Page 6 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Eat.” I hadn’t even noticed Ivor with a burger and a bottle of water. “Before you puke.”

He was so going to puke.

And if he did, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. It would give me an excuse to leave and get away from the wolf who kept distracting me with his tight ass, mesmerizing eyes, and that scent.

And it would give me privacy to take care of this boner when I wouldn’t be envisioning the wolf beneath me. Nope. Not at all.

He’d be riding me.

3

I’LL SHOW YOU MINE

Archer

Neil was giving me the rundown on all the plants in the patio garden and pointing out herbs and flowers. Some of the names I was familiar with, others I’d never heard of. I nodded and added, “Mmmm,” at appropriate moments, but my gaze swept toward Micah as he chatted with Daire.

The pair laughed at something, and Micah shoved Ryder along the chaise and sat beside him while the stag shifter ranted about his now ex-boyfriend. Each time Micah lifted the beer to his lips, my eyes locked on his fingers clenched around the bottle that was glistening with condensation, and I wished that hand was wrapped around part of me.

Once or twice, I glanced up as Neil chatted about flowers, and Micah’s eyes were on me. His gaze had my body heating up and my skin flushed, not just on my face but all over.

“Smell this, Archer.”

My attention was drawn away from the three men at the opposite end of the patio to Neil beckoning me toward a flowering bush. I caught a whiff of an overly sweet aroma, almost as intoxicating as Micah’s scent. “Jasmine. My dad had some in his garden.”

“Had?” Neil’s concerned tone had me glancing at him.

“Accident at work. Doesn’t get out much anymore.”

Neil must have picked up on the message my short, clipped answers were sending, and he changed the subject. “Daire’s so proud of his rooftop garden. He spends a lot of time up here.”

“He has a real talent,” I told him, not wanting to discuss my alpha dad’sdisability and how he and my omega father struggled for money. That was the point of me getting this job and earning enough to help them. But poor Neil didn’t need to hear that while I loved my parents, being a personal assistant to a real estate bigwig hadn’t been on my bucket list.

“So, Neil,” I lowered my voice, “How is it knowing shifters exist and yet not being able to share that with other humans?” I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth.

We’d met less than an hour ago—and I didn’t count him waving at me this morning as an official introduction—and here I was asking him deeply personal questions to avoid talking about my life. Not that he hadn’t been evading my queries about his work earlier. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s cool,” he replied as he trailed his fingers over the thin, silky leaves of lemongrass—another plant I recognized thanks to my dad—and the familiar citrus aroma wafted into the air. “Both your question and living here surrounded by shifters are cool.”

I grinned at him. I’d just made my first friend at Sunshine Manor. But I couldn’t resist shooting another peek at Micah. A tiny whimper escaped my lips as a drop of beer spilled into his salt and pepper scruff. “I’ll get that for you,” was on the tip of my tongue, until Neil tucked his arm in mine.

“Our Micah is a little different from the others.”

I assumed he was referring to him being a unicorn. I’d noted the tank top the moment I’d set foot on the patio. “Ask me about my unicorn,” it said. No way was I going to take the advice and ply him with questions. But I really wanted to. I knew next to nothing about unicorns, never having met one. And our shifter history class at high school had barely touched on them.

“How so?”

Daire, who’d moseyed over to us, whispered, “It’s to do with being a shapeshifter as opposed to a shifter.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

But the bear shifter was inspecting and adjusting the tomato plants’ stakes, so it was left to Neil to answer. “I think it's to do with his beast. Or not a beast. Or whatever.” He shrugged as cheeks tinged with pink and he continued, “It’s probably best if Micah tells you himself.”

It struck me as ironic that a human was giving me, a wolf, deets on the shifter world. “But…” The rest of my sentence was cut off by Ryder staggering to his feet and slurring his words into the night sky, “Let’s shift!”

“Not a bad idea,” Daire agreed.

Ryder stumbled toward the stairs. “We’ll take my car.”

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