Chapter Four #2
She nodded. “I was at all of his appointments, and in the hospital at his side until the end. We married knowing our time was very limited. I love—” Her voice trembled and faded off, and her eyes burned with instant tears.
She had to stare out the window for a few seconds and regain her composure.
With a hard swallow, she said it as emotionless as she could. “I loved him very much.”
“Fuck,” Dodger murmured, leaning back in his chair.
Destiny forced a smile. “You have the story now. Can we talk about anything else?”
“Of course,” he said, looking troubled.
“Great. What about you? What’s your story? What makes you all broody and moody?”
“Are you wanting me to have some traumatic story?”
Destiny shrugged. “I hope you don’t have one.”
“I’m a werewolf.”
She waited for him to explain, but that seemed to be the only answer he was giving.
And she thought about it…thought about what Dad went through, thought about his Changes, and how he had to swallow his pride daily when he was in public.
The loneliness that came with being a Rogue werewolf. “I suppose that is traumatic enough.”
He allowed a smile. “It’s not so bad. I had a good Pack growing up, a good family.
My wolf was more dominant than my two older brothers, so even though I was the youngest male, I didn’t get picked on from my first Change.
I had a solid friend group, I finished high school with a GED, I traveled before I became territory bound.
I found a life here, got a job. It’s not the best life, but it could be way worse. ”
“Why isn’t it the best?”
“My Packmates are all annoying as hell.”
She snorted. “Do you get along with any of them?”
He got a thoughtful look in his eyes. “I get along with a few of the guys on my work crew.”
“Why don’t you like your Pack?”
He inhaled deeply and watched Byron set their beers in front of them. When he walked away, Dodger said, “I’m not sure if I want to stay here.”
She nodded, understanding. “If you become friends with your Pack, it would make it harder to leave.”
“Yep.”
“You could just be Rogue.”
“I am Rogue.”
She sputtered the beer she was sipping and coughed a few times. “What?”
“I’m Rogue. My whole Pack is.”
That did not make any sense. “You can’t be Rogue and have a Pack.”
“You said you looked up my registration, right? That’s where you found out my name? You saw the pictures of the local werewolves on your phone inside that restaurant, and you figured out who I was, same as a dozen people a day do.”
“Yes,” she admitted softly.
“And what did my registration say?”
“Unpaired. It said your age, height, weight, last known address, and the color of your wolf.”
“No Pack name though. My Pack name was taken off my registration. That’s a new thing. My Alpha paired with a human and the Elder’s lost it. We are being punished.”
“Fuck the Elders,” she ground out. Her ears were instantly hot just thinking about them.
Dodger cocked his head. “Do they mess with your stepdad?”
“Every few months. It’s just long-term bullying.”
“Why do they care about him?”
“Because he was an Alpha, and he dropped the Pack when the Elders found out. His Pack didn’t have his back, and wouldn’t accept my mom, so he left.”
“Oh shit,” Dodger said, sounding impressed.
She pursed her lips. “He left his Pack with both middle fingers up. He was loud when he left too. I don’t know all the stories, but my mom said it was terrifying. It was her first time seeing what he could do. First time seeing his wolf fight, and all that.”
“What Pack did he leave?”
“Jordan Haul Pack.”
Dodger lifted his chin higher into the air. “Michigan? When did you move here?”
“When I was three, right after he left his Pack.”
“And he never wanted to start a new one?”
She shrugged. “There was a Pack around here. The Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack, but he didn’t like how they ran things.
They were human haters too, so what was he going to do?
Take over a Pack that would reject my mom and me?
We are his world. He is protective. Like…
really protective of us. He didn’t want to set us up for rejection again.
The Elders did approach him last month about maybe taking over the territory on the government land but told him he would have to move us away from the territory and cut ties with me and my mom. ”
Dodger huffed a laugh. “We just vacated that land.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You were Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack?”
He nodded. “The Elders stripped our homes and territory from us. We are still around though. We just can’t officially be in a Pack again. We can never register as one.”
“How…” she frowned, trying to think of a polite way of asking him this. “How are you still around? They’re filling that territory with new members, you know?”
“My Alpha’s human mate bought us land.”
