wanting, the longing to be with her, had filled his mind until he couldn't think of anything else but Billie. That she had gone through the same thing had shown him that they were truly mated. He had felt her soul reach out to his the first time they had made love. Being she wasn't a werewolf, and didn't know what that had meant, he hadn't known how their separation would affect Billie.
Plunking down on the bed beside him, Billie opened the menu. "All right. What would you like to have?"
"Whatever you want is fine with me."
"And if I were to say octopus and squid were my favorites, would you still be fine with that?"
From Billie's straight face, Royce couldn't be sure if she was joking or not. "You really like those things?"
Billie shook her head and then smacked him over the head with the menu. "No, they aren't my favorite food. I just said that to show you that saying whatever I wanted was fine with you may not necessarily be what you would like. So hurry up and pick something before I get so hungry I have to start eating you."
Royce smiled and flipped back the bed sheet. "Be my guest. As long as you start in the area of my hips, I'm game."
He watched as her eyes were drawn to his manhood. He all too clearly remembered what it had felt like to have her mouth on him, pleasuring him until he had felt as if he were ready to explode. In reaction, his blood began to surge, sending most of it to his groin. Much to his dismay, Billie gave his now fully erect cock one last look of longing before she pulled the sheet back over his hips.
"Food first. At the rate we're going I'll be lucky if I can walk tomorrow." She shoved the menu into his hands. "Now pick something already."
Turning his attention to the menu, Royce quickly picked out a couple items. As he watched Billie phone in their order, he was shocked by how much he had come to love her, and how badly he wanted her to love him. It scared him a little. It left him too exposed, able to be more easily hurt. If anything happened to Billie because he had taken her as his mate, Royce knew he would never be able to forgive himself. He wasn't yet ready to tell her exactly what he was, but he knew he would have to do it soon. The sooner he eased her into werewolf society the better. He had learned with his first mate that keeping Billie on the outskirts could be a fatal mistake. And it was one he didn't want to repeat.
* * * *
Outside in the parking lot of Billie's apartment, Gren sat in his car and watched as a male mortal walked into the building carrying a large bag of Chinese takeout. From where he sat, Gren easily saw him buzz up to one of the apartments. A few minutes later a woman came to the door, handed the delivery guy money and then took the bag of food. The woman was the one he had seen Royce with earlier.
He had started watching Royce the week before. After months of lying low, not wanting to draw unwanted attention upon himself, he had decided now was the time to act. To show the ones who held the most power that he was still a force to be reckoned with. And Royce was the key.
It had been the spell that he had spent years trying to find that had turned Roxie into a werewolf. She had been the first mortal it had actually worked on. That she had ended up being the werewolf from an ancient prophecy, he felt had had no bearing on its validity. He attributed it to the fact he had used Royce's blood and not his own. Royce was Roxie's grandfather, though many times removed. She was special, and as the sire of her bloodline, Royce's blood could have very well been what the spell had needed to work. To test his theory, he would need more of Royce's blood, which Gren knew the other man wouldn't agree to give him.
So he had decided he would follow the lone wolf and watch for an opportunity to arise where Royce would have no choice but to comply. He had to find Royce's weakness and use it against him. It had never occurred to