“I should turn around,” I told myself, as I parked my car in front of an adorable row of six townhouses. “Nothing good ever comes from socializing.”

That was my honest truth, and I felt it to my damned soul. Social anxiety was a bitch.

Eiry waved me inside.

“If I turn around now, I’ll be the asshole,” I mumbled to myself, waving back and grabbing my purse off the passenger seat. I didn’t really need the crossbody bag considering that I was going to a little barbecue with some friends, but it was the only shred of moral support I had, and I was going to be holding the damn thing like it was a lifeline.

“Why did I agree to this?” I asked myself, gritting my teeth as I opened up my car’s door and stepped outside.

My combat boot hit the ground, and by some miracle, I didn’t trip and land on my damned face.

I reminded myself that I liked Eiry and Tadhg, and that I would be getting free food out of the barbecue. And… that I didn’t really have any other friends, outside of July. Considering July lived a handful of states away when she wasn’t traveling the world like it was going to vanish tomorrow, and had no plans to head my way anytime soon, this barbecue was probably my last actual chance to socialize before I hit the road.

And unlike July, I wasn’t hitting the road for fun. I just didn’t have anywhere else to go, and could only afford one security deposit, so I needed to save my money until I found a job.

I gave Eiry a quick, awkward hug as I slipped into the townhouse. The place screamed “EXPENSIVE,” in a way I would never have been comfortable living in, but it fit Eiry. She was classy, all the way, and I was secure enough in my trashiness not to feel self-conscious about our differences.

But anxious enough to feel a hell of a lot of panic when I heard a masculine laugh outside, and saw a football fly past.

Shit, I sucked at football.

“Hot damn, girl,” I whistled, trying to fill the silence to prevent shit from getting awkward as we walked through her place. “This is your house? This place is sexy.”

It was, in an Eiry-esque way.

If some dude ever brought me back to his house and owned so much shiny shit, I was pretty sure I’d make up an excuse to leave before taking my pants off.

Not that I’d ever been taken to a guy’s house, or ever taken my pants off in front of a guy. I was way too awkward for that.

Eiry laughed, her dark eyes brightening with the compliment. “Thanks. I’d take credit, but Fred decorated everything. I just added a couple things here and there.”

She’d never smiled much or laughed much when we lived down the hall from each other, so I assumed her new man was to blame for her newfound rosy disposition.

I hadn’t seen Fred naked, but I mean, come on. The dude was a damned skyscraper; if I was banging a sexy skyscraper, I’d probably be rosy too.

And from what I’d seen of him, he looked like a guy who knew he’d found a good woman and didn’t plan on walking away. “He’s your man; take credit for it.”

We stepped outside, and I looked over the yard.

Hot freakin’ damn.

Men.

So many men.

So many skyscraper-sized men.

What the hell kind of sexy cult had Tadhg and Eiry joined?

Four hotties playing football—one cooking—and one sitting at a plastic picnic table.

Hot friggin’ damn.

Did I already say that?

Shit, I was getting tongue-tied and I hadn’t even tried to talk to any of them.

So much man-meat. So damned much.

My voice strained as I mumbled, “Wow. Did you pay a football team to show up or something?”

“Leidy!” Tadhg yelled from across the yard, wearing a massive grin with her gigantic blonde ponytail swaying behind her. Astrid was a sass-ball, and I hoped she could do all of the talking and socializing so I didn’t have to.

Was that a shitty thing to hope for?

I didn’t know, nor did I care. I could socialize when required, but when not required, I was typically out.

“It’s been ages!” Astrid threw her arms around me, and I gave her a less-awkward hug back. Eiry had always been the quieter of the two of them, so Astrid was the one who came to chat with me when I had to knock on the door and check in with them.

“How’s that gigantic dog treating you?” I teased Astrid, quietly checking the yard for said massive dog. Seriously, that thing was a monster. She said it was a wolf-dog, and I was pretty sure it could’ve eaten her if it tried.

Tadhg’s grin grew wicked. “Like a damn queen.”

