“Shit, Dodge. This has got me all kinds of fucked up. I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry, man.”
Dodge waved his nearly transparent hand away as if brushing aside Colt’s apology. “Forget about me. That just goes to show I’m right. When I’m gone, when your brother’s with his mate again, w
ho’s gonna be there for you?”
“I’ve got the pack.”
“After your old man, you rule the pack. They ain’t pals. They’re lackeys.”
Colt stayed quiet.
Dodge… he wasn’t wrong. Until Maddox came back and took over the second-in-command role, that would be true. And, honestly, even when Colt stepped down, his wolf would still be more dominant than nearly every other packmate.
It was one of the reasons why he let Dodge stick around instead of exorcising the ghost years ago. He could be a friend, not an opponent.
Right now, though, Colt wasn’t feeling all that friendly toward him. Earlier in their conversation, Dodge had flippantly mentioned that, if Colt didn’t want the woman who got him hard, he could always find a different one to take care of his, ahem, big problem.
He’d made a comment like that once before, right after Maddox first stumbled upon his Evangeline in a park outside of Woodbridge. It was a good thing that Dodge was already a ghost. The look that Maddox had given him at that suggestion would’ve put a lesser man in the grave.
The ghost was teasing him just like he’d teased Mad way back when. Colt knew that. It didn’t help, though, that just the idea of anyone else reaching for his hard-on—anyone but Shea—had him engaging in a partial shift as his wolf battled for control.
“It’s not about that,” Colt finally said.
Dodge’s smirk returned. “‘Course not. It’s about you finally getting laid.”
“Shut it, alright? I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“That’s because you know I’m right,” Dodge said good-naturedly. “I was only messin’ with ya before. Now that you know who she is, you’re only gonna want that one dame. So why don’t you save yourself a monster case of blue balls and go back to her, huh?”
The worst part was that he wanted to. Alpha, he wanted to.
And that was precisely why he wasn’t stepping one paw off his territory until he could get himself back in line.
He ran his hand through his short hair, shaking his head. “No can do. Look, I can’t worry about this shit right now. My brother’s getting out of the Cage any minute now. He might even be out already and on his way. I promised I’d help him.” Colt promised because he owed him. “That comes first. Everything else can wait.”
He couldn’t even be mad when Dodge let out a disbelieving snort. If Colt managed to pull that off, he might be the first alpha wolf shifter ever to put off going after his mate once he found her.
The ghost wasn’t about to give up yet.
“C’mon. Mad Dog’s gotta understand. We saw the crap he went through with his mate. Whiskey and Def Leppard,” he reminded Colt. Because of course Dodge remembered that hell. Dodge had perfect recall; he remembered every embarrassing thing that had ever happened to either Wolfe brother. “You even told me what it’s been like since you discovered she’s still one of you’se. You know, still livin’ and all. He’ll let you out of helpin’ him so you can get your gal. No doubt.”
He would. Colt knew he would. He’d be happy for Colt. But that was the thing: Maddox had wanted a mate his whole life. And Colt?
He spent twenty-six years swearing he’d be happy if he never happened on his.
If she was a wolf, it might’ve been all right. If she was a wolf and his mate, then that meant he was her mate, too. Humans… they didn’t have to wait for their fated mate before they could be intimate with a partner. The biological quirk that insisted a male shifter couldn’t mate and create pups until he met his fated mate made it impossible for Colt to be anything but a virgin.
If she wasn’t, he could live with that. Everyone had a past—she was human, a grown female, and he doubted that she was still as untouched and inexperienced as he was. But now that he knew she was out there… that she existed… that she was his—
The idea of her with another male made his claws unsheathe violently.
At that moment, he couldn’t do anything to change that she was out there, but she wasn’t his. How could she be? The second he got hard, he got spooked, and then he ran out of her shop on a broken ankle.
Despite Dodge’s prodding otherwise, he couldn’t mate her. Couldn’t fuck her. Couldn’t claim her.
Not… not yet.
Didn’t mean she might not have a date tonight with some other man, though. That Hudson guy, maybe? Bastard couldn’t even show up to help her with her dresser, but he’d probably be warming her bed tonight, right?