Page 40 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“I hope it’s a good different,” I replied.

“Oh, a million percent,” she smiled, and the other females nodded.

“I think Grace here looks the best, with her new glow,” I said, not liking the spotlight on me, and Grace beamed with unbridled joy.

“Don’t even, I’m so close to crying most of the time,” she sniffed happily. “I just can’t believe that I’m finally this far along.”

“Oh, you’re gonna be the best mom ever,” Charlotte sighed dreamily. “And you have me here as your personal midwife-in-training, so don’t you worry about a thing.”

“And you have me as your private nurse,” Mira added.

“Private chef, for all your cravings,” I raised my hand.

“Private doctor-in-training,” Lynn winked, and Grace started to cry in earnest.

“I love you so much, thank you so much for all your support,” she sobbed, and despite everything that went wrong last night, this was one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

Both I and my wolf felt like we truly belonged, like we were part of a community, like we had wolves in our corner, someone who cared about us. We both basked in the love and joy of that connection.

I was washing the pan I’d used to fry the salmon earlier when the front door opened. My wolf forced me to inhale his scent as deeply as I could, and she went belly up immediately. I heard Dominic enter the kitchen and stop abruptly, and I was suddenly seized by a wave of fury and sorrow so strong that I gasped. It immediately retreated. I felt Dominic’s heat at my back and his fingers in my hair.

He took hold of my shoulders and turned me around. My sudsy hands got his shirt wet. He stared at my face and my now shoulder-length hair, looking both angry and rueful, but that seemed like an odd combination. I met his gaze with an arched eyebrow.

“You cut your hair,” he said accusingly.

“I did.”

“Why?” my wolf heard the hurt and anger in her mate’s tone and she wanted to jump out of my skin and go comfort him.

I couldn’t blame her. Just a week ago, we were frolicking in the woods in our wolf forms, and Dominic’s wolf was the warmest, most playful creature on Earth. Hurting him was the last thing I wanted to do.

“No reason,” I shrugged, “had the same hair forever, thought it might be time for a change.”

“I see,” he said through his teeth.

“I got my aptitude results back,” I blurted out because this tension was making me sweat.

“And?”

“Dr. Vera says that either Art History or Early Childhood Education would be a good fit for me.”

“Which one would you prefer?” he was still staring at my hair.

“No idea, I don’t even know if I want to do it yet.”

“Take your time to decide, there’s no rush. We have our whole lives ahead of us,” he said, again in that weird tone.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said.

???

“Where is Dominic today? I haven’t seen him back at the office,” Florence asked as we waited for the main course.

“He’s driving Heather to her PT appointment, again,” I said and didn’t even try to keep the bitterness out of my voice this time.

The older females exchanged glances.

“I don’t know why he doesn’t send that female back to her home pack,” Florence frowned.

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