I fought like hell not to wrinkle my nose at the odd comment.

How would a dog treat you like a queen?

“Because that’s not weird…” My hands were all fidgety, so I tucked a loose strand of my platinum hair up into the messy bun on top of my head and sniffed the air, trying to change the subject away from massive dogs and their strange behavior. “Ooh, is someone cooking steak?”

“Yep.” Tadhg looped her arm through mine, grabbing Eiry’s arm with her free hand before she dragged us both over to the grill. I tried not to drag my feet as we moved closer to two of the sexy skyscrapers I was nervous about talking to.

This was why I didn’t date; too much pressure. Talking to hot guys was awkward, or infuriating, or awkward and infuriating, so I tried to avoid it. Why put myself through that, right?

Tadhg, of course, introduced me to the freakin’ hot guy cooking steak, of all things. Yeah, I was definitely drooling. “Leidy, meet Zeder Lewis, chef extraordinaire. He pretends not to like you, but then he feeds you so well that you know he cares.” She let go of me to pat her hand over her heart as Zeder snorted.

She didn’t give me a chance to introduce myself, luckily, before grabbing me again and turning Eiry and I. Astrid swept her hand toward the gigantor sitting at the picnic table, who was still facing the field and hadn’t so much as glanced my way.

Awkward.

Astrid either didn’t feel the awkwardness or just plain ignored it as she flashed me a grin and introduced him anyway. “And here’s the world’s hottest history teacher, Ricco Herald. He’d break hearts if he gave anyone a chance, but—“

He turned around, shooting Tadhg a warning look. “Astrid.”

Hot freakin’ damn.

The guy…

Shit.

He was the prettiest dude I’d ever seen, on top of being one of the biggest.

Messy honey-blond hair, a scruffy beard, eyes as blue as a damned photoshopped picture of the ocean, muscles I sort of wanted to bite…

Crap.

What if she wanted me to talk to him?

There were dark circles under his eyes that told me he wasn’t sleeping well, and despite the gorgeous color in those sexy blues, his eyes looked dull. Lifeless, almost.

He was still the hottest freakin’ thing I’d ever seen.

“I’m sorry,” Ricco said, finally realizing I was there and flashing a tiny uninterested gaze my way.

Something about the way he smelled—like freakin’ heaven—made me inhale sharply, and my lips parted.

And then his eyes turned red.

His voice… changed, and he growled like a damned animal a word that sounded a hell of a lot like, “Mate.”

Should I run?

I knew I should probably run, but something about the way the guy looked and smelled had me frozen where I stood.

“Well, now it’s a real party,” Tadhg remarked with a grin. “And this time, I don’t have to abduct anyone.”

“What the absolute fuck?” My head jerked toward Eiry, who’d invited me to this damned party. Astrid had left the dorms a while ago, but I expected her less-crazy roommate to be the voice of reason here. “Eiry…”

“Remember how I said werewolves aren’t real?” she asked, grimacing so deeply I worried the expression might be permanent. “It was a lie.”

My eyebrows shot so far upward I worried they’d fall the hell off.

Yet, my stupid gaze jerked back to the guy.

Ricco, Tadhg had said his name was.

Holy damned hotness, I’d never seen anyone so gorgeous.

And he was growling.

Like an animal.

Why the hell was I still attracted to him?

“Fred!” Eiry called over her shoulder.

I couldn’t peel my eyes off the hot guy long enough to glance over at her.

Ricco’s fingernails were digging into the plastic picnic table so hard I worried they might bleed. He looked like he was in pain, and I… wanted to take that pain away.

Seriously, something had to be wrong with me.

His face contorted, and I bit my lip as I fought the urge to step toward him and put my hands on him.

Why did I think touching an absolute stranger would help him?

He had called me mate though—which had to mean something, right? Was that why I felt so damned attracted to him?

But what was a mate?

I took a step back, hoping a bit of distance would clear my mind, but Tadhg grabbed my arm before I managed to get anywhere.

“What’s a werewolf’s mate?” I asked Tadhg, my eyes flicking between her, and Eiry, and Ricco.

