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.

Cleaning the kitchen took much longer than cleaning the living room had, but I found a Bluetooth speaker on the counter, and hooked my phone up to it. With music playing loudly, I jammed out while I cleaned, and actually found myself enjoying it. It had been years since I did dishes, and there was something therapeutic about it.

Wolf-Ricco looked hungry, so I fed him a few questionably-aged casseroles that I found in the fridge. I didn’t give him anything that was clearly expired, of course, but everything was pretty questionable since there weren’t dates on any of it.

He gobbled down everything I put in front of him, which definitely made my job easier since I wasn’t going to eat the possibly-old stuff anyway. Werewolves had to be tougher than humans when it came to sicknesses, considering how awful his shifting had been. Thinking about the sound of those bones breaking was enough to make me shudder.

“Is it weird to tell a wolf he’s a good boy?” I checked, scratching Wolf-Ricco’s head as I scrubbed down the sides of the sink, my hips and head still moving with the beat of the music I had playing.

He nodded his head, but licked the inside of my wrist as if letting me know he wasn’t offended that I’d asked.

“Not a dog. Got it.” I leaned my face down, and he lifted his up. His cheek rubbed up against mine, and my lips curved up in a smile. “You do like to cuddle though.”

He licked my neck in agreement, and my smile grew.

There was a knock at the front door, which about scared the actual shit out of me. I jumped away from the wolf, swearing and dropping the sponge in the empty sink.

“Leidy?” Astrid called out.

Dammit.

Biting back a sigh, I glanced at the clock as I headed for the door. It had been a few hours; plenty of time for them to eat, stop at my dorm to grab my stuff, and then come back.

I tugged the door open just as the lock on it turned, and my stomach clenched when I found myself face-to-face with Jason, who was holding a key to Ricco’s house.

“How many people have keys to this place?” I asked, as a greeting.

“All of us have keys to each other’s houses,” Jason explained, gesturing to the homes on either side of Ricco’s.

Yeah, that was going to have to change. I could be pretty cool with the werewolf shit, but I drew the line at giving other people open access to my living space. I needed my privacy to feel secure.

“We’ve got your stuff,” Astrid exclaimed, slipping past Jason with two massive duffel bags over her shoulders. All of my breakable equipment was in the hard suitcases, so I knew it would be fine.

“Just leave it at the bottom of the stairs. I haven’t figured out where I’m going to put everything,” I told everyone quickly, not wanting them to go upstairs. While I didn’t care whether or not there was a mess, I didn’t want them walking all over the space I’d probably be living in.

That would be my space.

I guess maybe I was already as territorial as the werewolf they said I was going to have to become.

Whether or not that was a good thing, I didn’t know.

All five guys and both girls carried my shit in, leaving it at the bottom of the stairs as I directed. Anton made a path in-between all the stuff so I could get through. I stood off to the side awkwardly, my hands still soapy and wet from doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.

“It looks so much better in here,” Tadhg remarked. “If you ever want a job cleaning my place, just let me know.” She winked, telling me she wasn’t serious.

I snorted. “Right. That’s exactly what I want to do with my music degree.”

“As if Astrid would ever hand money to someone to do something she could do herself,” Jason teased. “My girl’s way too cheap for that.”

She grinned. “You know me too well.”

“Hell yeah, I do.” He swatted her on the ass, and I ignored the rising discomfort in my chest.

“Alright, let’s give Leidy some space. Everyone out,” Anton announced, waving them all back toward the front door. “We’ll stop by in the morning to see if there’s anything we can help with. I’ll take care of finding a sub for Ricco at work and making sure his family’s aware of what’s going on.”

I shot Anton a grateful grin before he shut the door.

The lock turned behind them, and I grimaced.

That, on the other hand, did not feel safe.

I picked my sponge back up, weighing the pros and cons of pushing the couch over to the door and locking it that way. Even if I did, the guys could just get in through the garage.

Theoretically, they were supposed to be decent people, but I didn’t know them. I didn’t even really know Tadhg and Eiry. And if there was one thing life had taught me, it was to expect the unexpected from people you were supposed to be able to trust.

I glanced down at the wolf up against my legs. “If your buddies try to come in tonight, will you eat them for me?”

He looked at me with a very serious expression, and nodded twice.

Strangely enough, I believed him.

“Then I guess I’ll survive. Tomorrow, I’ll go buy new locks.”

The wolf shook his head and gestured to my phone, where it rested on the counter.

