Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 212458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1062(@200wpm)___ 850(@250wpm)___ 708(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 212458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1062(@200wpm)___ 850(@250wpm)___ 708(@300wpm)
I sip from my cup while Grey rips open sugar packets and dumps them in.
“And if this was legit and all’s good, you ready, Grey?” Riley asks. “You’re next.”
“Always ready for anything,” he says and smiles wide.
“Linc’s plannin’ on sowing the rest of his oats while he can. He and Jase are headin’ to Roxy’s tonight for a prowl.”
“Oh yeah? Guess he finished his gig early,” I say, “Though it’s pointless. They have no idea that once they find her, they won’t even give a shit about anything they had before.”
Grey’s eyebrows jut up. “Good to know. You’re obviously not mourning your bachelor days.”
I shake my head. “I was in bed with a redhead who was a ten. Ten and a half even. Waking up with her wasn’t good. In fact, I found her suddenly repulsive even though I’d just fucked her repeatedly for hours.”
“When was this? The night you came home and got lost?”
“Yep. Same night Tyson claimed his woman.”
Three people move into the booth behind us, so I drop my voice to barely above a whisper.
“Being with Amelia? A thousand times better than sex with anyone before her. But the night with the redhead? That’s the night I knew something was off. The night the witches fucked with me.” Urgency hits me. “Let’s go now and get to the bottom of this shit.” I don’t want anyone fucking with me like that again.
Riley glances at his phone and nods.
I pull my wallet out. “Got this.” I drop a twenty and rise, taking another sip from my cup.
“Hey, babe. Can you pass me a to-go cup and a lid?” Greyson calls over to the waitress at the counter who is overfilling saltshakers while staring at our booth. She looks down at the mess she’s made and straightens. “Sure. Uh. Sure.” She hurries over.
As we head outside, Grey puts the to-go cup to his mouth with a smirk on his face.
“She was cute. Haven’t seen her there before. Smelled nobody on her. My take: not only single, maybe even a virgin. ”
“You lookin’ to pop one more cherry before you’re mated?” Riley asks. “Let her keep it for her future husband. Don’t be a fuckin’ dawg.”
Grey shrugs. “One more? Maybe two, three. We’ll see.”
Grey is a good guy. This behavior today reminds me more of Jason. Not that Jase isn’t a good guy, though he’s arguably the biggest player in our council. That, along with the strawberry moon – is this sending mated alphas into the rut and making unmated ones antsy, especially with the notion of a pending mating? Linc and Jase talking about sowing oats as if that’s not something they’re already doing. Grey actin’ like this?
“Where’s Joel today?”
“He’s researching for a case,” Riley answers. “Might be sending Linc to Anchorage to meet with a pack outside the city. They want help on a case, and they generally don’t deal with outside packs. Must be desperate if they’re seeking help.”
“What kind of case?” Grey asks.
“Fill you in later. Here we are.”
“He’s not itching to get laid like the other boys?” I ask, jokingly.
“Joel’s jokin’ he’s happy to sit back and watch the rest of you fuckers fall first.”
I laugh again.
At least some things are status quo. Joel hasn’t ever been much for prowling for women. Not that he’d have any problems if that’s what he wanted. He’s frequently the object of desire for our local teenaged girls in particular since he looks like he belongs in a boy band.
He had a serious girlfriend for a couple years, but they had an ugly split on her twentieth birthday during a bush party where friends of her older brother from another pack showed. One of them an alpha, ten years older than her, identified her as his. Whisked her away right under Joel’s nose. It was ugly. Bloody. Took several of us to stop him from fighting to the death to keep her.
I haven’t seen him with anybody since then and some would say what happened to him is almost as bad as what happened to Rye. Though the promise of his own fated mate still looms for Joel at least. That girl was someone he loved, but she wasn’t meant for him.
We make our way into the drycleaners where an attractive blonde sits behind the counter, eyes on us and I immediately know – she knows who we are.
She rises. “Flip the sign, will you?” She looks over her shoulder. “You can leave early, Patrice.”
A teen girl comes into view and removes a smock before grabbing a puffer vest and a backpack and then slipping out, eyeballing the three of us with wide eyes as she goes.
Riley is the last one inside, so he holds the door for her. After shutting it, he flips the sign, twists the lock, and then he flinches. Something strange is coming at me from him. Something wired, bordering on dangerous.