by Lola Glass
“You are so drunk.” Jamie sighed and grabbed her phone. “I’m calling London to pick you up.”
Lilac’s face contorted as she held back tears.
“No, I like it here.” Her lips wobbled. I bit back a snort, my eyes catching on someone’s hand waving a bit down the bar
I took care of them, mixing drinks like I’d been doing it forever. Which I had. Some four-year-olds start cheerleading or softball; I started mixing drinks. My mom had been raising me alone and running a struggling bar so she couldn’t afford to send me to daycare. When I showed interest in learning, she taught me.
Jamie was still trying to talk sense into Lilac when I made it back to them.
“He told you the animal in him sees you as an inferior. No male werewolf could ever mate with someone he didn’t feel equal to.” The brunette snapped.
She wasn’t much of a statue anymore.
“That would change if we started dating.” Lilac sighed dreamily. Jamie’s argument was going nowhere.
“Don’t bother.” I grabbed a large clean glass and filled it to the brim with water, setting it down in front of Lilac. “Drink this or we’re sending you home.”
Lilac grabbed the drink and threw it back like it was a shot. She came up for air coughing on the mass amount of water she’d swallowed in a single breath.
“That wasn’t a margarita.” She sputtered.
“You clearly don’t need more alcohol.” Jamie’s voice was hard.
I grabbed the cup and refilled it with water before handing it back. Lilac glared at the cup.
“Drink the water or go home.” I told her. “I’ll call the bouncer over here if I have to.”
She groaned but drained the glass. Hopefully it’d help.
“Did you notice Roman’s smell change, Henley?” Jamie was prodding very obviously.
Avoiding her question, I grabbed the scrunchie off my wrist and used it to throw my hair up in a quick bun. My eyes caught on my newest Alpha mark, already healed thanks to whatever magical DNA werewolves sported.
Most of our injuries didn’t heal any faster than humans would, but Alpha marks always did for some reason. I sure as hell wouldn’t complain about it.
“Can’t say I did.”
Not that I didn’t like the way he smelled. A girl could get high off that man’s scent. Lilac had proved it.
Lilac giggled, and the giggle turned into a full-on laugh. The laugh morphed into a hilariously horrifying snort-littered cackle.
“Of course she didn’t, Jamie. His scent changed when he started chasing me, not Henley.” Her laughter turned into body-shaking sobs. “I’ve waited for this day my whole life. He finally wants me.”
“That’s why I hate drinking.” Jamie gestured to the enforcer. I changed the subject, grabbing the ingredients to make a drink for the sober enforcer.
“My mom liked to say that when people drink they either forget themselves or find themselves.”
“I don’t fit in either of those categories.” Jamie rested her forearms on the bar.
“Don’t you?” I slid her the drink I’d just made her, looking pointedly across the room at Oliver, still sitting in a booth all alone. Her gaze followed mine and her cheeks reddened. “Try this.”
She picked it up and sniffed it, then lifted it to her lips and took a tiny sip. Perfectly-shaped dark eyebrows lifted together.
“That’s really good. What is it?”
“A sidecar. I’ve got a talent for knowing people’s favorite drinks.” Someone waved me down, and I left Jamie with her drink and the mess of a girl beside her.
I made a few drinks and accepted the payment. Luckily, we were long past the time of night where people would try to make small-talk. At this point they’d talk regardless of whether I paid attention, which made my life much easier.
Jamie was staring down into her nearly-empty glass when I went back around. She swirled what was left of the drink around the bottom of the glass, seemingly deep in thought.
“You’ve been in a lot of packs.” She stated.
“Yep.”
“Have you ever seen a political mating before? Where people mate for status, or because their family members push them into it?”
“Sure.”
Werewolves were old fashioned in some ways. A few of those ways were wired into our minds and bodies, but strategic mating was purely based on power. Werewolves cared more about power than most humans, so we still did the arranged marriage thing sometimes.