“What is that going to do as far as the keys go?” I checked.

He gestured to the phone, and then to the door.

“Call the door?”

He scowled, pointing to the phone with his nose before padding over to the door and poking the lock with his nose. Then, he walked over to one side of the house and poked that with his nose, then crossed to the opposite side of the wall and poked that one too.

Walking back to my phone, he emphatically gestured to it with his nose again.

“You want me to call your buddies?” I guessed. “And… key them?” I bit my lip, mind turning. “Oh. You want me to call and ask for their keys.”

He nodded his head, face relaxing when he realized I’d figured out what he was trying to say.

“Wouldn’t that be rude, though? I don’t want to offend them.”

He rolled his eyes. I’d never considered what it might look like when a wolf rolled its eyes, but it made me snort.

“I’ll figure it out tomorrow,” I told him, scratching his head. “Let me finish up in here, and then we’ll tackle the upstairs.”

He licked my arm, and I went back to scrubbing the sink. My music was still playing pretty loudly, which I hoped wouldn’t bother the other guys, but I left it on. The next time I wanted to listen, I’d put on headphones. This time, while everything was packed up, I’d listen out loud.

I finished scrubbing the sink and stove, then dropped the sponge in the sink and rinsed my hands before tackling the microwave. I’d looked around already to determine just how dirty the countertops were, but I’d quickly realized that the papers were the only mess on the counters and table. They were all in stacks, too, though the stacks were pretty damn messy. They seemed to be worksheets and essays and shit from the history classes he taught, and only about a tenth of them looked graded. Which meant dude-Ricco had a hell of a lot of grading to do.

After drying my hands, I went from stack of papers to stack of papers, straightening them. After digging through the drawers, I found a box of paperclips, and used those to keep my neat stacks of papers together.

When everything was straightened and paper clipped, I piled all of the paper stacks on one end of the countertop, rotating between setting them short-wise and long-wise so they’d be easy to pull apart.

With all the papers cleaned up, the kitchen looked pretty damn spotless. I was proud of that, too.

I grabbed my sponge again and wiped the counters and table down though, just to make sure everything was really clean.

When that was done, I looked back at the living room.

The stacked furniture boxes, and toilet paper, and other toiletries… yep, wow, there was a lot.

“Clean, then organize,” I mumbled to myself, scratching Ricco’s head absentmindedly. “Let’s check out the upstairs.”

The wolf licked my arm—shocker—and we headed up the stairs together. I was damned glad Anton had made a path through all of my shit, because I definitely would’ve managed to fall on my ass if I tried to climb over everything. Since I couldn’t leave any of my stuff at my parents’ house—they had sold their house and donated every penny they had to some weird charity that revolved around pecan trees—everything I owned was currently on the floor in Ricco’s house.

That was fine, though. At least it wasn’t in my car. I’d been worried about trying to shove everything in there as well as live with it all that way. Now, there was no need to worry.

At least not about my living situation.

The werewolf thing was something else entirely.

As long as I could keep thinking of Ricco as the massive dog who had a slight obsession with licking me, I could wrap my head around the wolf thing. As soon as I had to talk to hottie-Ricco, we were going to have problems.

But hey, I could pretend for now.

Wolf-Ricco and I headed up the stairs. They were covered in dark carpet that was soft beneath my toes, and like the rest of the house, luckily, it didn’t smell bad. I was starting to think that hottie-Ricco wasn’t actually a dirty dude. He just had a slight hoarding problem when it came to boxed furniture and bathroom shit.

Maybe he was worried about not having anything to wipe his ass with during a pandemic? Hard to say.

Though, the tampons were something else entirely. Considering no one had mentioned a girlfriend or any other woman he might have been living with, I didn’t have an explanation for those.

The upstairs was pretty simple: one bathroom and two bedrooms. I peeked in the bathroom first, and found it surprisingly clean. There was an air freshener that smelled like clean laundry plugged into the wall, and the counters were bare.

When I checked the bathroom cupboards, I found them full of… you guessed it, toilet paper. There was also another unopened box of tampons, as well as a bunch of differently-scented soaps, shampoos, and shower gels. One of them was pink and smelled like flowers, but since I wasn’t questioning hottie-Ricco’s odd hoarding tendencies, I didn’t bother asking the wolf about it.

The top cupboard held a few unopened makeup items, including mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss. I rarely put more than a smidge of mascara on, so I shot a raised-eyebrow at the wolf.

