Page 44 of Rock Pucking Bottom

I glanced back to Scuba. "I think I speak for both of us, not getting anything more than that. Quit poking or else you'll wake one of the two sleeping bears."

Cartsy and Suzuki folded their arms across their chests. It felt good to know that I said the right thing.

Chapter 37

Emmy

Myfocuswasshittoday. Part of it was lack of sleep and the rest of it was the burden of Eoghan's secret life. I was worried about this new development.

After giving up drinking, talking had been my go-to way to solve problems. I needed to talk things out, especially when the urge to drink was reasserting itself back into my life. Which only meant one thing—I needed to talk to the one person who had been through what I'd been through and try to get some guidance.

Thankfully, I exchanged phone numbers with Scarlett when we were in Minneapolis.

After a couple rings, a guy picked up the phone. "Who is this?"

"Sorry. I think I have the wrong number. I was trying to get a hold of Scarlett Smith."

Yet that felt wrong. Who dialed wrong numbers when it was a saved contact? It indeed read Scarlett Smith.

That's when I heard, "Hold on. She's outside."

Well, at least, I had the right phone number.

The terseness meant that I talked to Dez Smith, her husband and mate. It made me wonder if some of that was part of being a werewolf. But then I reminded myself that his friends back home, especially Dino, were downright talkative and the life of the party.

After a moment, Scarlett was on the phone. "Hello, it's Scarlett."

"Hi Scarlett, do you have a moment to chat?"

"For you? Of course."

That was such a relief. I didn't want to take too much of her time, but the idea of talking out a few of my questions was a relief. The more I erased the anxiety about Eoghan, the more likely we'd seal the mating and I wouldn't be tempted to drink.

"Quick question. Is it weird for the guys to shift if they have a nightmare?"

There was a slight giggle on the other side. "Never from nightmares. Shifts only happen due to night terrors. When it happens, they don’t sleepwalk or lash out. At worse, it's just a howl or two post shifting. Maybe some movement of their paws."

Well, that was a relief to know that it wasn't too weird. It was totally safe to be around them when they were wolves, even in their sleep.

That certainly tracked and seeing Eoghan be so scared even when he was a big bad wolf. It made me realize that it wasn’t the form that made the person. It was what was their heart and Eoghan was a good man.

No, he was my man.

"Does it stop?"

"For the most part." Scarlett said.

But off in the background, I heard Dez pipe up in a very muffled voice, "Especially after we stopped eating liver in the afternoon."

I had to be so careful when talking to werewolves. They heard so much and I wasn't used to them just chirping up in the background.

Scarlett pulled the phone away and talked to Dez directly. "Who's to blame for that? I don't make liver ever."

Their back and forth was hysterical. I would have loved to know what Dez said in return, but I didn't hear a thing. I suspected that he grunted or sniffed the air. It seemed like Eoghan was cut from the same cloth.

"Well, that's a relief to hear. Although I don't think Eoghan ate any liver."

Scarlett giggled. "I'm sorry about him. He wasn't the only one who did that. Jayden did a couple times too when he first came into himself, but I preferred that over the alternative for his age."

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