care of his duties, and the next time he saw Desiree, it was that night. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “You got me hauled in front of my alpha.”
Having glimpsed the teasing glint in her eye, he shrugged. “Our conflicting schedules weren’t good for romance.”
Desiree’s laugh wrapped around him. “Well, thanks to you, Mr. Smarty-Pants, we both have the night off and free. Want to go dancing?”
“Sure.” He’d take any excuse to hold her close. “Did Lucas say anything about us?” The DarkRiver alpha was just as attuned to his pack as Hawke was to SnowDancer.
“Just that if I planned to seduce you into DarkRiver, I had his full support.” A deep grin. “Your horticultural skills are in hot demand.”
Felix felt his skin heat, both at the compliment and at the idea of being seduced by this wild, beautiful cat. “Shall I change? For dancing?” He was wearing jeans, boots, and a white T-shirt, all clean, since he’d showered before meeting her, but well loved. Desiree, on the other hand, was wearing tight black jeans and a beautiful rust-colored top that skimmed her curves, her hair out of its braids and straightened to a slick shine. It was pretty but he liked the crackling wildness better.
“Are you kidding?” She nipped him on the jaw, a caress he’d not only become used to from her, but that he adored. “Those jeans cup your butt just right.”
He didn’t blush this time; he grinned. “You can bite it later.” When she laughed and kissed him again, he knew he was starting to learn how to deal with his cat.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he led her to the SUV he’d signed out of the pack’s fleet. “You want to drive?” Dominants were weird about being driven sometimes and Felix didn’t mind making this small accommodation.
“No,” Desiree said with a smile. “I feel like being chauffeured today.”
The drive was fun, easy.
“Look at the line outside Wild,” Desiree said, motioning at the club popular with younger packmates.
“It’s good to see them having fun again.” Both SnowDancer and DarkRiver packmates had stayed close to home in the weeks directly after the battle, everyone stunned at the violence and needing to be around pack.
“But,” he added, “I’m glad we’re not going in there.” He and Desiree were headed to a place that was more dinner and dancing, the music good but the volume low enough that conversation didn’t mean having to shout; he’d used the SUV’s built-in comm to call ahead and book them a table.
“Did you do the club thing when you were younger?”
He shrugged. “Now and then—I don’t really like being crushed in with too many people.”
“I know.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “You like the outdoors, open spaces.” Reaching over, she put her hand on his thigh, the possessive touch making his wolf’s fur rub against the inside of his skin. “I can’t believe you did modeling for as long as you did.”
“I missed home until it hurt,” he admitted, pulling into a parking space and closing his hand over hers. “Sometimes it felt as if I couldn’t breathe.” Squeezing her hand, he grinned. “I once turned wolf and ran through the Champ de Mars.”
Desiree hooted at the mention of the famous park in Paris. “You didn’t! What happened?”
“I nearly got arrested.” A grin. “But the cops couldn’t catch me.” Wolf huffing with laughter inside him, he said, “Hardest part was sneaking back into my apartment building. The next time I did something like that, I made sure to cache my clothes in a place I could access but that other people wouldn’t notice.”
“Wait.” Desiree turned in her seat, eyes yellow-green and glowing. “You did it again?”
“I spent time in a lot of cities,” he said in his defense. “Milan, New York, Sydney, Paris again. But I usually tried to find a park at least.” He laughed at the memories. “My favorite time was when a bunch of kids ran into me while I was a wolf and we played football until their moms noticed and freaked out, even though I was very well behaved and obviously changeling.”
“Well, city people probably aren’t used to seeing a great big wolf casually playing football.” Desiree was utterly delighted by his stories, asked him to tell her more as they walked to Amore, the restaurant where they planned to eat dinner, dance a little, just enjoy being with one another.
The more he shared, the deeper she fell.
He was telling her about another model