Page 37 of Wolf's Forbidden Curse

“Oh—no. Not exactly. My dad just never liked to stay in one place for too long.”

“Hmm. Well, that’s cool. Sounds like your family is quite adventurous.”

“You could say that. What about you? Have you always lived in Solara Bay?”

“Most of my life,” I said. “Since I was a teenager.”

“What about before that?”

“I spent the first fourteen years of my life in South Carolina,” I said. “In a town I’m pretty sure you’ve never heard of, so it’s not even worth mentioning. When I arrived in Solara Bay, however, I knew this place was going to end up being my home. I can’t explain it—I just really love it here.”

“I get that. What’s not to love?”

“Exactly!” I laughed. “That’s how I feel. But will you come over to the house and tell my friend Cornelius that? He’s been talking about moving out of town recently—as if there’s a better place to live than here.”

“Why does he want to move?”

“For no good reason, if you ask me. He’s just a weird guy. Kinda paranoid.”

She frowned. “Paranoid about what?”

“Everything,” I said without thinking. This was a dangerous path to go down, hitting a little too close to some truths about my pack that I couldn’t let Katrina in on. Not yet, anyway. I waved a hand in the air. “But it’s probably just talk. Cornelius always finds something to complain about. This month—it’s Solara Bay. Next month, it’ll be something having to do with international politics. The month after that, he’ll be mad because they discontinued his favorite ice cream flavor.”

She smirked. “Sounds like an interesting person.”

“That he is.”

“So, do you three live together?” she asked. “You, Matt, and Cornelius?”

“And Nic,” I added. “We rent a house on the edge of town. It’s a great spot, but we’re all pretty worried that the landlord is going to raise our rent soon. If that happens, I’m not sure we’d be able to afford it even with all the extra shifts Nic and I have been taking at the fishery.”

“I assume Nic is the girl who was with you at the bar that night?”

“Yeah, that’s her. She’s great. I think you two would really get along.”

She laughed into her mug before taking a sip. “Yeah, probably not.”

I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

She winked. “Just a hunch. But hey, who knows? I don’t like to make assumptions about people before I’ve even talked to them. Either way, I’m sure she’s a great friend to you.”

“Wha—”

“Have you ever traveled outside of the Carolinas?” she asked, cutting me off right as I was about to ask her to clarify her statements about Nic. My curiosity was still alive and well, but considering how hard it was to get Katrina to talk in the first place, I decided it was best to just let her pivot the conversation if she wanted to. I had to take what I could get when it came to this woman.

“Not really,” I admitted. “At the risk of sounding very boring compared to you, I’ve really only been around this area. I would like to see more of the world, but financially, that’s never really been in the cards for me.”

She nodded. “I get that.”

“But hearing you talk about your travels makes me want to just bite the bullet and buy a plane ticket. Would you be my tour guide if I went to Guatemala?”

“It depends on when you want to go,” she said. “I’m not planning on going back there any time soon. Maybe in, like, five, ten years?”

“I thought you really liked it down there?”

“I do.”

“But not enough to visit regularly?”

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