“Oh honey, you’re about to find out,” Astrid promised.

What the hell did that mean?

“Get her inside, fast,” one of the other skyscrapers commanded, waving me toward the door. Tadhg and Eiry both grabbed my arms, dragging me toward the townhouses to the left of Eiry’s. They didn’t seem to be aiming for the one directly left, but the one next to it.

“What? No. Let go of me.” I ripped my arms out of their grips. Eiry let go, but Astrid grabbed me again quickly.

“Ricco’s wolf is going to be really possessive,” Astrid said hurriedly. “We just want to get you in his house so he’ll chill out when he’s fully shifted.”

A pained yell-snarl came from the picnic table, and instinct took over.

I yanked my arm from Astrid’s grip again, spinning around and booking it back toward the hot guy. Though what I was doing made absolutely zero sense, I just felt like… I needed to.

Ricco was on the ground, his body twisted painfully. Common sense told me to get the hell away from the werewolf, who seemed to be shifting forms extremely slowly and painfully, but walking away from him felt wrong.

So I dropped to my knees beside him, leaning over the man. His eyes snapped open when my shadow stretched over him, and when the red gaze bore into me, his body relaxed a bit.

The eyes flicked back to blue for a minute, and then back to red.

“Mate,” he rumbled again, the word coming out mangled in his shifting throat.

“Sure.” I patted his cheek awkwardly.

His hand lifted to rest on mine, and I watched in stunned silence as fur broke out on the skin—before the bone snapped.

Biting back nausea, I remained where I was.

“We need to move her,” one of the men warned, somewhere behind me.

Another one of Ricco’s bones snapped, and he snarled again, fury blazing through him.

“I don’t know why, but I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered to him, as fur broke out on his cheek.

The words seemed to relax him entirely.

My lips twisted in a grimace as the air filled with snapping noises, bones breaking and reforming. Now that he was relaxed, though, the change seemed smoother and faster. Two minutes later, my hand was on a furry wolf cheek.

“Jason the dog is also Jason your boyfriend,” I said to Tadhg, not taking my eyes off of Wolf-Ricco as he stared at me, remaining where he was lying on the ground.

“Jason is my mate,” she said, confirming it.

“Someone needs to tell me what that word means right now.” Somehow, I remained calm.

Probably because I was looking at Ricco the hairy animal, rather than Ricco the hot guy. Animals, I could manage. Hot guys, not so much.

“It’s like a husband or wife, but bigger. More permanent,” Eiry said quietly. “When a werewolf chooses you as his mate, there will never be anyone else for him.”

Silence reigned for a moment.

Wolf-Ricco continued to stare at me.

Just stare.

“Like an automatic marriage?” I asked, my emotions somewhere between shocked, thrilled, and disbelieving.

There was another moment of silence.

“Yup,” one of the guys confirmed.

I stared at the wolf. “So… that hot guy. I’m married to him.”

“Well, marriage is an agreement decided by two conscious individuals. Mating is determined by fate,” one of the guys clarified.

“But yeah, you might as well be married to him,” Astrid added.

“Shit.” My face warmed. “Why did he go wolf, then?”

“It’s complicated. Can we explain in Ricco’s house? You’ll have to stay there for a few days. Maybe longer.” Tadhg kneeled beside me, gently taking my arm.

“Wait…” I trailed off. “My instant-husband comes with a house?”

There was another pause.

I finally looked away from the wolf, glancing back at the group behind me. All of the hot skyscraper dudes just looked sort of stunned.

“Yeah,” one of them said, his forehead wrinkled in confusion. “He’ll put your name on the lease as soon as he’s back in his human form, assuming you let him.”

Seriously.

Holy shit.

“I’m kind of in love with you,” I told the wolf.

He licked my face, and I grinned. “How do we get him back in human form?”

“Come to his house, and we’ll explain it,” Tadhg tugged lightly on my arm. “Just be careful not to go near any of the other guys. Ricco will be possessive.”

