Beauty Dates the Beast (31 page)

“When Beau changes, he’s not in pain. I watched him once. It wasn’t like yours.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. Jeez. I wanted to die of embarrassment. I’d had an ugly, messy transformation in front of everyone. Shifting was private. You didn’t talk about it, any more than you’d describe the last time you’d taken a leak. “Let’s just go, Bath. I want to hear what they’re saying.”

But when we returned to the rendezvous, all the deciding had already been done. Beau was smiling and the Anderson leader looked mollified. Only Ramsey continued to scowl. I approached slowly, holding my tattered shirt together.

“It’s been decided,” Beau said and beckoned me forward. Reluctantly, I went.

“Levi wants to help you,” Beau said. “They can teach you how to shift properly. And they want to make sure your mating to Ramsey is of your own choosing. So Connor Anderson is going to stay with you for the next month and teach you how to be a wolf.”

Levi—the alpha—nodded, and gestured for one of his wolves to move forward. Connor turned out to be the young, handsome wolf who had
brought out Savannah. I wondered what the story was there.

“And what does Levi get out of this?” my sister asked. “My sister doesn’t want to live with them. She wants to live with her mate.”

“Don’t want nothing but the well-being of my wolves,” Levi said. His arms crossed over his chest. “I’m the alpha and it’s my job to make sure my wolves are safe. All of ’em.”

“And in the meantime,” Beau added, “we’re going to discuss the possibility of the Anderson wolves joining the Alliance. A few have expressed interest in the Midnight Liaisons service, as their pack is looking for a few mates to add to their family.”

“Oh,” my sister said with pleased surprise. “That would be very good.”

Midnight Liaisons was the dating agency my sister and I owned, and it catered exclusively to paranormal clientele.

Seemed like everyone was getting something out of this deal but me. I looked over at Ramsey, whose mouth was still pressed into a tight line of disapproval.

“All right,” I said meekly.

Levi clapped me on the shoulder, nearly startling me out of my skin. “Looks like you get to have your Huggy Bear after all, girl. Why don’t
you go give him a big kiss and wipe that scowl off his face?”

Oh, jeez. It looked like the last thing Ramsey wanted right now was to kiss me. But I was terrified of losing the fragile peace, so I moved forward to Ramsey.

This time I didn’t have the courage to do more than give him a light kiss on the mouth. His lips didn’t part under mine.

Fantasy.
Temptation.
Adventure.

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