Page 74 of Touch of Evil

I shrug. “Just a couple of magazines.”

We wrestle for the bag when he dives for it. The bag tears and the contents spill all over the floor.

Dan blinks back at me like I’m some damn stranger. “You boughtWomen’s World.”

“Yeah,” I say, like it’s no biggie.

“AndRedbook. AndGlamouran-andBetter Homes and Garden.”

“So what?” I snap. “Why don’t you go masturbate to women’s golf and leave me the hell alone.”

“I don’t do that.” He scowls. “Anymore.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever.” I bend to swipe the magazines off the floor.

“Bren,” he says, keeping me in place. “We have to talk about this morning.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I don’t know why I was so pissed. Emme, I don’t know, Dan. She wants to be my girlfriend and you know how I feel about that shit.”

Dan blows out a breath that makes his lips motorboat. “Bren, Emme can’t be your girlfriend.”

This is why Dan is my best friend. I throw up my hands. “That’s exactly what I was trying to tell her—”

“She’s your mate,” he says, cutting me off.

Complete silence fills the room. I let it, then absolutely lose my shit.

“Are you out of your mind? What the hell are you talking about?!”

Instead of running for the hills like he damn well should, he flops onto the couch. “Bren, take a look at the way you acted this morning. You had her wrapped up in bed like she was your possession.”

“I didn’t want her to get cold,” I say, like a moron.

“When we sat down to eat, you fed her meat,” he tells me. “Just like a wolf would in the wild.”

“It’s like I told you, she doesn’t eat enough.”

Even if Dan couldn’t sniff out the truth, he knows me enough to know I’m grasping at straws. “You told me she was yours, and when she tried to hug me, you all but ripped out my jugular.”

“I was just tired,” I mutter. “Males are cranky and unreasonable when sleep deprived.”

“Face it, Bren. Your wolf has found his mate.”

“No, no.Don’t go there, Dan. Not you. Not when you know all the shit I’ve been through.”

Dan’s features grow solemn. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Bren. I know you think of matehood as more of a curse than something sacred.”

“That’s because it is,” I bite out. “Seen Celia and Aric lately? How are they doing there, Dan?”

Dan expressions steels. “Better now that they have each other.”

It was easier to shift the conversation away from my folks and onto Celia and Aric. But Dan has always been too smart for his own good.

“What about me?” I ask. “Do you know me at all? All I’ve done since the day we met is sleep around.”

Dan shrugs, unfazed. “Maybe that was your wolf’s desperate search for his other half.”

I mutter a swear. “None of this makes sense. I’ve known Emme for years. If she was really my mate, I would have known before last night.”

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