Read The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne for Free Online

believe in love at first sight?  Not really.  But then again…
    After her class, she stood against the second floor railing and let her eyes run over the first floor.  Standing in front of the mirrored back wall, Michael was doing curls with heavy dumbbells, watching his reflection.  Her feet were suddenly moving without her really thinking about it.
    “You’re still here,” she said, coming to stand near the weight rack.  That sounded a lot more casual in my head.
    He smiled.  “Sure.  It’s a half hour drive from Allen up here.  I wanted to make it worthwhile.”
    “That’s quite a drive.”
    “Yep.  You live around here, Shyne?”
    “I have an apartment in Austin, it’s not too far from here.”  She watched his bicep tense and relax.  It was almost hypnotic.
    They talked casually while he worked out for a few more minutes, but then he began to stretch out his arms, and she had the sinking feeling he was leaving.  He explained why he had to leave.  “I’m part-time running the bar in Allen.  Our pack owns it, and someone has to keep the peace.  I got drafted to do that.”
    “Pack?”
    “Werewolf.”
    “Oh.  Are you and your friends?” she gestured around.
    “Yeah.  Does that bother you?”  He stopped stretching his arm long enough to give her a serious look.  There was something in those baby blues that just screamed she could trust him.  And she did.
    “Nah.”
    He relaxed and went back to stretching, and she fished for some more details about his life.  “Tell me about the bar.”
    “It’s not my life’s work, you know?  But I don’t mind it.  I’m hopeful that one of these days a manager will come in and take over so I can get back to working on bikes and cars.  It’s called Jake’s, after the former owner; we never changed the name.”
    A tall, blond, muscular man strode up to them.  “Yo, man, we need to hit it.”
    He held out a bag to Michael, and he straightened and took it.  “Right.”
    The man who gave him the bag raked his eyes up and down the length of her body, and it made her want to retch.  Michael cleared his throat in a way that sounded like he was growling, and the man glanced at him with a nod, turned, and walked out.
    Cool.
    “Have a good night, Shyne.”
    “Thanks, Michael.  You, too.”
    Gracing her with another of his killer smiles, he turned and walked out of the gym.  She thought her heart might give out.
    Glancing at the clock, she decided to call it a night and go get some man-trapping advice from Trav.  Once she was home, showered, and wearing her comfy jammies, she padded across the hall to Trav’s apartment and found him watching a Family Ties rerun.  Snagging some popcorn, she told him about Michael showing up at the gym and what she felt had been a good flirting session.
    “So go for it.  Next time he comes in, ask him out for coffee.”
    “Coffee?”
    He waved his hand absently.  “Or whatever you straighties do on first dates.”
    She hummed non-committally in her throat.
    “What’s the matter, baby girl?  You think he was just flirting for the sake of flirting?”
    “I don’t know.  He seems sweet.  Genuine.  And it was like I couldn’t help but go talk to him, you know?”
    “Nope.”
    She gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder and grabbed another handful of popcorn.  “Maybe I’ll wait for him to make the first move.”
    “Sounds brilliant, unless slutty desk girl gets to him first.”
    “Good point.  I’ll think about it.”
    In the end, she did think about it, but way more than she should have, and she effectively thought herself out of asking him out for anything even remotely close to coffee.
    The week eeked by.  The only time that sped by was when he came in every day.  She talked to him each day, and the very strangest thing that happened was that Cairo, Dante, and Mason started to get a little overly attentive toward her.  Suddenly, she wasn’t just their friend, but it was like they