Two

ALICIA

“So, any men in your life lately?” Kayla asks me later at the bar.

I laugh. She’s as predictable as the sunrise. Kay always wants to talk about men. Who we’re dating, who we’re fucking, who we’re admiring from afar—she’s been like this since we were teenagers.

“Human men aren’t much to write home about,” I tell her.

“So you’ve said,” she says. “What happened with that one you were seeing? What was his name?”

“You mean Pete?”

“Sure. Probably.”

“I dumped him,” I say.

“Oh no.” She makes a sympathetic face. “What was wrong with him?”

“Oh, nothing. He was just boring. He was the sex-on- Saturday-night type.”

“What’s wrong with Saturday night?”

I realize the misunderstanding and laugh. Pack life really is different from life in the human world. “I meant only Saturday night.”

“What? That’s insane.”

“It’s not insane. It’s just human. They love routines and habits. They’re not as capable of wildness. Especially as they get older.”

“I don’t know why you would choose that over a shifter mate,” she said.

“Excuse me, have you got a mate?”

“No, but I’m not dating human men either.” My sister is terminally single. Sometimes I think she’d rather jump off a cliff than settle down with anyone.

“I’m not dating any human men at the moment either,” I point out.

“Yeah, but the next guy you date will be one.”

“True.”

“I don’t know why you didn’t just let Dad set you up with Brandon.”

I sigh. The one person I can usually count on to be on my side, and she’s doing this.

“Yes, you do.”

“No,” she says. “I know why you didn’t want to stay on pack lands and let Deidre tell you you were rotten and spoiled and have Lonnie needling you all the time. I know why you wanted to give the human world a try. But did you even ask Brandon if he’d be willing to live away from the pack?”

“Are you kidding?” I ask. “Brandon loves the pack.”

I have trouble fitting in in the human world. It’s too tame for me. But for someone like Brandon, it would have been downright impossible. He was always running around the pack territory in his wolf form when we were young, always causing mayhem. And when he wasn’t doing that, he was spending his nights at this bar, shooting pool and drinking beer and laughing boisterously at everyone’s jokes. He made money fast and lost it just as quickly, betting on games or buying drinks for everyone around him, and in all my life I never saw him back down from a fight.

The idea of Brandon taking a desk job somewhere— pushing papers nine to five, coming home in a four-door sedan, and having a quiet dinner at my dining room table— it’s insane. It’s like picturing a flying cow, or Lonnie saying something nice to somebody. Impossible.

“He’s different from the guy you remember,” Kay says. “He’s relaxed a lot.”

“I mean, he’s still Brandon, though, right?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, he still likes to have fun. He’s still not one to back down from a challenge. But I’m telling you, he’s different. He’s grown up.”

“Not enough for the human world,” I say.

“And besides, he’s hot as hell.”

“Why don’t you go sleep with Brandon if you like him so much?”

She grins. “I’m spoken for at the moment.”

“Don’t tell me you’re in a relationship.”

“Oh, fuck, no, nothing like that.” She shudders comically. “No, it’s strictly pleasure.”

“Who?”

“Do you remember Alistair?”

I think back. “Are you talking about that kid who was like five years younger than me?”

“Well, first of all, he’s five years younger than me, not you. But yes, that’s who I mean.”

“He’s a child!”

She laughs. “He’s thirty-nine! He’s middle-aged!” “Well, the last time I saw him he was a teenager.”

“Trust me, he is all grown up now,” Kay says with a wide grin. “One hundred percent man.”

“What is it with you and younger men?”

“Hey, don’t come for my taste. I like what I like. You like human men.”

“Not really,” I say, laughing. “They’re just what’s available to me.”

“You could date a shifter.”

“Shifters are hard to come by when you’re living as a human,” I tell her wryly. “I haven’t even met one since I left the pack.”

“That you know of.”

“You don’t think I would be able to tell? I can smell a shifter a mile off.”

“You did always have the best sense of smell in the family,” Kay said. “And you’re good looking too. You probably could have been mated to anyone you wanted, Alicia. You could have rejected Dad’s pick for you and still found someone else. Someone who would have been willing to leave the pack with you.”

“I don’t think anyone would have,” I say. “Has anyone left the pack since I did?”

“Well, no,” she admits. “You know how rare it is. But you could have motivated someone to leave. I could see a guy starting a new life in order to be with you.”

“For a woman who doesn’t want a relationship, you’ve got a lot of relationship advice,” I tell her.

“But you do want a relationship,” she says.

“And you’re my little sister, and you’re newly single. Of course I’m going to try to help you.”

She drains her beer and signals the bartender with two fingers.

“I’m not having another one after this,” I tell her. I’m on my third already.

“Who said one of them was for you?” She grins. The door opens behind her and a man walks in.

He’s about my age, tall and burly, with thick, curly brown hair and a full beard that he didn’t have the last time I saw him. But I recognize him right away anyway. I’d recognize him anywhere. And I feel as if I’ve missed a step going downward. Even though it’s been ages, even though I’m committed to the idea that I’m over this guy and that he means nothing to me anymore, being in his presence still has an affect on me. I feel almost nauseous. How could I not, seeing him again?

Brandon.

“On second thought,” I say, “I think I’ll take that beer.”