Chapter Fourteen
What did one wear to meet one’s werewolf boyfriend’s animal for the first time?
Destiny’s instincts screamed to dress up for the first time seeing him, but that was silly. They would probably be out in the wilderness in the dead of a snowy Idaho winter, and she was all about survival.
Was Dodger her boyfriend? Bond seemed like a way bigger word. Bond, bond, bond! This was so crazy, eee!
She caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror as she marched through, making sure she turned her curling iron off. She looked different today.
Her cheeks were pink, and she’d put effort into her make-up, and her hair hung in loose waves, and her eyes were bright with excitement. She looked…happy.
Something about that made her emotional.
She took a picture of herself in the mirror and sent it to her mom with the message, Just so someone knows, I’m getting to meet Dodger’s wolf tonight.
Mom’s message made her giggle. Where are your boobs?
Okay, Destiny was indeed dressed in warm layers in the least seductive outfit known to man. She was wearing the tight white thermal shirt with the cartoon pine trees printed on them, and the ski bibs Dodger had bought for her the other day.
Her phone rang and her heart stuttered. Dad was calling. Uh oh.
“Hi,” she sang out.
“You’re meeting his wolf where?” Dad growled.
“Umm, in the forest?”
“Please tell me you’re joking right now.”
“He’s coming to pick me up in ten minutes.”
“We will be there in seven.” Dad hung up.
Crap.
Fingers flying, she texted Dodger. Mayday, my dad wants to meet you when you come pick me up. Send.
Good. Dodger’s response was immediate.
Oh. Okay. Maybe he wasn’t intimidated. Or perhaps he just didn’t know any better.
But also, Don’t text and drive. You have precious cargo. Send.
I’m at a stoplight. Precious cargo, huh? Are you talking about my dick? Go put your Mumu on and send me titty pictures.
Dodger! I’ve never done that. Send.
He didn’t respond, which must’ve meant he was driving again.
He was just joking about the titty pictures. Probably.
Right?
She pursed her lips and looked at herself in the mirror. The only bare skin on her entire body right now were her hands and her face.
Maybe she would just take a picture and if she hated it, no harm no foul, she could just delete it.
Destiny shimmied out of the stretchy suspenders of her ski bibs and lifted her tight thermal pine tree shirt.
She was wearing a blue push up bra, and her cleavage didn’t look half bad, other than her skin was pasty white from the lack of sunlight over the snowy winter.
No titty pics, but she was comfortable doing a bra pic.
Oh goodness, she was being so bad right now!
She was bad to the bone. She was so scandalous!
Aaah! She leaned forward and smiled at the camera and took a picture, then checked it.
She could do better.
She took another, and another, and then seven more until finally she was satisfied. Should she put a filter on it? No. Yes. No?
Fuck it.
She opened up her text thread with Dodger and squealed as she sent the risky text.
Then she set her phone down on the counter and walked away, paced back, checked it, and walked away again.
A knock sounded at the front door and she yelped, startled.
“Oh my gosh,” she murmured, cheeks the color of cherries. She shoved her phone into her pocket and bolted for the front door. Dad was taking up the entire porch, with his back to her. Mom had to sidle the wall of the small porch to get past him and hug her, and now she could hear Dodger’s truck.
“Dad, please be nice.”
“I’ll be whatever he deserves.”
“I’m old, Dad!” she said, tugging at his arm. “And I like this one. Don’t chase him away.”
He was already headed to the truck that Dodger was parking across the street. Why was he walking so fast and so aggressively?
Dodger stepped out, and his eyes were glowing nearly white. His bone structure was sharper, and he curled his lips back from teeth that seemed sharper than she remembered.
“Dad, stop!”
She bolted ahead of him and stood in between them, her hands on Dad’s chest. “Please, stop.”
And oh, she hadn’t seen this on her dad’s face in a long time. His eyes were glowing yellow and his face looked monstrous.
“Sir,” Dodger said behind her.
Destiny glanced to the side and could see Dodger tilting his face to the side, exposing the side of his neck. His eyes were boring into her dad though.
Destiny backed up and wrapped her arms around Dodger’s arm. “Dad, this is Dodger Nause. Dodger, this is my dad. This is Behren.”
“You sure didn’t pick a submissive one, did you, Destiny?” her dad asked in a voice that was so snarly, she barely recognized it.
“Why would I want submissive? If I’m choosing a wolf, I want one that can protect me.”
“I don’t want a fight,” Dodger told him. “I’ve heard stories about you.”
“You might not want one, but your wolf sure does,” her dad gritted out. “I can feel it.”
“Honey,” Mom said from behind him. She slid her hand into the crook of his tense arm.
Some of the tension left him and he backed up a few paces, eyes never leaving Dodger’s. He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes as he looked from Dodger to Destiny, and back to Dodger. “What have you done?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“What are you talking about?” Mom asked.
Dodger held his hands out and shook his head slowly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
The intensity was back in Dad’s gold eyes, but there was something more—realization.
“Destiny, what’s happening?” her mother asked, confusion swirling across her pretty face.
Destiny didn’t know how to just say it. She couldn’t find the right words.
“There’s a bond,” Dodger told her mother.
Mom’s mouth fell open and she gasped. She clapped her hand over her lips and looked at Destiny with such shock swimming in her eyes. “Really?”
Destiny nodded, worried at the tension in Dad. She didn’t want them to fight. She didn’t want their wolves going after each other.
“It’s too fast,” Dad said.