I snorted, standing up. Though I tried to take my hand off the wolf’s face, he rose with me, moving so his face remained snuggled up against my palm. His fur was soft, so I didn’t mind. “That’s definitely not going to be a problem. Do you know how many guys I’ve touched in the last five years?”

Silence sounded once more. “You probably shouldn’t,” one of the skyscraper dudes began.

“Zero. I have touched zero guys in the past five years. And I don’t plan on touching anyone today, including my insta-hubby, so let’s move on. To Ricco’s house.” I gestured toward the house.

A snort and a soft chuckle came from the men behind me as Tadhg led me toward Ricco’s place.

“I can’t say this is how I expected today to go,” Tadhg remarked, as we walked.

“Guess we’ve got that in common, then,” I tossed back. “Get explaining.”

“Alright,” Astrid began, before we even reached the back door of the townhouse. “So basically, a werewolf is just a person who shares a body with a wolf. We can’t communicate with our wolves, but they exist on top of us. When we’re in wolf form, the human part of us can’t communicate with the outside world or move in any way. The opposite is true too; when we’re in human form, the wolf can’t communicate with the outside world or move in any way. That is Ricco’s wolf, not the same man you spoke to earlier.” Astrid gestured toward the wolf.

Honestly, that was a relief. I could interact with his wolf, and not need to worry about the hottie he would eventually turn back into. “Cool.”

Astrid continued, “Right. So when a werewolf meets his mate—all werewolves are men, it’s this weird nature thing—the wolf shuts the guy in a box and takes over. It’s called the ‘mate hunt’ and basically, he’s just going to follow you around and snap at anything that gets near you until he’s certain that you aren’t going to reject him. Then, he’ll bite you, and you’ll turn into a werewolf.”

“That’s simplifying it a bit,” Eiry pointed out.

“Eh, it’s her first day. She needs simple.” Astrid waved her off.

“If you want more details, just say so,” Eiry added, as one of the guys reached the sliding glass of the back door. He tugged it open, and gestured all of us inside. I recognized the brown-haired dude as Jason, Tadhg’s boyfriend. Err, mate.

I nodded, telling the women silently to continue.

“When you’re a werewolf, the next stage of the mating process begins. That’s the mate chase, and your wolf will be watching him like a hawk and testing him to determine whether or not he’s a suitable mate. Which he will be, because he’s Ricco.” She tossed a hand toward the wolf. “After that, your wolf will bite him, and then all that’s left is the climax. During that, you’ll be overwhelmed with lust, and fucking like rabbits for a few days until it’s out of your system.”

My eyebrows shot upward. “You had me up until the sex.”

“The sex isn’t required,” one of the guys clarified. I glanced over at him, and dodged his gaze when he tried to make eye contact. Dark hair, a tiny bit of scruff… damn, he was gorgeous too. “The climax lasts around a month if you don’t have sex, you’ll just feel a lot of lust during it. It’ll be painful if you choose not to… find relief together, but you can choose that.”

Well, that wasn’t so bad, I guess.

A small price to pay for a free place to live while I searched for jobs.

“So after the mating thing is over, we can split and call it good?” I checked.

Honestly, I hated that idea. If I was going to get even slightly attached to someone, I didn’t want to walk away. I was tired of being alone, and the instant-husband thing would make up for that, at least slightly.

“Not exactly. Your wolves will constantly run to each other. You can choose to have a friendly mating rather than a sexual one, and if you choose that, you’ll remain companions rather than actual spouses who sleep together,” the same guy from earlier explained.

“Well, then, I’m in.” I flashed the wolf a quick grin. He gave me a wolfish grin back, then licked my arm.

“That’s a kiss,” Astrid added. “When he licks you.”

“Of course it is. He’s just a big ole’ dog, isn’t he?” I crouched in front of him, scratching his head. “How do I draw the hunting part out? To keep him in wolf form longer?”

There was another pause. “Make him believe you don’t want to be a werewolf, I guess,” one of the guys offered.

“I don’t want to be a werewolf,” I informed the wolf, scratching behind his ears.