“Is your human hoarding, or questioning something?”

He snorted, and licked my arm multiple times before licking my thigh.

“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” I told him, closing the cupboard and checking the toilet and shower. They both looked cleaner than any I’d seen in my own house growing up, which was refreshing.

“Maybe he was working on getting the place cleaned up,” I mused, stepping across the hall and to the first bedroom. When I walked inside, the smell of hottie-Ricco hit me hard, and I stopped in my tracks.

My eyes closed as I inhaled.

Holy hell, yum.

I kind of wanted to eat this guy.

Was that weird?

Yeah, that was weird.

I should definitely not mention my desire to eat him to the man when he took over for the wolf.

Despite the glorious smell, the bedroom was pretty much empty. There was a mattress in one corner with tangled sheets and blankets on it, and absolutely nothing else in the room. Not a stray sock or a pair of the boxer-briefs I now knew hottie-Ricco liked to wear. No dresser, no desk, no… well, anything else.

“I guess this explains the furniture,” I remarked to the wolf. “Guess your human was redecorating.”

He nodded his head, and I scratched his ears.

There was a door to a walk-in closet standing open too, and I saw that it was also completely empty.

Yeah, he was definitely redecorating. I didn’t know why he’d needed to move all of his clothes to the living room to do so, but figured everyone moved shit differently. Maybe he’d been going through everything to decide what to keep or donate?

Stepping out of the bedroom, I crossed the hall and slipped into the second room. My forehead wrinkled when I found another mattress in there. It was bare, without a single sheet or blanket in sight, and nothing else was in the room either. But there was definitely a second mattress.

So who was he planning to live with?

I glanced at wolf-Ricco. “Your human is kind of an enigma at this point.”

He snorted, shaking his head. His nose poked me in the thigh, and then he trotted over to the mattress and poked it.

“You think the bed’s for me?” I checked.

He nodded his head.

“I guess that’s not entirely impossible to believe,” I mused. “Maybe he knew he was going to meet his mate soon and didn’t want to share a bed with her.”

The wolf scowled, but nodded again.

“You don’t approve of human-Ricco not wanting me to share a bed with him?” I asked the wolf.

He nodded violently.

“You really don’t approve of human-Ricco not wanting me to share a bed with him.”

He nodded again, even more violently.

“Wow. Okay, then. I guess it’s good to know that your human’s not going to try to jump me or hump me or anything.”

The wolf’s scowl deepened.

“It’s fine, buddy. I’d be shitty in a relationship anyway. I’m sure your human and I will be much better off as friends.” I rubbed his head in apology. Though his expression was still grumpy, he did seem to appreciate the head scratches.

“Let’s go deal with my stuff, Ricco’s clothes, and then the furniture,” I decided.

The wolf licked my leg, and we were off.

I was sweating balls by the time I finally got all of my shit up to the room that was going to be mine, and was wheezing like I was dying, too. The last thing I wanted to do was walk back down the stairs to grab Ricco’s clothes, so I took a break by hanging my shirts up in the closet. There were already about two hundred hangers packed into that thing, and while I only had enough tops to fit ten percent of those hangers, I did appreciate the thoughtfulness human-Ricco seemed to have put into preparing the space for me.

While I hung shit, my mind went back to the tampons and floral shampoo.

Were those for me too?

When I asked wolf-Ricco, he confirmed my suspicion. And honestly, I was kind of touched.

Human-Ricco might have been grumpy at the party, and he might have had less than zero interest in looking at me or sharing a bed with me, but he had still gotten his house ready for me. He’d made sure I wouldn’t run out of toilet paper, or tampons, or shampoo, or hangers. He’d even gotten me a damned bed.

I was actually starting to think that the whole house-sharing thing could work out nicely for us.

When I finished hanging up clothes, I was still sticky and smelly, but I was no longer actively sweating, so I grudgingly headed back down the stairs.

Carrying Ricco’s clothes up only took three trips. Like me, he didn’t have a whole ton of clothing. I noticed that his closet was equally split between button-down shirts and old t-shirts as I hung things up for him, and realized he probably had to get a bit dressy for his job. Considering I had always been on the messy side of casual, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Then again, we were just going to be friend-mates instead of spouse-mates. So it really didn’t matter.

There wasn’t a dresser to tuck his other clothes into, so I left the folded piles of jeans and joggers on the floor of his closet. He didn’t own any slacks, and as I headed back down the stairs, I couldn’t help but picture the freakin’ gorgeous blond guy in jeans and a button down.

