like Rhen herself, commanding the attention of thevod.
Talking on her porch caught Sage’s attention, pulling her out of the memory. She crept to the window and looked out, peeking through the curtains.
Timber was on the phone, saying, “Lieutenant, we found Sage White.”
A blast of yelling came out of the phone loud enough for Sage to hear. Timber held the phone away from his ear. When the yelling stopped, he said, “We're not missing, we're working. We discovered mouseshiften. They blew us up and dropped us into a giant hole. We mapped it for you and that took three days, but we couldn’t kill the monster. Wulf got us out of the hole and—Lieutenant?
He turned to Canyon. “Disconnected.”
Canyon might have said something inruhi, because Timber said, “Peeved, sure, but angry? Nah.”
Timber's phone rang again. “’Lo?” Timber said. “Lieutenant, are you okay?... uh Sage—yeah, she’s here. Oh, uh, well, the thing is—we don't know.” He nodded. “Will do, LT.” He hung up. “We're supposed to call him back when we know what the hell we're doing.”
Canyon laughed.
“Like that ever happens,” Timber muttered. He pointed to the door. “We gotta bring her in.”
Fear leapt inside Sage’s chest with anger right behind it. She looked at the back door contemplating a run for it, but who was she kidding, she couldn’t outrun twovod. Her chest tightened and she ran to the front door and yanked it open, demanding, “Bring me in for what?”
The two males looked at each other, then Canyon spoke. “Because you’re a One True Mate.”
Of all the things Sage had expected him to say,thatwas the very last thing.
“Y-You mean because I’m afoxen!”
Canyon grinned at her, looking good enough to eat. “No, because you’re a One True Mate.”
