Page 106 of Ice Devil

“You are such a pain in the ass. Has anyone ever told you that?”

At least he grinned the way he used to. “My sister and all the time.”

“Well, everyone should!” I was a little too forceful, but he brought out the worst in me.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“No, that was harsh. Or maybe not harsh enough. I’m conflicted as hell about you. Where did you learn to play?”

“Self-taught and the feeling is mutual.” He pulled the guitar from his lap, putting it down beside him. “When I was a kid, all I listened to was Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, all the greats. If I wasn’t on the ice, I was begging my parents for a guitar. They didn’t have much money back then so the summer I turned fourteen, I asked my dad if I could make some money working at the sawmills. Be careful what you ask for. He put me to work for long hours. But that first paycheck, I purchased a secondhand guitar and the rest is history. Well, until Dad took it away since I started showing up late.”

He allowed me a slight toss of his gaze, which was surprising. “Your dad is a smart man keeping you in line.”

“Yeah, maybe so. My parents had a tough task with four rambunctious kids. All trying to figure out what being a shifter meant.”

There was no reason I tensed, but I did. Maybe because he was letting me in once again, something I thought wouldn’t happen a second time. “I bet. I can only imagine your household. A little wild and crazy.”

“Very colorful.”

I pulled my bent knees to my chest, folding my arms over them and resting my head while staring at the water. “It’s so beautiful here. Nothing like Chicago.”

“You live in the city?”

“Yep. In a nice but small apartment. Since I’m almost never there, I haven’t bothered to find a house. Maybe one day.”

“Big city girl, huh?”

“Actually, no. I grew up in a small lake town called Smith Mountain in Virginia. College pulled me away and then Chicago with the job offer. I always thought I’d land in a small town somewhere, but that’s not where my career took me.”

“Yeah, all I wanted was to get the hell out of this town.”

I turned my head toward him. “Why? I haven’t spent any time here, but from what I’ve seen, it’s just beautiful.”

“There are too many wolves.”

“Wolves or shifters?”

He leaned back on his hands, stretching out his long legs. “Both. The mountains and excessive timber were a draw for shifters generations ago. There’s plenty of protected areas for shifters and other wildlife to fun free. Supreme hunting grounds.”

“They still run around?”

He laughed. “Yep, especially the old timers. Don’t worry. Beautiful women aren’t on the menu. That I know of.”

I could tell the concept was almost painful for him. “Very funny. You didn’t want anything to do with your wolf. Right?”

“I thought I did when I was younger. I loved shifting. Once I learned the art of doing so, the freedom was explosive for a temperamental kid.” He pointed his finger at me. “Don’t say it. Yes, I was the temperamental one. I was also the nerd. But that’s another story.”

“Video game nerd?”

“A little, but scientific experiments that used to drive my mother crazy. She really wasn’t impressed with me when I burned her kitchen down with one of my crazier experiments.”

“You are kidding me?” I fought laughter.

He didn’t. “No, I’m not. My guitar held a permanent place in her closet for six full months.” His memories allowed him to keep smiling.

“What changed with not wanting to allow your wolf to run free?”

“The real world. Adulthood. When I learned just how difficult living amongst humans would be without controlling the urge, I weighed the choices I had in front of me. Being human opens many more doors than being a shifter. At least with hockey, and even with the bullshit tossed out about us cheating, shifters could excel. I could excel.”