Page 37 of Adored By the Wolf

“That’s fantastic. Who is he?”

“Oh, I can’t tell you yet. He’s my little secret.”

“What? You never keep secrets from me about the boys you date.”

“This one is special.” She got real quiet and said softly, “I don’t want to mess it up, Millie.”

“Wow, you’re really smitten, and it’s only the first date.” I couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen her like this.

“I know. I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” She collapsed in on herself and curled up in a ball. I was so surprised I stood there frozen for a second, just staring at her.

Recovering, I ran to her to hold her, aware I was feeling equally as messed up about my own love life. I’d never felt the way I was feeling for Jacob, and I hadn’t really dated before, at least not as much as Lira had.

She soon calmed down enough to sit up again. “Sorry about that. I have no idea what came over me. Do you want to make some ice cream? Ice cream always cures my nerves.”

“It’s midnight, Lira,” I pointed out.

“But you weren’t asleep.”

“I was worried about you. You’re usually texting me during the date to tell me everything that’s going right or wrong.”

“I didn’t think you liked it when I did that.”

“I don’t. But it doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten used to it.”

She shrugged while digging out the ice cream maker and the ingredients. “I guess I didn’t have anything to say.”

“You werethatenamored with him?”

She looked up at me with the most serious eyes I’d ever seen. “I told you, Millie. There’s something about him.”

I almost blurted out that there was someone I hoped to see again that made me feel the same way, but now wasn’t the time. Realizing that it wouldn’t be fair to keep bugging Lira, I left her to make her ice cream and headed back to bed. It had been a very weird day.

Jacob

“Where are we headed to?”Millie asked.

“I know a place where we might be able to go hang gliding.”

I heard her heart rate increase as soon as I finished talking and looked over to see her gripping the armrest on the door while trying to catch her breath.

“You doing okay?” I asked.

She swiveled her face to mine and, before she could smooth her features, I saw the worry written there.

“We don’t have to go hang gliding today if you don’t want,” I said quickly. “I just thought it’d be a nice surprise.”

“Oh no, we should.”

But I heard the hitch in her voice and saw her hands trembling as she settled them in her lap. It was the tiniest of movements, and she probably thought she hid her features well, but I knew. That was one thing about being a shifter—we detected every slight movement. It bothered me at times that I could read humans so well, but in this case, I was thankful for the clues. What was going on with her?

“Millie—”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just that I haven’t gone hang gliding in a long time. I’ve developed a slight fear of heights since then, but I’ve always wanted to go hang gliding again, and this is a good chance to test it out. It’s really okay. I’ll be okay.”

“Okay, but if you have a fear of heights now—”

“It’s really okay. I love hang gliding.”