Page 47 of Watch Me Burn

I mean, look at Peter. His obsessive nature was proof ofthat.

The bunny—sorry, snowshoe hare—was gone by the time I popped my head into the kitchen. I don’t know what she did withit, and if Elise had a little more color in her cheeks when I asked her to join us, I pretend not to notice.

So it’s just Conall and me.

This was my idea. I told him I would buy him dinner, but based on everything I’ve learned about him these last few weeks, I should’ve known he’d stubbornly insist.

He did, but I won that battle. That’s why, when I realized I forgot to grab a drink and Conall instantly rises to grab it for me, I don’t argue.

Then again, how could I when he was halfway across the canteen before I had the chance?

I’m not alone for long. The second he left the table, I’m joined by two other supes: Jenny and Ann.

Jenny is an opossum shifter. At least once a week, something spooks her enough that she can be found in the most strangest of places, looking so realistically ‘dead’, it freaked me out when I saw it happen the first time. Now, like the rest of Dyea, I just hope I’m not the one who finds her and has to stand watch over her until she comes to again.

I don’t know what Ann turns into. In the sanctuary, if it isn’t obvious, there’s usually another reason why they live here. I think Conall might be the only exception. He lives in Dyea because he’s an Alaskan wolf shifter, and his pack always claimed this territory. Eventually, they moved on, he left, and he joined Dyea when he realized that the sanctuary probably wouldn’t make it their first winter without him.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Ann came up here because she’s hiding out from trouble, just like me and Elise. She gives me total mean girl vibes, and as she leads Jenny over to stand at my table, the smirk on her face has my fingers sparking beneath it.

“Looks like the rumors are true,” she says, hiding her obvious dislike for me behind a giggle. “You’ve got Conall Hunt wrapped around one of your human fingers.”

If she saw those sparks, she would know I’m not a human. Not anymore.

If this is how I have to deal with the other villagers now, I’d rather go back to them pretending I was just Elise’s shadow. But since she’s not here, and I don’t want to let these two ruin my dinner, I shrug. “He’s helping me with something. He’s a good guy.”

“He’s a predator,” Ann retorts.

And?

Her lilac-colored eyes flickers over to where Conall grabbed me a bottle of orange soda. I didn’t tell him I wanted that one, but either he noticed it was my preferred drink out of the options available, or he remembered when I mentioned I liked it during one his questioning sessions.

“Be careful,” she tells me, never taking her gaze off of Conall. “He’s not the kind of wolf to toy around with. Let him feed you and, next thing you know, he’ll have you underneath him.”

“Ann!” Jenny says, keeping her voice low even as her pitch is high.

“What?” is Ann’s ‘innocent’ retort. “You know it’s true. You’re a shifter like the best of us. Humans might not get it, but when a shifter starts providing for a female… feeding her, being her servant… he does it because he wants one thing out of her.”

Oh, I really don’t like Ann. “If you think that about Conall, you don’t know him at all.”

She lifts one eyebrow. “And you do?”

Another shrug. “I know him well enough to know he’s waiting for his mate.”

It’s Jenny’s turn to giggle. “You sure it ain’t you, Bridget?”

Yeah. I’m sure.

He starts heading back over, waggling the soda can as if showing it to me. When he sees that he has my attention, Mr. Grump smiles.

He fuckingsmiles.

My heart skips a beat, and now the two shifters are giggling together as they make their quick escape. I can only imagine what they think is going on, but I’m not Conall’s mate. So he brings me bunnies. So he fetched me an orange soda. They might not think a predator can be a decent guy, but maybe I do know him better.

And now that I do… I kinda wish Iwashis mate.

CHAPTER 15

MATE

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