Micah nodded, then looked to Jacee. “You all right, ma’am?”
She smiled. “My mother was ‘ma’am.’ I’m just Jacee. But yeah, I’ll do.”
He smiled back, and even the way the scars pulled at that side of his face didn’t affect how handsome he was to her. “Your arm is bleeding.”
“It is?” Holding up her right arm, she finally noticed the cut on top of her forearm. It was a couple of inches long, and the bleeding was already slowing, thanks to her shifter healing. By tomorrow it would be a pink scar, but she’d have to keep a bandage on it for the rest of the week so as not to arouse suspicion. “Crap.”
Jack cursed. “Let’s get you inside, wash that out, and get a bandage on it.” Without waiting for an answer, he strode back inside.
Micah wanted to help. He didn’t have to say anything, but she could sense his anxiety, his reluctance to let her go. She gave him another smile. “Thanks for the rescue. Grant’s an ass.”
“He shouldn’t be a problem again. If he is, let me know.”
“I appreciate it, but Grant’s not your problem.”
“He is now,” Micah said in a low voice, stepping closer. His scent drifted to her nose again, wrapping around her like a warm blanket.
His nearness was heady, intoxicating. What the hell was going on?
“Why do you say that?” she asked, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice.
“Don’t you feel something? God, you smell so good, like cherries and almonds.”
“So do you,” she murmured, “but like pine and rain.”
Tentatively, he brushed a hand down her uninjured arm. “I know what you are.”
That gave her a jolt, and she snapped her gaze up to his. “How?”
“Tonight, I finally scented you. My wolf knows, and don’t tell me you didn’t already know what I am. What my friends are, too.”
She paused, then admitted, “Okay. I knew about you all. More than you realize.”
He nodded. “I think I know what’s happening between us, too. Don’t you?”
“I . . . I’m not sure.” But she was avoiding the subject, and they both knew
it.
He didn’t push further on that particular point, but the knowledge was in his kind brown eyes, the tilt of his smile. His face didn’t seem as sad as it had earlier tonight, and she wasn’t ready to examine why too closely.
“Okay,” he said softly. “I’d like to see you again. I want to get to know you.”
She blew out a breath and looked away from his arresting gaze. It was so hard to think with his scent and warmth enveloping her, calling to every cell in her body that was both female and shifter.
“A wolf and a coyote?”
“Why not?” he said.
“I doubt your friends will be thrilled.”
“They’re more than just my friends, they’re my Alpha Pack brothers. But they don’t get a vote.”
“You say that now, but you might feel differently later.” Right then, she knew she should come clean about her prior relationship with Jax. But she thought of the sadness she’d seen in his expression earlier and couldn’t do it. On a primal level, she knew Micah was important to her, and she wasn’t going to risk messing things up so soon.
No, she’d tell him in the future, when they knew each other better. Not yet.
“Come on, let’s get that arm looked after.”