Page 15 of Wild Wolf Betrothal

“That was him,” Lucy said.

“He is very good looking, and he seems like he is a nice man,” Clara remarked.

“Micah is definitely hot. He is also very sweet and is a great guy,” Lucy replied. “It’s just that I’ve never even thought about Micah as being more than my good friend.”

“I understand that. It is important to stay true to yourself,” Clara said. “I’m very proud of you. I know that it has to be extremely hard.”

“It is a little,” Lucy remarked. “It would be easier just to give in and say I’ll go through the mating ceremony just to make everyone happy. But it’smylife.”

“It most certainly is, and you are the only one who has to live it.”

Later that evening, Lucy sat in her room thinking about the situation. She had been completely shocked when Micah showed up at the café. She honestly didn’t know how she felt about it. On one hand, she was frustrated that he found her. The whole point of leaving Livingston was to have some time away from the situation so she could figure things out.

On the other hand, she was a little flattered that Micah cared enough about her to track her down and drive all this way to try to talk her into going through the mating ceremony with him.

The truth was that shehadthought about the betrothal throughout the years. She had felt a twinge of jealousy when he dated other girls. She had wanted to punch Jasmine Ellis in the throat when Lucy caught Jasmine and Micah making out in the stairwell of their high school.

Lucy had dated a couple of guys, but she never felt anything for them – not even the tiniest spark.

In the dark recesses of her mind, Lucy admitted that she had wondered what it would be like to kiss Micah. She even admitted that she had thought about what it would be like for him to wrap his arms around her and hold her close to him.

“Okay, fine, so I’m physically attracted to him, because he is hot. I’m pretty sure that Micah is hotter than Apollo or any of the other Greek or Roman gods,” Lucy muttered to herself.

Thinking back over her conversation with Clara, she also admitted that Micah was a good man. He was extremely smart and caring. He had a great sense of humor and Lucy always enjoyed hanging out with him.

“If he had asked me out before all of this mess came up, I would have said ‘yes.’ We would have had the chance to see where our relationship would go.”

Lucy chuckled to herself.

“If anyone was eavesdropping, they would think that I had completely lost my mind.”

She stood up and paced the room for a couple of minutes and then stared out the window, taking in the beautiful view of the snow-covered mountain.

Lucy sighed and sat down in the comfortable chair.

The problem wasn’t Micah at all. It was the fact that she didn’t like being told what to do, and especially with such an important decision that would affect the rest of her life.

“Who knows, if they hadn’t told me that Ihadto go through the mating ceremony with Micah and that we had dated for a while, we would have fallen in love with each other,” Lucy said.

The phrase, “cutting off your nose to spite your face” came to mind, but Lucy shook it off.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a couple of raps on the door. She looked through the peep hole and smiled as she opened it up to see Micah standing in the hallway with a large pizza and a six pack of beer.

He smiled and it took her breath away for a moment. He was a sexy man.

“Have you eaten?”

“Nope, and I’m starving,” she said.

As though to emphasize her declaration, her stomach rumbled loudly.

Micah laughed as he walked over to the table and set the pizza and beer down. He pulled a paper bag out of his pocket and dumped the contents over the table. Little packets of parmesan cheese, pepper flakes, and napkins spilled everywhere.

“What did your father and the elders think about you just taking off?” Lucy asked.

“They weren’t happy about it. They told me that I needed to stay there because there is still so much that I have to learn. I just told them that I can learn on the fly whatever I still need to figure out.”

“I guess that went over well,” Lucy said.

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