“Is she a real daughter?”
Lyric pursed her lips and nodded again.
“So not your real sister. Not by blood.”
And this…this was why she was here tonight looking for a break from her whole damn life.
She sighed. “I’m getting tired.”
“One game of bingo with me and I’ll give you three pairs of contacts, and teach you how to put them in.” He offered his hand for a shake. “Deal?”
“And you won’t want anything more from me? You won’t touch me or get dominant, or act like you own me?”
“It’s like you’ve been around male werewolves before,” he said with a crooked, knowing smile.
“Yeah, they’re all assholes.”
“Fair point. I’m for sure an asshole. My Alpha calls me that at least three times a week. So does the Second of our Pack too,” he admitted, frowning.
A giggle escaped her, and the sound startled her. God, it had been so long since she laughed. She almost didn’t recognize it.
Okay. She had come in here to drown her sorrows and quickly got nervous of drinking alone with so many males inhere. And here was this person who was like her, but not in her Pack. Who was interesting and seemed fun. He could be a distraction from what she’d learned about her family.
She rolled her eyes heavenward. “I like fruity ciders.”
The grin that stretched across his masculine lips made her heart stutter. He was really very handsome. Now that she was looking at how easily he smiled, and the way the corners of his eyes crinkled up so naturally, like he smiled a lot, she liked his face even more.
He was easily the hottest guy in here, by a lot.
So, okay. She could sneak in some hot friend time tonight and no one in her Pack would be the wiser. They would never set foot in a human bar. She was oddly safe here.
Vic ordered her a marionberry cider from a local brewery, and it came in a glass bottle with a frosted cold glass on the side. She poured it herself while he paid for their drinks, and then he stood, and waited for her to gather her purse.
He didn’t try to touch her, which she appreciated. He just led her to a back room, and then to a sign-in table where he paid for them each a booklet of bingo cards. She picked a hot pink dauber with sparkles in the ink, and he picked dark blue.
The number caller was already in full swing, and there were six long tables lined up. Almost all of them were full, and off to the side was a long table with an assortment of baked goods, and a couple of ladies manning the cash box.
He led her to the bake sale table first and one of the ladies greeted him. “Vic! Good to see you again, young man. Did you bring Earl this week?”
“Not this week.”
“Whose Earl?” Lyric asked.
“My little hairy son,” he answered.
“He has the cutest hamster in the world.”
“He’s my good luck charm,” Vic explained to Lyric. “And Denise here is nice enough to let me bring him in each week. She’s the one who organizes this party.”
“Yes, well all the proceeds go toward paying for teachers for our aquatic classes at the community center each Monday. We can put the classes on for free as long as we make enough on Bingo cards each week. Vic here has done the class twice.”
Lyric could not stop smiling at the vision of him in swim trunks swimming with all these humans. And a hamster? Named Earl? Who was this guy?
“I set aside an entire pan of brownies for you,” Denise said, pulling a container out from under the table.
“You are an angel come to earth,” Vic assured her, and Lyric just watched them talking and joking as he paid. He made Denise happy. She could tell. It had been a long time since she’d seen anyone smile this much.
Lyric looked around the room, and people were talking and giggling and marking off bingo numbers. And here she stood in a surprise moment, holding a booklet of bingo cards some nice werewolf had bought her, and a cider, and for the last five minutes, she hadn’t thought about what had happened to her at all.