He licked my face, clearly not buying the words any more than I had.

“How long will he be hunting for?”

“Could be a day, could be a year.” One of the guys shrugged. “No way to know.”

Ah.

“I’ll just have to enjoy it while it lasts, I guess,” I said.

For the first time since we entered the house, I looked around. “Holy shit.”

The place was an utter disaster. It was an open floorplan, so I could see the entire dining area, kitchen, and living room from where we stood just inside the back door. It wasn’t massive, but wasn’t tiny by any definition. After living in a dorm room, it may as well have been a mansion.

But papers littered every inch of the countertops and table. Boxes of cereal and other foods were stacked up against the edges of the kitchen. The couch in the living room was a legitimate clothing mountain.

The floor was covered in more clothes, papers, and who knew what other shit. One corner of the living room had a literal tower of toilet paper, tampons, and other toiletries. The other corner held boxes of what looked like furniture, stacked all the way to the ceiling.

“Shit,” one of the guys muttered.

“Did you know his house looked like this?” Astrid asked, and when I glanced at her, I realized she was looking at all five of the guys with us.

The wolf licked my arm a couple times, and I glanced down at him. He was looking at me with sad puppy-dog eyes, and when he licked my arm again, I realized he was trying to apologize.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “I won’t hold you accountable for the dirty human’s actions.”

The wolf licked me again, seeming happier, and I scratched his head again.

“Ricco’s had a lot going on,” one of the guys explained quickly. “His house didn’t used to look like this. I’ve been outside, dragging him around to do shit, but I didn’t realize…” he grimaced, his gaze sweeping the room. “Damn.”

“I don’t even want to see the upstairs,” someone muttered.

“It’s cool. I’ll deal with the mess.” I gestured toward the house.

“We’ll grab some cleaning shit and help,” one of the guys said.

“No.” My words came out much harsher than I intended, and silence met me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just… I like my personal space. I’d rather clean on my own.”

More silence.

Shit, I’d messed up.

Clearly, this was a tightly-knit group of people. I was instant-mates with one of their buddies, so they probably wanted to do something to help, right?

“You could get my stuff from my dorm,” I offered. “If you want to do something to help. I’ve got to be out soon anyway, and since you said Ricco won’t let me leave…” I shrugged, scrambling to come up with something that would persuade them. “It’s heavy.”

Nods went around the room.

“I can stay and explain things,” Tadhg offered.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I need some time to process all this first.” I gestured between myself and the wolf I was still scratching. “Maybe you can stay and chat for a bit when you drop off my stuff?”

“I’ve been writing things down over the last few weeks, to help myself remember it all,” Eiry offered. “I can email you everything I have.”

Why did it not surprise me that she’d taken notes about werewolves, of all things?

“That would be great,” I nodded.

“A mate manual? It’s perfect,” Astrid declared. “I’ll add my shit to what Eiry has before we send it over.”

Biting back a snort, I nodded again. “Sounds good.”

“Alright, we’ll get out of your hair. Let me just…” one of the guys crossed the kitchen, tugging the fridge open. It wasn’t Fred or Jason, or Zeder, who had been cooking, but that was all I could say about the skyscraper’s identity.

A bunch of glass casserole pans fell out of the fridge, and the guy swore as he tried to catch them all. Somehow, he managed to catch them.

Fred crossed the kitchen too, helping the other guy stack the pans on the counter.

“We’ll need to go through these,” the guy who wasn’t Fred muttered.

“I’ve got it,” I said helpfully.

TBH, I was drooling at the sight of all that free food.

“Shit, the steaks,” Zeder muttered.

He slipped out of the house, and my eyes followed him as he jogged away.

“We’ll grab your dinner, and then head off to get your stuff,” Jason said, flashing me a guilty grin.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help with this?” Astrid checked. “Because this is… well, it’s a lot.”

“I’ve got it.” I waved her off. “Bringing my shit from the dorms is plenty.”

Tadhg didn’t look convinced.

