Quickdraw Slow Burn
Tears prickled her eyes as she refolded the letter and settled it back into the envelope with the tickets. He had drawn her attention, too, that hospital night when they watched over some poisoned bull shifters together. It wasn’t their time at the hospital that had tethered her little heart to him, though. It was the time they’d spent in his camper before she’d left for the airport the next day. It was the way he’d touched her and the way he’d talked to her in his bed, exposing a deep vein of caring she hadn’t realized a man could possess. It was the pillow talk and the soft fingertips caressing her spine. It was gentle kisses from a man who wasn’t gentle by nature.
If she’d made a mistake, she couldn’t take it back now. Her uncertainty had ruined any chance she had with Quickdraw.
Annabelle rested her hands on her flat stomach. She was too chicken-shit to even take a test, but she felt different, and her inner wolf was acting so strange.
There was a possibility that Quickdraw had changed her entire life in one night.
When a knock sounded at the door, Annabelle nearly fell out of her seat. Her werewolf hearing usually alerted her to someone at the front door of her apartment way before they reached her porch.
Unless…
Annabelle smiled despite herself.
She stood and made her way to the door, opened it, and caught the hug of her maker. Rork was growling, but he always did that. His wolf was a little on the crazy side.
“You haven’t been answering texts,” he murmured, releasing her to push past her and into the small studio apartment. “I brought you presents.”
“You know you don’t have to bring me presents.”
His bushy gray eyebrows raised up high. “But don’t I? There might be a new wolf in the pack soon.”
Annabelle’s heart stuttered a beat. “W-what?”
“Look at your eyes. They’re the color of ice, and they never go back to your human color. Your wolf is frozen inside you, waiting until she can have your body again. She doesn’t want to risk changing and hurting a pup. And if that didn’t tip me off, you smell different. I wanted you to tell me yourself, but you got quiet, and now your mom and dad are asking me what’s wrong with you. You’re worrying people. Here.”
Rork set the paper bag he was carrying on the table and pulled out two tiny baby onesies. One said, Hungry like the wolf and the other read Momma’s lil mooo-nster. That one had dairy cow spots all over it and a little cow tail attached to the back.
Shocked, Annabelle padded to the table and picked up the cow one, studied its tiny size, and then drew it in to hug to her chest.
Rork gestured to the tiny blue outfits. “Because I don’t know if you’ll have a bull or a wolf yet.”
“You said a bull. How do you know it will be a boy?”
“Natural-born female shifters are very rare. Raven is an anomaly. You’re carrying a boy. I know it.” He was growling again, but he was also smiling. Rork had always been a strange bird. Errr…wolf.
“I haven’t even taken a test yet,” she whispered.
Rork shrugged up a shoulder. “I don’t give a shit when you take it. Maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll start your period in five minutes. Maybe your wolf just wants a pup so bad, she’s hoping. She’s wanted a pup for years. She’s always been maternal. How does he feel about all this?”
“Who?”
“The dad?”
Annabelle dropped her gaze immediately and held onto the little onesie tighter. “He doesn’t know. Why would I tell him? I don’t even know for sure. I’m just a little bit late on my period. Just a few days. A week maybe. Week and a half. And sometimes that happens with me. The wolf always got overly excited if I was late when I was with Matthew, but I don’t have those steady periods other girls do. I never did. And besides, even if I am, I don’t know if I’ll ever tell Quickdraw. He has a big life to live.”
“So do you.”
“It’s different for the mother.”
“Only if you make it different for you.” Rork canted his head and studied her with those bi-colored brown and hazel eyes that never missed anything. “You like him.”
“I do not—”
“Lie.”
“He’s a stranger—”
“Lie.”
“I don’t want to ruin his life, Rork!”
He straightened his spine, and both his eyes turned the bright hazel of his wolf. “Truth. Which is why I’m accusing you of liking him. A pup won’t ruin a life, Annabelle.” His voice softened. “A pup gives purpose to good men.”
“I don’t know Quickdraw. What if he isn’t a good man?”
“You can’t just plan a life for yourself anymore,” he murmured, gesturing to her belly. “If you’re carrying a pup, it’s your responsibility to build his pack. You’ve always been a lone wolf, like me. I’ve always been on the outside, watching you struggle with what I turned you into. I wish you had been turned in a loving way, and had a healthy pack surrounding you, but that’s not what happened. That’s not what I gave you.”
“Rork, it’s okay. It was so long ago, and you didn’t mean to. Your wolf went crazy.”
“Doesn’t matter, Annabelle. Don’t make an excuse for my animal. It’s still what happened. I altered your life, and I made it hard for you to find people you can trust. You hide. You quit before you start. Quickdraw will show his merit if you let him. You go find out if he’s a good or a bad man. But we don’t play what-if games, Annabelle. That’s not how we grow. We succeed or we get hurt and learn, but we never quit a race before we begin. Do you understand?”
“You think I should take a test.”
“Yes.”
“And you think I should tell Quickdraw.”
“You said he has a big life.” Rork raised his eyebrows and leveled her with a serious look. “Go see if he can handle an even bigger one.”
Rork left without another word. He always did that. He was good at hellos, but never goodbyes. When he was done talking, he simply walked away.
Annabelle stared at the door as he closed it behind him, clenched her shaking hands at her sides. Slowly, she forced her attention from the door to the envelope sitting on the table.
She didn’t have to take a test right away. It was her choice to wait. To not get her hopes or fears up. She didn’t have to tell Quickdraw right away either. She could see him and talk to him and gauge for herself whether he would be any good at this.
And if not? Then at least she knew. She could come back home and prepare a life and do her best alone.
Either way, Rork was right.
She wasn’t one to live on what-ifs.
Chapter Two
I’ll be there.
Quickdraw read the text for the twentieth time. It was real. He hadn’t imagined it, he hadn’t made it up, and it was right there on his phone.
He sat in front of the Terminal A arrivals in Casper, Wyoming, nervous as a virgin on prom night.
What the fuck was wrong with him? His hands were even sweating.
Quickdraw rubbed his palms on his jeans, and then gripped the wheel in a choking grasp. Everything was fine. All he wanted was to get to know her a little better, and that little she-wolf was playing hard to get. She barely responded to him, and maybe that was part of the draw.