“We were fast too,” Mom whispered, and now her eyes were crinkling with a smile as she stepped forward and hugged Destiny and then moved to Dodger. Tears rimmed her eyes as she pulled him in for a hug.
Destiny could tell he was trying to be so gentle with her mom, and now her eyes were burning with tears. She didn’t know how she’d expected her mom to react to her bonding so quickly to a werewolf, but she was being so supportive. God, she appreciated it.
Dad sighed and a look of resolve washed across his expression.
Dodger stepped forward and offered his hand for a shake. He was as tall and as wide as her father.
“I thought it was too early to introduce your wolf,” Dad rumbled, and shook his hand.
Dodger blew out a breath as they clasped hands. “It is way too early. My wolf is obsessed with her.”
Dad released him and crossed his arms over his barrel chest. “Why did you ignore my daughter?”
“To try and convince my wolf not to drag her in.”
Dad arched his eyebrow. “Didn’t work, did it?”
Dodger gave a chuckle and shook his head. “Not even close. My Pack was about done with me by day three.”
“Will they kick you out when they figure out you bonded to her?”
“No. My Alpha was the one who pushed me to come see her this morning.” He gestured in the direction of the mountains. “The girls are probably planning a damn manicure party for her by now. No one can keep a secret in that place.”
A small smile cracked Dad’s lips, and then he ducked his gaze to the road to hide it.
“I remember some of that. Well, I’m not worried about you exposing her to the wolf anymore.”
“You’re not?” Destiny asked, confused. Her dad had switched his attitude and aggression so fast, her head was spinning a bit.
“You have a thick bond, Destiny. I can damn-near see it. His wolf will kill for you. He won’t ever hurt you though.” Dad shrugged. “He can’t.”
“Uh, I have something planned for her,” Dodger said. “It was kind of a surprise.” He glanced at Destiny. “I called a Pack dinner so you can meet everyone before I show you the wolf.” He swung his attention to her parents. “Would you like to meet my people?”
“Oh, my dad doesn’t like being around other werewo—”
“Sure,” Dad rumbled. “We’ll follow you up in my truck.”
“Oh,” Destiny said, shocked.
Mom looked just as baffled as she felt. “You can’t fight them, Behren.”
“Probably no one is fighting tonight,” he said, and offered his arm to her mother. “We should go meet her people though.”
“Her people,” Destiny repeated, confused. “Dad, you are my people. You and Mom. That won’t ever change.”
Dad inhaled deeply and tipped his head toward Dodger. “His Pack will be your people, honey. I want to know where to find them if you ever get hurt.”
Dodger pursed his lips and dropped his head. “Fair enough. I’ll have Destiny give you the address in case we get separated.”
“No need,” Behren grumbled as he led her mother toward their truck. “Just don’t drive like an asshole and we’ll be fine.”
Dodger stared after him and his chest rose with a deep inhalation. “Well, shit.”
“Should you let your Alpha know who is coming?”
“Yep. Yep, I should do that,” he murmured. “I’ll just tell Liam that I’m bringing the Behren Young into his territory. I’m sure it’ll go over great.”
“You invited him,” she said, headed for her house to lock up.
“I didn’t think he would accept,” Dodger said low as he followed her. He gave a thin-lipped smile and waved at her dad in his truck. “I think he hates me.”
“Hate is a strong word,” she said. “You’ll grow on him.”
“Admission, this is the first time I’ve met parents,” he muttered as he followed her inside.
“What? Really?” Destiny liked that. Good. She didn’t want him making these memories with anyone else. She liked being his first at something.
“I saw that picture you texted me,” he growled, spinning her toward him. He walked her backward, his lips on hers, and this wasn’t the slow kiss. This was hunger.
Her body reached for his in an instant. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his hips and pushed her tongue against his.
A deep growl vibrated from his chest right through her, and his lips dipped to her throat as he settled her on the counter.
Honk!
“Fuck,” he muttered, detaching. Dodger locked his arms against the counter on either side of her hips and leveled her with an intense look and a wicked smile.
“I didn’t think you would actually send me a picture.
I saw it right as I was pulling up. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of a boner that fast?
Before I met your dad? I had to think of the grossest thing I could think of. ”
“Okay, now I have to know what is the grossest thing you can think of?”
“Slugs. The big ones. I imagined one touching my foot.” He shuddered.
Honk!
“Oh my gosh, okay,” she gritted out. Destiny hopped off the counter and grabbed her purse and her jacket.
“Beanie and gloves too,” he advised. “It’s colder up on the mountain.”
“Are you sure this is cute enough to meet your Pack in? I look like a marshmallow. What if they think I’m a wiener about the cold?”
“If they make fun of you, I’ll eat them.” He’d said it so easily, and she wondered if he really would. He led her out of the house, and she locked the door.
Dodger reached behind him automatically and she gave a private smile as she slipped her hand into his. He’d listened when she’d said she wanted affection.
He helped her into his truck and then nodded back at her parents before he got in and shut the door beside him.
Okay. Okay! Tonight, he was meeting her parents, and she was meeting his Pack, and this felt like something. It was validation that her feelings weren’t too big. She wasn’t too hurt when he’d ghosted her. Whatever this bond was between them, it held weight.
She couldn’t stop smiling, and twice before they even got to the end of the street, he looked over at her and smiled in response to the look on her face.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Happy and relieved.”
He slid his hand around hers and pulled it to his lips, pressed a soft kiss against her knuckles. “Me too.”