Luna wiggled her eyebrows. “I make no promises.”
The Redheaded Stepchild was already packed, and the crowd roared as a band took the stage.
“Never thought Granger Falls could be like this.”
She-wolves from the Sawtooth pack wore bikinis and danced on the bar, swinging around and turning themselves upside down on poles.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Tessa chuckled. “Wait until you go to Red Heaven. Come into the booth. It’s soundproofed.”
The silence was startling after the cacophony in the bar. The confessional was a tiny box, barely big enough for the three people and the camera equipment inside.
“What’s Red Heaven?”
Tessa startled, like she hadn’t heard my question correctly. “I thought it was legend in your pack. It’s a backroom where wolves like to take their ladies and anything goes back there.”
“Oh.” My cheeks reddened at the thought. “I was a married lady until recently, and Tate never let me come here...” I let the thought trail off, because I hated sounding weak, especially in front of a badass like Tessa. And I didn’t want to think about what my ex knew about Red Heaven.
I tugged my too-short skirt as I sat on the stool and tried to forget about the camera as Tessa settled across from me.
Impossible.
“You’re familiar with the confessional style from season one, but I’ll remind you because I know it’s nerve-wracking to be in here for the first time.” She was all business.
“It gets easier?”
She nodded. “Some of the Werewives asked me to go into the confessional to get stuff off their minds later in the season. If you ever just need to talk, we can do that too and shut the cameras off. We edit the show to make it look easy. It’s not.”
That made me relax, a little. “Thanks, I think.”
“If you struggle with answering these questions, you won’t be the only one. You’ll get better at it. That being said, a quick reminder of the rules. The audience never hears my question, so make sure you include it in your answer. Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“What made you want to be a Werewife?”
“Why do I want to be a Werewife?” I took a deep breath to try to make my voice stop shaking. “For generations, she-wolves in the Sawtooth pack were sold to the highest bidder instead of being allowed to find their forever mates. I was one of those she-wolves.”
Tessa whistled low. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but that is a perfect soundbite. Keep going. This is great.”
“It’s strange to talk pack business with a human, because for years we had to hide what we were. Our alpha, Shadow Channing, changed everything. He introduced our pack to the humans we’d been working beside for years, so we could be who we truly are. And he declared all she-wolves free to leave their contracts if they chose to. I chose my freedom.”
“Another amazing clip. Sorry, I’m getting excited.” Wow. Tessa had done hundreds if not thousands of interviews and she was geeking out over me. “How has your life changed since you chose your freedom?”
That was a brutal question, and I considered my answer carefully. I had to stop letting the protesters and haters getting under my skin. “Things haven’t been as I expected. A lot of wolves, ones I considered my friends, even my own family, don’t think I’ve done the right thing. Some of them are outside this bar, holding signs proclaiming what a terrible person I am. My marriage... it wasn’t bad. Tate, I can talk about him by name, right?”
“We’ll edit it out if it’s a problem.”
“Okay. Tate’s an important member of the pack. He owns a big ranch on the outskirts of town, and honestly, we had a good marriage. He’s a great dad. A lot of people think I’m asking too much wanting more, when I had it good already.”
Was it though? My she-wolf always questioned that belief. In many ways, he’d kept me away from her, my true nature, and from fully being a member of the pack. Other than that, he didn’t treat me badly, but I definitely knew my place.
“What do you want from a forever mate?”
These questions, while I knew the answers, weren’t so easy to put into words. “I want to know what it feels like to be with my forever mate. To fall so deeply in love with someone that I can’t breathe without him. I want wild passion. But at the same time, I don’t want to belong to anyone in the sense that I’m not allowed to make my own decisions. Does that even make sense?”
“You want a partner. A mate,” Tessa said, nodding. “I wouldn’t have accomplished any of the things I did if I constantly had to ask my husband Cole for permission. He has his life, and I have mine. And I wouldn’t be the same person without my own passions. What are you passionate about, Willow?”
I was somewhat prepared to talk about my relationship with Tate, and I’d been about to ask her to make sure that he didn’t look like the bad guy if this ever made it to air. I’d spent my entire adult life making him happy. Now, it was all about me.
I was even prepared to talk about Hazel. I was definitely passionate about her. I could talk about my yoga studio, but it didn’t feel big enough. What did I really want?
What did I have to offer a potential mate as a Werewife?
Unwanted emotions were closing their meaty fingers over my throat, and I struggled to take in enough oxygen. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”
I got up and ran, ignoring Tessa’s pleas for me to try again. I wasn’t ready for this. Not for the show, not for dating. I left the box, assaulted by the bright flashing lights and screaming guitar coming from the stage.
Thirty years old, and I was so naïve. Scanning the room, there was no sign of Luna. I could text her and tell her I had to go. She had a camera crew already assigned to follow her every move.
Lost in my own thoughts, I slammed into a solid wall of muscle. I could tell by his energy he was a wolf, but I didn’t know who he was, which meant he wasn’t Sawtooth pack.
That had never been a good sign in the past. Strange wolves were trouble.
“Sorry.” I backed away from him, just a couple steps because I had no intention of pinballing through the crowded Redheaded Stepchild.
Damn, this mystery wolf was hot. Dark hair that skimmed past his shoulders, cheekbones that I couldn’t fake with the world’s best contouring skills, and haunted gray eyes.
This wasn’t the first time I’d seen him, and my already scrambled brain raced to place him.
“Are you okay?” the wolf asked.
I dabbed my damp cheeks. I didn’t realize I was crying. “Never been better.”
A corner of his mouth turned up into a smile. “That’s a lie. Need me to go talk to someone for you?”
Don’t let him anywhere near Tessa, my she-wolf snarled inside me. She overwhelmed me with a feeling I wasn’t familiar with. Possessiveness. She’d be able to cast a whole season of eligible Werewives battling over him.
“Something tells me you do your talking with your fists.”
He shrugged, neither confirming or denying that claim.
“I can handle Tessa Williams,” I said, trying to convince myself more than him. “But I could really use a drink. Would you like to join me?”
In the blink of an eye, I went from freaking out over having no passion to asking a hot mystery wolf to have a drink with me. I didn’t even know who I was anymore.
That could be a very good thing.
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