Page 14 of Wolves Always Bite

"Youknow no one will believe you if you say anything, right?"

Iactually laughed at that. "WhywouldIneed them to believe me?Ijust need them to want to suspend disbelief."

"What?"

"I'ma writer,"Ideclared.

Iwrote, soIwas a writer, damn it.Thepeople in my writing support group all agreed.Itwas the author bitIwas still working on.IfiguredI’dneed to have a book published beforeIcould claimIwas an author.

"Ican't pass up the opportunity to interview an authority on werewolves, canI?"

"Youdon't sound freaked out."

"ShouldIbe?"Itilted my head and studiedAdrian.Theguy was too good-looking to be scary—not that good-looking people couldn’t be scary.Ash’sex was a prime example of that.Butthere was something aboutAdrian’shazel eyes that put me at ease.Evenwhen he'd taken on that weird half-animal, half-human shape.Ihadn't seen more than the back of his head and a quick glimpse of his profile, but his back and shoulders?Thosehad been ripped.Isalivated thinking about the bulging muscles.Ibet they’d be rock hard under my hand.Mypalm itched as if anticipating the touch.

"Yeah.Idon't know.Ithought you might be."Adriansnuck a glance at me again. "Atleast you aren't throwing yourself from the truck."

"AndBabette?What’sshe?BecauseIdon't think savage green monkey creature is the right terminology."Animage of all her pointy teeth flashed through my head andIshuddered. “Isshe an alien?Sheis little and green, apparently…”

Heshook his head. "Goblin."

"Agoblin, seriously?Ifeel like the name doesn’t do her justice."Iwrinkled my nose, remembering the way she'd climbedAdrianby sticking her claws into his back.Andthe way her weird skinny arms and legs jutted out at strange angles as she moved; that was super creepy too, like that kid climbing out of theTVinTheRing.

"What?Awerewolf doesn't freak you out, but a goblin does?"

"Didyou see her?Whoevermade the term goblin mode into a trendy phrase totally got that wrong."

“Ihave no idea what you just said.”

Thatwas fine.Wehad more important things to talk about. "Andwhy was she different all of a sudden?Iwould have remembered if she looked like that before now."

"Magic."

"That'sa shitty explanation."Ihuffed.

“Mostsupes call it theEternalMagic, although some sayMotherMagic.”Heshrugged. “It’swhat makes us the way we are.Andit is what hides us from humans.”

I’drevisit that idea later, afterIhad time to think about it. "Whatdoessupestand for?”

“Supernaturalbeing.”

Okay.Thatmade sense. “Andthe horny motorhome dude, what is he?"

"Demon."

Igaped. "Ademon?Holycrap!"

"You'reimpressed by him too."Adrianrolled his eyes. "Youknow, there’s a lot of folklore about shapeshifters for a reason."

Laughtererupted from me beforeIcould stop it.WhenIfinally got it under control,IpattedAdrian’sarm… his nice strong and muscular forearm. "Yes, yes.Sorry.I'llremember to cower for the big bad wolf the next timeIsee you all wolfed out."

Agrunt was his only response.Oh, no.I’dalready driven him to grunting.

AsIsettled back in my seat to ponder everythingIknew, at least twelve dozen more questions popped into my head.Ididn't thinkAdrianwould appreciate being peppered with all one hundred and forty-four right away, soIprioritized my top dozen.Iturned in my seat to face him.Hmm, given the wayAdrianwas scowling, maybeIshould stick to six-ish.

"Ihave more questions."

Adrianhuffed out a breath.Whenhe didn't say no,Itook that as permission to start asking them.