Page 29 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

It wasn’t like I was going to tell them I’d decided to go to therapy. After living a lot of my life as the fixer and doer, it was nice to have some things that were for myself.

“Don’t worry, fratellino, you’re the best backup a girl could ask for,” I said before trying to put the earring in again. This time I got it through the hole with no problem. Piercing your ears was an entire process for shifters if it wasn’t done early enough in life. If someone could already shift, it involved a silver wound and fire. Unfortunately mine were a bit crooked because they’d been done in a rush after I got my period a year earlier than my sisters had.

“You mean that?” he asked.

Goodness, he really was the sweetest.

“Of course I do.”

A satisfied grin broke out over his face. “Good. So now confirm for me the phone number and address of the restaurant you’re going to and your itinerary for the night.”

“You sneaky little…” I declared, throwing my pillow at him. But he dodged and cackled like the little brother that he was.

“Fine, fine, I’ll copy-paste the text. But I do want you to confirm the code word you’re gonna text me in case there is an emergency and you need backup.”

I had no idea what kind of emergency a human man could give me—especially such a sweet man like Keith—since I could shift into a wolf that was nearly five foot tall on all four legs and could bite his head off, but I wasn’t going to begrudge my brother if it put his mind at ease.

Besides, it was nice to be cared for. Why would I discourage Rolando from doing that? I still owed him for opening my eyes to how I needed to be proactive about my own life and desires.

“Fettuccine.”

“Awesome. And you don’t think he’ll guess that? You know, because we’re Italian?”

“Actually, I’m not sure if he even knows that I’m Italian. It hasn’t really come up.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean it hasn’t come up?”

“I mean literally that. It hasn’t come up! He asked me out after our second class, and we’ve only had one more since then.”

He had wanted to get together that weekend, but unfortunately, our monthly pack run during the full moon coincided with that, so I’d arranged for the weekend after instead. I was taking steps to carve out my own destiny outside of helping my family, but there were some things I wasn’t going to miss out on, and pack runs were one of them.

“Let me get this straight, you are going out with your teacher who doesn’t know you’re a wolf, doesn’t know anything about your family, and doesn’t know you’re Italian? What’s there even left to know?”

I got why Rolando would be baffled at my choices, and it was a sharp reminder that ultimately the whole thing was futile because Keith was human.

“I’ll have you know that he actually seems quite fond of my personality. And my curiosity! He likes the questions I ask and he laughs at my jokes.” I didn’t add that he seemed to have a trade-related fondness for how strongly I handled the wood, because that sounded way too much like an innuendo. I hoped eventually the double entendre would wear off in my mind, as I was a grown woman, but I wasn’t there yet.

“I’m sorry, Liv, I didn’t mean it that way. I just... This is all really new. And I’m proud of you, but it’s new.”

I nodded. It was new. And terrifying. And exciting. And although I knew ultimately nothing could come from it because of our differences, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy the journey.

“I know, I do. And I just want⁠—”

A knock at the door interrupted me, and a beat later, Massimo’s voice permeated the thick wood. He really had to project to get through the soundproofing in the bedroom, so even before I heard his full first word, I was already gritting my teeth.

“Hey, Oliviaaaa,” he chorused, really drawing my name out. I had a theory that the more syllables and vowels one of my relatives put into my name, the more annoying the task they were about to ask me to help with was. “I’m having trouble uploading my new technical videos to my website. I keep getting these errors that I don’t understand. Could you take a look at it?”

Rolando and I exchanged looks. Logically, I could say no, but we knew it wouldn’t be that simple.

Thankfully, Rolando was my superhero, because he turned the music on his phone up and motioned me to the window.

I stared at him dubiously for a bit longer than it should have taken me to get it, but when I did, I had to wrap the idea around my brain twice. Surely he couldn’t mean what I thought he did.

“Are you seriously telling me to climb out the window?” I whispered. Even with the soundproofing of my room and the music playing, I didn’t want to risk Massimo overhearing my presence.

“Yes! Because if you say no, Massimo’s gonna ask why, and then everyone’s gonna know your business before you’re ready for them. You know how our parents are. Do you wanna deal with all those questions?”

No, I really didn’t.