Gren the very thing he sought would present itself so quickly, or so easily.
Having watched the passionate kiss that Royce and the woman had shared in the parking lot earlier, Gren knew the lone wolf had once again found himself a mate. He knew what had happened to Royce's first mate. Royce had left his mortal mate unprotected, and in his absence, the local villagers had burned her to death for practicing what they thought was witchcraft. Her death had Royce stepping down as leader of his pack and going lone wolf, taking his infant daughter with him into hiding.
Now, once again, Royce had a weakness Gren could exploit. He had seen enough for today. Starting his car, he pulled out of the parking lot. He would return in the morning and see where Royce's mate went during the day.
Chapter Nine
Billie placed the bag of Chinese food down on the kitchen table. The delicious smells coming out of it made her mouth water and her stomach rumble. She set two places at the table and pulled out the containers of hot food. Impatiently, she started to tap her fingers on the table top. Royce had been in the bathroom when she had come back upstairs with the Chinese. She hoped he wouldn't be much longer, but she knew men could take forever in the bathroom at times. She couldn't understand why people always said women hogged the bathroom more than men. From her experience living with her father and brothers, Billie knew it was the men who liked to take their time.
Figuring she had waited long enough, Billie started filling her plate with food. "If you don't get out here soon the food will be cold," she called out to Royce.
She looked up when he stepped out of the bathroom. He wore only his jeans. His hair was damp in places where he had obviously used water to fix the spots where she had tunneled her fingers through it earlier.
He eyed the mound of food she had put on her plate. "Are you sure you have enough there?" he asked with a hint of laughter in his voice.
Billie looked down at her plate, then back up at Royce. She shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, I like to eat. I work out enough I can get away with eating whatever I want and as much of it as I want."
"I can attest to that. You are by no means fat, and you aren't one of those stick thin women who starves themselves either. You're solidly built." Royce blinked when a chicken ball smacked him in the middle of the forehead. "What was that for?"
"Solidly built? Just what every woman wants to hear from the man she's sleeping with."
"Well, you are." A second chicken ball sailed across the table. This time it hit him square in the chest and bounced into his lap. Royce picked it up and put it on his plate. "I meant it in a good way, Billie. There's nothing worse than holding a woman in your arms, having to handle her as if she were glass because you're afraid if you hold her too tightly she'll shatter."
"Okay, I can see your reasoning, but can't you think of better way to describe it? Solidly built makes me think of pickup trucks that are used at construction sites. I know I'm not the most feminine woman on the planet, but I'm not that bad."
Royce made a show of studying her before he said anything else. "All right. How about sleek and strong? Like a leopard or some other large cat."
"Or a wolf." Much to Billie's surprise, all the humor left Royce's face and he went very still. "What? A wolf is strong, and it's built for running. I know I envy wolves being able to run wild in the forests. It must be an exhilarating feeling."
"It is exhilarating," Royce said quietly.
He had spoken so softly Billie was sure she had heard him wrong. "What did you say?"
"I said yes, it would be." Royce then seemed to come out of whatever had come over him. He motioned to her plate. "Eat up, or I'm going to think your eyes are bigger than your stomach."
Billie watched as Royce somehow managed to dish up twice the amount of food she had onto his plate. He then proceeded to put a remarkable dent into it in a short amount of time. She shook her head. She had a feeling with Royce around