I grinned on one corner of my mouth and told him yes. He told me to put on warmer clothing since the sun was beginning to set and meet him on the porch.
I went to our room and slipped on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved, white top. Rush was waiting on the porch, hands in his pockets, kicking his shoe against a pillar. He turned as the door opened and stopped moving, shaking his head ever so slightly.
I furrowed my eyebrows and stopped in the doorway.
“I just don’t understand how you can get even prettier every time I see you.” He grinned.
I laughed slightly and closed the door, hiding my blush away from his view.
The ride into town was shorter than I remembered. I was able to appreciate the dark woods and the gradual collection of small shops as we drove further into human territory. My face was nearly glued to the window as I stared at the humans walking down the street, so different from us though we looked similar.
Rush parked the car in front of a small bistro restaurant. We were seated at the window near the corner. We ordered our food and settled into a staunch silence after the waiter left. We both scanned the restaurant, waiting for the other to start a conversation.
“So,” I broke the silence.
“Yes?”
“I don’t really know where I was going with that, it was just really quiet,” I admitted.
“I don’t want things to be awkward between us,” Rush said, reaching across the table for my hand.
“Me either.”
“Can we just forget about the last few days?” he said hopefully. I sighed and looked down, a strand of hair coming loose from behind my ear.
“Rush,” I breathed.
“Just please, give me another chance. I know I can do this right.”
“Okay,” I gave in, keeping my chin high. “But I’m not going to do this over and over again. I know we’re both new to this. I just-”
“I know,” Rush said calmly, agreeing.
When our food came, we both ate quickly. Rush wiped my lip, claiming there was a speck of food, although I knew there wasn’t. He paid and tipped the waiter.
“Do you want to take a walk, let our food settle, before we go home?” he asked, holding the restaurant door open for me. I skimmed past him and grabbed his hand as it swung past me.
“Sure.” I smiled.
The sun had set a few minutes ago, and the hush of sunset still illuminated the town in gold tones. We walked slowly, full from our meal, and wanting to enjoy each other’s presence.
“I’m glad we did this,” I told Rush, looking up sideways at him, watching his stubble covered cheeks fight a blush.
“Me too, Sloane.” He squeezed my hand.
“What do you want to do when we get home?”
“I was thinking,” he started, stopping to chuckle and pull me to a stop. I flew a few inches back and settled in close to him. “I haven’t kissed you in quite some time.”
He let go of my hand brought it up to my neck, settling it in the crook, his thumb holding my cheek. I leaned up to meet his tall stature. The kiss was sweet and faintly reminiscent of our first kiss against the tree.
Rush pushed my back against the dark brick of a building. I pushed his face away, eyes closed, breathing lightly.
“Rush, we’re in public,” I warned.
“And?” He smirked.
“The humans might get jealous,” I whispered jokingly.
He nodded reluctantly and pulled away, grabbing my hand again. We turned from the brick wall to continue our walk but skidded to a stop immediately.
A group of nine or ten men stood on the curb of the street, bunched together. Rush tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me to the opposite side of him, shielding me from them.
“We’ve seen you around here before,” one of the drawled, blowing out a bit of smoke from his cigarette casually. “You tend to stir up trouble every time you’re here. You’re one of those beasts, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rush denied firmly, taking another step. A few of the men broke off from the clump and moved in front of us.
“You’re a pretty big guy,” the man noted. “What do they call that, an Alpha? Yeah, an Alpha male. You run the group here, don’t you?”
Rush resisted growling but didn’t answer.
“We’re just coming back from dinner,” I said in a firm voice. “We’re heading home right now.”
“Back to the den,” one joked.
“Excuse us.” I narrowed my eyes, trying to pull Rush behind me.
The humans came closer.
“Uh, uh, uh,” the man tsk’ed, shaking his head, dropping his cigarette butt on the ground. “We need to have a little talk with your man here, first. You keep those mutts of yours far away from our town, or we’re going to have a problem.”
“Mutts?” Rush ground out from the back of his throat. He dropped my hand and stepped closer to the man. “Those people you’re referring to are not mutts.”
“Ah, so you are one of them,” the man smiled triumphantly. “And this little thing must be your mate? Isn’t that what you call them?”
Rush moved closer to the human, and although the man’s face didn’t falter, he stepped back off the curb as Rush moved towards him.
“You need to leave,” Rush said firmly.
The man looked at his friends, all of them shuffling around us.
“Not just yet,” another man spoke, grabbing my elbow and pulling me towards him. I yanked myself out of his grip and pushed him back, he stumbled more than he thought he would. Another one of them grabbed my arm, and the man next to him grabbed my waist.
“Get the fuck off of me,” I shouted. The man I pushed came and held my other arm and pulled a knife out of his pocket.
“Let her go,” Rush growled, his body shaking, fighting the shift.
“You wolves don’t like silver