I bit back a sigh. Honestly, the help did sound good, but I just didn’t want to deal with the chatter. I needed time to breathe, and process everything. “Fine,” I amended. “Tomorrow, you can ask again. But for tonight, I’m fine.”

“Alright, alright.” Tadhg tossed a hand toward me. “We’ll leave you alone. Come on, Kerth.” She gave her man a teasing push toward the door.

He grabbed her by the waist, tickling her and laughing while she shrieked and swore at him.

Eiry flashed me an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry. If I’d known this was going to happen…” she trailed off. “Well, I would’ve warned you. I wouldn’t change it. Meeting Fred was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She held up hers and Fred’s intertwined hands.

“Well, just cross your fingers that this wolf-man is just as good for me.” I held up my hand, fingers crossed.

Yeah, I was awkward.

Whatever.

My other hand gripped the wolf’s fur, and he snuggled up to my side while Eiry and Fred slipped out of the house.

“I’m Anton,” the guy who had caught the casseroles offered, holding out a hand. I gave him an awkward wave, figuring I might as well continue along on my awkward roll.

“Sorry, possessive wolf…” I gestured to the wolf, who hadn’t done a damned possessive thing other than licking my arm.

Yeah, I was totally going to use him as an excuse. Sue me.

“Right. Good thinking.” He flashed me an amused grin.

“I’m Daryl,” the other guy I didn’t know added, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Anton’s off to that side of you, and I’m off to the other one. If you need anything, just knock on one of our doors. Or yell; we’d probably hear you.”

My lips quirked up in a tiny smile, and I dipped my head in a nod. I liked Daryl, automatically. He seemed chill, which was a nice change of pace from Tadhg’s wild energy.

“Good to meet you both.”

“I’ll drop off the dinner in a few. Zeder will be grumpy after burning the food, so I’ll keep him away.” Anton winked at me, then he and Daryl headed out the back door. “Just let us know if you need anything,” he repeated, before he shut the sliding door.

And then, I was alone with the wolf.

My wolf, if Tadhg and Eiry and the skyscraper squad were to be believed.

“Whew,” I said, letting out a massive breath of air as I headed over toward the couch. Collapsing on the cushions—I couldn’t even see what color they were thanks to the mountain of clothes covering them—I kicked my feet out onto the lumpy ottoman and stared at the blank TV for a minute. One of my hands gripped the strap of my purse, which rested between my boobs, and the other still held the fur of the wolf who had jumped up on the couch beside me.

Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath.

Things had just… changed.

Yep.

Definitely changed.

Then again, everything was changing, so I guess it wasn’t all that abnormal to me. I’d been pretty sure werewolves existed after seeing those videos Eiry had obsessed over, so I wasn’t exactly surprised to meet them. But it was still all just…weird. And unexpected.

I liked plans, even though I was shitty with following through with them. This definitely hadn’t been part of a plan… but I was actually glad it had happened.

“This will probably sound crazy,” I told the wolf, “But I’m really glad I met you. My life was about to go to shit. I was going to be living in my car, and that thing’s going to crap out any time now. Job hunting… well, it’s not looking great. I really thought my professor could hook me up, but it fell through, and now I’ve got nothing. Nothing, and no one. Yay.”

The wolf licked my arm.

“Apparently, nothing and no one but you. If I can manage to convince myself to believe Astrid and Eiry. But if you ask me, they kind of seem like they’re on drugs.”

The wolf snorted, and my lips curved upward. “Glad to hear that you agree with me.”

My fingers stroked his fur. “I used to have a dog. Chewbacca. She made everything better. But she passed a few months before I graduated high school, and college dorms don’t allow dogs. Not big ones, at least, unless you’ve got a medical reason. Which I don’t, so here I am.”

Ricco set his head down on my leg, and made a sad sound. Something told me it was an apology, and my eyes stung a bit.

I hadn’t really made any friends in college. Most people talk about their college buddies for years after they graduate, if not their whole lives. But I’d spent all my time lost in my music, working my ass off and loving every minute of it. It hadn’t led to any friendships, or parties, but I didn’t really care about those things anyway. Not usually, at least.

