Marc jogged to catch up with me. “Look, I understand that you’re not interested in any of our guys, and that’sfine.”
I stopped walking to stare at him. Did he truly believe the problem was thatIwasn’t interested in any ofthem?
“But it isn’t fair to parade a series of human dates right under their noses and rub it in,” Marccontinued.
I studied his gold-flecked gaze, trying to see the truth. “Is that really what you think I’mdoing?”
He crossed bulging arms over a solid chest. “Why bring your dates back here, if you’re not trying to rile up ourenforcers?”
“Okay, first of all, most of your enforcers are old enough to be mydad—”
“That’s nottrue.”
“My point is that you think Dustin is too old for me, when he’s all of twenty-one, yet you find it perfectly reasonable for enforcers in their late twenties to be jealous at the thought of me making out with a strange human.” I ticked my points off on my fingers. “A: That’s a double standard. B: It’s factually inaccurate. The guys wouldn’t care if I worked my way through an entire frat house, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to bring my dates back to the damn barn, like any normal farmgirl.”
Marc scowled, his mouth already open to yell at me forcussing.
“Hell, losing one’s virginity on a bale of hay is practically a rite of passage aroundhere.”
His mouth snappedshut.
Mission accomplished. Marcstillhadn’t figured out how to deal with his little “kitten” talking about sex. Which was why I was the only person on the ranch who could get away with cussing at anAlpha.
Not that I wouldevertry that withFaythe.
“Okay, but back to the factual inaccuracy,” he said, once he’d mentally pushed past my utterance of the word ‘virginity.’ “If any of the guys had caught a whiff of yourboyfriend—”
“Dustin’s not my boyfriend. I just methim.”
“I don’t know whether to be relieved by that or horrified. But my point is that if any of the guyshad—”
“Marc.” I stopped walking again and looked him right in the eyes. “Their ears are as good as yours. They all heard Dustin’s car turn into the driveway. They probably even heard me open the barn door. If any of them gave a damn who I was hanging out with, you wouldn’t have been the only one who showed up to scare Dustin off. But you’realwaysthe only one who shows up. Because they…don’t…care.”
The South-Central Pride’s enforcers were just as eager as any other tomcat to snag a tabby—according to shifter law, that was the only way any of them could have kids or become an Alpha—but they werenoteager for that tabby to beme.
Somehow, in a population where the men greatly outnumbered the women, I was the only eligible female werecat in the country to have nosuitors.
Ever.
Faythe saw that fact for what it was, and she understood the reasons. But Marc… Well, Marc was like the father of an ugly baby who believes his unfortunate progeny is the cutest bundle of joy onearth.
Not that I was hideous or anything. I had no problem getting dates in the human world. Unfortunately, I was no longer a member of that world, which meant that any relationship I struck up with a human was pretty much doomed from the start. So, what’s a girl to do when the tomcats aren’t interested and human relationships can’t getserious?
Play the field, of course. On my home turf, so all those stuck-up tomcat bastards had no choice but to see that someone—lotsof someones—wanted me. Not that I was interested in any of the South-Centralmen.
Not the enforcers,anyway…
“I’m sure you’re reading them wrong,” Marc said as we clomped up the front steps of the ranch-style house that was both capital of and home base for the South-Central Pride. “I’m sure the guyscare.”
They didn’t. But Marc would never see that, because he was blinded by his own paternalperspective.
He opened the front door and held it for me as I stepped into the foyer. “They’re probably just trying to figure out how to approach you, now that you’re…moremature.”
Theyweren’t.
I shrugged. “Maybe you’reright.”
Hewasn’t.
