TWELVE
I sleptthrough most of the next few days, only waking up to pee and eat and talk to Evan a couple of times a day. Elliot was always in the room, sometimes working or watching a movie on his computer, other times in his wolf form, snuggled up with me. His human never snuggled with me—we were on the same page about that, surprisingly enough.
I did like his wolf, though. He was sweet and playful, much like Elliot himself.
The pack rotated through Evan-duty, and though I hated accepting their help, I was grateful for it, and made sure to thank all of them. Repeatedly.
The less tired I got, the hornier I became. That was shitty, but after two years and eight months of a man-free life, I could cope.
Mostly.
Okay, I was shitty at coping. But I was trying.
Elliot’s buddies dragged a second king-sized mattress into the room on the second day I was there, and he claimed it as his. I tried to protest, but he refused to budge.
His mattress smelled a hell of a lot like him, though, which was the real reason I wanted to swap. Laying in his bed, surrounded by his scent, while drowning in climax hormones made me feel crappy for not jumping his bones.
The sixth night after our wolves had traded bites, I stared up at the ceiling, my body too hot to let me fall asleep. I despised the horniness, but since I wasn’t willing to climb into Elliot’s bed, there was no way around it.
I rolled to my stomach, huffing a bit, trying to get comfortable, but it didn’t work.
“So what’s the plan, after you’ve rested up?” Elliot asked me, his voice quiet from his side of the room.
Guess he was just as horny and uncomfortable as I was.
“I don’t know,” I admitted with a sigh. “We go get my stuff, I guess. Hopefully I can get most of my classes back—I assume I can at least get the ones at the gym here in town. Sab called them, so they should understand. I hope. She called the others too, but I doubt they’ll be alright with me dropping off the face of the Earth.”
I let out an annoyed puff of air. “Couldn’t my wolf have just let me know a few weeks in advance that she was going to take over?”
Elliot chuckled. “It’d be nice if it worked that way.”
“Mmhm,” I agreed, rolling back to my back. I squeezed a pillow to my chest, trying to stop the horny anxiety in my chest.
Shit, the climax sucked.
“Do you want me to go back to work? I can stay with Ev, if you need me to,” Elliot offered.
“How much is rent every month?” I checked. “Total? We’ll split it, of course.”
There was a long pause. “I don’t want to split it, Liz,” Elliot finally said.
My eyes closed, and I let out a slow breath. “I’m not letting you pay for everything.”
“That’s fine. If we pool our bank accounts, we’ll pay everything together. Completely equally.”
I scowled at the ceiling. “You don’t want to do that. My bank account is a shitty place to be.”
“Those damn pediatric shakes are expensive,” Elliot agreed.
“No kidding. It’s fucking chocolate milk with some extra vitamins and shit, yet they charge two bucks a piece! Who the hell do they think they are?”
Elliot laughed.
“Sorry, I’ve been ragey about that for a whole damn year. I wish I could’ve breastfed, just to save the money.”
“Your rage is valid. The price on those things is a joke. You couldn’t breastfeed?” Elliot’s voice grew curious with that last question, but not judgmental.
I sighed up at the ceiling. “I mean, most people would probably disagree. But in my mind, no.”