Page 13 of Fangs and Fudge

“Hey, I can’t help it if all men want a taste of V.”

The old, overused joke from high school had me narrowing my eyes.

“Vena, you just broke our high school pact. You know what this means.”

“Come on,” she whined. “You set me up. I couldn’t not use it.”

“You could have taken the higher ground and chose not to. You’ve lost all V privileges for one whole month.”

She scrambled out of the car after me.

“I take it back. I’m sorry. I slipped, and it fell out.”

I ignored her pawing at my arm and walked past a confused Anchor.

“I’m showering first,” I said over my shoulder.

They quietly followed me inside and didn’t say anything as I grabbed some clean pajamas from my room and claimed the bathroom for the next fifteen minutes.

When I returned to my bedroom, my bed was stripped of its sheets. Vena’s door, opposite mine on the other end of the hallway, was open, and her lights were off. I could hear the washer running on the other side of the kitchen but nothing else.

Curious, I drifted out to the dining room. From there, I could see Vena standing in front of Anchor in the living room. Fine tremors ran through his body as she slowly dragged a single finger up his arm.

“I’m glad you kept them,” I heard her say. “A lot of thought of you went into them.”

He groaned and closed his eyes.

“Vena,” I said.

She jerked her hand back and hurried toward me.

“Just making sure he had everything he needs for a comfortable night on the couch.”

She disappeared into the bathroom, and I heard the water turn on.

“What did she do?” I asked Anchor.

He swallowed hard and shook his head, and I sighed.

“She gave you her underwear, didn’t she?”

He sat heavily on the couch and hung his head into his hands, confirming my suspicion.

Whether hunting or dating, my best friend loved walking on the wild side.

CHAPTER THREE

I blinked my eyes open to sunlight that danced along pale skin and auburn locks of hair.

Shit.

My gaze met Cross’ amused one.

“What are you doing here?” I asked softly. “There is a wolf on the other side of the door.”

“Your watchdog left at the first ray of light,” Cross said as his fingers brushed my cheek, a thumb grazing the bottom of my lip.

The touch was distracting and displayed a degree of affection I hadn’t known we’d reached.

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