Page 24 of Shifter's Dream

Sex with him had been as good as she had known it would be, but not good enough to make her forget he’dbittenher.Don’t forget he came inside you. You let a stranger come inside you. This is what the rules protect you from, Re-Re, the ultimate walk of shame through the pharmacy for the morning-after pill, holding the two halves of your ripped shirt together.

What a mess, and she couldn’t go back to this Dairy Queen, maybe no Dairy Queens.

From the bed, Troy made a noise that sounded as much like a growl as it had the night before, then he raised his tan, muscular arms over his head and stretched, the growl elongating also, making her middle go all gooey.

Stop that!she snapped at herself, stuffing her legs into her pants, then looking around wildly for her bra. She found it under the desk in the corner and grabbed at it, thinking to herself that she needed to get a better look at his face. Hadn’t he been beat up yesterday? But now his face seemed smooth and unbroken, making him more handsome. She tore her eyes away from him, pissed that she found him sexier than ever, the morning after.

She felt Troy’s eyes on her.

“You can’t leave,” he said.

Reed went stiff. She turned to him, arms clutched over her breasts, forgetting what she’d been thinking. “Watch me,” she spit at him, getting madder by the second. He hadbither. He hadcome inside her!Sure, she hadn’t asked him to wear a condom, and she hadn’t specifically told him not to come inside her, and that was all on her, but seriously, wasn’t it a little on him, too? Didn’t they teach that in sex education? Never come inside a woman unless you ask her if it’s ok? If they didn’t, they should.

Reed pulled on her bra and fastened it behind her, noticing that he didn’t look away like he should have.No manners at all. Instead, his expression said he was weighing how best to get her clothes back off.

Reed put her hands on her hips and stared him down. “Have you ever heard that the difference between fetish and felony is prior consent?” He only stared at her. She threw her hands in the air. “But you’re a cop, right? So wink wink, you get to do whatever you please, includingbitepeople.” She put a hand to her shoulder, expecting to find broken skin, dried blood, a new scab, something. Instead, all that was there was nothing. She whirled, trying to see over her own shoulder, like a dog trying to catch its tail, but he didn’t give her time to examine it.

He scrambled out of bed quickly, pulling on his clothes as quickly as she was, but she had a head start. What she didn’t have was a shirt that wasn’t split down the middle. She jabbed her arms into her destroyed shirt, getting madder still.

Troy offered her his shirt. Sure enough, there werecanoes everywhere,just like Sage had said.Reed hated them. She took a moment to remind herself that she should have already seen them, but she’d been too busy dry humping him to notice.

Reed didn’t want to take the shirt, but she wasn’t going outside showing off her bra. She grabbed it out of his hands and pulled it on over her bra and ruined shirt, buttoning a few buttons, racing Troy. She found her purse and her shoes, and ran out the door while Troy was still shoving his feet in his boots.

Reed ran for the street, heading for her car, which she’d left in the Dairy Queen parking lot. She’d only gone a few steps before she heard Troy coming behind her.

“Hold up,” he called to her, his voice strained.

She whirled around. “Damn you and yourhold up!” she told him, face angry, hand held up like a crossing guard saying, “stop!”. “Just leave me alone. Don’t follow me and don’t look for me. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

His face crumpled in what looked to her like utter devastation completely inappropriate for the fact that they’d just met the night before. The muscles on his bare torso flexing invitingly.

Reed looked away. Reed ran away.

Troy didn’t follow.

16 – He Fucked Up

Troy stared at the spot where his female had last been. He stood there for a long time, shirtless, forlorn, having no idea what to do next, replaying her last words to him over and over again in his mind.

Stop! Don’t follow me. Don’t look for me. I don’t ever want to see you again,she had said.

Traffic on the street ebbed and flowed, the occasional honk pulling his attention. People walked by. A young boy stared and pointed at him. Troy stared at the sidewalk for a long time.

Finally, he walked to the spot and stood on it, scenting for her, but her scent was gone. He watched the traffic, then he sat down on the curb and called his brother inruhi.Ruhididn’t work well at a distance, except for a few exceptions, and being emotionally close to someone helped a lot. He and Trevor were closer than anyone, except for he and Trent.

Trevor, I think I fucked up, he said.

Where are you? I’ll come get you.

Troy watched people move in and out of the Dairy Queen across the street and gave his location.

I’ll be there in twenty.

Troy stared at a spot of oil on the street and questioned his wolf for the first time in his life. Did his wolfreallyknow what was best? Or should he start paying more attention to what everyone was telling him about silverware and writing and not following his every impulse. If he had made more of an attempt to change before now, would his female not have run from him? What were all the things he’d done wrong? How could he have stopped himself from doing them? Did his wolf really know best, now that he was a man?

After more of that line of thinking than Troy could stand, Trevor pulled up in a KSRT double-diesel truck, slipping it into neutral and revving the engine to get Troy’s attention.

Troy climbed in. Track was in a car seat in the back, waving his arms for Troy. “Hey, little buddy,” Troy said to him, listlessly, not looking at him. Track started crying immediately. “Oh man,” Troy said, climbing over the seat to get to him. He buckled himself in next to Track, kissed him once on the forehead, and nodded at Trevor. “Thanks,” he said. Track grabbed for him.

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