Page 35 of A Wolf's Heart

“She burned her dinner, and smoke was pouring out of the house, but all is good. Took her forever to silence the alarms. I don’t think my ears will ever recover.”

“Perhaps hers are damaged, if she cannot hear you,” Kage said.

“Nah, she’s just too into this. It’s so cute how murder excites her.”

I smiled. “I think it excites her in a completely different way than it does us.”

We stayed like that, the three of us, in our own places. Locked behind the door. Guarding the door. Far from the door. Yet each of us connected…by her.

11

LILA

Iwas exhausted after Max and I took our morning run. When I got back to the house, seeing Weylin standing on the porch, waiting with two cups of coffee, was like heaven. Seeing Rainor standing next to him was a little concerning, but I took a deep breath and accepted that this might be my new normal.

Hug them, my wolf pleaded,roll in their scent.

Instead, I rolled my eyes. “Morning,” I said to Weylin as I took the coffee. He smiled. “Morning,” I then said to Rainor, who looked as exhausted as I felt.

“Morning, Lila.” His voice was raspy, as if he hadn’t talked all morning until just now.

Max jumped around, seeming excited to see them. I guess we were done with the “there are strangers in my space” phase. Weylin bent down, picked up a stick, and threw it. Max stared at him.

“Fetch,” I ordered. Max ran off to retrieve the stick. “He’s a trained working dog, so you have to give him permission to play.”

Weylin grinned. “When are you going to give me permission to play?” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

I bent over, picked up a stick, and threw it. Then I turned back to him. “Fetch.”

Rainor laughed, the sound catching me off guard from the normally reserved and quiet man.

I didn’t look back to Weylin as I went inside to get ready for work.

I wasn’t a fool. Even though I found myself more comfortable in the presence of the two shifters, I still armed myself with silver bullets.

Walking out to the kitchen, I said, “I think we should write up a timeline and expected tasks that need to happen with regards to the case. We should have plans set for what’s—” Noticing the two males staring at me, I cut off. I looked down at what I was wearing, just my standard badass detective pantsuit. Well, it was a black pair of pants, white top, and black blazer, but I called it my badass detective pantsuit. Gun holstered at my side, ID badge in my pocket, and my hair pulled up in a messy bun. It was my attempt to keep my hair out of my face, but I knew half of it would fall out by the afternoon. It’s what all the detectives wore in the crime shows. “What?” I asked.

“You’re off the case,” Weylin said.

“Wey.” Rainor sighed.

“What? What the hell?” I put my hands on my hips. “I’m not off the case. I don’t care if I have to go above your head—you can’t just pull my job around on a string like this. My career is not your toy.”

Weylin groaned. “She’s so sexy when she chastises me,” he said to Rainor before gazing back at me. “Do it again.”

I went to the kitchen and pulled out some waffles. “Want some, Rainor?”

He walked over to me, his smoky woodsy scent washing over me as he looked at the toaster, frowning at the waffles in question. “Is this what you eat in the mornings?”

I shrugged. “This or toast. It’s not fancy, but I’m usually in a hurry.” Rainor glanced up at the smoke detectors, where they were dangling, batteries removed. “And I might be a terrible cook.”

“As a shifter, your body requires better nutrition than this. Come on, we’ll eat on the way.”

“On the way to where?”

I satin the passenger seat with my laptop balanced on my knees, eating a breakfast burrito and drinking my coffee. I reviewed as much of the case files as I could, preparing myself for the conference I was apparently about to have at Weylin’s facility. I called it his facility because there was no name for it. It was work. It was the office. It was a training arena. So,facilityseemed to fit.

I was down to my two last bites of the wrap when I reached behind me. Max took the wrap from my hand, likely swallowing it down in one gulp. I drank my coffee and then looked up. “Thanks for letting me bring him,” I said to Weylin.

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