Page 14 of The Bookish Girl’s Guide to Mating with a Werewolf (Mate Hunted #1)

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ABBY

Every day of my dog bonding leave, I was a little more convinced that Nico was real. Our mate bond, too.

We cooked together.

Talked.

Sat together while I read and he watched a crime TV show.

Discussed my book, and his show.

Screwed.

Let our wolves run and play.

Hung out with his pack.

Nico was just… calm. Level-headed. Reasonable. Smart. Laid-back.

The more we hung out, the more glad I was that sleep deprivation drove me to Moon Ridge.

My friends kept texting me—especially Stella, for some reason—and I assured them I was fine, but I didn’t meet up with them. Our friendships could handle a week apart, and I still couldn’t be more than a room away from Nico.

When Sunday night came around, we drove back to my apartment. He agreed to take his truck when I asked him to drive separately, for safety’s sake, but my wolf flipped her lid when we tried to drive separately.

So, we took my car.

It was nice to have him drive me down that dirt road, to be honest.

After a night in my apartment, we went in to work for my first class together, equally exhausted.

Neither of us were morning people.

He sat in the corner of the room through my lecture.

Some of the younger women stared at him, but he was always either looking at me or at his phone.

I was sure he was bored, but he hadn’t complained about coming to work with me.

His packmates hadn’t complained about him ditching them, either, which was nice.

Despite Nico’s complete uninterest in the girls staring at him, I could feel the wolf within me growing less and less patient with it as the hours went by.

When lunchtime came around, we made out in my office until she chilled out, then ate quickly before my last few lectures.

By the time my final class ended, I was just relieved I’d made it through the day.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do this long-term,” I mumbled, as Nico tucked me up against his side while we walked out to my car.

More women stared at him as we went.

“It’ll get easier,” he said.

“You’re making things up now.”

“Maybe.”

I flashed him a dark look.

He gave me a ghost of a smile. “You will get used to it.”

“You hope.”

“For both our sakes.” He squeezed my hip, and I closed my eyes with a soft sigh.

“What the ever-loving hell?” a familiar voice called out.

My eyes opened immediately as Jade speed-walked toward us like hell was on her heels.

“Shit,” I whispered. “Are you a good liar?”

“I don’t think so.”

“We’re screwed.”

“You’ll come up with something.” He squeezed my hip again.

“Hey!” I forced a smile, stepping away from Nico to give Jade a quick hug. “How are you?”

“Who is this?” she demanded, gesturing to the man I’d basically been snuggled up with.

“Nico,” I admitted. “I might not have told you the full truth about Moon Ridge.”

“I knew there were drugs involved.” She glared at both of us.

“Stop, there were no drugs.” I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was paying attention to what could potentially be a dangerous conversation.

Thankfully, no one was nearby. “Nico is friends with the guy who runs the shelter where I adopted my dog from. His friend names their rescues after people he knows. He thinks it’s funny.

I ran into this Nico at the grocery store before I ended up adopting the dog.

He gave me his number, and when I texted him a question, the conversation just kept going. ”

I was rambling.

Totally rambling.

Being mentally exhausted after a full day of trying not to shift and eat women who were attracted to my mate wasn’t helping my already-shitty lying skills.

Jade looked zero percent convinced by my story.

“So you hooked up with a guy who your wolfdog was named after because…” she trailed off.

“Well, he’s hot.” I gestured to him.

Nico bit back a snort, but I knew no one was going to try to deny that.

Hot was a freaking understatement.

Jade finally looked at him. Her eyes were narrowed, but the way she looked him up and down made the wolf in my chest rumble in warning.

I played it off with a cough when her attention jerked back to me.

“Then what’s he doing here?” she finally asked.

That was a very good question.

If only I’d thought up an answer for it.

“I made Abby breakfast after we hooked up to talk her into letting me help train the dog,” Nico said. “She’s brilliant, and fun. I didn’t want to let her get away.”

Jade’s accusatory stare swung back to him, but her expression did soften slightly.

“Breakfast led to lunch, and dinner, and dessert, and the next breakfast, and kind of a whole week together.” I shrugged. “We’re dating now. I know it’s fast, but we’ve spent like a hundred and something hours together now, so it’s not really out of the blue.”

Jade blinked at me once.

And again.

Finally, she looked back at Nico. “So you’re Abby’s boyfriend.”

“Yeah. Nice to meet you. I assume you’re one of her friends.” He held out his hand a little awkwardly.

When Jade reluctantly shook it, my wolf growled again.

I feigned a cough attack, and the handshake ended quickly when Nico tucked me under his arm, rubbing my back lightly.

“We’ll have to do dinner or drinks so the rest of the girls can meet him,” Jade said, now talking to both of us. She’d recovered a little, and seemed slightly less concerned now.

“Sure. At the bar on Friday night, maybe?” I offered after clearing my throat.

Jade nodded. “I’ll send out a text.”

“Perfect. We’ve got a date planned with two massive cheeseburgers at Kody’s grill in twenty minutes, so we’ve got to go, but I’ll see you then.” I pulled away from Nico to give her another quick hug before walking away.

We were both silent until we reached the car. When we were sitting, I spun toward him. “What the hell was that, Cucumber?”

“Which part?”

“The part where you were an amazing liar. You should’ve been the one making up bullshit from the beginning!” I tossed a hand in the direction of the place we’d run into Jade.

“She would’ve thought I was holding you hostage or something if I made up a story for you.”

I considered it, sitting back in my seat normally. “Good point. It still went better than I would’ve expected.”

“Except the part where we’re going to have to get drinks with all of your friends on Friday.”

I made a face. “Yeah. Except that. We’ll figure it out.”

He made a sound of agreement, and we drove off to pick up our burgers.