“Wyatt?”
“Oh, yes. Him.”
“He’s on your list?”
“No. All I’m saying is that he looks like an Alpha, but I know he isn’t one because I read his mind.”
“I remember,” Cam said sourly.
She giggled. “Oh, don’t be that way. You knowyoursis the only name on my list of possible marriage candidates.”
“It better be. What did you read in the sheriff’s mind besides him liking the blue streaks in your hair?”
“You caught that, huh?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. What did you have in mind?”
“Do you know why he was meeting Diesel?”
“No. But he was thinking about another girl when he thought about my hair, namely, how blue streaks would look inherhair.”
“Oh, yeah? Wyatt has a girlfriend? Interesting. Who is it?”
“I don’t know. He started thinking about man things next.”
“Man things?”
“You know like motors and vehicle stuff, specifically oil that goes into car engines or something and I stopped listening.”
“I wonder why he wanted to talk to Diesel about this girl.”
“Don’t know.”
“I wonder if she’s an Alpha and the girl sent him to Diesel to get permission.”
“Permission?”
“Well, if an Alpha wants to date a human or get married, there are certain protocols involved.”
“Protocols are stupid.” Ria hoped the Alpha girl involved with Sheriff Wyatt didn’t have to go through the same issues to date and marry the one she loved.
“Why?”
“Protocol is the biggest reason I’m in an arranged marriage.”
“If you weren’t in an arranged marriage, how would we have ever met?”
“I would have made my way to Earth one of these days.”
Cam hugged her close. “What if this is our last night together?” he whispered.
“I will refuse to marry him. He hasn’t even proposed. And if he does, I’ll say no.”
“Can’t your mother dictate the acceptance?”
“I’d like to try to see anyone, including my mother, force me.”
“I’d pay money and bring the popcorn to see that, but we have to face the possibility we don’t want to happen. If your mother finds out that you spent the last ten days here on Earth, she could have me fired, brought up on charges and sent to a gulag.”
Ria felt her eyes fill with tears. She did not want Cam to suffer on her account. She was the one who’d defied the rules openly and repeatedly. He only shielded her when it was too late to do anything after the ship had left.
