Bro and the Beast 2 (The Wolf's Mate, #2)

by L.C. Davis

He's giving me that look that says I'm the one being unreasonable again. Poor, long-suffering Raul.

"Oh, it's different all right," Brad mutters. "For one thing, there aren't any sanctimonious werewolves who turn you gay with their magical musk."

Omegas have the reputation for being the clingy ones, but I'm starting to think alphas are the real culprits.

"I'd be more than happy for the whole world to know," he says, reaching out to touch my cheek. Before I can whack his hand away, his touch does that annoying bone-melting thing it did to me last night. Son of a bitch, I hate this omega bullshit.

I don't like how much stronger than me he is physically, but that's nothing compared to the way he makes me feel. Like I'm an armadillo on its back and all my mushy insides are vulnerable and exposed. This feelings crap is bullshit. And the fact that it's not going anywhere even though my heat is over is freaking me the fuck out.

But the only thing you need to accept is that you're not going anywhere," he says, stroking his fingertips down the angle of my jaw. "If you were taken from me, there's nothing I would stop at to get you back, even if it means tearing this world apart. Or the next."

I have a bad feeling he's not just being dramatic about that. And if anyone could tear his way through the pages of a book and into reality, it's the man in front of me. The fire behind those golden eyes makes me wonder if he's not a bit feral to begin with.

The kid keeps staring at me like she's one of them creepy little ghosts in The Shining, and I'm suddenly reminded of why I was thinking about getting a vasectomy. Me and kids have never mixed. Hell, I didn't even like myself when I was a kid. They all seem to come in one of two varieties—the kind that're always shrieking like medieval peasants whose village is being raided by dragons, and they somehow manage to always be sticky, or they're the kind that stare at you like a tiny Victorian ghost in a well.

Not making that mistake again. The last time I read something, I got sucked in, and the last thing I need is to wind up inside a book within a book.

The corners of his mouth tilt up slightly. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were worried about me." I grimace. "You're the one who was just telling me our souls are bound together with cosmic superglue or whatever. What happens to me if you get nerfed?"

Raul smiles, and I loathe the butterflies it stirs up in my stomach even more than I loathe him. Time to chug an entire can of Raid.

I instinctively back up against the bookshelf, freezing when he puts his hands on my shoulders. My body melts in response to his touch. Maybe I will take those suppressants, after all. "I'm going to miss you," he says, his voice low and intimate. The rich tone of it feels like hot water cascading over me. "Is there any part of you that's going to miss me? Even a little?" I swallow hard, because there is one part of me that already misses him more than I want to admit, and if he steps any closer, he’s going to figure that out. "Nope," I lie. "Sorry, bro. But good luck with your, uh, wolf war and all that."

I mean, if I had a badass scar like that, I'd be unstoppable, but that shit is always wasted on emo villains and never guys who'd put it to good use.

“That’s why I’m so glad you’re here.” “Me?” I ask warily. “Why?” “Because for the first time in my life, I’m watching my brother follow his heart rather than just his head,” she answers. “Raul has been an adult ever since we were kids, but when he looks at you, I see a lovesick teenager.”

“Were you good while I was away?” “No,” she says unapologetically. “She was on surprisingly good behavior,” Hannah says, her arms folded as she approaches us with a smile. Mina rolls her eyes. “Tattletale.”

I feel for the guy, but it's not like I signed up for this gig! I didn't even know what a wolf shifter was until recently, and now I'm stuck in the middle of some furry Romeo and Juliet drama. And I’m the fucking Juliet in this equation, to top it all off.