Page 111 of Dominion

Their exchanges had almost become a game to her. Except it wasn’t one she was sure she wanted to win. Not if it meant Cody thought her a heartless bitch who only cared about herself, which she knew was how she came off.

But she didn’t need to show him her real self, either. This wasn’t a relationship—she’d already decided it couldn’t go anywhere.

By the time she finished putting two salads on plates, Cody returned with the cooked steaks, still looking pissed.

“Mmm, that smells heavenly,” she said in an attempt to ignore the tension between them.

“So you do eat meat?” he asked gruffly.

She wasn’t sure if it was another innuendo. Was he complaining that she hadn’t reciprocated with a blowjob yet?

She darted a sidelong glance at him and settled for an ambiguous, “Yep.”

He glanced at the plates she’d set out. “Thanks for making salad.” He sounded grudging, like it cost him to thank her for anything, or like manners were unfamiliar territory. It tugged at her heart. Was he actually making an effort to be polite?

“Thanks for the steak.” She tried to keep her voice light and friendly.

He added steak knives to their place settings and sat down on the sofa with her. “How much blood?”

She knew what he was asking—about her wolf heritage. “A quarter. My grandmother got involved with a wolf in Cheyenne. He had to leave her because she was human, and he never knew she was pregnant.”

Cody frowned. “Your grandmother couldn’t find him to tell him?” Surprise crinkled the lines of his forehead.

She stabbed a piece of steak with her fork and popped it in her mouth. “Mmm.”

Cody stopped eating, staring at her lips as she chewed.

“This is heavenly.”

He seemed to forcibly look down at his own plate for a bite of steak.

“She didn’t try. She said his pack made him leave her, so she didn’t want to interfere. He’d already made his choice.”

Cody wiped his mouth with a napkin. For some reason, she found herself surprised by how refined and cultured his table manners were. She’d assumed him to be a sort of redneck, but instead, he’d placed his napkin in his lap straightaway, chewed with his mouth closed, and ate neatly for such a big, hungry man. Not huge feats, but ones that neither Jeremy, nor any of the guys she’d dated in the past, had managed.

“It would’ve changed things,” he said matter-of-factly. “She should’ve told him. A wolf takes care of his own.”

Curiosity flickered, curling in her chest. She wanted to know how a wolf took care of his own, not in the hypothetical sense, but specifically, how a playboy wolf like Cody, who seemed terminally single, would take care of a female if he accidentally got her pregnant. She shook her head to clear that errant thought from her mind. Where were these thoughts coming from?

Cody went on, “He would’ve protected his female and that pup with his life, provided for both of them. Whose father was he? Your mother’s or your father’s?”

“My father’s.”

She swallowed another bite of savory meat. Cody had seasoned it and just seared the outside, so the rare meat melted in her mouth. She found herself vaguely surprised that he knew how to cook a gourmet steak, expecting him to be more of the type to drown it in barbecue sauce—or God forbid—ketchup. Instead, he’d produced better steak than she’d find at the best Colorado steakhouse.

“Your dad never shifted?”

“No, and he doesn’t know. Ashley and I didn’t find out until Ben marked her.”

Cody watched her lips again, that look of hunger flickering on his face before he dragged his eyes to meet hers. “What happened?”

Part of her didn’t want to tell him, it was Ashley and Ben’s story, after all. But some part she didn’t want to examine too closely thought he should know—that he needed to know, in case it became relevant for… them.

“It happened accidentally. Ben lost control and bit her here.” She indicated the place where neck met shoulder, remembering the horrific marks on her sister right after he’d done it. “She recovered much faster than they expected, which led one of his pack mates to question whether she had wolf blood. We realized we’re never sick or hurt and our father used to brag he’d never been sick a day in his life. Also, that the father line is blank on his birth certificate. So Ashley and I drove up to Wyoming to ask our Grandma Jane, and she told us her story.”

“Wyoming, huh? What’s his name?”

She shook her head. “She didn’t tell us. Why, do you know wolves in Wyoming?”