I pretend to bepletely interested in my phone as I head back to my vehicle, but my attention is solely on my mate. I hear her yell ''Jeeves!'' to Grant. He''s never going to live that down. Then she has an animated conversation with everyone in her vehicle. The way her hands move and the yful expression in her eyes tell me she''s being a smart*ss, probably about me. But, I can''t stop the longing for her to turn some of that yfulness towards me. As I watch Greta hand Kennedy her backpack, the smile Kennedy gives her makes my wolf sigh and Greta gives me a quick ''I told you'' look. The warm sensation is short lived though when Kennedy raises her voice. "I understand the security protocol. It would just be nice to have it exined to me in more than half assed grunts." I catch her quiet thank you to Greta and herment about boys being stupid although it wasn''t meant for me to hear. Or maybe it was.


    I immediately opened my link to Danny. There''s no way she''s done with her rant based on the drive today. I have had her chittering in the back of my head the whole trip, thanks to my wolf wanting to listen to her voice and my team thinking I deserve the punishment as much or more than they do. My wolf actuallyughed at Josh''s annoyance with her. He also thinks it''s hrious that she calls Grant ''Jeeves.'' He will never go by his given name after today, but he''s being a good sport. She''s growing on him too.


    My thoughts zero in on the conversation when she calls Danny a man child and mentions me c*ckblocking him at my sister''s party. I didn''t realize she caught on to that situation. Maybe she''s more observant than I thought. I freeze getting into my seat when he mentions Ben''s having a thing for her and she doesn''t deny it or try to exin. My wolf''s irritation res and we see red at the mention of Ben''s hand on her waist when we arrived in Silver Crescent. I take a deep breath in and let it out slowly as I get in the car.


    "Knock it off!" I growl at my wolf. "She stayed away from both of them, if you recall. She left with us then and is with us now.""}


    "He should never have had intentions towards her in the first ce. He should have known better."


    "We have talked about this. She''s human. No one thought she would have a mate, and we can''t change her past."


    "She still should have waited." He grumbles.


    "For what?!" I don''t know why I am arguing about this. Wolves'' sense of duty is different from humans. It''s why we all test rtionships young, before our wolves show up. We don''t have the grumble of our wolves telling us it''s wrong.


    "To be absolutely sure she didn''t have a mate.''


    "You do know how unrealistic that thought is, right? She''s not a damsel waiting for her knight toe save her. She''s human. Just human. At least she doesn''t throw herself at us, like some of the power hungry she wolves. And for all her irritating traits, she isn''tzy and she doesn''t seem to want to take advantage of us. It''s an interesting change of pace."


    "You waited though." He isn''t going to let this go, and it''s stupid.


    "Debatable." My experience is limited, that''s for sure, but I''m no saint.


    "On the important stuff, though. You waited for your mate. Why couldn''t she?" Humans are different. They choose their life partners differently. I don''t know why he can''t get past that.


    "If you figure out a way to talk to her, you can ask her that question. You''re lucky she''s even here. She would be safer with Jeremiah and Rayna, as far from us as possible."


    "Asshole." Iugh, he can''t do a damn thing about it. The reality is, I would never leave her behind, no matter how much I believe it would keep her safe. It would hurt and weaken my wolf, which none of us could handle.


    Now, I just have to figure out how to handle her being here and so close all of the time. I may have to reject her and I don''t know what that will do to me or my wolf.