We had once lived among humans, but religion and superstition came along and ruined everything. The humans figured out our weakness is Wolf’s Bane and from there, had almost wiped us out. With our numbers dwindling, shifters went into hiding in the early common era. We’re talking eons ago, triple digit years.
So, if a human in the nineteenth century had figured out what this woman was and how to kill her, there’s the possibility he passed this knowledge onto his kin, so on and so forth. Meaning, there could be a ‘werewolf’ hunter out there somewhere.
“I’d like to think that too. But either way we’d have heard more by now,” Stella added.
“Yeah. Again, it was all made up, so who knows if she even existed.”
“So, what happened with Fraser?” Isaac asked, taking a seat as well.
“He set up a meeting with two of the women from his pack. I’m going there tomorrow.” I rose to go to the kitchen. “Want a beer?”
“No. I’ll take a water though.”
“I’ll take one, thanks,” Isaac muttered as he returned to looking at his phone.
I placed their drinks and a bowl of chips on the table before taking a sip of my beer and settling back in my chair.
Isaac put down his phone and looked at me. “So, you’re going to meet up with the women tomorrow? What time? Maybe I can join.”
“Uh, that’s okay. I should do it on my own.” I was so not going to screw things up by bringing Isaac to Liam’s house.
“Yeah, I agree. Ember should go on her own,” Stella said as she gave me a conspiratorial wink, and I kicked her leg under the table. She grinned and asked, “So, you guys want to get something to eat?”
“Sure. Burgers at Mac’s?” Isaac asked with an eager look. He loved that place. Mostly because of the waitresses’ skimpy outfits, but they had great food too.
I wanted to say no to them because I really wanted to slip into my sweats and finish the container of ice cream in the freezer. I wanted to be alone. But looking at their adorable faces made me feel guilty.
“Um, if it’s okay with you guys, I’d rather chill here. I have some frozen pizzas.”
Stella clapped her hands together. “Yum, sounds good to me. Isaac?”
“Yeah, I’m good with that.” He glanced down at his work shirt and grimaced. “I’ll be right back.”
As he went out to his truck to change his shirt, I popped the pizzas in the oven and chatted with Stella as I made a quick salad. When Isaac came back, he was wearing one of his tank tops that did little to hide his body.
He surely was nice to look at. And I wanted to reach out and run my hand down his tight abdomen, but my stomach growled, reminding me to behave. We munched on the salad while we waited for the pizzas. When the oven timer finally dinged, Stella helped me slice up the pizzas.
“Dinner is served,” I said as I placed the food in the center of the dining table. As we ate, we reminisced and settled into comfortable conversation.
After we finished, Stella left because she had to get up early for work. Isaac and I settled on the couch to watch The Breakfast Club. It was one of my favorites. Mainly because the first time I saw it, I fell head over heels for Judd Nelson. I’m a sucker for a bad boy.
Isaac shifted and his leg brushed against mine. The material of his jeans was rough against my freshly shaved skin and sent tingles of pleasure through me. I shifted so there was space between us. I glanced at him to see if he noticed. If he had, I couldn’t tell.
When the movie ended, I felt awkward. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I sat there like a teenager on a first date, staring down at my hands.
My hormones were fighting with my brain. The horny side of me wanted to throw myself at Isaac and get it over with. My logical side knew it’d be a mistake, but also knew there was a chance I’d never find my mate and could be throwing away the chance to have a meaningful relationship.
Fuck, I thought as my hormones and brain started reasoning with each other. That was dangerous.
From what I’d heard, when you find your mate, you know it. Without question. You simply know. While it’s extremely rare for a shifter to never find their mate, it has happened. And as unique as I am, I’ve always been worried it may happen to me.
I’d dated a few guys in the past while trying to kill the time until I found ‘the one,’ but they’d never worked out. The first just wasn’t helpful, if you catch my drift. And he got pissed when I tried to guide him in the right direction. So, he didn’t last long.
The second turned out to be a real dick. Turned out he was just doing it to say he ‘fucked the cursed bitch.’ Those were his exact words. Really. We’d gone to Mac’s for a beer, and he stood on the bar to announce it to the entire restaurant. I’d handled it like a proper lady... I’d waited until after I’d finished my beer to kick the shit out of him. That’s superb self-control right there.
There were a few others, but they hadn’t worked out either. That’s when Isaac first proposed us getting together. We’d hooked up a few times—okay, a lot of times—when I was eighteen and he was twenty-seven. We had hoped to find out we were mates, but it had turned out just to be a lot of fun.
Then one day, he’d flirted with another shifter, and I’d gotten jealous. Right then and there was when I’d drawn the line in our relationship and set some ground rules to keep things platonic.