In a calm voice, she explained how she’d gone through exactly the same thing, only her situation had been ten times worse since she hadn’t known she was a Shifter and had to get used to sharing her body with a wolf. While she’d known Austin most of her life, he’d never spoken of his family because it would have opened the door for more questions. In fact, Lexi’s mom thought he might have come from an abused home, which is why she’d always asked him over. In any case, he had been Weston’s friend, not hers. She admitted she’d done the bathroom meltdown too, so that made me feel less crazy.
Each Shifter was born to one type of animal. Some lived together in packs, prides, or herds. Other animals, such as wildcats or hawks, preferred to live on their own terms. Wolves had a natural instinct to form packs, and each was led by an alpha male referred to as the Packmaster. Shifters had Councils comprised of different animals so there was no favoritism, and they worked to keep the peace. There weren’t just Shifters out there either. I didn’t know what to think when she started talking about the Mage her father had worked for and how they weren’t magicians but creatures who could harness energy. Then she confirmed Vampires were real and started going on about things I’d never heard of, such as Chitahs and Sensors. My head was spinning. Some lived extended life spans, while some Breeds were immortal. Lexi told me about the division that existed among all the Breeds because of wars that had happened in the past.
She divulged some personal details about their sex life that made me laugh. Shifters are seemingly normal until they go through the change in their late teens or early twenties. That’s the first time they shift into their animal. After that, their bodies acquire built-in immunity and they no longer carry or transmit human diseases. Their children can get sick and die, and she suspected it was nature’s way of controlling the population. Most female Shifters went into their heat cycle once every year or so, and that was the time their bodies were ready for conceiving a child. In fact, she said an unmated Packmaster’s duty was to make sure single women in the pack were kept away from the men during their heat cycle. In some cases, the alpha might help them out in ways that didn’t involve sex in order to speed things up and get them out of heat, but that’s something Austin didn’t know much about firsthand since he hadn’t grown up in a pack. Decisions like that always depended on the Packmaster.
Lexi empathized with the emotional roller coaster I was on, reassuring me that I had nothing to fear. She mentioned Jericho had been placed on punishment and was temporarily out of the house. With that being said, she had extended an invitation for dinner that evening.
But I had other plans.
Reno plans.
Her efforts were in vain, and after some prodding, it became evident that Reno hadn’t filled her in on his plans to take me out. Suddenly, for whatever reason, I became upset. Was he ashamed of me?
Two minutes before five, the brass bell on the main door jingled.
“Welcome to Sweet Treats,” I heard Bethany say in a bored voice.
I’d changed into a pair of faded denims with a hole in the knee and an oversized black shirt with quarter-length sleeves. He asked for casual, so I was giving him casual.
“Is April here?”
“Uh…” I heard Bethany stutter. “April?”
I peered around the corner and my inner voice did a meow.
Reno wore a black sleeveless shirt with a pair of black cargo pants. I took a moment to appreciate his firm biceps and his masculine stance because Reno was a man in every conceivable way. The kind of guy that made heads turn when he walked down the street. He looked like he’d just stepped away from fighting street crime, minus the gun holster. A sexy five-o’clock shadow dusted his jaw and his eyes were obscured behind mirrored aviator sunglasses. It had been cloudy all afternoon, so the shades made him look more like a cop.
Except when he was naked in my bed.
“Hi…” I greeted him shyly.
His predatory grin was so subtle I barely saw his lips move. “You ready, princess?”
I studied Bethany, who lingered behind the register, catching flies with her open mouth, which was full of braces. I’m sure Reno was nothing like the kind of man she’d imagined me with.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
He held the door open and we walked out onto the busy sidewalk. Reno stepped up to an oversized blue truck and opened the passenger door.
“Whose truck is this? Where’s your bike?”
“We’ll need the truck tonight,” he said, helping me inside the cab. “It smells like rain.”
After he buckled me up, Reno slammed the door. I held my breath and squeezed my seatbelt strap as he strolled around the front of the truck, deliberately tracing his finger along the hood. It reminded me of the courtship rituals of wild animals. I usually didn’t pay much attention to a man’s posture, but he stood up straight and walked with his shoulders back, like a man who owned his confidence. I liked that he wasn’t covered in tats, because I wasn’t really into body art. Reno hopped in, cranked on the engine, and a guitar riff blared through the speakers with AC/DC singing “Thunderstruck.”
“What happened to your face and hand?” I glanced at a small cut on his cheekbone and noticed the knuckles on his right hand were bruised.