“I don’t think we do,” I said, using the same low voice as him. A smile appeared on his lips. It didn’t make him look even sexier. Not even a little.
“I don’t mean you harm, little wolf. I just want to talk,” he said. I scoffed. Little wolf, my ass.
“So talk,” I dared him.
“Not here. Too many interested ears. Someplace, private.”
“Yeah, I don’t meet strange men, especially strange wolves, alone. I don’t have a death wish.”
“I promise you are safe with me,” he told me.
“Said no predator ever,” I remarked. It made him chuckle again.
“I guess you are right. Is there a public place we can talk then?” he asked. I sighed. I didn’t want to talk to him, but on the other hand, I had a feeling he wouldn’t leave me alone until I did. I could tell the sheriff that Finlay was stalking me, or I could tell Jessie. Either way, I knew they would try to run him out of town. The operative word was try. There wasn’t much they could do against an Alpha.
“Fine. Behind the library there is a trail leading to the lake. There are some picnic tables there. No one uses them before noon,” I told him. He nodded.
“When can I meet you?”
“I have tomorrow off. Meet me at ten in the morning.”
“I’ll be waiting for you, Amie,” he told me.
“Okay, that isn’t creepy at all,” I said and walked away. I could hear him chuckling. He left shortly after, leaving a good tip. I sighed. It felt like I had sealed my faith.Finlay
I walked down the street of the small town. The plan had been to stop at the diner to have lunch on the road back from a meeting to arrange a new alliance. That was almost four days ago, and I was still here. The reason was waiting for me as I turned towards the lake. She stood waiting where she told me we would meet. There was a paper bag on the table that smelled delicious.
“You’re here,” I said as I stopped in front of her, just a little too close. Just to see how she reacted.
“Said I would be,” she told me and looked up at me. Whoever this woman was, she had a good upbringing. She had mastered the art of looking up at me without meeting my eyes. Locking eyes with an Alpha was seen as a challenge if you weren’t his mate or a close friend.
“So you did. I thought I might need to eat a couple more meals in the diner to persuade you. You seem to have a stubborn streak,” I pointed out. Point in question, she hadn’t moved back despite me being in her space. Most wolves would have backed up the second an Alpha moved into their space. Unless they themselves were one. And if it was one thing I knew about this intriguing little wolf, she was no Alpha. I had scented her as a wolf the moment I stepped into the diner. That had been a surprise. I kept a close eye on any rogues and migrating wolves close to my pack. Yet this woman had never pinged on our radar.
“Getting tired of Rich’s cooking?” she asked. I chuckled. She was funny.
“Not at all. I’m considering staying until I have tried everything on the menu. That would take me a week or two, I think,” I said. She huffed.
“Well, no need as I’m here. So why am I here?” she asked.
“I want to get to know you,” I said, deciding to go with the truth. She looked surprised, then her wall came back up and I couldn’t read her. It was part of what made her frustrating, and a curiosity.
“Well, I could refuse. But you would just use your Alpha sniffer and find me and keep dropping by my work. So let’s do this,” she said. For the first time since I had walked up to her, she averted her gaze and looked at the paper bag. She took it and climbed up and sat down on the table, resting her feet on the seat. “Coffee, black,” she told me as she fished a travel cup out of the bag. I sat down next to her, offering her the comfort of adding as much space between us as possible.
“You remembered,” I told her and smiled.
“It’s hardly the most complicated way to have your coffee.” She fished out another cup and placed it next to her. Next thing that came out of the magical bag was pecan buns and I had to swallow a couple of extra times not to drool. It’s important to keep a small amount of dignity when you are an Alpha. “Here, my landlady made them this morning. I need breakfast to get me through this conversation.”
“Thank you,” I told her and took one of the mouth watering pastries from her.
“What do you want to know?” she asked and took a sip of her coffee.
“You’re not a rogue?” I asked, and just as soon as the words left me, I could have kicked myself. The raised eyebrow on her face showed she thought it was an idiotic question. She didn’t have the slightly sweet, sickening scent that all rogues had to them. The smell of decay.
“No, I’m not. I’m a lone wolf,” she confirmed and took a bite of her breakfast. I hummed, feeling a little foolish after the question.
“Were you born one?” I asked. Most werewolves stayed in packs. It was an ingrained need in us. But there were those that ventured outside the system. Either from being dissatisfied with the system, from a need to be alone, or feeling it was the only way. Sometimes wolves like that had mates and reproduced, their pups then didn’t get an automatic membership into a pack and ended up being lone wolves as well. There were even the odd occurrences of rogues having pups. The pups didn’t become rogues like their mother, they became lone wolves.
“No, I left my pack…” There was a pause as she seemed to count. “Four years back,” she said. It surprised me. She looked so young.
“You left when you were around fifteen?” I asked. She laughed.
“Eighteen,” she corrected me, and I got another surprise. I had not expected her to be twenty-two years old. Only two years younger than me. She had been raised in a pack, she had lived in one most of her life. I wanted to know why she chose a life surrounded by humans instead of by her own kind.
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