Page 34 of Wild Wolf

Elaine raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t realize you guys were getting closer that way.”

“I don’t even know if you can call it close,” I said. “He’s so…”

“He doesn’t do that, you know,” Elaine said. “He doesn’t spend time with women. He has his people, a very tight little circle, and that’s it. If he’s paying attention to you in any other way than to put you in line, it means something.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

Elaine’s eyes glittered. “I didn’t think he’d ever care about someone again. Since Aster died—” She cut herself short.

“I’ve heard about her,” I said. “What happened there?” Mykel had already told me, but I wanted to see if Elaine had any more insights.

“It’s a long story, but he was so crazy about her. When she died, we all thought he was going to die, too. I’d only ever heard of someone dying of a broken heart, but Bishop came really close. Since then, he’s kept everyone at arm’s length, and women only count on his radar if he needs someone to share a bed with for the night. He doesn’t do conversation and kindness and whatever else he’s doing with you.”

I hummed, sipping my coffee. “I just don’t know how to figure him out.”

“Just be careful.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t know if he’s a good bet because he doesn’t invest in anyone, not really. Besides, if you do end up dating him, and that puts you above the rest of us, a few other women who would have loved to get in there won’t be happy.”

“There are other women?”

“Of course,” Elaine said. “Have youseenBishop? He’s hot as shit, rich, and he has an obvious allure as the powerful alpha around here. He’s all about one-night stands, though.” She eyed me. “If you manage to become more than just a one-night stand, it’s best to know a lot of females around here are going to be jealous. Jealousy makes you nasty, right? It’s a whole new level when we have magic, too.”

“Has something happened?” I asked, frowning.

“Well, the most recent incident I can think of was when one of the women he’d slept with attacked another woman she’d found out about. He’d made it perfectly clear where they all stood, but I’d never seen a fight to the death between two members of the pack who weren’t actually fighting for a higher position in the ranks.”

I shivered. “A fight to the death?”

“Like I said, women around here will give their lives to be with Bishop. Literally. Luckily, Bishop put an end to it before anyone died.”

It was crazy. I’d never heard of anyone losing their minds like that over a man. Granted, Bishop wasn’t just some man—he was incredible in so many ways—but to fight to the death…? That was crazy. Something bigger had to be going on for that to happen, right? Or was it really just jealousy?

“It sounds like one big power play around here,” I sighed.

“We’re shifters.”

“Not all shifters are like that, challenging power all the time.” I was one to talk—I challenged Bishop’s power all the time, but that wasn’t the point I was trying to make.

“Well, that’s what it’s like here.”

“It sounds so complicated.”

Elaine shrugged. “Love always is, though, right?”

I giggled. “I didn’t say anything about love.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to,” Elaine said with a smirk. “You can see a mile away that you like him. It’s in the way you talk about him.”

I blushed despite myself. It wasn’t that I was even close to something likelovewhen it came to Bishop, but I couldn’t deny that I felt very strongly about him, and when I was with him, we were connected to each other in a way I’d never been before. We had friction almost every time we interacted, but underneath that harsh facade of his, he was a good man.

“His ex still seems to have a presence,” I said. “Even though she’s gone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know… it’s weird to hear about someone’s ex, you know? I don’t want to be compared to her, the other lover, or whatever. If he really wants to do this with me—and I’m not saying I would go there, but hypothetically…”

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