CHAPTERTEN
Sara called Barbara as she drove home, using her car’s hands-free Bluetooth mode.
“How did your date go?” Barbara asked as soon as she answered. No, hello, how are you? Nothing like that. Just straight to the point.
Sara groaned.
“That bad?” Barbara asked.
“Girl. He lied about his age so he could hook up with older women and get respect and promotions easier at work.”
“You’re kidding!” Barbara sounded just as shocked as Sara had been when the words left Bryce’s mouth.
“I wish! It turned into a complete disaster. When I called him out on it, he stormed out of the restaurant.” The scene replayed in Sara’s mind, and yet, all she could do was laugh. It wasn’t like she’d formed a connection or bond or anything. Reluctantly, she added, “and that was after he accused me of being mated already.”
“He was a shifter?” Barbara asked before gasping. “Wait, why would he accuse you of being mated already?”
“Actually, that’s what I called to ask you about,” Sara sighed. “How does one shifter know if someone has already been claimed.”
“It’s a scent thing,” Barbara explained. “When a proper claiming takes place, something happens between the participants that inherently changes their natural scent.”
“So it’s basically like a dog peeing on a building?”
“That’s not exactly how I’d talk about it,” Barbara replied. “We usually talk about it in a more sacred and romantic way.”
Sara rubbed her temples, feeling a headache come on.
“Hon, why are you asking this?” Barbara asked though she sounded like she already had a good idea why.
“He bit me,” Sara said. “We had sex in the woods, and he bit me. Rhett, that is, not Bryce.”
Barbara was silent for a moment. Too silent.
“What?” Sara asked. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that you mated with a wolf yesterday and then went out with a different shifter today. That’s quite a complicated scenario. One that could end up with two pissed-off males fighting over you.”
“Why?” Sara couldn’t keep the annoyance out of her voice. “I didn’t ask to be mated. I shouldn’t have my life dictated by some action that some out-of-control wolf did while we had sex.”
With that, Barbara gasped. “You said he bit you. I didn’t realize you weren’t consulted beforehand.”
“Well, then you can appreciate why I have no desire to talk to Rhett.”
“Yes, I can.” After another beat of silence, Barbara added, “I am so sorry this has happened. I can’t imagine that type of decision being made for me. The whole point of a mating is for it to be a special bond between the couple where they both know what’s going on. Please call me whenever you need to talk, okay? I’m here to help.”
“I appreciate the offer. Okay, I’m just pulling into the driveway. I’m going to go so I can get this damn bra off. I can’t believe I got all dressed up for that little puke. Talk about a complete waste of make-up. Sheesh.”
The first thing she did when she walked through the door was yank the bra off from under her dress. “I’m not sad to see you go,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief. Quickly changing into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, she pulled her hair up and clicked on the TV … the house was far too quiet for her liking.
What now?
Two nights in a row dealing with infuriating men left Sara feeling a deep desire to do something in retaliation.
Grabbing her tablet and another glass of wine, she opened up the dating app and navigated to Bryce’s profile, looking for the ‘unlike’ button.
“There should be a dislike or strongly dislike button,” Sara muttered. “A way to downvote the fucker for all his lies and terrible attitude.”
Of course, there was nothing like that available to sate her desire for revenge.