The word didn’t even do her justice. She was always stunning, with her sweet smile and honey eyes, but now she looked ethereally gorgeous.
“Hey there,” she said softly, looking up at me through her thick lashes that looked even longer and darker than usual, giving her a sort of siren look. Was it makeup? Magic? Who was I to say? All I knew was that I was captivated.
She was dressed in a satiny, emerald-green dress that hugged parts of her perfectly, then hung in sort of artful folds across others. I wasn’t overly familiar with the style, but I liked it.
Oh, I liked it a lot.
“Hey,” I murmured back, still taking the whole art of her in. She was taller than usual, thanks to the black heels that made her calves look incredible.
Then again, what part of Felicia wasn’t incredible? “You ready?” I asked, offering my arm.
“Sure am,” she said, grinning up at me. My eyes were drawn to how ruby-red her lips were. I loved the normal petal-pink shade she naturally had, but hey, I was not complaining about the switch-up.
The only downside was that it captured my attention so entirely that all I could think about was kissing her, or running my thumb along that perfectly scarlet lipstick and smearing it in a lovely mess.
“Is everything okay?” Felicia asked as she took my arm, her perfume filling my senses. Damn, somehow, she smelled ten times more incredible than usual, which I’d thought was impossible. But there was something that had changed about it that made my inner wolf want to bury his nose in her neck and breathe.
“Everything’s perfect,” I said, mentally pulling myself together and walking her to the passenger side of my car. It wasn’t the communal truck our pack used for errands that required hauling, but a practical four-door that was nondescript and painted black. Some alphas had showy cars, and if that was what they wanted to spend their alpha stipend on, that was their business. But I had never been a car guy. I’d much rather shift into my wolf form and run as nature intended.
However, I couldn’t exactly take a human on a date like that, so having my own vehicle had its uses.
“Where are we going, by the way?” Felicia asked once we were both in the car and buckled up.
“Greggilios,” I asked, monitoring her scent closely since I couldn’t exactly watch her face while I was backing up. To my delight, her response was positive. While humans didn’t communicate with pheromones and scent quite like us shifters did, our noses were sensitive enough to pick up on quite a few variations in their mood. It also helped that we could generally hear if their heartbeat suddenly picked up for no reason.
“Oh! I read about that place,” she said enthusiastically. “I’ve been wanting to go since it opened, but it’s so hard to find time.”
“I’m glad to have helped us find that time. Hopefully it lives up to our expectations.”
“Fingers crossed!”
Once I was on the road, the conversation stalled a little, if only because my GPS tended to interrupt us every few sentences. I would have loved to have gone without it, but I wasn’t familiar with the area where the restaurant was. It was deep in the center of the upper-class part of the city, which was pretty much fairy territory through and through. It wasn’t like shifters weren’t allowed there, but we didn’t like to hang around the contract-wielding magical folk.
But what we did talk about was pleasant. I hadn’t realized that Penny and Polly had swung by for a custom order, but I was happy they’d done so. I hadn’t wanted to pressure anyone into supporting Felicia’s bakery, but I had hoped that after tasting her goods, a few people would have taken the initiative on their own.
Speaking of which, I needed to check Wisdom and Charity’s baby registry. I always made sure I attended such milestone events. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I missed one, but I liked to think that it showed my pack how involved their alpha was. I wasn’t interested in being an aloof leader who only showed up in times of challenge. I wanted to be a fixture that everyone knew they could trust and come to in times of conflict.
“Here we are,” I said with more than a bit of relief when I pulled into the parking lot. I’d been a bit worried that the place would be fancy enough to have a valet, but thankfully it didn’t. I didn’t know why the idea of an unknown employee driving my car made me so nervous when I wasn’t even that attached to it, but it definitely grated against mine and my inner wolf’s nerves.
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that they’re so busy,” Felicia mused before I got out of the car and circled around the front to open her door for her. “It is a Friday night. I guess I haven’t been out in a long time.”
“Same boat here,” I said, offering her my arm once again. I liked that it was becoming such a natural thing between us so quickly, because the way her hand rested on my forearm and her body heat radiated into my side made me feel incredibly masculine. “I feel like I’m never motivated to leave our land during the winter. I mostly want to hole up and sleep.”
“Well, I don’t quite have land, but I feel the same in my apartment. Winter is for baking bread and reading books while snuggled up under warm, cozy covers.”
“That sounds perfect, to be honest.” And if my mind went to picturing Felicia in pajamas while doing exactly that, well, that was my business. “Add a fire going, and it’d be perfect.”
“Hah, it would, but I don’t know of many apartments in the city that have fireplaces.”
“Fair enough, fair enough. Perks of living out in the country.” Not only did my modest cabin have a fireplace, but it also had a wood stove. As a wolf, I ran hotter than humans, but I still enjoyed a nice, toasty home while a blizzard raged outside.
“Pros and cons, I’m sure.”
“Absolutely.”
It was nice to be able to speak without the GPS interrupting so much, but our streak ended when the hostess addressed us.
“Party of two?”
“Yes,” I said, giving her what I hoped was a polite smile. I was in such a strange position of feeling relaxed and excited in Felicia’s presence, but also incredibly nervous. Like I was going to mess up at any moment. It certainly made a conflicting sort of mix within me, and my wolf wasn’t the biggest fan of it. Probably because he didn’t understand the conflict. His logic was far simpler.
Compatible female is mate. Strong. Kind. Good with pups. Excellent, go mate.
It was a bit more complicated than that, but I didn’t bother explaining it. After all, I had to concentrate on my date.
“It’ll be a twenty-minute wait. May I have the name?”
“I have a reservation. Under McCallister.”
“Reservation? One moment.” The woman looked down in her book and turned a couple of pages before smiling. “Ah, Mr. McCallister. I’ll notify your server you’re here. Would you like a particular wine to be ready for you at the table?”
“No, thank you. I plan to do your tasting flight I saw on your website,” I said. Although I wasn’t big into wine or beer, I figured Felicia deserved to be wined and dined. I wasn’t big on alcohol, but when I did occasionally imbibe, I preferred the shifter-specific stuff brewed by my kind. There were always interesting recipes and depths of flavors that I just couldn’t get with human stuff. “If that’s all right with you?” I asked Felicia.
“Oh yeah, I would love that, thank you.” She blushed slightly, which only enamored me more. Knowing that I could make such a strong, self-determined woman flush did wonders to my ego. “I have a glass every once in a while, but I’d love to try some new things instead of the same ol’, same ol’.”
“Of course, sir, ma’am. It’ll be just one moment if you’d like to stand to the side for just a few moments.”
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