Being(s) In Love 03 - A Beginner’s Guide to Wooing Your Mate by R. Cooper Page A

“Okay.”
    “Okay.” Violet grumbled one last time. “But I might punch him if he takes anyone up on their… oh, did I tell you how good these cookies are? Great cookies. The best. How are you going to do black icing?”
    The sudden fast talking clued Theo in more than the sweaty, anxious scent. Springtime in Wolf’s Paw meant horny and lonely tourists. Zeki must have already gotten some attention from them. Some tourists didn’t care if they found a were or a human. Zeki must really be something if he’d gotten more than one offer in his first day in town.
    He had every right to choose someone else. But Theo hadn’t prepared for having to witness it. He’d never expected to have to.
    Zeki had an entire world in which to choose another, Theo couldn’t help but think, hot and sick. He didn’t have to come home to Wolf’s Paw to hook up with someone else. Now he would let someone else touch him, let someone else know him, right in front of Theo? Even a lost mate couldn’t be so cruel, surely. Theo didn’t think he could go outside now without accidentally tracking Zeki’s scent. He didn’t want to risk stumbling upon Zeki on a date, or worse, in someone’s hotel room. If Zeki was in town for the full moon Theo would have to leave. If he stayed in town, the chances of him doing something foolish would get so much worse. He’d have to leave before he found himself howling at windows, listening to the sounds Zeki made when he was with someone.
    He couldn’t breathe. Theo pushed away from the counter and stumbled. He heard his name and drew in a deep, long breath.
    “Theo! TheoTheoTheo!” Violet snapped their fingers in front of his face.
    Theo came back to awareness, still trembling weakly. He was in his living room, with a very worried and wide-eyed pixy in front of him. He realized he was on his couch and partially shifted. He blinked down at his paws as they turned achingly back to human hands and then pulled his claws from the cushion. His couch had been secondhand, but in good condition until now. He’d ruined it, he noticed dimly.
    The air smelled warm, like the oven was on, but nothing was baking. The cookies were cooling now, butter and vanilla scents drifting in from the kitchen. Violet was anxiety and the same salty sadness. Theo studied the holes he’d left in the cushion. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to… do this.”
    “It’s your couch. Stop apologizing.” Violet tackled him the moment he spoke, squashing on top of him the way his older sister had done when Theo had been little and worried about something he’d broken with clumsy childhood strength. The hug was a wolf thing, a family thing. Theo allowed it, going still when Violet snuffled into his shoulder and probably smeared eyeliner on him. “Don’t worry about me, Theo,” they mumbled. “You want me to call your folks? Do you need some pack time?”
    Zeki Janowitz was in town. Zeki was in town, and Theo couldn’t, wouldn’t do a thing about it. His family couldn’t help him, even if they weren’t out of town at a powwow. Theo should have gone with them the way he normally did, but he’d had work, and he’d been grateful for the chance to avoid a large gathering of people, all of them concerned and nosy and pitying. He’d never been much of a dancer anyway. But if he’d gone, he would never have been here to face the realization.
    Zeki was here, and he was going to meet someone and get on with his life while Theo hid in his house and baked desserts he wouldn’t eat.
    “I have cookies to finish,” he answered after a while. “Dozens of pandas.”
    “Yeah, I’m going to call your mom.” Violet pulled back to glare stubbornly. “I will assist you with your delicious cookies, and then I am calling your mom. She can talk to you, then come home and take you for a run.”
    “I’m not going to disappear again,” Theo promised obediently, but looked away from Violet’s now-brown eyes. He stared toward his kitchen.
    “And