“Oooh,” Destiny punched out through a slow laugh. “You’re giving the Elders the middle finger too.”
Dodger’s smile turned predatory, and that was answer enough.
They were making their own Pack outside of the rules.
Okay.
Okay, all right.
She liked him. He probably felt about the Elders the way her dad did. The way she did too. “They’ll come after you when they find out.”
“Bring it,” he said easily. “It’s honestly the only reason I came back.”
“For what?”
“A good fight. The most interesting day in this Pack was the day the Elder’s showed up and went after Nory and pulled Delta and Bridger’s big bad wolves from them. We all got some action that day. My wolf was happy for a few hours. I could breathe for a little while.”
“You seem to be breathing fine now,” she pointed out softly.
Dodger leaned forward on the table. “There are thirty-seven people in here at ten tables, four servers, Byron, two hosts, and a manager that looks over at us every five seconds or so. The rude server from yesterday has pointed us out to every table she’s serving.
Byron is already making us a second round of beers,” he said without shifting his gaze anywhere.
“Blondie is still staring at us, and for the last few minutes, her beau has been getting jealous of her attention on me. He will drink a couple more and then get bold enough to say something to me, and I’ll have to drag his ass outside so these fine humans in here don’t witness a fraction of what I’m capable of.
The table behind me is talking about getting divorced.
Seventeen people outside have walked past this window and noticed me sitting inside of here.
Three guys have noticed you; one is sitting alone at that table in the back corner.
Could be curiosity over why you are sitting here with a werewolf, but more likely it is the figure you are trying and failing to hide under your jacket. Pick a car parked outside.”
“Wh-what?”
He tilted his head toward the line of cars parked on the street outside. “Look out the window and pick one.”
“Umm, the red Buick across the street.”
“8FT 14U”
Holy shit. “How many license plates do you have memorized?”
“All of them that you can see up and down both sides of the street. So, no. I never feel like I can just breathe.”
“Is the hypervigilance from being a werewolf?”
“I guess. It’s just how I am. There is no off-switch.”
“Unless you have a good fight.”
“Unless I have a good fight,” he agreed.
“Monster.”
“Why are you smiling when you say that?”
Destiny shrugged and didn’t hide her growing smile.
“You’re supposed to be running,” he pointed out.
“My stepdad taught me never to give my back to a werewolf. I don’t run.”
A low, gritty growl emanated from him, and Dodger relaxed back into his chair, his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re fun, little human.”
She didn’t know why, but that compliment crawled inside of her and ignited the butterflies that had been long-asleep in her stomach.
“I haven’t been called fun in a long time,” she admitted.
“A crossing guard who wears knee-length winter jackets at bars? I can’t imagine why anyone would think you are no fun.”
She pulled a face. “Rude.”
“Aren’t you warm in here?”
Destiny picked at the bent corner of her plastic menu. “I’m self-conscious now that you said some guy was staring at me.”
Dodger shrugged. “So? Let him look.”
She frowned at him. “This feels like a trap. Werewolves are possessive. If I take this off, are you using it just to try and start a fight with that guy?”
“You’re overthinking this. Three times I have gotten a glimpse of the low-cut shirt you are wearing under that hideous jacket, and three times I have been rewarded with the top of your cleavage.
I don’t give a fuck about the guy checking you out.
He should be. More will check you out when you take off that potato sack.
I’m in this for selfish reasons. I want to see your figure.
Let that guy stare. You’re sitting here with me. No one will mess with you.”
Okay, truth-be-told, Destiny loved dominant men who could walk that tightrope between confident and overbearing. So far, she had seen only confidence from Dodger, and it was so hot.
With a little clearing of her throat, she unzipped her jacket the rest of the way, shrugged it off her shoulders, and settled it onto the back of her chair.
When she looked up, Dodger’s gaze was glued to her low-cut V-neck top. He lifted those ice blue eyes back to her, and a slight smile curved up his lips.
She answered him with her own smile. “Would you like me to stand up?”
“Yes.” The deep bass in his voice was sexy.
“I’m hungry,” she said low. “I’m going to walk to the bar and tell Byron we are ready to order.”
“I’m suddenly hungry too,” he rumbled as he watched her stand up.