Page 19 of Fighting Furry

“Oh.” I was unwilling to analyze my sense of disappointment. “She didn't mention she was seeing anyone.” She also hadn't mentioned she was a werewolf, but that seemed significantly less important at the moment.

“Seeing anyone?” He glanced over at me. The horizon was pink, the sun just starting to rise, but I felt more alive and awake than I ever had before. He smirked. “No, she's not. What I meant is that she's part of my pack. I look out for my pack. I don't sleep with them. I go elsewhere for that kind of release.”

“Oh?” My emotions were on a roller coaster. Relief that he wasn't seeing Krista, then disappointment that he wasn't going to sleep with me because I was now part of his pack. Not that I liked him or wanted a relationship with him. I couldn't stand him. “Where?” And I was a nosy, nosy person. I had no shame.

His smile widened and I felt things, dangerous, delicious things. “Humans, usually. Occasionally an alpha from another pack. I'm too dominant to have sex with anyone in my pack, it would be taking advantage of someone who couldn't tell me no.”

“Clarissa didn't seem to have a problem talking back to you.”

“Clarissa is probably strong enough to handle me, but I've never been attracted to her and I'm certain she's never been attracted to me.”

“I'm strong enough to handle you,” I said, just thinking out loud. “Though maybe it wouldn't be right, since I can almost out-alpha you.”

He snorted. “You didn't come close to out-alpha-ing me.”

“You were half-way out of my apartment.”

“I was being polite. You clearly didn't want me there.”

“Take me to get some ice cream right now,” I said, using my deep alpha voice.

He checked his mirrors and changed lanes before he caught himself. To my surprise, he laughed. “Fine. We're pretty close to evenly matched.” He glanced over, his smile warm. “Want to go back to your place and do the horizontal mambo.”

I laughed. “The horizontal mambo? Are you a time-traveling werewolf? Because I think your lines are stuck in the '80s.”

“Ride the bologna pony?”

I couldn't stop laughing. Maybe I was still high from our run or maybe it was the company, but…“Are you serious, right now?”

“Have relations?”

“Now you're from the 1800s?”

“Do it doggy style?”

That sent me right over the edge. I laughed so hard, there were tears in my eyes. When I finally caught my breath and looked over at Axel, he was grinning like he'd just won the lottery.

“Don't like those?” he asked. “How about spearing the bearded clam, tripping down the mine shaft, Negotiating—”

“Enough,” I said. “I feel like you're avoiding the question.”

“Nope. Just like the sound of your laugh.” He grinned at me and something tightened in my chest. “Honestly, I think you need to settle into being a wolf for a while. Right now, your senses are on overload. I don't want you to do anything you'll regret later. Plus, we hate each other.”

My stomach growled, saving me from the conversation. “I almost forgot. I'm meeting Shelly for breakfast in an hour.”

“I'll go with you.”

“It's a girls' breakfast. You wouldn't fit in.”

He pulled into the parking garage next to my building, parked, and turned in his seat to face me. “You're my responsibility. I can't take a chance something will happen when I'm not with you.”

I couldn't argue with that. If I was in his place, with a possible death sentence hanging over me, I certainly wouldn't want to take any chances. “Fine, but don't be weird about it.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I'm not weird.”

I snorted. “Okay, mountain man.”

I got out of the car and hurried up to my condo, happy to have gotten the last word.

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