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middle-of-the-night strolls? Geez, man, haven’t I told you that you give people the creeps by doing that? You know who hangs out in dark, secluded forests at midnight.”
    “Yeah. The big bad wolf. But I met Riding Hood and she didn’t run away. Now answer the fucking question.”
    “All right already. Definitely not a suit. She doesn’t sound like the type. My call is those Gap khakis you have and a button-down shirt.”
    “Thanks. I owe you.”
    “Don’t hang up,” Eric shouted into the receiver and Jeremy grudgingly put the phone back to his ear.
    “What is it?”
    “You met her in the park last night.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Then what happened?”
    Jeremy was surprised at his reluctance to answer. He’d been pretty loose with information about his sexual adventures over the last little while. The women hadn’t meant anything to him and he figured if Eric wanted to pick up where he left off his friend might as well know the score beforehand. Besides, bragging about a good fuck was just something guys did.
    “Jeremy, buddy, come on. Did you bring her home? Was she hot?”
    “Yes and yes.”
    “Better than Melissa?”
    Melissa was one of the women they’d shared, passing her back and forth several times over the past year. She was terrific in the sack, plenty of enthusiasm and damn fine physical attributes but without the critical mass of brain cells required for intelligent conversation.
    “There’s no comparison. Melissa doesn’t even rate.”
    Eric chuckled. “I look forward to meeting this girl.”
    “I’m not introducing you so get your hands out of your pants.”
    “Do you have any idea how uptight you sound? I don’t think you were this tense even with Emily. Call me tomorrow and let me know how it went.”
    Eric hung up and Jeremy was left holding a dead phone to his ear.
    Emily had been his last attempt at a real girlfriend. He had wanted to make it work with her. And it had, for eight months. But there had been too many unanswered questions, too much aggression in him and not enough answering fire in her. She’d delivered the “I can’t trust you enough to marry you” line and taken her toothbrush out of his bathroom. He’d tried so hard to act normal and she hadn’t fallen for it. Jeremy admitted to himself that it had been disappointment more than hurt that consumed him when she left. The failure of their relationship confirmed that the usual sort of life with a wife and kids wasn’t going to happen for him.
    Why he expected it to was a mystery. His father had never found a woman to stick with. He brought home one woman after another but none lasted above a few weeks. The other werewolves he knew were just as bad. Dustin had a woman he went back to regularly but that was nothing more than easy sex. Garet was married to a sad, submissive little rag. He screwed around on her all the time with no more consideration than he’d give to the furniture. Werewolves made shitty role models, Jeremy thought dryly.
    Why hadn’t any of them found a wild witch as a mate? Maybe witches were even more scarce and secretive than werewolves. Certainly he’d never believed they were real before meeting Lee. Even now he wasn’t sure. She clearly thought she could face him down but so far the only powers he’d seen her display were the ability to read his emotions and put feelings into him. That had been the strangest thing. He hadn’t felt that kind of panicked fear since he was a kid. It had startled him but it wouldn’t have stopped him from snapping her neck if he’d wanted to.
    What made her so sure of herself in his company? Lee’s warnings had been clear enough. The usual games of power and dominance wouldn’t work with her. She’d neither cave nor run away. But if he went too far she’d pull something nasty out of her hat and walk off with that cool dismissive look she did so well. He found it hard to accept that she had any really threatening power but maybe he’d better act as if he