Mila laughed and drew her knees up to her chest. “Did you know Roman calls her Psychodine? Like…to the witch’s face, he says that.”
“Yeah, he’s not scared like he should be.”
Mila blew on the window, fogging it with her breath, and drew a cartoon broomstick. “Odine confuses me. She does bad things, uses bad magic, but she seems to be devoted to helping the Strikers. Do you know she is keeping Rhett weak?”
There was a frown in her voice when Blaire asked, “What do you mean?”
Mila leveled her with a look. “Gentry nearly ripped his throat out when the pack came after you, but Rhett should’ve healed by now. Instead, his injuries still look awful, and he smells like Odine’s magic. I don’t even want to know the extent of her power. We didn’t know she could do this kind of stuff until Noah died. She’s been coming for the pack ever since.”
“Has she come after you?” Blaire asked.
“Odine came after me years ago, when I was twenty. She keeps me here. I can never leave.”
“Why?”
Mila tried to remember the exact explanation Odine had given her. “She said because my destiny was here. She said Roman would need me someday.”
“Whoa,” Blaire murmured, rolling up the sleeve of her jacket to reveal her forearm covered in gooseflesh. “Mila, if Odine thinks you are Roman’s destiny, maybe you are. She said the same thing about me and Gentry. Sure, she brought us together, but he’s mine, Mila, and I’m his. Does Roman feel important to your wolf?”
Mila flopped her head back against the headrest. “He’s always felt important.”
There was a split second of hesitation before Blaire sang, “You’re gonna have his baaaabies.”
“Stop,” Mila said with a giggle.
“I’m calling it. You’ll have all boys, and they’ll all come out little miniatures of Roman, cracking pervy jokes and fully bearded.”
Mila wrapped her arms around her stomach as she laughed at the vision of it. “Little bearded babies would be so cuuute!”
“Do you know he eats his breakfast every morning in his underwear? While wearing one of those fur lined hats with the ear flaps? It’s ridiculous.”
“What kind of underwear?” Mila asked, blinking innocently.
“Briefs. With his shoes untied. Every morning. I’m pretty sure he does it to annoy me. Asher said as much, too.”
“He asked to be my alpha,” Mila admitted suddenly.
Blaire coughed really hard. “What?”
“He offered to break my bond to Rhett and put it on him.”
“Whoooah.” Blaire gripped the steering wheel and stared out the front window at the burger joint. “Would that work?”
“I think so, but it would get him killed. Rhett’s dangerous. That, and I’m bound to this place, and Roman is…well…Roman. Noah used to talk about all the places Roman lived. He doesn’t stay put. He’s a roamer. Saying yes means I ask him to stay bound to Rangeley, too, and surely you can see it. He doesn’t like it here. I don’t want to stick him in the cage with me just so I can keep him. I don’t do well caged, but it would eat Roman alive.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Mila pursed her lips and wiped away the broomstick drawing. “I’m going to get in my car, drive home, sleep like the dead, work my shift tomorrow, and think this all through. Maybe I’ll have more clarity away from Roman.”
“Ha! I used to think that would happen for me, too, but mostly I just thought of Gentry the entire time I was away from him. Good luck with that.”
Mila shoved the door open, got out, closed it, and turned to leave, but Blaire rolled down the window. “Hey Mila? I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?” She was part of the reason Blaire had been sick in the first place.
“For helping me in the woods when I didn’t feel good, and for helping Odine save me. She said you made the difference. Soooo…I don’t really know much about how this werewolf stuff works, but I don’t have a lot of friends in town, and I have exactly zero girlfriends, so if you ever want to…I don’t know…hang out and Change into wolves together and run around the woods or hunt a bunny or something, I would be totally fine with that.”
Mila laughed and leaned onto the window. “Blaire, are you asking me on a friend date?”
“Yeah.” Blaire grinned. “Like a werewolf friend date.”
Mila scanned the parking lot to make sure they weren’t being watched by any of the Bone-Rippers and then pulled out her cell phone and saved the number Blaire recited for her. “I’ll call you,” Mila promised as she walked away.
“Or a turkey,” Blaire called as Mila got into her car. “I like those, too.”
As Mila turned on her Jetta to warm it up and watched Blaire drive away, a strange feeling drifted through her. Was this…was it hope? It had been a while since she’d felt that emotion, but yes, it seemed right. Blaire wasn’t as submissive as Mila, but she wasn’t overwhelmingly dominant. She was happy and funny, and maybe if Mila was really careful not to get caught, she could hang out with the White Wolf of Winter’s Edge. And maybe that would be more of an excuse to accidentally see Roman, too.
She had to say no to Roman’s offer to be her alpha, but she couldn’t help but imagine how it could be. He would be good to her. Protective. Maybe over time, he would even grow to care for her like she cared for him.