I had two long-distance friends who would cry if I died—and literally no one else except my dad. He would probably be cursing my name for dying before he gothismoney from the alpha after we were mated.
So yeah.
I could do worse than dying.
“Where is he, anyway? You turned twenty-three a few days ago, didn’t you? I thought that was when you’d get mated,” Bo said. He was twenty-five. Him and Artie were only a few days apart, but their birthdays were a couple months before mine.
The fact that he remembered my birthday was a huge surprise, because I couldn’t remember him ever acknowledging it.
“I talked him into delaying the wedding a few more weeks,” I lied.
Bo lifted an eyebrow at me. “He never struck me as the kind of man who would negotiate with his unwilling bride.”
“Well, he did. So I’m getting out of dodge.”
Bo blinked. “You’re running away?”
“Yup.” I finished my strip of bacon. “Unless he finds me here before I can. Which is why you should help me open the window.”
“I told you, I’m not helping you risk your life.”
“Your reasoning was stupid, so I was hoping you’d already changed your mind.”
He flashed me a dead-panned look and finished his strip of bacon. “No.”
“Of all people, I would think you’d understand, Ambrose. You’re not the only one who isn’t interested in an arranged marriage.”
“That’s different.” He looked back at the stove, cracking a few more eggs.
“It’s literally the same.”
“The girl the clan wanted me to mate with was a broke human who needed money and was obsessed with shifters. They expected me to knock her up and leave her to raise the cub alone. Your alpha will undoubtedly be a doting mate who will make sure you want for nothing.”
I scoffed. “The last thing that bastard will ever be isdoting. He’s a proud, entitled asshole. He doesn’t give a shit about who I am—all he cares about is what I shift into.”
“Plenty of shifter breeds value a mate bond with a female who’s like them.”
“Fuck off.” I took two more strips of bacon and strode over to the window.
I needed to get out of there. Fast. Before I gave into the urge to try to strangle the jerk making breakfast. And ended up pinned beneath his stupidly large body, because there wasn’t a chance in hell I could take him down.
I held the bacon between my teeth as I wrestled with the window. The snow wasn’tthathigh, so there was no reason it wouldn’t open. The thing had to be glued shut or something.
“You could at least put some clothes on if you’re going to fuck a window in front of me,” Bo drawled.
I froze.
Looking down at myself, I swore silently.
Yeah, I was still just wearing my bralette and shorts. Things had definitely gotten bouncy.
I pulled the bacon strips from between my teeth and casually looked back at the glass pane I’d been wrestling, as if my heart wasn’t beating like a freight train. “If I want to screw a window, you should be able to avert your eyes. We both know you’ve never been attracted to me, so I don’t see why it would bother you anyway.”
“How the fuck would we both know that?”
“You had sex with random girls in my bathroom while you knew I was sitting in my room, Ambrose. When I was fourteen. And fifteen. And sixteen. And seventeen. I had ears, not that you noticed. I don’t think you’ve ever even looked at me the way most men look at women, and I’ve seen your type. Short. Thick. Curvy.Human. None of which apply to me.”
Being a female shifter meant being naturally strong and athletic, which I wasn’t complaining about. But it didn’t come with much as far as boobs and an ass went, at least for me.
