Page 24

24

Jax

D akota’s friend smelled wrong.

My hair stood on end at the confusion of scents. He and Dakota shared space, and Dakota’s scent had become so dear to me that it was strange, how even their mingling struck me as something to be wary of.

But Dakota was safe, right there beside me, and I had nothing to worry about. Clearly, his friend was only human, and I needed to get a grip. This possessiveness was getting out of control.

Maybe it was just my instincts going haywire after Dakota’s clear anxiety. I had to protect him from whatever had caused the upset, and that was the unexpected arrival of his... roommate.

But Dakota wouldn’t live with someone who posed him a genuine threat. He’d just been taken off guard, and after he sang, he relaxed. He was having a good time, and Donnie’s sudden appearance hadn’t ruined everything after all.

His laugh was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard. His glittering eyes locked on me as I stumbled my way with Seth through a song about being love drunk. Thankfully, I was edging close enough to actually drunk that it didn’t matter if I was terrible.

Seth was, without question, a better dancer than I was. He knew all the words and played them out dramatically, but his enthusiasm was infectious. Even if I was a disaster, I was out of breath by the time I fell into my seat beside Dakota.

His cheeks were flushed red, and he looked at me from the corners of his eyes. “You’re pretty good,” he mumbled.

I snorted. “I’m a disaster, but any time you want me to get up and dance for you?—”

There, he went even redder, and my heartbeat skipped.

Minori watched us with pursed lips. She was eyeing my hand draped around Dakota’s shoulder.

And sure, to a mage, it was unreasonably forward, but my wolf growled in my head. I had every right to?—

Before I could get too twisted up about it, Minori rose from her seat and picked a song I didn’t recognize. Her voice was full and sweet, and by the time she sat back down, she wasn’t staring at Dakota and me anymore.

She might not like a werewolf putting his hands on a mage, but at least she’d kept from saying anything about it. That made her just about as decent as I could hope, and I’d have to check in with Dakota later to make sure that no one from Igarashi gave him shit behind my back.

It was... his choice.

I just had to keep telling myself that. It was his choice if he wanted to keep spending time with me, and telling him he couldn’t when deep down, I wanted him to, was just about as ridiculous and awful as telling him he had to go out with me.

Still, it was hard, not thinking I knew best for everyone around me. That was my purpose, dammit. But checking that impulse made me a better alpha.

And all of this? All of this was helped by whisky. For the night, all I needed to do was loosen up, show Igarashi Minori a good time (or not get in the way when other people managed to), and not growl too obviously at Dakota’s friend and roommate.

Simple.

Before it got too late, it was time to head home. I was closing up our tab when Donnie saw an in. He struck.

Dakota had barely stood up before his roommate was right there in front of him, shoving his arm through Dakota’s.

“I’ll call a Lyft,” Donnie announced, dragging Dakota along as I stared after them.

Minori drifted to my side as the server took back their tablet. “You’re not going to say goodnight?”

If I weren’t mistaken, that tilt of her mouth was positively teasing.

Maybe she wasn’t as much of a stickler as I thought.

Still didn’t like her pointing out that Dakota was being pulled away from me though.

Annoyed, I blew an exhale through my flared nostrils and went after them.

Out on the sidewalk, Dakota had extricated himself from Donnie and shoved his hands into his coat pockets. A muscle in his jaw was twitching, and he smelled a little sharp. Still good, but like he was angry and his blood was racing fast.

I put my arm around his waist, and his breath caught. For a moment, he blinked up at me, dazed and flushed. Then, he smiled.

My wolf was prancing at the idea that he wasn’t mad at us—that we made things better for him.

Possessively, I curled my hand around his hip, and like Donnie could feel the touch himself, he spun around. His gaze dropped to my tight fingers. His mouth fell open.

Before he said anything, I pulled Dakota in and brushed a kiss across his soft smile.

He went lax in my arms, and I knew right then that there was no way I was letting him go anywhere with this stranger.

“I’m afraid Dakota and I have some paperwork to take care of back at the office,” I said, hardly lifting my head because the way his breath danced across my lips was so sweet. “But get home safely, Donnie. It was so nice to meet you.”

Donnie made some noise of protest, but Dakota was grinning when he said, “See you at home.”

I slipped my hand into Dakota’s and squeezed. This felt right. He was mine .

“Want to walk?” I asked.

He swallowed hard, but nodded a second later.

“Is everything okay?” he croaked once we were out of earshot of the others. “There’s paperwork?”

I laughed, pressing my sharp canine into my bottom lip. “Not exactly. Nothing that couldn’t wait. I just wasn’t ready to let go of you yet.”