Page 21 of Cursed Wolf

“Stop it,” Derric snapped. “Both of you.”

“No dog fights in my bar, please,” Shiloh called out pleasantly.

“Being werewolves doesn’t make us cavemen,” I said when the two of them put their hackles down. “I’m not going to club her over the head and carry her to my lair.”

“I’m not saying that.” Ruse turned toward me. “Just don’t be so…passive. Don’t make her uncomfortable, of course, but make your interest clear. Unquestionable. Make her know that she’s yours and yours alone.”

“Hang on.” Aria lifted a hand. “Humans don’t have mates like we do. It’s not so cut and dry for them, and sometimes they date multiple people at once. I don’t think Tryn is wrong for doing a less aggressive approach, especially just after she encountered a creep. What do you say, Riley?”

If anyone knew human culture well enough to speak on it, it was Riley and Aria. They had both been raised in the human world, not knowing they were latent werewolves until they met their mates.

Riley and Sawyer were on a couch next to our table. She sat normally, while Sawyer stretched out long, his legs dangling over the couch’s arm with his head in her lap. The Howling Death enforcer caressed his mate’s belly with one hand. Riley wasn’t even showing yet, but Sawyer was already enamored with his future pup.

Riley thought for a moment, her fingers curling in Sawyer’s hair as she massaged his scalp. “That’s true. A lot of humans date casually and prefer low-pressure situations. But there’s also plenty of women who appreciate a man taking charge. If she’s into him, she’ll find it confident and sexy.”

I groaned. “That’s the opposite of what Aria just said.”

The two women laughed.

“I’m glad you find my confusion funny,” I grumbled.

“Human women are not all the same.” Riley’s finger twirled around the streak of silver in Sawyer’s hair. “We—I mean, they, all like different things. Different ways to be approached by potential partners. You’ll just have to find out what your mate likes.”

I nodded, my thoughts filing through what I’d learned about Emmaline when we talked. She liked wilderness and wild animals, especially wolves. She had good taste in beer.

“You could try a mixed approach,” Aria suggested. “Court her and take her on dates like humans do, but make your interest known. Let her know she’s the only one you’re interested in.”

That last part seemed obvious to me. How could I possibly be interested in anyone else?

“Is she latent?” Derric asked. “Or pure human?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “That’s another can of worms. At some point, I have to tell her what I am.”

It gnawed at me that I had already lied to her. Canada, eh? I just went along with her first guess about where I was from. And bodyguard for a super-important-not-quite-celebrity was the closest thing I could think of without outright saying I was part of a wolf pack.

“That’s tough. You can’t always tell right away.”

Sawyer’s voice was low, lazy. Like he was drunk or half-asleep. His eyes were half-closed, lulled into utter relaxation by his mate’s head massage. Still, he kept a protective hand over Riley’s belly. If anything triggered his wolf senses, he’d be alert and snarling at any perceived threat in the blink of an eye.

“The scent is the giveaway, I think,” Fallon said. “Aria smelled like a human until I could scent her more closely.”

“Mmm,” Sawyer agreed. “It’s subtle. You gotta get real close, nose right on her neck.” He reached up, stroking affectionately along Riley’s throat. “If she’s one of us, you’ll scent something underneath the human.”

My heart started to pound, remembering how I did pick up something under Emmaline’s scent as a wolf when she came near my cage.

“And since she’s your mate, her scent will be something so delicious to you alone. It’ll drive you crazy and be all you think about. You’ll be dying for a taste.” Fallon touched his drink to mine. “You’re lucky you already know she’s yours. It feels like you’re losing your mind until you figure it out.”

My gift of sight didn’t feel like luck. Most of the time, it felt like a curse. The others had no idea how burdensome it was to see everyone’s fate threads. It was private knowledge about people I had no right to know, but did anyway.

In some ways, I was glad my own thread appeared before me. I followed it straight to Emmaline. Well, straight into her car’s front bumper, but that was neither here nor there. Most people would never know if there was another person destined for them, while all I had to do was follow a trail.

But on the other hand, I almost wished I didn’t know. I could have met her organically somehow. Gotten to know her by being myself, without all this pressure of fate and destiny resting on my shoulders. Now that I knew, I felt paralyzed with indecision. I didn’t want to screw up by saying or doing the wrong thing. She was my mate, my destined partner for life. I couldn’t afford to be careless about this.

Fuck, I was usually the easy, carefree one, not riddled with anxiety about how to approach a female. I was supposed to give my packmates advice, not the other way around.

As if sensing my distress, Ruse knocked his shoulder into mine again. “Whatever you do, it’ll be fine, Tryn. Fate has a way of working itself out.”

I huffed out a laugh. When he wasn’t being a dick, the Alpha’s second could actually be a good friend sometimes. “By the moon, I hope you’re right.”

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