Now that I’d graduated, and had nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do… well, it would’ve been nice to have a few buddies to go places with. A few couches to crash on.

I heard a knock at the back door and quickly stood up, drying tears up with the neck of my shirt. Letting go of Ricco’s fur, I grabbed a tipped-over laundry basket and quickly tossed some clothes in it so it looked like I’d been doing something.

“Leidy?” Anton called out. “I have a plate of food for you. Is it okay if I come in?”

“Sure,” I called back.

He stepped into the kitchen, flashing me a small smile. “We were serious. If you need anything—even a snack, or a meal, or help doing the dishes—just stop by my place or Daryl’s.”

“I will. Thanks.”

He nodded, setting the plate on the counter before leaving again.

I let out another massive breath when he was gone.

“Damn,” I mumbled. “I’m not cut out for this level of socialization.”

The wolf snorted again, licking my arm. I scratched his head, and collapsed back down on the couch.

Ricco snuggled up against me, and my arms wrapped around him. I held him against me, fingers burying in his fur. Despite the mess in the house, it didn’t smell bad or anything. The clothes off to my left actually smelled like laundry detergent, and the ones on my right…

I lifted a shirt to my nose, and inhaled deeply.

Then, I dropped the fabric like it was damned lava.

“Your human definitely wore that,” I squeaked at the wolf.

He licked my face and then picked up the shirt between his teeth, lifting it toward me before dropping it on my chest.

With a sigh, I lifted the fabric back to my nose and inhaled again. My eyes fluttered a bit as they closed.

Damn, he smelled good.

Like chocolate, and cinnamon, and… sex.

Okay, to be honest, I’d never had sex. My V-card was firmly in-tact, only because interacting with the male species made me feel panicked and weird.

But Ricco smelled like the way I imagined sex would smell.

I dropped the shirt again, heaving another sigh.

The wolf tossed it onto me again.

I shot him an annoyed glare. “I have clothes on, Ricco.”

He scowled, nipping at my shirt. It was a cropped tank that fell just above my belly button, and I’d paired it with some jean shorts and my favorite combat boots. It was spring, technically, so the boots still worked.

“You don’t like my outfit?” I asked, shooting him an incredulous look.

He licked my belly button in response, eliciting a shriek and a shove against his face. “That tickles,” I complained.

The wolf gave a playful growl, and nipped at my belly.

I groaned. “Fine. Only because you’re annoying.”

He stuck his tongue out and gave me a goofy, wolfy grin.

“Can your human see anything through you?” I checked, assuming the wolf could answer given his many human-like actions.

He shook his head in a no.

Phew.

It was just me and the wolf.

“Cool.” I tugged my shirt over my head, exposing the sheer bra I had on beneath. It was made of this weird netting that for some reason, was about eighteen thousand times more comfortable than any padding I’d ever worn.

The wolf licked the gap between my boobs, and I snorted, pushing his face away again. “You’re weird.”

He grinned at me once again, and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Your human’s lucky you’re a pain in the ass,” I warned the wolf, still grinning as I grabbed Ricco’s shirt and tugged it over my head. As I expected, it fell down my thighs, the hem hitting below my shorts. It would look like I wasn’t wearing pants at all, so I went ahead and unbuttoned my shorts before stripping them off and tossing them onto the pile of Ricco’s dirty clothes.

I tugged my combat boots off as I headed into the kitchen, and tossed them onto a pile of shoes Ricco already had near the garage door. Curiosity had me peeking into the garage, and my lips curved upward when I saw the old, beat-up truck sitting inside.

There was just something about a shitty vehicle that spoke to my soul.

Maybe it made Ricco seem a little more approachable? Probably not, but I guess we’d see when the wolf decided to bite me and turn me into one of them.

It felt odd to be wearing nothing but my underwear and a shirt in another person’s house, but the place smelled like Ricco and the mess definitely prevented me from feeling self-conscious about it. I sat down on a barstool in front of the island, inhaling the delicious smell of steak.

