CHAPTER 8: Work it out...

Randol

After leaving the little "encounter" with Mr. Torelli, I head to my room. Once I close the door, I walk to my bed and fall face - first into it. Dear God. What in the hell just happened?! Every hot - blooded male knows how nerve - racking it is to meet the parents. If you add in the father being the most powerful known wizard in almost half a millennium? Terrifying. There is no other way to describe the feeling of sitting in that room with him. Some big bad wolf I am. I shook like a newborn pup.

I raise my head and glare out the window. He did make valid points, though. Celeste is a very special girl. She's been through a lot in her life too. We were all aware of what had happened to her mother in the car accident. It's always hard to lose a parent, but to have one die in your arms, and at such a young age, would be gut - wrenching. It would take a strong person to bounce back from that. She did, though, and then used it as motivation to help others. She is exceptional. She deserves her happy ending. Am I really capable of giving her that? Can I be the kind of man she needs? Does what I want out of life match with what she wants? I have to be very careful. I need to get these answers before I get any more emotionally attached.

Being mated to a wolf shifter is not like marrying a human. Wolves mate for life. Divorce doesn't exist in our world. The mating bond is magical. Literally. It bonds two souls together with magic. The bond makes the wolf physically and mentally stronger. I guess the easiest way to describe it is almost like you feed off each other's energy. If we are talking about the pack's alpha then them being mated makes the whole pack stronger. So yeah. Mating for wolf shifters is a pretty big fucking deal.

I need to figure this out. I jump off my bed, and walk over to the window I was looking out of. "That's it!" I proclaim as I look toward the tree line. I know I have to talk to Celeste. I go into the hall and head straight for her room. I hope she's there. When I reach it, I give a quick knock and the door swings open. God, what a smile.

Celeste

I am in my room getting some clothes ready for a shower when there is a knock at the door. I open it, and a big smile comes to my face. "Randol! What's up?"

"Well, you were nice enough to let me tag along on your trip today, so I thought I could repay you by taking you out for a run. So whatta ya say?"

The smile slowly drops from my face. Ugh! Exercise? I don't like to exercise, and running is the worst of all. "Umm, I don't really like running, Randol. Thanks for the thought though." A big smile comes to his face. Hot damn! I've never seen his smile this close up before. Just that small gesture makes my heart rate speed up. It kinda makes me want to learn to love running.

"What if I told you that you don't have to do any of the running?" As he says this, a mischievous glint comes to his eyes. Okay, sir. Interest piqued.

"And how, exactly, would I go for a run without actually running?" I ask him with a challenging tone.

"Well, Princess, if you can trust me for just a few minutes, I can show you." He pauses for a minute, just looking into my face. Which, by the way, does nothing to slow my elevated heart rate. "Well?"

I stare right back at him, curious and nervous at the same time. Sigh. "Fine."

I shut my door and follow him down the hall and eventually out the front door. For a moment, he just stands at the railing look54 ing out over the property with his hands on his hips. I stand behind him and drink in the view. Not the landscape, either. Right in front of me are broad muscled shoulders and a torso that tapered down in the most delicious V pattern. I can see the muscles ripple across his back, even though it is covered by his long - sleeved T - shirt. The cherry on top, however, is the rock - hard, well - toned ass that sits perfectly below all of this. I didn't notice until just now how ridiculously attractive this man is.

Holy shit! Get it together, Celeste! I manage to pull myself together, and shake off most of the impure thoughts I am having before speaking behind him.

"This doesn't seem like much of a run to me."

He looks back at me with that stop - traffic smile. "I just found the perfect spot." He points to a fairly close portion of the tree line. "We'll walk over there first. Then the real fun begins."

"Okay, just so you know, it sounds super creepy when you say it like that."

He lets out a big laugh. "Sorry. Poor choice of words."

We start walking to the area he pointed out. "So why are we walking to the trees before our run?"

"Well, if you really want to see me naked, we can start right here."