Page 2 of What a Wolf's Heart Decides

There. They couldn’t say no to that.

Eli returned his gaze to the paper. Another frown pulled his brows together.

Her heart sped up. “You don’t have to bring a present. We can do a white elephant gift.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she cringed.

Why, oh why, did she have to mention gift?

Eli drew himself up. Then he handed her the paper. “Sorry, Haley. I planned on heading home a little early this year. My parents are expecting me.”

“Mine too,” his friend said quickly. He held out his invitation. “I won’t be at the Lodge.”

She stared at the paper in his outstretched hand, the bubbly font she’d used curling across the top of the page.

Mocking her.

After a second, he leaned forward, pushing the paper practically under her nose.

She took it, tucking it under the others in her arms.

Eli cleared his throat. “Well, we should get going.”

“Okay,” she said. What else was there to say?

“See you later, Haley.”

“Sure. Later.” As they started down the hall, she heard herself say, “Have fun.”

Eli stopped and turned, his face a little sheepish. “Thanks.” He hesitated, then said, “If I don’t see you again, happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” She didn’t need to add that he definitely wouldn’t see her again. They both knew he’d make sure of it.

She stayed put as the males made their way to the staircase. Strike one. Maybe she should turn around and go back to her girly bedroom. Or better yet, go to Remy’s office. He kept a shredder in there. He liked to tease that he used it to destroy love letters from old girlfriends, but everyone knew he shredded outdated tax documents. As the pack’s accountant, he was always handling sensitive financial records.

Besides, he’d put his womanizing ways behind him when he mated Sophie. The past three years had done nothing to diminish his devotion to her. If anything, their love was stronger than ever.

Haley’s heart squeezed. What she wouldn’t give for a relationship like that. Or like the one Max and Lizette enjoyed. The pack’s Alpha and his mate were inseparable—mostly because Max couldn’t stand to be parted from his wife. When she entered a room, his whole face lit up.

Even Dominic Prado, the pack’s stoic, curmudgeonly Beta, had found love.

But it hadn’t come easy. Haley backed into the doorway and leaned against the jamb, her mind on the three couples who ran the New York Territory. Love hadn’t been a straight arrow for any of them. Hell, Max had banished Lizette from the pack for five years, creating what had seemed like an irreparable rift between them. It had taken a lot of groveling on his part—and Lizette saving his life—to finally bring them together.

And Sophie had been promised to another before she escaped her arranged marriage and fled to Remy. Her actions had nearly started a territorial war.

As for Dom and Lily . . . Their story was straight out of a movie. She’d been wrongfully accused of murder, and he’d been sent to track her down—possibly kill her. Instead, they’d ended up falling in love and having a daughter. Now they were expecting another child—something that rarely happened among werewolves.

Each couple had found their happy ending, but not without a lot of heartache and struggle.

Haley looked at the invitations. She’d gotten two rejections, and now she was ready to give up and pout in her room?

“You’re tougher than that, Michaels,” she muttered under her breath. With a nod, she tucked the invitations under her arm and headed for the stairs. If she’d learned anything living in the Lodge over the past three years it was that males tended to congregate around food. If she wanted to hand out invitations, her best bet was the kitchen.

Besides, her room was somewhat isolated. Max, being the old-fashioned autocrat he was, insisted she needed her “privacy” from the male trainees. She let out an unladylike snort as she descended the stairs and hit the main floor. The Alpha seemed to forget they were all shapeshifters. Transforming from two legs to four meant getting naked on a regular basis. At one time or another, she’d seen every wolf in the territory in a state of undress.

The Lodge’s main floor was more like the lobby of a fancy hotel, and her footsteps echoed as she made her way down the wide corridor that led to the foyer. There were bound to be a few wolves in one of the lounge areas that flanked the main staircase.

Sure enough, the unmistakable sounds of a televised sporting event reached her as she neared the foyer. There was a muffled crunch—probably football helmets—followed by blaring whistles and the roar of a crowd.

Haley shook her head. Werewolf or human, males seemed oddly fixated on watching other males repeatedly smash into each other.

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