“Do you have a girlfriend, Danny?”
“Nah, no girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe one day you’ll find the right girl.”
He developed a funny look on his face. “I didn’t say I hadn’t found the perfect woman. I just don’t have a girlfriend since I have a wife.”
“Oh, wow. How long have you been married?”
“Twelve wonderful years.” The man had a dreamy look on his face, likely similar to the way my expression had been when watching the fairy princess ice skating.
“You don’t look a day past twenty-five. How old were you when you got married?”
“Eighteen. We have the same birthday and we decided on that very day we couldn’t live without each other. So we got married. We went down to the courthouse and without telling anyone, we just did it. We haven’t regretted a day since.”
“How romantic.” I was being sarcastic.
“Trust me. I’ve made up for it time and time again. But when you know a girl is right, you know and you’re not willing to allow anyone to slide in, taking what you know belongs to you.”
There was something very odd about not only what he’d just said to me, but also the inflection as well. “Well, I’m not ready to settle down.”
“Are you sure about that?”
The answer was right on the tip of my tongue, but I honestly wasn’t certain. “Are you asking if I’m in heat?”
He cocked his head. “Please. You’re not a she-wolf. You’re an alpha male and if you were in the wild, you’d be at the point of dispersal. Or past it. I’ll need my jacket you borrowed.”
Dispersal. Meaning I would have left the pack either by myself or with another to keep from inbreeding, eventually settling and forming a new pack.
He was right.
If I remained in wolf form, which wasn’t the case. Other than controlled hunting, we spent most of our lives in human form, which meant wolf rules didn’t typically apply.
Except for one.
Shifters were different. Our mates called to us instead of us merely picking out a nice-looking girl and scent marking her. For possession.
I handed him the puffy coat, grateful I’d had it earlier.
“It’s funny how you know an awful lot about canine shifters.”
He shrugged, grabbing a duffle bag and closed his locker. “I’m interested in the pack mentality. I always was. I don’t mean any harm by it. I just sense your uneasiness. Now, I better disappear before anyone catches us together and blows your cover. Just be warned. If you go down this path and she finds out, be prepared to face her wrath.”
I was more worried about a member of the team spilling the beans versus Danny since it seemed no one else bothered to talk to him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Maybe I should stop right now before I got in over my head. Too bad I just couldn’t do that. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wanted to spend some time with a woman.
Was that so damn horrible?
After he’d left, I headed out with his skates, thankful he’d allowed me to use them.
I returned to where she’d rescued me, sitting down and trying to pretend as if I’d never put on a pair of skates before.
Christine found me only a few minutes later, kneeling in front of me.
“Let me do that for you.”
“I think I might be able to handle it myself,” I insisted, but the complete jerk inside of me purposely tied the laces so they’d come untied way too easily, allowing me to fall on my face.
