Page 22 of My Blind Date is a Werewolf

“Not at all. It’s more of a slight, pleasant burn. Like when you stretch your muscles after a fitful night of sleep. The first couple of times you do it, it can be a bit disorienting, though. Our senses are heightened even in human form, but they’re only at about seventy-five percent. When we go wolf, they’re dialed up to a ninety or ninety-five percent. You have to learn to filter some of that input out before it drives you crazy.”

I could only imagine what that was like. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I flashed back to the dream I’d had of running through the woods in wolf-form under a full moon. I was pretty sure that wasn’t me running, though. I got the eerie feeling that I had been looking through someone’s eyes, that I had hijacked their dream. I glanced at Adrian from the corner of my eye and wondered what he would say to that. In the end, I decided to keep my trap shut. That wasn’t a conversation I was ready to have yet.

CHAPTER 15

Adrian’s home was a sprawling, single-level ranch house that backed up to the woods. His house was located in pack territory. There were some places in the woods where non-shifters weren’t allowed to visit freely. The witches also had protected coven land we mortals had to be wary of. I kept glancing around the open yard and in the periphery of the woods, expecting to see a wolf stalking out of the thick brush of trees. But there was nothing.

“We don’t normally roam around freely in the daylight. It’s too risky with Mystic Cove becoming so popular with out-of-towners. Besides, not everyone is comfortable with wolves the size of a horse gallivanting about town, even if they are aware of the sort of beings that call this town, these woods, home.”

I snapped my head in his direction, caught off guard by his statement. I wasn’t aware that there were Mystic Cove residents who did not like that we had wolves, vampires, and warlocks living amongst us. As far as I was concerned, this was the way things had always been, all the races coexisting side by side, ever since the witch trials sent many supernatural beings in search of a safe haven.

Shrugging, he lifted my bag and one of the takeout bags from the back seat. “Could you grab the last one, please?”

“Sure thing.” I hefted my handbag over my shoulder and grabbed the takeout bag, following him up to the front door.

“You leave your front door unlocked?” I asked him when he simply turned the doorknob. Adrian gave me a careless shrug in lieu of an answer and before I could probe him further, I heard a paw scratching on the cherry red hardwood floor, followed by excited barks. My heart stopped.

A furry creature barreled down the short hallway and leaped onto Adrian before he could place the bags down on the floor.

“You have a dog?” I said, standing back from the rather adorable—and hyperactive—golden retriever that was drowning Adrian with its saliva as it licked at its owners’ face with gleeful fervor. Quickly backing out of the house, I rooted through my bag for the allergy medication I always carried since everyone around me insisted on owning at least one fur baby.

“Olivia?” Adrian called out from inside the house. His copper-haired head peeked out from the door a second later, eyebrows crinkled in confusion. His adorable dog squeezed between his legs and the door frame, tongue lolling out of its mouth, and… Was it smiling at me?

I knew I had made a grave mistake the moment our eyes met. I saw the light bulb go off in its dark eyes the second it marked me as its next target for a slobbery kiss. I hadn’t even taken one step back in retreat when it squeezed its entire body out the door and started to leap toward me.

“Keep it away from me. I’m allergic!” I screeched, tripping over my feet and landing hard on my butt, probably bruising my tailbone. Eyes scrunched shut, I held out the takeout bag in front of me like a peace offering in hopes that the dog would go for it instead of my face.

“Jojo, down boy! Down, I said!” Adrian barked. There was a soft whimper and a thudding of paws on the floor. When I opened my eyes, the dog was seated next to Adrian, its “smile” somewhat subdued but still wagging its tail eagerly as it regarded my fallen form curiously.

“You okay? That looked like a hard fall.” Adrian held out his hand to help me up.

I let out a pained groan as I got on my feet, leaving the paper bag on the floor. “I think my pride took a harder knock. Sorry for freaking out on you, but I didn’t feel like spending the rest of the night sneezing my guts though my nose and looking like I’d just waded through a poison ivy bush. Lucky for me, I always carry this.” I took out my box of Benadryl and waved it in the air.

Adrian watched me take the medication, a rueful look on his face as he scratched his beard.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Actually, I was wondering if this means that you’d be allergic to me in wolf form. You know, since I’m basically just a large, ferocious dog.”

That stopped me short. “Has that ever happened before? I mean, have you ever met someone who was allergic to you before?”

Adrian cocked his head in a gesture eerily similar to Jojo’s. My heart just about melted at the sight. I hated that I was allergic to dogs because most of them were adorable as heck—with the exception of Michelle Wentz’s rat that she tried to pass off as a dog.

“This is my first time meeting someone who is allergic to dogs that I know of, so I wouldn’t know.” His answer was nonplussed and a little pouty.

“That would be a hell of a thing though, wouldn’t it? It’d be curtains for our relationship if I were allergic to you and the rest of your family.” I giggled, but apparently I was the only one who found the situation funny because Adrian’s expression only darkened.

“I fail to see the humor in this, Olivia, because I am playing for keeps here.” He crossed his arms, bunching up his arm muscles. My mouth went dry at his statement. Playing for keeps? We’d only just started dating. There was still a ways to go before we started bringing up words like playing for keeps or the big L.

“In any case, I’ve taken my medicine, which means I should be okay for now. Why don’t you introduce me to your friend and then we can eat before my stomach starts gnawing on itself?” I pasted on an overly cheery smile and skated over what Adrian had just said. He noticed my avoidance tactic, his narrow-eyed look telling me that he saw right through me but was letting it go.

“Olivia, meet my best buddy Jojo. He’s a rescue dog that I adopted a little over a year ago when I got tired of rambling around the house by myself like a ghost. Hold your hand out for him so that he can get your scent,” he instructed, grabbing onto Jojo’s collar so that he wouldn’t pounce on me.

Getting down on my haunches, I slowly and deliberately stretched my hand out to Jojo’s snout, giggling when I was regarded with a velvety, wet lash of a tongue across my palm. “You’re the cutest thing ever, aren’t you, Jojo?” I cooed, scooting closer so that I could rub his fur. Adrian watched on silently as his dog and I heaped a whole lot of love on each other before leading me into his home.

I’d expected a bachelor pad with Spartan furniture and maybe a flat-screen TV that took up most of the wall space. I wasn’t wrong on that front, but his living room was cozier and warmer than I expected. I felt like wrapping myself in the patchwork throw blanket draped on the back of his super comfy couch and taking a nap on the rug in front of the fireplace.

Pictures of his family adorned the mantle above the fireplace. One of his parents in fishing gear. One of Carter on his graduation day, Adrian and Talia on either side of him. Looking at them like this, the resemblance was uncanny, especially the wide-open and guileless smiles they wore. Carter and Talia’s hair was more strawberry blonde than auburn, but their features were pretty much the same. There were a couple more pictures of the whole family together, the latest addition being one of Talia, her husband, and their newborn son, and another one that just about turned my heart into a pulpy gooey mess. It was Adrian cradling a sleeping baby Roman in his arms, a tender look on his face as he smiled down at his nephew.

---