by Dizzy Hooper
Which is how I manage to get completely blindsided, I guess.
My only warning is a dark, delicious scent like deep caramel that floods my nose. My blood instantly heats, my skin prickling.
Then a voice I know entirely too well rumbles, "Hey there, Claire."
Chapter Two:
Oh, God. It's even worse than when the cute proctor tried to smile at me.
My fingers clamp down around the handle of my grocery cart. The wolf inside me is ready to bolt, to shed our clothes and our skin and flee. Only it's useless.
Every muscle in my body has gone tense. I'm a statue, frozen in place here in the freaking cereal aisle.
Footsteps circle around me, and my heart squeezes inside my chest.
Because it's not enough that the male approaching me is the sexiest, most gorgeous creature I've ever met in my entire life. He also has to be one of the kindest.
Dixon comes into view slowly. He keeps his distance, giving me a solid foot and a half of space--as much room as this tight grocery aisle will allow.
"Hi," I manage to grit out.
Dixon's blue eyes go pinched around the edges, and I hate myself so much I can hardly stand it.
I hate that I sound rude. I hate that I sound as if I want this male to go away, but I can't help it.
Dixon and his pack are our neighbors to the east. The first time I met them, they were stopping by the house to meet Jessica's babies. The surprise of finding out my cousin had found not one but three gorgeous males to be her mates was still fresh. I wasn't prepared for three more gorgeous males to show up on our doorstep.
I wasn't ready for tall, blond Dixon with his sharp jaw and piercing, blue eyes. He was the alpha--clearly. Despite his relative youth, command was--is--written into his every bone.
I wasn't ready for Beau, the gentle giant who's always at Dixon's six. For his dark, messy hair or his soft, chocolate eyes.
Or for Adrian, who hides a keen, sharp gaze behind thick-rimmed glasses, and coiled strength inside a compact, leanly muscled build.
As I stand there, staring like a deer in the headlights, I scent those other two males in the air. Because of course I do. Dixon's pack is as tight-knit as the one Jessica bonded to. They do everything together.
And doesn't that just give me ideas? Ideas about all those hands on my skin, about being touched for the first time in years...
Or being mated. Really, truly taken for the first time--ever.
I'm pretty sure if I asked, they'd be willing, too. Broken Ladder Falls is full of lonely males. A cowardly attack on their territory twenty years ago saw all the females wiped out, and the larger pack has never fully recovered. It's now a sad ghost of its former power.
As one of the only unmated female shifters in the area, I get a lot of longing looks. Maybe it's that I see Dixon and his pack more than any of the others. Or maybe it's that they hear Jessica and her mates going at it just as clearly as I do, even from half a mile away.
But Dixon, Beau and Adrian have always been...intense about their interest in me.
My body likes the attention. But my brain...
Even if I could accept that their attention was genuine... Even if I believed I was special, as opposed to just convenient...
I swallow hard, my throat raw.
God.
What I would give to be able to stop my stupid brain from spiraling into a panic every time I scent them coming near.
Exactly like it is right now.
Sure enough, Beau and Adrian choose precisely that instant to appear at the other end of the grocery aisle. The sweat beading at my temples intensifies, as does my fight or flight reflex. One avenue of escape is cut off. It doesn't matter that in my heart of hearts, escape is the last thing I want. Knowing I can't winds my anxiety higher.
Dixon smiles sadly at me. He casts one look at Beau and Adrian. I watch Adrian's chest deflate. Beau gives me a little wave, then the two of them head right back the way they came, and I hate that that makes me feel better.
"Sorry," Dixon says.
"Don't be."
"It's okay." And he means it, too.
I want to growl in frustration.
These are kind males. Sexy, attractive males, who seem to be interested in me, and I'm a twenty-five year-old virgin who lives with her cousin who has wild, loud sex with her three mates every day. Sometimes more than once.
But the tiniest bit of attention, the mere idea of even so much as a conversation with them, here, in a public place?
It's too much.
The metal of the grocery cart groans beneath my grip. Memories of the last time a male tried to get close bombard me. My stomach twists.
Even more sympathy fills Dixon's eyes, and maybe that's the worst, cruelest part of all.
"Take care, Claire, you hear?"
"Yeah." The corners of my eyes sting. I can't decide if I want to laugh or cry. "Sure."
In the end, I can't do either. My body remains on lock down as Dixon turns. He walks away down the aisle, and every step he takes loosens the vice around my ribs.
Until finally he's out of sight, and I suck in my first breath in what feels like an hour. His scent lingers on the air, and the wolf inside me howls mournfully.
He smells so good. I want to roll around in that scent. I want to chase down Beau and Adrian and inhale them just as deeply. I want to rub myself all over the three of them, until the lonely ache inside me is finally sated.
But I can't.
Instead, I stand there like a total freak, staring at a hundred different kinds of O-shaped cereals, blinking back tears. Waiting for my vision to clear and my hands to unclench. For my feet to come unstuck from the floor.
So I can grab the last few items off my stupid list and fumble my way through the check-out.
And then go home. Alone.
Again.
Pre-order your copy of Healed By The Pack today!
Also by Dizzy Hooper
Broken Ladder Wolf Shifters Series
Book 1: Snowed In With The Pack
Book 2: Pregnant By The Pack
Book 3: Reclaimed By The Pack
Book 4: Alone With The Pack
Broken Ladder Wolf-shifters Books 1-4 Box Set: Mated By The Pack:
Book 5: Healed By The Pack
Standalone Contemporary Reverse Harem Romances
5 Mountain Men Of Lonely Peak
Hanna And The Hot Hockey Gods
One Night With Four CEOs
Five Alarm Forever
Mountain Men of Silver Ridge Series
The Mountain Man’s Secret Valentine
Crown Brother Fairy Tale Romances
Ella’s Enchanted Evening
Forbidden Lovers Duet (May-December Romance)
Tempting Her Teacher
Possessing His Pupil - coming soon!
Copyright © 2019 by Dizzy Hooper.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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About the Author
Dizzy Hooper is the pen name of an internationally published author who loves hot guys, cold drinks, and books that make you feel warm in all the right places. If you're looking for a sexy read with just that little something extra -- and a guaranteed happy ending, look no further. Sign up for Dizzy's newsletter and never miss a new story!
Connect with me:
www.dizzyhooper.com
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