No sex of any kind outside the pages of my favorite books, actually. If I drove into the college town nearby, I could find someone to hook up with, but I didn’t much like college guys. They were all about parties and other shit I’d pretended to like back in high school.
I finally tied my apron on and threw my long, slightly-wavy black hair up in a high-ponytail. Considering that I was Asian, some people didn’t believe the waves were natural, which was annoying as shit. They were natural; I didn’t like getting out and socializing enough for frequent salon visits, and perm solution reeked.
Grabbing the stuff I needed, I forced a happy expression onto my face and stepped out of the kitchen. My foot hadn’t even hit the ground when my face collided with a gigantic, muscular chest.
An “oof” escaped me as I lost my balance, but a set of hot, warm hands found my waist and steadied me before I could fall.
I recognized the smell of the guy who had caught me before I even looked up at him. An apologetic grin stretched my cheeks as I tilted my head back. “Thanks, Dax. I didn’t mean to—"
Our eyes collided, and I cut myself off.
His eyes were light blue—a gorgeous, soft, gentle light blue.
And then they shifted to red. The bright, glowing red of a wolf.
There was only one reason a werewolf’s eyes turned red like that when he was in his human form.
And that was when the wolf chose his soulmate.
Shock had my lips parting, my eyes widening, as he whispered in a low, gravelly voice, “Mate.”
Shit.
What was I supposed to say?
What was I supposed to do?
Panic and excitement clenched in my abdomen, and a massive crack broke through the air.
Shifting.
He was shifting forms.
Holy shit, his wolf was about to start hunting me. He would want me as his mate; he would want to bite me, to claim me, to turn me into one of them.
Holy shit, it was actually happening!
He shifted faster than I could remember ever seeing Lizzy shift before, and then his wolf’s back was to me. The wolf snarled at the people in the restaurant, and it occurred to me that my workplace wasn’t exactly a great location for a hunting wolf. I didn’t know a ton about them, but from what I did know, they were volatile. Protective and vicious, too.
“Everyone out!” A male voice called.
My gaze jerked toward the man, and I saw my best friend Lizzy’s mate, Elliot, jogging toward me. Dax’s wolf shouldn’t worry about him, I wouldn’t think. Elliot was mated, and raising a kid with the love of his life.
But then again, I had never been around a hunting wolf before, other than Lizzy’s. And Lizzy’s had been kind of a bitch.
Dax’s wolf snarled at the crowd again, louder. A few more growls echoed back, and my eyes trailed over a table of single werewolves.
The guys Dax had brought to meet me, probably.
More bones snapped around the restaurant, and I fought the urge to shrink backward, to hide, as I knew other guys were shifting.
Lizzy stepped up behind Elliot, and he pulled her close, protecting her.
“What do I do?” I asked her, my voice coming out a hell of a lot more shrill than I intended.
“Stick to the wolf’s tail,” Elliot said. He was a hell of a lot calmer than I was, apparently.
I scooted closer to Dax’s wolf, so his tail was against my half-apron.