My lips curved. “Your uncle is going to be pissed if I wait any longer.”
“He’ll survive.”
“I should at least call today.”
“Alright.” Graham’s eyes dragged over me.
I waited for him to say whatever was clearly on his mind.
“What?” I prodded, when he didn’t.
“We could go for a run or a hike first. You said you like hiking.”
“I do. And ithasbeen a while…”
“Months,” he agreed.
“A few more hours won’t hurt,” I added.
“Nah.”
I gave a dramatic sigh. “Alright, you’ve convinced me. I’ll call after we hike.”
Graham stood up, sweeping me off my feet. When I laughed, his grin returned. Bigger than ever.
His eyes were bright, and his shoulders were back.
Whether it was me, the mate bond, or the sex, something had definitely cheered him up. I wasn’t going to complain about that. Somehow, a grinning Graham was even more charming than a calm, laid-back one.
I threw on some real clothes while Graham swapped his pajama pants for cargo shorts.
“Bare feet?” I checked, looking down at his toes while I tied my hiking boots on.
“Hiking boots?” he countered. “You’re a werewolf, Stell.”
“That’s fair.” I had yet to see him or any of the other feral guys with shoes on, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. “How many times did you end up with bloody feet in the process of getting used to going around barefoot?”
His grin returned, a little sheepish this time. “A few.”
“You’re insane.”
“A little.” He held up two fingers, slightly apart.
I stood up. “Insanity makes life interesting.”
Graham captured my hand, and I laced my fingers through his. “Mate bonds do too.”
“No kidding.” I bumped my shoulder against his, and he chuckled as he followed me through the front door. The pack’s wolves had created a whole system of trails around their land, and it didn’t take more than two minutes to reach the head of one.
He took in a deep breath of the forest air as we walked. “It doesn’t get better than this.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
We made it to the start of the trail before my wolf started nudging her way forward.
I stopped abruptly.
Graham stopped too, looking over at me. “You good?”
