Chapter One #2
Her eyes widened and she looked away fast, but he’d seen that recognition.
“You know me?” he asked, walking beside her.
“I know of you. You’re from one of the Packs around here.”
“Mmm.”
She clutched her purse across her chest and hugged it tightly as she walked.
“I’m not going to rob you.”
“I know,” she said, but her tone was uncertain.
“What do you know about werewolves?”
“Lots.”
“Apparently not ‘lots’ because you gave me your back and fled.”
“I wasn’t fleeing. I was the one walking to my house here. You are the one pursuing.”
“With a wolf, you should never give them your back—”
“I know!” she snapped. She flashed him an angry glance and said it quieter. “I know.”
This woman had so many walls up, and was clearly uninterested. The lady in the coffee shop had been wrong about her finding him attractive. She was all bristled up and shut down, and him being near her was making it worse. Tabian could tell.
He stopped walking and let out a soft sigh, accepting defeat. “I’m going to let you be. It was nice to meet you—”
“Can I have your number?” she blurted out, rounding on him.
Never before had he been so stunned. Tabian hooked his hands on his hips and shifted his weight to the other side.
“Look, I don’t know how this stuff works with humans.
” He shook his head and admitted, “I’ve never gone out with one.
I mean, we have a human in our Pack. She’s paired to my Alpha, and she’s cool as hell, but before her?
” He shook his head. “I’ve never even hung out with one. Never wanted to. You’re all confusing.”
“My stepson would like to meet you,” she said.
Oh shit. Tabian swallowed hard, his mind racing. If he was sixteen years old, then Tabian would’ve been fifteen when the kid was born…He’d slept with a couple girls his freshmen year in high school, but they were werewolves. “Uuuh, do I know this kid?” he asked carefully.
“No. Obviously.”
“Right.” His heart was pounding out of his chest right now. “And his mother is…”
“Passed away.”
Oh geez. Who all was he sleeping with back then. He was a delinquent at fifteen. “And her name was…”
“Why do you need to know?”
“Is the kid mine?” he blurted out.
Tru looked slapped, and every bit of reserved anger slipped from her pretty face. “No. He’s the son of my ex. He just likes werewolves and wants to meet one.”
“Oh.” Tabian wheezed a breath of air out of his lungs and folded in half, gripping his knees with his hands. “Oh, thank God.”
“You thought you had some kid you don’t know about?” Her voice had jacked up an octave.
“Well, I don’t know! I told you, you humans are confusing!” He grabbed his t-shirt over his heart. “Can werewolves have heart attacks?” he murmured to himself. “I might be having one of those.”
“You were really calm about that,” she pointed out.
“Well, I’m not trying to shoot the messenger. And I was a dumb kid who didn’t use enough condoms. I guess a little piece of me wouldn’t be surprised.”
Blink, blink. Her eyes were so pretty. With clarity in her tone, she told him, “No, I’m not here to tell you that you have some surprise kid.”
Tabian straightened up and put his hands behind his head, looking around. Was this what a panic attack felt like? “I need a drink.”
“Alcoholic?” she guessed.
“What? No! A drink of water! I’m feeling lightheaded.”
“Oh!” She fumbled around in her oversized purse and handed him a water bottle that was half empty.
He downed it and crunched up the plastic bottle for good measure. He felt a little better now. Tabian set his backpack in the grass and took a seat on the curb, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Why did you follow me?” she asked as she took a seat next to him. “Seriously.”
“A lady in the coffee shop told me a cougar is someone who is attracted to a younger man. And I don’t know. I guess I wanted to find out if that meant you were attracted to me.”
She held his gaze for a three-count and then looked at the houses across the street. “No matter what age you are, I am not ready to date anyone. I want to find myself first.”
“Oof. Someone did a number on you if you lost yourself.”
“Yes, he did. And now I’m raising my stepson alone, and my focus is on him, and on me. You’re young. I wouldn’t want to drag a man through life when he doesn’t even know himself yet. I can’t mother another man.”
He was watching her pretty face when she formed those words.
She looked startled all the sudden and cast a quick glance at him.
“Not that we would even get past a first date and be serious. That’s not even what I meant.
I’m sorry.” She puffed air out of her cheeks.
“It’s been a while since I’ve talked to a man. ”
“I thought I was a boy,” he said through a smile. He was starting to see the problem here. “How old are you?”
“That’s none of your business and it’s rude to ask a woman that.”
“How old?” he asked again.
“Thirty. Plus six.”
“So, thirty-six.”
“Yes.”
“Cool, I’m—”
“Don’t tell me!”
“I’m thirty-one,” he said.
Tru’s mouth fell open, and then she clacked it closed in confusion. “You’re thirty-one. I thought you were twenty-five or something.”
“Werewolves age differently than the balding beer-gutted fucks you’re probably used to dating.”
“That was very harsh, and judgmental on humans, and also, I haven’t dated much.”
“Cool, so a five year difference. That ain’t bad. Want to fuck or not?”
“W-what?”
“Just kidding,” he said through a teasing grin.
Obviously flustered, Tru stood and dusted off the seat of her jeans. There was still a dead leaf hanging on for dear life to her pocket, so smoothly, he reached up and patted it off her butt. God, she was hot.
She gasped and hugged her purse again. “I don’t even know if I’m supposed to talk to you.”
“Who is stopping you?”
“I think just…just…me?”
“Okay, well while you sort that out, give me your phone.”
Tru rifled through her giant purse and pulled out her phone, fumbled it, dropped it, but Tabian caught it before it hit the grass. He faced it toward her so the facial recognition could unlock it, and then he added his phone number to her contacts.
“If your kid is some kind of werewolf fan, probably try to aim his interests at something more productive. We’re all a mess.
” Tabian texted himself from her phone so he had her number too and then handed it back to her and stood to his full height.
He was easily a foot taller than her. She was hands-down the prettiest human he’d ever seen.
Age didn’t mean shit to him, so this was a her-issue.
“I’ll meet up and say hi to him as a favor to you if you want,” he murmured. “I can meet him at that coffee shop if you want.”
“Oh. Okay,” she said softly.
He turned to leave but rounded on her again.
“I know I’m not supposed to care, but you said something about mothering a man, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
I know you’ve probably had a bad experience, and you’re just aiming at anything with a dick, but no woman would ever have to mother me.
Not my style. If…and it’s a big if…I ever decide to settle down, my woman would be spoiled rotten.
I don’t need anything from a woman but companionship, and even that is a new urge for me.
I blame it on my Pack. They’re all pairing up and sometimes I see it and I think it would be nice to have someone to come home to, who gave a shit about how my day went.
I’m also comfortable being alone though, and don’t need anything from anyone.
I haven’t since I was younger than your boy.
Fuck age, Tru. A man is a man, and that has nothing to do with the number of times he’s lived through a rotation around the sun.
” He looked her up and down. “You sure look pretty with the sunlight hitting your eyes like this.”
And with that, he nodded his head in a goodbye and made his way up the street back toward the coffee shop, forcing himself not to look behind him.