Page 100 of Unwilling Wolf

“Lenny,” Garret said. “What would you have done if me or Burke tried to go with you?”

“Bit you,” she said honestly.

Burke laughed, and Garret grinned at Eliza with a told-you-so smile, but still. Eliza felt like Lenny shouldn’t have done that alone.

“If I was a werewolf, I would’ve gone with you,” she declared.

“Eliza,” Garret gritted out, all trace of humor gone from his face in an instant.

“What? I would’ve.”

“You aren’t going to be a werewolf. Stop talking like that.”

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “But you’re all werewolves.”

“And none of us chose that,” Burke said softly.

“Well, maybe I would choose the wolf.”

Garret inhaled deeply and told her, “Enough, Eliza. We aren’t talking about this anymore.”

“I’m just saying, the Jenningses couldn’t hurt me so easily if I had a big bad wolf inside of me.”

“We will protect you,” Garret gritted out, and now his face was too sharp, and his teeth also looked too sharp. His eyes were glowing too brightly.

“Maybe I don’t want to always be the weak link in the Pack,” she muttered, pouting.

Burke and Garret exchanged a glance she didn’t understand.

“I know what you’re thinking. I am a part of the Pack, just so you know. I don’t care what anyone says. I’m Pack.”

Garret looked like he was about to argue, but Lenny barked out at him in another language. Garret clamped his mouth closed, stood, and made his way to Rooney’s saddle. He began rifling through one of his saddlebags, his back to them.

“You are Pack,” Lenny murmured to Eliza, then tossed another look at Garret’s back.

“Are you in heat or something?” Burke asked Lenny.

“Do I smell like I’m in heat?” she snapped.

“Well…no. But you’re acting awfully strange today.”

“Maybe I’m mad because you told me I am just a friend and look just like a man, and then you didn’t believe me when my instincts are telling me something is wrong.” She made a clicking sound behind her teeth, rolled her eyes, and laid down on her bedroll with her back to Burke, who looked like he’d just been slapped across the face by a fish.

Well, Eliza understood now. She narrowed her eyes at Burke. “You said she looks like a man? Take it back.”

“What?”

“Take. It. Back. Or I’ll throw you in this fire. She is all woman and very beautiful.”

“Well, I know she’s beautiful, but she asked how she looked and she’s wearing men’s trousers and a man’s hat.”

“So am I. Garret, do I look like a man?”

Garret twisted around from where he was messing with a pack on the ground. He looked her up and down. “A little.”

With a very human-sounding growl, she heaved her empty plate at him. He flinched as it bounced off his shoulder. “What the devil are you on about?”

“Both of you are atrocious. Lenny, Burke didn’t mean it. He’s just an idiot.”

---