Wasting no time, I dug into the food. Free food… glorious free food.

My scholarship had paid for the school’s basic meal plan, but honestly, the food there was shitty. I hadn’t eaten anything more than was required to continue living during my four years there, and I’d skipped at least one meal a day most of the time.

So having a massive plate of delicious food, for the first time in years, was damned incredible. That was the reason I’d driven all the way out to Moon Ridge for Eiry’s barbecue, anyway, and it was proving itself to be worth it in just the food alone.

Ricco licked my legs almost constantly while I ate, but I didn’t mind. The wolf was a sweetie, and if I was his instant-wife, he probably liked the way I smelled. I sure liked the way Ricco smelled, so it wasn’t hard to believe that I’d smell just as good to him.

Hopefully.

I cringed at the thought, though.

How weird would it be if a guy wanted to sniff me?

I mean, I’d like it. Hell, I’d love it. But I wouldn’t know how to react, you know? Like, should I cringe away? Or kiss him?

The one time I’d kissed a guy had been in high school, before my parents got all crazy, and it had been so awkward I hated even thinking about it.

But the thought still made me sort of excited.

To have a guy want me… that would be different. In a good way.

But I mean, I couldn’t get too caught up in that idea. There was still a good chance that he might not want me at all. He hadn’t looked at me like I smelled good to him; hell, he’d hardly looked at me at all. So he might not want to be anything more than friends, and that was fine. Just having a built-in best friend sounded like a damned miracle to me.

Whatever happened, Ricco and I seemed to be pretty much trapped together. So that was good; I liked the thought of that. He was just as stuck with me as I was stuck with him, so we would have no choice but to figure shit out. Even if we were just house-mates, I could get used to that. I would have my own room, I assumed, and that would be plenty of space for me.

I devoured the entire plate of food, tossing the thick disposable plate in the trash and then setting the fork and knife off to the side of the overflowing sink.

Turning toward the house, I surveyed the room. There was shit… everywhere.

Yep.

Everywhere.

“Alright.” I blew a puff of hair out of my eyes. Since I bleached my hair to get it to the platinum blonde I loved, there was always a bit of breakage. I didn’t mind that, though, because I loved all the choppy strands that framed my face. “Where to start…” I trailed off, nibbling on my lip.

“If I start with the kitchen, I’ll have to look at the awful living room through the entire time,” I said, processing out loud. I talked to myself a lot; always had, probably always would. It kept me sane. “So, living room it is.”

I’d worry about the upstairs after I had the downstairs dealt with.

Stepping back into the living room, I started sorting the clothes. It was easy to tell the cleans from the dirties, thanks to Ricco’s yummy smell, so I made quick work of the clothing mountain. There was actually only one load’s worth of dirty clothes in the mass of fabric, which reassured me slightly as far as my new roommate’s cleanliness went.

I started the one load, reluctantly leaving out a few t-shirts and a sweatshirt that smelled like Ricco. Doing that made me feel kind of creepy, but he’d turned into a wolf that was hunting me, so I was pretty sure the two things balanced out.

Mostly.

The clean clothes, I folded up and left in piles on the couch. As I folded, I revealed the fabric beneath. It was a nice dark gray that I really liked, and the throw pillows were all in other shades of gray. Ultimately, it was a lot more manly than I preferred, but I didn’t mind the colors. With a couple of black-striped or polka-dotted pillows, it would’ve actually been cute.

When Ricco was a human again and we figured out whether or not we were going to live together, I would change shit up. Until then, I’d deal with the manliness.

After I folded all the clothes, I decided to leave the toiletries and boxed furniture until I cleaned the rest of the townhouse. Furniture-building and organization would just have to wait a bit.

“To the kitchen,” I announced to the wolf, who had followed me absolutely everywhere I went. His fur brushed my legs with every damn step I took, and it was actually pretty nice. Maybe I’d been lonelier than I realized.

Fine, I had realized I was lonely. There just hadn’t been anything to do about it, so I’d tried to ignore it.

But… it was nice not to be lonely anymore.

Really nice.