"Are you all right? Is everything all right?"
Connor sounded farther away but still in the restroom.
"I'm fine." I sighed as I surveyed the mess. "I dropped my shirt in a puddle, that's all."
"Why are you taking off your shirt?"
I laughed. The guy wouldn't leave me alone, but at least he was entertaining. "A different shirt, from my bag."
"I can wash it in the sink for you."
"That'd be great." There was no gap between the floor and the bottom of the door, so I tossed it over the top.
"Hey, man, nice sweater." I didn't recognize that voice.
"Ben? Someone just stole your sweater."
It was Benjamin, but I wasn't going to argue with Connor when he muttered, "be right back." I heard a clatter, like a dog running on tile, and a scream.
"Take it, take it!" I couldn't tell if that was the same voice as before, but when I exited the stall, I found Connor with my wet sweater tied around his waist. His naked-from-the-waist-down waist.
"Oops," he said.
4
CONNOR
"Oops?"Ben frowned and a blush spread across his face as he noticed the high split in my dress shirt. Being big and tall sucked sometimes but getting that reaction out of my fated mate was priceless.
I tugged him, bag and all, into the stall he'd just vacated. "I accidentally shifted," I said. "I'll run to the lost and found to see if they have a pair of pants that isn't ripped to shreds."
"Shifted?" He stared at me like I was crazy.
"I'm a wolf shifter." I did a partial shift, sprouting hair on my chest and neck, pointed wolf ears, and paws tipped with giant claws.
"That's some weird fucking trick," he whispered.
"We're the reason humans have alphas and omegas." I'd met oblivious humans before, and each time it made me wonder what they taught human alphas and omegas in school.
He frowned. "You can go completely furry, like on all fours?"
"Yes, and I just did." I'd had enough warning to unbutton my shirt, but my pants were a total loss, shredded to bits along with my underwear.
"Here." Ben handed me his coat. "Wrap that around your waist. I won't need it until Denver, anyway." He sighed. "I'll rinse my sweater."
I didn't even see the thief coming. Even with my wolf senses, he'd caught me off guard. I was so wrapped up in Ben, I lost my competitive edge.
I swallowed hard, remembering I didn't really have an edge. I didn't even have a pack. I was the worst wolf ever.
"Yes, that's the man." The thief stood at the restroom exit with a short woman in a security guard uniform who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.
"Go," Ben whispered. "I've got this." He turned to the pair blocking the doorway. "Thank you so much," he gushed to the guard. "You caught the man who tried to steal my sweater."
As much as my wolf wanted to stick around and protect my mate (and his smelly sweater), I had only a half-hour to grab some clothes and return to the plane.
The circular restroom made it easy to run out the opposite way, side-stepping the men coming in. Once in the crowded hallway, I scurried to the nearest information desk and gestured to my missing pants. "Accident, and my clothes are on their way to Arizona without me."
"You can check at each terminal," the service rep said, "but we won't have much that fits you, besides shorts. And this puffer coat. Someone left it here on their way to Mexico."