It looked like Jamie and Oliver fit into that category.
“Have you ever seen the couple actually fall in love in that kind of relationship?”
I considered it but didn’t come up with anything she’d want to hear.
“I’ve never really been exposed to happy couples. Have you?” I wasn’t one to lie for the sake of giving someone hope. In my experience, hope had a way of destroying a person more painfully than any truth.
“No.” She sighed heavily and tossed back the rest of her drink. “I should’ve said no.”
“Regret will get you nowhere. Get over it and make the best with what you’ve got.”
A group of drunkards rushed the bar, and I glanced at the clock. Five minutes before four.
These sons of bitches always did this to me. Hadn’t they ever heard of human decency?
Last call took about ten minutes to finish up with, and when it was finally over I felt like my stomach was going to eat itself I was so hungry. Dinner hadn’t exactly been a priority. So, ten minutes later I was practically dragging my entourage into McDonald's.
“I didn’t know people actually ate here. I thought it was just a big joke.” Lilac had graduated from crying to bitchy. I snorted.
“I didn’t know people actually lived in skyscrapers.” I countered. “McDoubles are life-changing. I’ll buy you one.”
Jamie and Oliver were studiously looking away from me.
“You haven’t eaten here either, have you?”
Their lack of response and sheepish expressions said enough.
“Prepare to be introduced to the world of the average person’s fast food, folks.” I stepped up to the counter and ordered a crapload of burgers, chicken nuggets, and yogurt parfaits. Because everybody loves parfaits, right?
The four of us sat down in a booth and I took the seat next to Lilac so Jamie and Oliver would have to sit together. Something told me they didn’t do that often.
“Tell me you’ve at least been to Dairy Queen. No one should survive without having tried an Oreo Blizzard.”
They grimaced and I groaned.
“How am I supposed to spend the next year of my life with you people?”
Jamie laughed, though Oliver looked a bit miffed.
The guy at the register called my number. I assumed it was my number anyway, considering we were the only people in the dining room at 4:15 in the morning and I’d already tossed my receipt in the trash.
“I’ve got it.” Oliver slid out of the booth before I could stand up, striding toward the guy holding our trays of food.
“Didn’t know chivalry was still a thing.” I said.
“Roman’s got all of his enforcers working on it. I think they have some sort of competition going on.” Jamie yawned. “It’s kind of nice.”
“Why is that man so perfect?” Lilac groaned and dropped her face to the table, arms wrapped around her head. “I’d kill to mate with him.”
“He’s an Alpha. They’re controlling assholes by nature.” I scoffed.
“Agree to disagree.” Her voice was muffled by the table and her arms.
Oliver sat down with the food.
“You didn’t grab ketchup packets, did you?” I checked. His eyebrows wrinkled and I shook my head. “Amateur.”
Everyone picked up a McDouble at my orders while I grabbed some ketchup, tossing the handful of packets into the middle of the table.
“Prepare to have your minds blown, people.” I unwrapped my own burger and took a massi
ve bite. Everyone else followed suit. Lilac swallowed her bite and dropped the burger back on the table.
“I’ll stick to real food.” She dropped her head back on the table and covered it with her arms.
“Not bad.” Oliver shrugged, demolishing the burger almost as fast as I did. Jamie nodded as I grabbed Lilac’s burger to take care of hers too.
“What do people do for fun in the skyscraper?” I asked, hoping they were going to tell me there were big movie theater rooms and bowling alleys and shit like that on one of the floors.
“The same things they do for fun outside of it.” Oliver popped a nugget in his mouth whole. I didn’t point out the glorious sweet and sour sauce he was missing out on; I’d eat all of that myself. I guess giving him food had flipped his talking switch because he hadn’t said a word up until then. “Most of our extra space is made up of shifting areas so we’re safe when our wolves take over at night. Maybe we’ll convert some of it into movie theaters or something now that we have you.”
