Page 17 of Wolf's Midlife Bite

His hands were flat on the table on either side of his plate now. “Robin, I’m a wolf shifter. I lost control of myself for a second, and my fangs came down. One of them pierced your fingertip, which means you’ll most likely become a wolf shifter now, too.”

Silence fell like a heavy blanket over her ears. When Brody didn’t say anything else, she found a bubble of laughter erupting from her lips. “I appreciate you making me laugh about it. You didn’t have to go quite that far, though.”

After a minute, when her laughter settled down, Robin realized that Brody wasn’t laughing along with her.

“I’m serious,” he said quietly. “I know it’s hard for you to believe, but it’s true.”

She knew he was a jokester, but this was taking things a bit too far. “Come on, Brody. You don’t really expect me to believe—”

He smiled, showing his fangs.

Robin shot out of her chair. It skidded across the floor behind her and wobbled on its feet, something she could certainly relate to at the moment. “Um, that’s one hell of a party trick.”

He came around the table toward her, sending a rush of fear through her stomach. But when he spoke again, she could see that the teeth were no longer there. “Robin, I’ll give you all the proof you need until you believe me. I didn’t want to tell you, at least not yet. It’s too soon, no matter what I feel about you. But it’s important that you know this.”

She put out a hand to keep him at a distance. He respected that, which she was grateful for, but it didn’t make it any easier to wrap her head around this. “Brody, I don’t know what to say.”

“Why don’t you sit back down? We’ll talk.”

“I don’t think I can eat right now.” Her stomach churned, and food wouldn’t make it any better.

“Over here.” He guided her toward the couch across from the Eames chair and drawing supplies she’d thought were so charming before. “I need to tell you what to expect.”

Her body stiffened as she drew closer to the couch. She didn’t want to sit down on the plush fabric, and she didn’t want to hear what he had to say. It was all scary. And crazy. It was fucking crazy. “No. This isn’t right. I’m going home.” She stepped past him toward the door.

“You’re going to need help with this, Robin.” He caught up to her at the door, touched her elbow, and turned her toward him. Those hazel eyes, the color of the forest floor in fall, held her. “I understand if you’re angry with me, but really, this is important. We’ve got to talk about it.”

Robin looked up into that handsome face, the face of an artist, the face of a mature man who knew who he was and had learned not to put up with bullshit. Or at least, that’s what she’d thought it was. He was still handsome, but she no longer knew exactly what she was looking at. “It figures, you know? It figures that I would put myself out there, even though I knew it was too soon, and this is what I’d get on the first try. A fucking wolf man!”

She yanked the door open and didn’t bother to close it as she stormed out to her car, fumbling for her key fob. Let him follow her if he wanted to, but he wasn’t going to stop her from leaving.

When she fired up the engine, though, she could see that he was still standing in the open doorway. He still looked just as pleading, just as sad. The tears that pricked her eyes were pure anger and frustration. “You’re cracking up, Robin,” she said to herself, somehow managing to back out of the driveway despite her blurred vision and shaking fingers. “That’s it. You’re fucking cracking up.”

As she sped down the road, hurt began to replace the anger. She’d really thought there might be something there with Brody. How could she have been so wrong?

9

“So, that’s about it,”Brody concluded. He paced the room, restless and irritated. It’d been just as hard to tell his family as he thought it would be, or at least it was hard to start. Once he did, though, it was like the floodgates had opened. Everything had come gushing out, unstoppable. He only felt a little better now that it was out. “I knew there was something between us, and I admit that I held back a bit because I knew she was human. It made me doubt myself.”

“I think that’s reasonable,” Rex said quietly. He sat next to his mate, Lori, with his hands behind his head.

“Yeah, I guess you’d know. Still, that all worked out just fine for you. Knowing what we know now, it was always going to. But for me? And for Robin? I just don’t know.” His wolf was just as edgy as it’d been ever since he’d met Robin, but it was a different sort of agitation now. He still wanted to be near her, and before, it’d only been a matter of figuring out how to spend time with her. Now she didn’t even want to see him, and that changed the game completely.

“Do we know with absolute certainty that she’s going to change?” Rex asked. “Is it possible that there wasn’t enough of a transmission?”

Their sister Dawn, who’d collapsed into a recliner after a long shift, lifted her hands in the air and let them fall. “All we really have is anecdotal evidence. It’s not the same as human medicine, where specified trials with specific variables have been tested. The safest bet, of course, is to assume that she’ll become a shifter.”

“Sounds like she wasn’t too pleased about that,” Max noted.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow,” Lori replied. “Even if you come to accept it later.”

“I’ve got to figure out how to deal with this whether she accepts it or not.” Brody dug his hands into his hair, leaving it even more rumpled than his bike had made it on the swift ride over to the Glenwood packhouse. “She doesn’t know how any of this works, and she won’t listen to me. She could put herself in danger, not to mention the rest of us. I’m so sorry.”

Rex leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “We’re going to figure it out, Brody. It’s not like you’re in this alone.”

He eyed his older brother, the one who’d always been the favorite, the one who led their pack. So many times, Brody had resented him for that, but it didn’t stop him from seeing that Rex had been literally born for this position. He could’ve ranted and railed at Brody, chewing him out for being so careless. It wouldn’t have done any good, but it would’ve been an expected reaction from most. Instead, he just promised they’d work together to fix it. And right now, Brody would do anything to make that happen.

“Well, there’s not much we can do about it right now.” Max stood and clapped Brody on the shoulder. “You need to clear your head. Let’s go for a run.”

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