Now they were all looking at me weird. They couldn’t smell my immoral raging lust yet. Or whatever it was. My feelings. That I couldn’t be having.
Joe took another step toward me and he had pecs. He had a chest that was just… it was just very nice and it gave me ideas and I said, “Whoa there, cowboy,” and kicked myself internally for such bullshit.
“What’s at your house?” Joe asked, and that motherfucker started sniffing the air.
“Ox,” Carter said. “Your heartbeat is going crazy.”
Stupid fucking werewolves. And Joe was standing right there. With muscles.
“To change!” I shouted and all three took a step back. I lowered my voice. “I have to… change. My shirt.” I pointed at it. “Tomatoes and houses don’t mix. Ha-ha-ha.”
“I still have no idea what is happening,” Kelly said.
So I said, “I’ll be right back,” and turned the opposite way, trying to stop myself from running.
“Uh, Ox?”
I stopped. “Yeah, Joe?”
“Your house is the other way.”
“So it is.” But instead of walking past them so they could smell me, I walked the long way around the house. When I came into view again, they were standing in the same spot, watching me.
I went inside and locked the door.
“What happened to your shirt?” Mom asked.
“Tomatoes,” I said.
“You look flushed,” she said. “Your face is bright red.”
“It’s hot out.”
“Ox. Did something happen?”
“Nope. Not a single thing.”
“You’re breathing really heavily.”
“It’s a thing I do. Big guy, you know? Need big breaths.”
“Yeah,” Mom said. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“I need to change my shirt.” I refused to look her in the eye.
“You want me to wait for you?”
I shook my head. “No. No. That’s… fine.” I wanted her to leave so I could punch something.
She waited until I stepped away from the door before pushing past me. She frowned when she tried to turn the knob. “Did you lock this?”
I smiled. I probably looked crazy. “Force of habit.”
“Uh-huh.” She went out and closed the door behind her.
I punched the wall. It hurt like a bitch.
He was only seventeen. That was wrong.
Except he was almost eighteen.
Which… okay.
But.
It was Joe.
And back and forth and back and forth.
My phone went off. A text message.
Joe.
Where r u???
I looked at the clock. I’d been sitting in front of the door for twenty minutes already.
“Shit,” I muttered.
I couldn’t not go to dinner. It was tradition. And If I begged off sick, someone (JoeJoeJoe) would come and check on me.
So I had to go.
I couldn’t do anything about my heartbeat. They’d hear that regardless. I’d think of something.
But the smell.
I ran up the stairs and tore off my shirt, grabbing another from the drawer. I pulled it on as I went into the bathroom. I found an old bottle of cologne I never wore anymore because the wolves didn’t like it. It blocks you out, Joe had told me once. Most of you, anyway.
I sprayed myself at least six times.
I texted back.
on my way
It took me another twenty minutes to convince myself to walk back to the house at the end of the lane.
Finally, I told myself to man up because I was almost twenty-three fucking years old and I’d fought monsters (once) and I trained with wolves (many times). And it was just Joe.
Who apparently I wanted to do stuff to. With. Around.
That did nothing to calm my heart rate.
It felt like I was walking to my death with every step I took to cross the way to the Bennett house.
I could hear them all out back. Probably getting ready to eat. Laughter. Talking. Shouting.
And then the conversation just died.
Even before I could get around the side of the house.
“Is that Ox?” I heard Mark ask. He sounded worried.
There was a crash and multiple pairs of feet running.
They rounded the corner and just stopped.
“Where is it?” Mark demanded.
“Are we under attack?” Thomas asked, ready to wolf out. His eyes went red.
“Ox?” Carter asked. “Dude. Seriously. Your heart, man. You sound terrified.”
“Hey, guys,” I said. I learned early on that you shouldn’t run from a wolf when they were about to shift. Sets off instincts. I wanted to run so bad.
Because Joe was standing at the front. He’d changed. White shorts. Green shirt that hid nothing. He was barefoot too. And his feet were sexy as all hell.
“Uh,” I said. “Hey, guys.”
“Why do I feel like this is a thing I should be getting,” Kelly said.
Joe’s nose wrinkled. “What’s that smell?”
So, of course, all the Bennett men started sniffing the air. It wasn’t funny. At all.
Carter took a step toward me. “Dude. Ox. What the hell. What did you bathe in?”
“Nothing,” I said, sounding defensive, even as I took a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ox,” Joe said with a frown. “Are you okay?”
And I couldn’t even look at him when I said, “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”
“That… was a lie,” Kelly said.
Joe took a step toward me. I took another step back.
“Did something happen today?” Thomas asked.
I wanted to say, I may have started picturing your underage son naked, but I didn’t know if that was something someone could say to an Alpha werewolf.
So I said, “Nothing happened. I just wanted to… smell. Different?”
The Bennett men stared at me. I stared sort of over their shoulders.
Joe said, “Ox.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking at a tree.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“Look at me.”
Jesus fucking Christ. I looked at him.
Even I could see the worry on his face. His stupid handsome face.
I felt myself blush.
“Maybe we should—” Mark started, but then Carter said, “Oh, no way,” and so I loudly said, “Carter, can I talk to you for a moment? Now? Please? Right now?”
Carter gave me the biggest shit-eating grin even as Joe glanced between us, eyes narrowing. “What did you do?” he asked his brother.
“Absolutely nothing,” Carter said, sounding rather delighted about something. “And it’s amazing.”
“Carter,” I barked. “Now!”
Before the others could protest, Carter moved forward and gripped my arm, dragging me toward the forest. “This won’t take long,” he called cheerfully over his shoulder to the others.
“What won’t?” I heard Joe ask.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough,” Mark said, and oh my god, I was doomed.
SINCE WEREWOLVES were impatient as all hell, Carter only dragged me far enough until he knew we were out of earshot before he stopped, dropped my arm, turned to look at me, and said, “You got a boner over my little brother.”