“Sounds good to me.” I agreed.
Oliver, Jamie, and I talked as we whittled away at the pile of food. I was surprised by how much I started to like the two of them, especially considering she was the daughter of two politicians and he was planning on running for office in a few years.
The number of people I’d really and truly liked since I lost my mom could fit on a single hand, but I was getting close to doubling that number in just the last two days.
Only time would tell if that was good or bad.
FIVE
I slept in until noon the next day, though I wasn’t sure if repeated nightmares that left me drenched in sweat and terror really counted as sleep. Ledger would’ve been thrilled to know that he was haunting me even six months after I’d escaped him.
When I’d showered and thrown on a comfortable pair of lounge shorts and my favorite high-necked sports bra, hair up in a ponytail on top of my head, I was itching to be in my furry form. Oliver mentioned shifting areas the night before, so I abandoned my phone on the floor and went to go find one. I left the apartment without bothering to change or bring anything.
Purpose filled my footsteps as I blazed down the hallway. I’d run into other werewolves every time I left my apartment, so I planned on asking the first person I saw where to find the shifting area. As I’d expected, someone I’d never met was in the elevator when the doors opened. They directed me to the fourth floor, and we rode the rest of the way in silence.
When I stepped off the elevator, an indoor forest stretched as far as I could see in every direction. The trees weren’t as tall as they’d be in a natural forest, the ceiling prevented that, but the space called to my beastly side anyway.
I stepped behind a large bush with a few piles of clothes around it and stripped, dropping my comfy shorts and sports bra on the dirt floor. I shut my eyes and willed my body to shift forms. A quick flash of pain was followed by relief and an overwhelming sense of freedom.
In wolf form, I was fearless. I picked a direction and ran, the movement burning through energy and anxiety. Only a moment in, I caught a scent that I determined was irresistible and barreled toward it.
Moss?
Trees?
Rain?
I couldn’t place the scent, but I wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything.
Something about it was slightly familiar but I couldn’t place it and wasn’t willing to stop and try to sort through human memories. Trees blurred past me, paws pounding dirt. I was focused solely on the glorious scent.
When I finally caught the giant black wolf who smelled so heavenly, he was lying on his belly between two trees. Without hesitation, I pounced on him.
A female werewolf showed her interest in wolf form by playing with the male she wanted, fake fighting and wrestling and running with him. Female wolves understood a male’s need for physical play, and a male wolf wouldn’t waste the time on a female he wasn’t also interested in.
My smaller frame didn’t budge him, but he growled playfully at me. I growled back and pounced again, and he head-butted my side in response. When I snapped at him, he licked my face.
He wasn’t getting the message that I was interested in him. From my animal perspective, his heavenly scent marked him as the perfect mate and I needed to do whatever it took to catch his interest. Though I’d never be so forward or certain about a guy in human form, wolves saw things in black and white.
So I turned tail and ran.
No male wolf would be able to resist a game of chase if he was even slightly attracted to the female.
My paws flew over the ground, exhilaration filling me as I heard the male crashing through the forest behind me. He was making as much noise as possible on purpose to be sure I could hear him gaining on me. With his size, it wasn’t a matter of if he’d catch me but when.
Heart beating rapidly, I lowered my head so my position was more streamlined and pushed my body harder. The scent of his desire hit me as he gained ground, and my excitement mixed with pride.
The black wolf caught me moments later, tackling me to the dirt. Because the fall didn’t hurt I knew he’d been careful to protect me from injury.
A noble male.
Between that and his scent, I was convinced he was perfect. At least, the wolf side of me was. Human Henley wasn’t so easily convinced.
He pinned me down with a paw to my chest and buried his nose in my neck, checking to see if my scent held as much appeal to him as his did to me. I growled at him, and he lifted his nose from my neck to my face and nuzzled me. More pride swelled in me.
He felt the same.
