Page 28 of Someone Else's Wolf

"I'd better, too," I grumbled as he took my hand and led me away, into the woods. It wouldn't take long, he'd said, but I hoped it would. I wanted to enjoy it. And if there was one thing this visit was showing me, it was that the whole arrangement was a lot more fragile than I'd realized.

"Have I let you down yet?" he said, like it was a rhetorical question.

Yeah. He kind of had.

#

"Can I ask you a question?" Kirk eyed me, arms crossed, his expression cautious and judgmental at the same time.

"Yeah. I'm sure you're going to, anyway." I managed to suppress a sigh — barely.

"Do you ever think things through, or are you always like that — thinking with your penis?"

Don't forget my prostate. I sighed aloud this time. "Are you done?"

He shrugged. "Don't get me wrong; I can work with it. It would just be nice to know."

I rubbed the spot between my eyebrows. "In that case, about Peter, yes. About most things, no. Does that pass your critique, or do you want to badger me some more?"

For the first time since I'd met him, he cracked a smile. "I'm not a badger."

"Hilarious." I rolled my eyes. "You should do standup."

I should be asking him if he could stand the smell of Peter — in person, or all over me — not defending my poor life choices. But the fact that he was having a go at me instead of covering his nose and walking away in disgust told the tale, didn't it? Plus, he'd given Peter that hostile handshake rather than walking away.

I studied him, frowning. He still had that little smile he couldn't quite hide. "You get a pretty big kick out of this, don't you?"

"Kind of. It's funny that you couldn't even stay away from your boyfriend for a short visit, even though everyone will know."

"Yeah, well, he's not my boyfriend. I think he made that pretty damned clear." I turned away, but not before I saw the smile disappear off his face, replaced by a look of shock. I clenched my teeth. I didn't want his pity, his commiseration, or his advice.

"Okay," Kirk said slowly, dragging the word out. "But he's a wolf, and obviously smitten with you, so..."

I didn't mean for my laugh to sound so bitter. "Smitten. Yeah, right. He's been pretty clear how things stand. If I was harboring any other notions, that was dumb of me." I wanted to walk away, but I couldn't. I needed to justify my stupidity, but I wasn't sure how.

At least Kirk was the only one who had any idea how serious I was about Peter. I hadn't confided that to anyone else. And Peter clearly didn't give a shit either way.

"You need to step back," Kirk said, his voice sharp.

I did, automatically, taking his words literally. "Huh? What...?"

"Wolves don't do casual." He poked me in the chest. "Whatever's going on with you two, you need to step back and look at it with your brain, not whatever crazy hormonal mess you have swirling around inside you."

"I—"

"He's protective, possessive, and obviously can't keep his hands off...that." He gestured to my body, making a face.

"Thanks." I crossed my arms over my chest self-consciously.That, indeed.

"Just...pay attention to what's going on here. You don't just fuck a wolf and walk away. You'd better take this seriously, because they're not like the rest of us. Wolves get involved quickly."

The rest of us? Wow."He's the one who almost walked away. He's the one who said it's nothing, it's casual, it doesn't mean anything." I couldn't keep the hurt out of my voice. But this was Kirk, and he already had me figured out pretty well. He wasn't going to be fooled by a tough guy act.Damn shifters and their nosy noses.

I might as well be completely honest. "He doesn't give a fuck about me. It's all just some fun for him. I was a fool to get my hopes up." Not to mention the fact that I thought I'd given up some time ago on having any of those sorts of hopes at all, even in the back of my mind. Today was a whole world of surprises and discovery.

Kirk poked me in the chest again. "You might think that, and he might even think that, but that's not how wolves work. I'd suggest you take this seriously, because one of these days, you're going to wake up to him announcing that you're his mate and if you leave him, he'll be brokenhearted for life. You're playing with fire." He shuddered, as though having a mate for life was the worst thing he could imagine.

I pushed his hand aside. "Oh, give it a rest, Kirk, okay? What do you know about wolves?"