“The date was amazing,” Trey said, unable to keep the smile off his face.
“What’d you guys do?” Trevor asked.
“We went out for burgers and then ice cream.”
His buddies regarded him expectantly, clearly waiting for more details. But there was no way he was going to tell them about the kiss on the bench in front of the ice cream shop. No, that memory—of the most perfect kiss he’d ever had in his life—was for him alone. He still had a hard time believing it had been real, even if it had left him lying awake all night reliving it. Even now, all he could think about were Samantha’s pillow-soft lips and the way her skin had smelled like cherry blossoms and spring air after a light rain.
Of course, he had no idea how to explain the fact that, in all the time he and Samantha had been around each other over the past two years, the moment on that metal bench had been the first time he’d picked up that scent. Considering the way everyone else in the Pack who’d found their soul mate had made such a big deal about picking up their unique scents right away, he didn’t quite know what to make of his experience.
“Sounds like the perfect date,” Hale observed.
“It was perfect,” Trey said, what he knew was a dopey smile slipping across his face again. “Oh, who am I kidding? It was better than that. I haven’t been able to think about much of anything but her since dropping her off at her place last night.”
Connor exchanged looks with the other guys before leaning forward. “Do you think Samantha is The One for you?”
“Dude, they’ve been on a grand total of one date,” Trevor pointed out. “How is he supposed to know if she’s his soul mate yet?”
“Because he’s been crushing on her since the first day he saw her,” Connor said, as if that should explain everything. Then he looked over at Trey again. “So is she?”
Trey almost laughed at the eager expressions on his pack mates’ faces. He should have known the question was coming. Over the past two years, more than half of the Pack had found their soul mates—aka that one person who could love a werewolf in spite of what they were. Every time he or any of the other single guys went out with someone, everyone automatically assumed they’d found The One. That was the way it seemed to work lately. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been wondering the same thing when he’d knocked on Samantha’s door last night.
There was just one problem.
“I wish I could tell you definitively that she is,” he said, shocked at how true that statement really was. He hadn’t realized until then exactly how much he wanted what most of the other members of his Pack had already found: a future of more than merely searching and hoping.
“But?” Hale prompted.
“But I think Samantha might be playing me.”
Trey sighed, something twisting in his gut at the notion of thinking something like that, much less saying it out loud. He hadn’t gone to bed with these doubts floating around in his head, but they’d relentlessly started popping up as the morning dragged on and he began to overanalyze every single minute of last night’s date.
“I can’t shake the horrible feeling that the only reason Samantha wanted to go out with me is because she’s looking for dirt on the Pack,” he continued. “You know she’s been sniffing around our crime scenes for years. And after all the crap that got swept under the rug with that delirium case, I have no doubt she knows we’re hiding something.”
His pack mates looked at him dubiously.
“You think she knows we’re werewolves?” Trevor asked.
Trey shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope not, but you have to admit, the timing of all of this is strange. The two of us have been flirting with each other forever, and then out of the blue she asks me out? You don’t find that at least a little curious?”
“Not really, no,” Hale said. “Is it so shocking that Samantha got tired of waiting for you to ask her and decided to take things into her own hands? This is the twenty-first century, you know. Women are completely comfortable going after what they want.”
“Maybe,” Trey admitted. “But you weren’t the one sitting across from her as she asked me question after question.”
Trevor laughed. “I may not be the greatest at the whole social thing, but isn’t asking each other personal questions what people normally do on a date?”
“Yeah, personal questions I get,” Trey answered. “But almost all Samantha’s questions were about how I got into SWAT, what kind of work we do, how tight I am with you guys, and how well I know all of you. And every time I tried to steer the conversation in her direction, she turned it right back around on me. After a while, it was like she was grilling me for information.”
His friends were quiet for a while, considering that.
“So what are you going to do?” Connor asked.
“What can I do?” Trey ran his hand through his hair exasperation. “If I’m right, and the only reason Samantha is going out with me is to dig up dirt, then every minute I spend with her puts the Pack at risk. If I walk away now, and it turns out I was wrong about her, then I’d be giving up my chance at a soul mate.”
“You can’t do that,” Hale said firmly. “Walking away from a shot at finding The One would be insane. Nobody in the Pack would expect you to do that.”
“I know,” Trey murmured. “That’s why we’re going out again tonight. It feels like I’m playing with fire, but the thought of walking away makes me sick to my stomach.”
As they sat around, the files in front of them untouched, they talked about how much Samantha might already know, in between his buddies giving him suggestions on where he should take her on their second date. Connor was of the opinion that if things went well enough, maybe Samantha would give up her snooping and realize she was his soul mate. Trey thought that might be a little optimistic, but he couldn’t stop himself from hoping his pack mate was right.
It was Trevor who finally pointed out they’d been talking about Trey’s love life for the past hour, instead of finding clues on who was murdering men and leaving mummified remains at the city dumps.
“Never let it be said that I’m the adult in the room,” he added. “But maybe we should actually get back to looking at these files, especially if STAT is right about the MO and there’s a good chance the killer is going to strike again this weekend.”
Trey couldn’t argue with that logic. Pulling his pad full of notes a little closer, he flipped through the pages of scribbles he’d written. “I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t found anything earth-shattering yet. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find something STAT missed.”