He just didn’t get it. They were all human enough to just fuck and go. He never understood why Yates hadn’t. As much as some of them wanted to believe it, they weren’t full wolves. They were human too. They had the power of choice. He decided he wanted to be Alpha male. He decided he was going to buy this T-shirt. And he didn’t go around attacking every bitch in heat. In fact, he went out of his way to stay away from them. He didn’t want kids. He’d be more than happy to let the other Pack mates breed and then raise their little whelps to take over when he was too old or tired to hold the leash. But every wolf female he’d met wanted to breed their mate’s kid. So, he’d decided, any mate he chose would be fixed.

But really, in the end, what exactly was the purpose of marking someone as your mate forever? At least full humans had divorce.

Although, he never admit it, he’d never thought about mates or mating as much since he came to this fucking little town in the middle of nowhere. All because of her. And it really didn’t help that she wanted him. Boy, did she want him. He could practically hear her clit twitching from where he stood. But what pissed him off was that his dick kept getting hard every time he saw her. Every time he thought about her. What the hell was that anyway? Even just thinking about seeing her this morning, before he even stepped in to the bookstore, his dick was rock solid. That was just unacceptable. He didn’t want any woman to have that much control over him. Especially her.

She wasn’t anything like Zach expected. In fact, she wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met before. She was insane. Her and her friends. They were loud, rowdy, rude, and dangerously unstable. But they weren’t a bunch of sorority chicks either. They were smart. Genuinely smart. But they also cursed like sailors and laughed hysterically over the stupidest shit. He knew he couldn’t get attached to her. He wouldn’t. He just needed to turn her and go. He had plans to make and a Pack to protect. No time to get involved with some nutty girl whose grandmother had probably damaged her more than the Pride that had scarred her face and body.

The problem was it sometimes took years to turn someone. To get them to face their true selves. Years before they felt that surge of power, years before they could shift at will and hunt with the Pack. But, of course, that’s what Casey wanted. For him to be distracted by a girl that wouldn’t be comfortable with who she was for quite awhile. Twenty-eight years was a long time to be completely oblivious to who and what you really are.

Zach’s cell phone went off. He looked at the caller ID and sighed. Casey.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, Zach. It’s Casey.” Dumb bitch. She knew they all had caller ID.

“Yeah?”

“I need you to pick up Julie’s bike from the shop today.”

Yeah, of course she did.“Okay.”

“Great!” She hung up.

Zach shut his phone off. “Gotta pick up Julie’s bike. Wanna come?”

Before Conall could answer his cell phone went off. Conall looked at the caller ID, smiled, and answered. “This is Conall. Yeah. Okay.” He hung up. “Can’t.”

“That was Casey, wasn’t it?”

Conall shrugged. “Sorry, Zach. She wants me to help out at the site. For tonight.”

Zach sighed again, “Sure she does.”

Great. Now he had to go deal with Sara and that old wolf Marrec. Well, maybe Sara was on her own.

Alone with Sara. Yup. His dick just went hard again. He would have to do something about that. It was really starting to piss him off.

***

Sara took her and Marrec’s empty lunch containers and tossed them in the dumpster next to the shop.

“Is that you, Sara?” She heard Jake, from Jake’s Auto, yell over the 6 foot wall separating Marrec’s shop from his.

“Yup.”

“Randy’s coming over.”

“Randy. Randy. Randy.” She chanted in a high-pitched voice as a 100-pound red-nosed pit bull came around the corner. His leash and pinch collar were still attached, although Sara never had to use them. His tongue hanging out, he trotted over to her and waited for his daily hello.

As much as it hurt, Sara crouched low beside him, “Is this my Randy? Is this my good boy?” She rubbed her hands along his flank. He growled low and lay down on the concrete on his side. She continued to rub his thigh and back. “Who’s my pretty boy? Who’s my special guy?” Randy, as always, rolled over onto his back and Sara rubbed his belly, continuing to ignore the growing pain in her leg. She couldn’t disappoint Randy. “Who’s my good boy?”

“So, can I be next?” Sara gasped in surprise at Zach’s voice. But she needed to get that under control. She hated the show of weakness.

“Um…” Was all that came out before sweet, lovable Randy was up and charging straight at Zach, his teeth bared. Sara caught the leash and yanked Randy back. His jaws snapping shut just inches from Zach’s face. But Zach didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch. In fact, he stared at Randy as if unimpressed with the sight of the 100-pound dog trying to turn him into a midday meal.

Sara, still keeping a strong grip on the leash, turned her head to yell over the wall “Jake. I need you!” She heard a vicious snarl and when she turned back, Randy had backed off, tail between his legs and ran behind Sara.

She looked at Zach. He was still in the same position he had been in five seconds before. Leaning against the wall. Arms crossed in front of his chest. Looking completely unimpressed.