Page 22 of Same Thing

This was good. He was dating a werewolf, and she knew exactly where she stood.

She was the girl he secretly got coffee for.

The pretty woman was someone he could introduce to his Pack. He was allowed to hang out with her. There were no rules against her.

This was okay. It was fine.

This was how it was supposed to be.

Nory didn’t slow until she’d climbed all those stairs and unlocked her door and stepped inside.

She pressed her forehead onto the cold surface of the door as she slid the deadbolt into place and exhaled her tension.

He made her feel too much, too soon, and he was a red-flag-man. He was forbidden.

She turned around and looked at the memory box on her coffee table. There was a ballpoint pen next to it, and the lid was still open, with the coaster resting right on top.

She approached it slowly, and picked it up gingerly, then flipped it over.

Call me if you ever need anything. Anything at all.Underneath that, he’d finished writing his phone number.

A stupid tear slipped from her and made a small splat onto the coaster, blurring the 1 0 at the end of the number. She dabbed it with the sleeve of her coat, but it smeared all the same. She would remember Ten. Ten was her favorite number.

She looked around her apartment. Yesterday she had been fine. She’d been happy with her routine. She could fill her days, but now she had that awful familiar lonely feeling, like she was on the outside again, and she hated it.

She flipped the coaster back over and placed it in the memory box, then closed the lid.

It was enough.

It was enough.

If it hurt this much this soon, it wasn’t right.

It was too intense, and she, Nory Hunter, couldn’t handle intense.

She was a steady girl. Always had been, always would be.

She and Liam might be made of the same thing, but they were not the same.

He had a big secret life, and obligations and interests elsewhere, and she was just a dog groomer who liked cookingto quiet her mind. He had a Pack, and she had an exceedingly small circle of friends and family. He was dominant, and at times abrasive, and didn’t know how to be himself with her. He’d said as much, while she didn’t know how to be anything other than herself with him.

It was a perfect set-up for Nory to be hurt.

It wasn’t supposed to be this messy or feel this big this soon.

It really was enough.

Chapter Six

“I think you should move,” Vic said.

“I just did,” Liam ground out. “Yesterday.”

“Well, this place isn’t good for you. Moving to a human apartment complex was never the move,” Tabian said. He was middle of the Pack but had always been comfortable speaking his mind. It was part of why the last Alpha, Oren, had always been angry with him. Oren hadn’t liked anyone’s opinions that collided with his own.

Liam was determined to do things differently. He was open to debate if it helped the others realize why he made the decisions he did. “I can’t keep living on couches. My wolf has always liked his own space, and the week with Nate and Delta made me feel like my skin was on fire. I was pissy with every single one of you.”

“It was understandable,” Nate said low from where he sat to his direct right at the dining table. “Your house just burned down.”