“Oh.” She heaved a deep sigh of relief. “There’s probably a bunch of paperwork if the cops are involved. Will you be done soon?”
“Um, yeah…about that. It’ll probably take a while longer, so you guys should just head to bed. I’ll be good. The sheriff is a really good guy, and he’s taking care of me, so I’m more than okay.”
“More than okay, huh?” Any trace of concern had disappeared from her tone as it turned teasing. “Is the sheriff sexy, and exactly how is he taking care of you? Give me all the details.”
Calliope shrieked something about me meeting a hot guy in the background, and judging by the smirk on Zeke’s face, he was able to hear everything my friends were saying. My cheeks filled with heat as I said, “I can’t really talk about it right now.”
“Oh, my gosh! Is he there with you right now?” Larissa cried. “Get off the phone, girl. You can tell us all about it when you come back. Just don’t have so much fun with him that you forget you have class tomorrow at eleven.”
The call disconnected, and I stared at my phone in shock. I hadn’t expected her to let it go so easily, especially since she knew I’d never dated anyone before. None of us had ever spent the night with someone, and it was kind of shocking she’d just assumed I wouldn’t be back tonight—let alone in time for my class in the morning.
Zeke wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest. “Your friends sound nice.”
“No, they sound crazy! I can’t believe she just assumed I was spending the night with you. I mean, maybe if she knew about shifters and fated mates, it might make sense. But she doesn’t.” I tilted my head back to stare into his eyes. “I’m guessing I can’t tell them?”
“No, I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “For now, you can’t say anything, but I’ll talk to my alpha after he gets the chance to meet you and maybe them too. He might give me permission if he decides they wouldn’t be a risk to our pack.”
“They love me too much to risk my safety,” I assured him. “My parents will be more difficult to handle. Keeping a secret from my mom is almost impossible. It’s a good thing I got a hold of Larissa before she called them. They would’ve hightailed it here, and that would be bad. Very, very bad. She would burn Stewart to the ground if it meant she could find me.”
He laced his fingers through mine. “Then I guess we’ll get along since we have that in common. Because I’d set the whole world on fire if that’s what it took to keep you safe.”
There he went with the swoony comments again, but I was skeptical. “Yeah, probably not. My mom is a lot to handle, especially when it comes to me. She takes helicopter parenting to a new level, and the chances are probably around ninety-nine percent that she’s not going to be a fan of yours since she’ll see our relationship as you taking her baby girl away from her. You need to be prepared for her to do something crazy,” I warned. “If she decides you aren’t what’s best for me, she’ll try to tear us apart.”
“Then I’ll just have to do my best to convince her I’m perfect for you.” He flashed me a cocky grin. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” I was shocked how easily my answer came out.
“Good, because I’ve got you, sweetheart.” He gave me a tight squeeze. “Get some sleep, and we’ll figure it out in the morning.”
8
Zeke
Waking up with my body wrapped around Allegra was the best start to a day I’d ever had, even with my balls feeling as though they were about to burst and my cock hard enough to hammer nails into a board. I’d spent the night dreaming about driving my dick inside her tight pussy, not that I was surprised since I’d been hard from the moment her strawberries and cream scent hit my nostrils. After spending thirty years never getting a hard on for another woman, I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to spend the rest of my days with one now that Allegra was in my life.
Her perfect ass was pressed against my dick, and the shirt she’d slept in had ridden up so her thin panties and my boxers were the only thing between us. I normally slept naked, but I’d kept them on when I’d stripped out of my jeans because I hadn’t wanted Allegra to wake up in the middle of the night and freak out over my nudity. She’d already taken everything I’d thrown at her in stride, but I didn’t want to push her too far too fast.