Page 10 of A Queen and Her Knight

Tim joked, or didn’t joke, that Nathaniel was evil. Zoe just thought he was very, very patient, which could feel like the same thing when someone’s insides were twisted and they didn’t know what to do or how to do it.

The phone lit up before Zoe could cave and tell him everything.

Her gaze went to it in horrified embarrassment. A call sent directly to Nathaniel’s office with no warning from the dispatcher usually meant Little Wolf, so of course Nathaniel picked up the phone.

Zoe closed her eyes.

“Yes, she’s here,” Nathaniel answered before Tim could say a word. Tim was talking about her. He probably wouldn’t do that if Zoe’s mate was still with him, but Zoe tensed anyway. Tim and her mate had already become friends. Zoe imagined her mate’sface, her smiles for Tim, her wide, blown pupils when she’d turned to Zoe, and how she’d stared, her plush lips parted.

Zoe’s mouth fell open. “Oh.” She looked to Nathaniel. He was still smiling at her, because he was… well, she hesitated to call her pack leader evil, but he was definitely pleased with the situation. “My mate desires me.” Already. Zoe hadn’t even had to try. She hadn’t known mating would be this wondrous and yet still terrifying.

“Is she breathing?” Tim asked, clearly audible to her ears even at a distance.

“Shut up!” Zoe barked at him.

Tim laughed softly. “Wow. Nathaniel, you don’t know how amazing that was. I’ve seen it happen before, but not to someone I know. I’m not an expert, but I think it well.”

“By your standards?” Nathaniel wondered, not without a hint of bitterness.

Whatever Tim had been about to say became a sort of a squawking sound mixed with sputtering. Zoe suddenly became aware of the very real possibility that she might end up pining for her mate for months like Nathaniel had done, and that was one of the better possible outcomes. One of the outcomes that wasn’t madness, or depression, or a long, lonely, gray life. It didn’t matter that she’d never let herself dream of a forever after with someone the way Nathaniel always had. She had a chance at one with someone amazing, and it might not happen.

She dropped down and put her head between her knees. They told anxious humans to do this all the time in First Aid Training. It had to do something good.

“Zoe?” Nathaniel’s chair squeaked as if he’d leaned toward her.

“Aw, Zoe, don’t freak out.” Tim’s words, part command, part plea, carried through the silence. “Come on. We’ve got this.Because trust me, this town’s rules make some sense, but they aren’t set in stone. I can handle everything for you, just say the word.”

Zoe tried to make herself take in air while imagining what kind of destruction Little Wolf might wreak upon the town in the name of her love life. He’d do it, that was the thing. At some point in the past few months, he’d become this person she’d find sleeping next to her on the couch and sliding cups of coffee toward her in the morning. Zoe didn’t have a lot of friends. Neither did Tim. Maybe that was why he was so earnest about this. The problem was that he was Timothy Dirus. He was nearly unstoppable.

Zoe made a gurgling sound, like worried, hysterical laughter might burst out of her, then almost choked when Nathaniel growled.

This growl was not friendly, or playful. The sound, loud and forceful, was not meant to communicate anything but authority.

Zoe sat up straight and swallowed any noises she might have been making. Tim shut up. People in the outer room went so silent it was like they were frozen.

Nathaniel let out another sound, huffing in satisfaction to have the world quiet at last, before he focused back on Zoe.

Zoe met his serious, steady gaze. The sheriff’s gaze. Pack brother was town leader alpha.

“Breathe, Zoe,” he ordered, voice rough likewolf, and Zoe breathed.

“Holy crap…” Tim panted brokenly on the other end of the line, probably turned on. Not that it took much with him.

“Now go on,” Nathaniel continued after Zoe had taken several breaths. He was still mostly growling.

Tim sighed heavily for it. “Not fair, Nathaniel. Not fair at all,” he complained, longing and sweet enough to make Zoe blush if she hadn’t used up her blushes earlier. Then he let out a longer sigh and seemed to focus. “Zoe, listen. It’s okay. It’s better than you think anyway. It went really well. Even Carl thinks so. What?” Zoe couldn’t make out what Carl must have said in reply. Whatever it was made Tim snort. “Not on the floor in here! Aw, gross. Zoe you’d better not.”

“Little. Wolf.” Nathaniel rubbed his neck as if his mate was killing him. The sounds of work resuming came from the outer room.

“No, really,” Tim carried on smoothly. “Really, Zoe. It’s okay. It really is. I took care of it. I’ll take care of anything you want me to.”

“Run while you can,” Nathaniel told Zoe immediately. His tone was earnest, but he had thatI love my Little Wolflight in his eye.

“Hey,” Tim protested quietly, but went silent while Nathaniel rumbled softly at him for a moment in an apology that some others might have been shocked to witness.

Normally Zoe would look away during an intimate moment like that, but it was strangely fascinating to watch them and realize that might be her cooing at someone someday. She’d never cooed in her life. She didn’t even think most humans would count growling as cooing.

But her mate would. That’s whatmatemeant. Of all the people in the world, this one would most understand Zoe. And Zoe would most understand her.

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