Hot friggin’ damn… maybe I didn’t mind the dressy shirts he had after all.

When I headed back down the stairs, my gaze landed on the boxes of not-built-yet furniture.

And I grimaced, hard-core.

That shit was going to suck to drag up the stairs.

I headed for the toilet paper, and spent the next twenty minutes dragging that crap up instead. Most of it went on the storage shelves in Ricco’s closet, since the bathroom was packed too full.

When that was done, I grudgingly walked over to the pile of furniture. I’d never built a piece of furniture before… which really freakin’ sucked for me.

“It’s better than living in my car,” I muttered to myself, as I leaned over the pile and wrapped my arms around a massive box.

Wolf-Ricco licked my thigh. Whether it was a “condolences” lick or a “I’m glad you’re here” lick, I didn’t know.

I heaved the box up—and let out a screech as I wobbled. That thing was even heavier than it freakin’ looked.

And I dropped it right back down onto the stack.

Swearing under my breath, I leaned over and tried one more time.

Somehow, it was even heavier the second time.

I panted, sagging against the couch.

This sucked.

Not the whole situation—just the damned heavy furniture.

“I’m going to have to go ask one of your buddies for help,” I grumbled to the wolf.

He nodded his head, and something in his gaze told me the bastard had always known I was going to have to do that. I scowled at him, and he whined in apology before licking my leg.

I pushed him away with a grunt, standing up and heading toward the door. The wolf growled, and lunged between me and my way out.

I blinked at him.

Had he growled at me before? I didn’t think so.

He growled again, and poked me in the bare leg with his nose.

It took a moment for me to register why exactly he was poking my thigh.

Astrid had said he would be possessive… and what possessive guy wanted his chick walking around half-naked?

“Ohhh. You want me to put pants on.”

The wolf nodded violently.

I sighed. “Buddy, I’ll put on pants this one time, but the possessiveness is going to have to chill. Most of my actual clothing covers less of my skin than this t-shirt.”

The wolf growled at me again.

“Don’t make me flip you off,” I warned him.

He growled yet again.

“Fine. Keep growling and I’ll restrict your licking privileges. We both know you don’t want that.”

The wolf glared at me for a moment, and then let out a huff and a whine.

Then he licked my thigh.

“I didn’t think so.” I scratched his head, and the two of us headed up the stairs. “I just had an argument with a wolf,” I muttered as I walked. “Think I’m actually losing my mother-freakin’ mind this time.”

The wolf licked my leg again, oh-so-helpfully.

I found a pair of old leggings that had been worn so many times they were no longer tight to my skin, and tugged them on. Glancing at the wolf for permission, I waited for his nod before heading down the stairs again.

And yeah, I was starting to really hate those damned stairs.

Who had decided a house would be better-off cut in half with freakin’ stairs dividing it? Who the hell wanted to walk up and down stairs every day?

I left my shoes where they were and tugged the front door open, glancing both ways. The nights were still a bit cold, since it was springtime, but I ignored the chill in the air and considered my options.

Eiry’s house was two doors to my right—but if I went to her, I’d have to talk to her and Fred.

And they were so sickeningly in-love that they were probably having naked time at this point in the evening. My nose wrinkled at the thought of interrupting that.

Anton had said his house was to my right, between mine and Eiry’s. He was nice, but definitely pretty enthusiastic. I grimaced at the thought of all that enthusiasm, and the chatter that I’d definitely have to survive while we hauled shit up the stairs.

To my left, I knew, was Daryl’s place. He was much quieter than Anton; I couldn’t recall him saying anything up until he introduced himself.

Not having to chat much definitely sounded the best, so I headed to my left, not bothering to shut the door behind me. Hopefully, I’d be back in less than two minutes.

I crossed the grassy yard between our houses, my toes growing icy as the damp grass tickled my feet. When I stepped up onto Daryl’s porch, I rapped my fist against the door three times.

To be honest, I kind of hoped the guy wouldn’t answer.

Of course, the door swung open less than a minute later. A shirtless, sleepy-looking Daryl stood in the doorway.

I took a step back, panic rising in my chest.

What the hell was I supposed to do with a hot, shirtless skyscraper?

“Leidy?” He looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

Ricco let out a furious snarl, stepping between me and his buddy.

Daryl’s gaze dipped to the wolf. “Shit. One second.”