When he released me, I stood and shook the dirt from my fur. The black wolf snorted, bopping me on the shoulder with his nose and gesturing back in the direction we’d come from. Content to follow the male I’d deemed perfect, I trotted at his side. He led me back to the spot he’d been sleeping in, beneath a few trees, and gestured for me to lay where he’d been earlier.
I plopped down on my belly in the dirt that radiated his scent and he followed suit, laying with his side pressed into mine. I rumbled my happiness and dropped my head on top of my front legs. Wolf logic urged me to shift and seduce him into having sex with me so we’d be mated, but I had enough connection to my humanity not to act on the urge.
Instead, the black wolf and I napped together.
While I was awake in my fur, human nightmares were far from my mind. But a sleeping werewolf dreamt human and wolf dreams interchangeably no matter which form we were in.
Ledger’s smirk and hands haunted m. He’d push me around, demanding things from me and punishing me when I didn’t meet the demands. Namely, the one to give myself to him.
Forced mating was impossible, thankfully. Sex was the one area in which a werewolf’s beast always ruled the human, and our beasts were both crazy monogamous. We could only have sex with someone we were willing to mate with—and it would only ever be physically possible for us to be with one person. The first person we slept with was the one we’d spend our life with, for the worse or better.
Because it wasn’t possible, Ledger hadn’t forced himself on me. Instead, he’d hurt me in an attempt to achieve the same thing.
The day I realized I was willing to mate with him to avoid more pain was the day I’d sliced through his Alpha mark myself, becoming a lone wolf, and ran as far away from him as fast as I possibly could.
Large hands wrapped around my neck, cutting off my airway as Ledger held me to the wall. My lungs burned for air, vision spotting. Kicking legs slowed as I lost consciousness.
A scream broke through my lips as I passed out in the dream. It tore me from the nightmare, triggering a shift from fur to skin. My hands lifted to my throat as I gasped for air like a fish out of water.
“Henley? What happened?” Dark blue eyes bore into my hazels, Roman’s hands cupping my face before moving down to my neck and bare shoulders as if he was checking me for injuries.
“Don’t touch me.” My
voice shook, my gaze jerking around in search of my black wolf. Had Roman sent him away? Or…
Oh shit.
My eyes landed back on the Alpha. The ridiculously attractive and very naked Alpha. I took a sharp breath in and sure enough, the black wolf with the perfect scent was the mother-freaking Alpha.
Shoot me.
Shoot me now.
I stood quickly, covering my boobs with my arm and booking it toward the elevator. I’d have shifted and run back in wolf form, but I was fairly confident that if I did I’d end up panting at Roman’s feet, begging him to mate with me.
Damn wolf nose and hormones.
“What happened?” The volume of his voice told me he was right behind me, probably enjoying the white moons he was getting an eyeful of. When I didn’t reply he caught my wrist and pulled me to a stop, turning me to face him. His eyes dipped to the skin spilling over my arm for just a second before meeting mine. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
I glared, anger and attraction heating me from the inside out.
Did he have to be so fricking huge?
Why the hell did I want an Alpha?
“I have nightmares about the Alphas who’ve owned me.” I ripped my wrist from his grasp and started back toward the elevator. After a pause, he followed behind me again.
“None of them owned you.” His voice was nearly a growl and gave me more damn goosebumps.
“Walk away, Roman. I have enough bad memories, no need to make more.”
He stepped around to the front of me. Keeping my eyes focused on his face was proving challenging with all those muscles he had on display right in front of my face. He could use those suckers to catch women like fish on a freaking pole. Probably did it regularly, too.
“You sniffed me out and tracked me down, Hen, not the other way around. None of what happened out there was a bad memory.” He gestured to the forest.
Shit. He was right.
“I’m not ready to deal with whatever this is.” I finally said, gesturing between the two of us with the hand that wasn’t hiding my boobs. “And don’t call me ‘Hen’. I’m a wolf, I eat chicken.”