“I'll let you know if I think of someone,” Adele says coolly.
Rafe holds her gaze a moment then lifts his chin. He murmurs in his deep voice, “You do that.”
Adele sniffs and turns her back to the Alpha.
“We were just toasting Sadie,” Tabitha explains to Lance and Channing. Lance keeps shooting looks at Charlie, but she seems to be ignoring him. Which is interesting.
“Why?” Channing asks. “Is she preggers already?” He raises his eyebrows and pretends to inspect my stomach.
Adele chokes on her wine.
“No,” I answer. “You goof.” I know Channing’s just joking, but the thought of a baby with Deke makes me so happy. My ovaries are ready. I snuggle closer to Deke, who squeezes my shoulders. “We were celebrating me finally growing a backbone and standing up to my father.”
“You always had a backbone. Your dad and Scott just never respected it,” Adele says.
A growl rumbles in Deke’s chest at the mention of Scott’s name. I lay a hand on his pec.
“Yeah, whatever happened to Scott?” Charlie asks.
Tabitha shrugs. “He’s gone. Last I heard, he moved to Florida. Probably to put up beachfront condos.”
“Good riddance,” Adele mutters.
“Let’s get out of here,” Deke murmurs to me. His tongue touches the edge of my ear, followed by a tiny nip of his teeth. I jump.
“Deke and I are just going to...uh...get some air,” I say and steer him to the door to the large deck outside.
“You kids have fun,” Tabitha calls.
Behind me, I hear Adele growl under her breath, “If he isn’t good to her, I swear they will never find his body.”
“I’ll vouch for him,” Rafe’s voice rumbles in reply. I turn to see Adele narrow her eyes at Rafe before I duck outside with Deke.
“What's going on between those two?” I ask Deke as we head to the deck railing. Above the sky is midnight blue, the Milky Way spilling starlight in a glistening veil over the dark shapes of the mountains.
“Which two?” Deke asks.
I frown, rubbing my hands together in the cold. “Adele and Rafe. Who did you think?” The sight of Charlie carefully ignoring Lance flashes through my head.
“No one,” Deke answers so blandly I know he’s noticed something between Charlie and Lance too. “But Adele came to the lodge and confronted Rafe. She told him if he didn’t get me and the rest of the guys into therapy, she would personally slit our throats.”
“Oh.” That sounds like Adele, actually. Momma bear. “I didn’t tell her about… you know.” The werewolf thing. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“I know, baby. I don't think you’ll have to keep it a secret from her much longer.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He pops my collar, tucking it tighter around my face before wrapping me in his arms, his heat. “Rafe’s been sniffing around Adele. And not just because something’s up with her business.”
My forehead creases. I want to ask what’s going on with her business, but it’s really none of mine. I make a mental note to ask Adele myself. “Do you think she’s his mate?”
“Don’t know. Rafe doesn’t think he deserves a mate. None of us did. You were unexpected. A gift.”
“Deke,” I whisper. My heart is so full right now, it’s as big as the moon, spilling its light over the world.
Deke lifts me onto the railing, holding me close as he dips his head near to mine. “I'll have to warn him about the worst thing about dating a human.”
“What's that?” My head is swimming with his scent.
“Shapewear,” he says against my mouth, and I giggle as we kiss and keep each other warm under the frosty sky.
Epilogue
Sadie
No one gives head like a werewolf. My throat is hoarse from screaming when I roll over to answer my buzzing phone. My mate keeps me more satisfied than I could have ever imagined. He put a ring on my finger, too. Even though the mating bite is all that matters to wolves, he understands that humans have their own traditions. I told him it didn’t matter to me, but Deke insisted I get everything I dreamed of.
He reaches past me to snatch up my phone, immediately alert.
“It’s Charlie.” He hands it to me.
“Hello?” I rasp, swallowing a few times.
“Sadie?”
I climb out of bed. “Charlie—how have you been, girl? I haven’t seen you around.”
“I’ve been...busy. But—”
“Are you crying?”
“What? No. Of course not.”
“You don’t sound okay.”
“Yeah, I need to talk,” Charlie chokes.
“Okay.”
“I have a teeny tiny problem. You know Deke’s friend—the hot blond one?”
“You mean Lance?” I wrinkle my nose. I suppose Lance is hot, but I don’t think of him that way.
“The one who looks like he could front a boy band,” Charlie says drily.
“He’s a bit more buff than that.”
“Okay, then, a Baywatch remake.”
“I’ll give you that. Lance does have a surfer-dude vibe going on. What about him?”
“We might have hooked up.”
“Oh. Oh my. You and him?”