Page 22 of Primal

“I’m sorry, Alpha.” I ran a hand over the back of my neck. “I went to her place and used the animal tranquilizer you gave me. I had every intention of taking her to Marion. To fix Tyler’s problem. Then I caught her scent.” Taking a deep breath, I remembered that first hit of her sweetness. “She’s not Tyler’s problem any longer. She’s my mate. There was no way I could wipe her mind. You know that can leave permanent damage.”

“Not with just one memory. Now she has amemory of you kidnapping her, too. The longer this goes on, the more memories that will have to be wiped. And that could cause permanent damage. That many holes in a person’s mind?” He shook his head ominously.

Fuck. I wouldn’t let that happen to Riley. Even if it meant defying my alpha and getting kicked out of the pack. I would die first.

“She won’t have to have them wiped,” I said fiercely. “I’ll get her on board. It just takes time. She’s a human. I have to–” Fuck. This was going to be a daunting task. “Woo her. Make her fall in love.”

“Right, and in the meantime, how many people will she tell our secret to? Maybe while at the bowling alley?” He shook his head. “You should’ve followed my orders and wiped her memory. Then you’d have all the time you needed to figure out how you’re going to get a teenager to fall for you without putting the pack at risk.”

I swallowed. He was right. I hadn’t even managed to explain the situation to Riley properly. I just confused her with orgasms and dropped her at home. She could’ve shared everything with her friends by now. Told her dad. Her grandmother. Anyone.

“I don’t like this, Cody.”

“Give me one week.” One week to make a teenagerfall in love and be willing to spend the rest of her life with me. That was possible, wasn’t it?

Rob smirked. “Well, you do have a reputation for making women fall fast.”

I bit back a growl. My wolf didn’t like the implication that Riley was like any other female I’d been with.

“I guess if anyone knows how to make a human female fall in love fast, it’d be you.” He pushed to standing, slapped me on the shoulder before opening the office door. “Fine. You have one week, Cody. But that’s it because every day she’s got more and more memories of shifters existing to erase. Make her fall in love and get her on board with being claimed, or I will personally take her to Marion to have her mind wiped.”

FUCK.

10

RILEY

Alice and Wendywere my two closest friends from high school, after Lila, of course. Wendy went to the community college with me. She was taking pre-nursing classes with the plan to transfer to the state school next year, so she was crazy busy with labs. Alice worked at her family’s real estate office. She got her real estate license over the summer and had spent all summer showing land to interested out-of-state buyers. I took classes and worked part time at a local preschool. A night of bowling had been hard to coordinate, but we made it happen. It was what we all needed right now.

As my besties, I was dying to tell them about what happened with both Tyler and Cody, but I couldn’t. I’d promised.

Halfway through the first game, Alice’s boyfriend Chris showed up with two friends, Andy and Pete. While Chris said they weren’t staying, they hadn’t left yet. Andy was no big deal. He spent all his time on his phone–total dud–but Pete spent all his time trying to pick me up. Again, total dud but in a different way.

Wendy had found Pete’s interest in me amusing. I found it and him… childish. Especially after my afternoon with Cody. All I could do was compare. With Pete, all I saw was a baby face, not a hint of whiskers. Breath that smelled like beer they snuck somehow. Sweaty hands. Yeah, I knew how sweaty they were because he kept setting one on my bare forearm. His touch was like kiddie foreplay.

“My turn.” I slid around the bench seat and grabbed my ball from the return rack. I waited for a man in a league to take his turn in the lane next to ours before I walked, swung, and flung my ball down the alley.

I tossed my arms up when nine pins fell, and one teetered then finally fell, too. Wendy cheered. Alice high-fived Chris.

As I stood and waited for my ball to be returnedand the pins reset so I could take my second shot, I caught a glimpse of Rob Wolf and, I assumed, his wife.

I’d never met them before, but Tyler had talked about him all the time because he got a job on his ranch and was now living there. He and I saw him in town once, and Tyler pointed him out.

They were by the shoe rental counter… watching me.

Me.

I stared. They stared back. Well, Rob stared back. Willow smiled, then popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth, plucked from a striped paper bag I hadn’t noticed her holding. They sold them at the snack counter because I’d seen them when I bought us all sodas.

The thrill of getting a strike was gone. My mind went to my earlier guess. Was Rob a shifter too? He had to be. Cody hadn’t directly answered when I asked him, but his last name wasWolf.Of course, he was a shifter! Then was Willow? I stared at the woman who was so much more sunshine-y than her seemingly grumpy husband. She seemed so… normal.

Was he here for me? No, that was silly. It was a small town. I ran into too many people I didn’t want to see on a daily basis. Grocery shopping was often like a social hour, and I’d started ordering tampons and girlystuff online not to give away anything personal to the snoopers and looky-loos of the community. It wasn’tthatbad, but I had to deal with a smothering dadanda close-knit town. One I could control, and one I couldn’t.

Pete came over and gave me a hug, lifting me off the floor and spinning me around. Once my rental-shoed feet were back on the wood, I stepped back and grabbed my ball, which thankfully just appeared. “Nice job, killer.”

“Dude, let her breathe,” Chris called.

Pete gave his friend the finger but went back to his seat.

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