The door closed, and the wolf’s snarls cut off. He looked pissed though, as he stepped back beside me.

My heart was still pounding rapidly, awkwardness and stress raging.

Why the hell was I afraid of him? A hot guy was just a person, same as the rest of us. I did not understand my anxiety, but still couldn’t get the shit to leave me alone.

When the door opened again, wolf-Ricco stepped in front of me, his body between mine and Daryl’s. I wasn’t sure whether he was trying to keep me away from the other guy or was responding to my anxiety, but I was glad anyway.

“Hey, Leidy. Sorry about that. Anton’s usually the only one who knocks this late.” His expression was a bit sheepish. “What’s up?”

“Ricco has this massive stack of furniture that needs to be built, and I’m not buff enough to haul it up the stairs myself,” I admitted. “I was hoping you could come help me carry it up, but obviously you were just sleeping, so I can just go…” I bit my lip, awkwardly taking another step back.

“I’m already up, might as well help.” He shot me a quick, small smile.

Ricco growled at him.

I glanced down at the wolf, grimacing. “Sorry, I don’t know what his problem is. He didn’t growl at all until I tried to leave the house without pants on.”

Daryl chuckled, stepping out on the porch and shutting the door behind himself. “No need to apologize. His problem is that he’s a wolf.”

I shot him a confused frown as we started walking back to Ricco’s place, the wolf standing between us at all times and growling at Daryl whenever he got anywhere near me.

“They’re possessive. Well, we’re possessive. In general, werewolves as a whole are. If you tried to hug Jason, Astrid would have to fight the urge to claw your eyes out. The other day, Astrid threw something at Fred, and Eiry snarled at her even though they were all in human form.”

I snorted. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” Daryl wore an expression that was somewhere between a grin and a grimace.

A grin mace, I guess.

“Since Ricco’s hunting you right now, he’ll be really possessive. If you’d knocked on my door without pants on, he’d probably have attacked me, and Ricco’s one of the most laid-back guys in the pack.”

My eyebrows shot upward. “Damn.”

I did like the sound of being mated to one of the most laid-back guys in the pack, though. Laid-back, I could dig.

“Yeah. It’s a shits how if you’re coming from the human world, but it’s just life around here. Eiry and Astrid don’t have any hard feelings toward each other after their possessiveness dies down, and neither do us guys. We expect it; it’s natural.”

“Not for me.” We reached my porch, and I gestured Daryl in first, just so wolf-Ricco didn’t flip out about Daryl seeing my ass when I walked in before him.

I followed Daryl inside, feeling much more comfortable with the guy than I’d expected to.

“Damn. You fixed this place up fast,” Daryl whistled, his gaze sweeping the house.

“Eh, it really wasn’t that dirty to begin with. The dishes were really out of hand, but other than that, most of it was fine. The papers were assignments from his students, I think, and the clothes were mostly clean.”

“I wondered about that. I saw him hauling a couple of rolls of carpet in the other day,” he remarked.

“You think he changed his own carpet?” My eyebrows shot upward. “Why?

“Ricco’s pretty handy. His dad fixes and renovates houses for a living, so Ricco and his brother learned to do almost everything when it comes to that kind of thing. He mentioned that the nesting instincts have been driving him crazy, and it’s not hard to believe that changing the carpet out might have been part of it.”

My nose wrinkled as I closed the door behind us. “Nesting? Like a bird?”

“More like a pregnant lady.” Daryl flashed me a small grin, and we both ignored wolf-Ricco’s growl. I did scratch the poor guy behind his ears though, to make up for ignoring him.

“What?”

“When pregnant ladies are near their due dates, they get the urge to get their house ready for their baby. Werewolves have the same urge, but for their mate. That’s why everyone was pretty surprised to see Ricco’s place in such bad shape.”

“I guess that explains the tampons,” I told the wolf, who snorted and then nodded.

“Yep,” Daryl agreed. “Is this the furniture?” He gestured to the stack of boxes, remaining near the entryway until I nodded and waved him toward it.

“Go ahead. I can go ask Anton for help if it’s too heavy.”

“We’ll see,” Daryl grabbed the first box without a problem. “Which room do you want this in?”

The one on top was a nightstand; from what I’d seen when I checked it out, there were two identical full sets of furniture.

“Either one. Half the stuff will go in Ricco’s, half will go in mine,” I explained.

Daryl shot me a frown as he headed toward the stairs. “Ricco bought two separate sets of furniture?”