Page 2 of Wolf's Midlife Bite

He rubbed down the area with an alcohol prep pad. “What’s your name?” It was usually a question he askedbeforehe pulled a woman’s pants down, but whatever. Maybe small talk would help.

“Robin. Wait, what are you doing now?”

He stopped with the disposable razor in the air over her skin. “Shaving you.”

“Oh, god. I’m not that hairy down there, am I?”

Brody chuckled as he went about his work. “No. I have to do this, no matter how fine the hair is. You won’t get a good clean tat, otherwise.” He held her soft skin taught as he ran the razor over it.

The smell of peaches mixed with the warm, velvety scent of her skin. She was human, he could tell, but her scent was entirely different from the others. Something about her was driving his wolf crazy. Brody focused on his goal, eyeing the fuzzy, crooked letters inked into her skin as he ran an alcohol wipe over them once again. “Where did you have this done?”

An angry huff emanated from her throat. “You don’t want to know.”

“I probably already do,” he murmured as he picked up the stencil. “I guess that means you’re not going to tell me who JC is, either.”

She pressed her lips together.

He rolled a shoulder as he carefully placed the stencil. “You don’t have to, but people usually have some pretty big life events attached to their tattoos. Coverups are like therapy.”

Robin was silent for a moment, and Brody could tell just by having the side of his hand against her that every muscle in her body was tense. “JC is my ex,” she finally admitted.

“Mm.” Not a surprise. He wouldn’t have ever done a tattoo like that for someone. The only names he was comfortable with permanently inking onto clients were those of kids, pets, or loved ones who’d passed on. It was pretty safe that those relationships wouldn’t change, unlike this one.

“He was the one who did it, too,” she volunteered.

“I kind of figured that.” The faded, blown-out lines were the first clue, along with the inconsistently-sized letters. Brody grabbed a hand mirror and showed her the stencil. “How’s that?”

It was obvious that she’d been trying to avoid looking at him or what he was doing, but she gave a blink of surprise as she looked at the reflection. “Is that really going to cover the whole thing?

“Like it was never there,” he replied confidently. Coverups could be a bitch, but Poppy had done a good job of designing this one so that the cage’s base covered JC’s masterpiece completely.

“Then yeah.” A hint of a smile played on her lips.

“Cool. I’m going to lay you down to make this a little easier.” He pushed the foot pedal that reclined the chair all the way back. It jolted to life, making her curves jiggle a little. Brody really needed to keep his focus on the work. “So, was this your idea?”

Robin snorted a little as she adjusted herself on the chair. She had her arms pulled up over her chest to keep them out of the way, but at least they were relaxed now. “No, not exactly. JC was super controlling, and he liked the idea. He kept bugging the hell out of me to do it, especially once he’d ordered a kit so that he could start practicing to be an artist. I was young and dumb, and he managed to convince me one night after I’d been drinking. The evidence of what happened is all right there.”

Picking up his machine, Brody tested the mechanism before dipping the needle in black ink. He’d seen all sorts of bad tats, but this one pissed him off. It was total crap, for one thing, and no one should be tattooing at home, especially on someone under the influence. But it wasn’t just the ethics, cleanliness, or even the lack of artistry. Some asshole had put his stamp on this woman. He adjusted his grip, forcing himself to loosen up a little, but his wolf wasn’t having it. The beast lashed out inside him, snarling at the idea of her being anyone’s property but his own.

“So, is this JC an artist somewhere now?” Brody asked, almost hoping he was so he could go find him when he was done.

“Nope,” she said with a snicker. “That was just one of the many great things he thought he was going to do. He did this one, and then he did what was supposed to be a dog on his friend’s back. It looked more like Cousin Itt fromThe Addams Family, and he gave up.”

The buzzing of the machine echoed through the room as Brody ran a long, clean line around the outside of the cage. “Sounds like a fucking winner.”

“Well, you know what they say. There’s a reason he’s an ex.”

And it was a damn good thing he was. The lines at the corners of Brody’s eyes deepened as he tried to focus on his work, but he could just imagine what he’d do to this prick if he were still around. His wolf liked the idea of tearing him apart, piece by piece. He started on the inner lines of the cage, not even needing to ask Robin what this symbolized. She was free now.

He liked to lose himself in his artistry, but it wouldn’t happen today. Not while he was so close to her. Even bent over her like this, with his hands touching her, his face so close to her delicate skin, it wasn’t enough. Her scent was utterly intoxicating, tempting his wolf to make an appearance. He needed a distraction. “So, where do you work?”

“Oh. I’m a dental hygienist.”

“Yeah? How long have you been doing that?” Brody swapped to his other machine with a shading needle, filling in the base of the birdcage and covering JC’s work. It filled him with deep satisfaction to make those words disappear.

“Oh, just about twenty years now.” She was finally starting to relax, her muscles loosening the longer she lay there. “I went to hygiene school right after high school, and I’ve been cleaning teeth ever since.”

Next came the bird itself, and he switched to a bright blue ink. “You know, I’ve got a tooth that’s been bothering me. You came to see me at my office, so maybe I should come see you at yours.”

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