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

was.
    “Anyway.” Violet huffed. “He’s just under six feet, but he carries himself well, and his hair helps. He’s still got that mess of black hair and those insane eyelashes. He looks like a mascara ad.” Violet paused, choosing not to tell him details, Theo guessed. “You can tell he doesn’t do much exercise, but he doesn’t look inactive. More like other things are more important to him than his body. But… that’s also not exactly true. That’s the best part.” Violet came back into Theo’s line of sight, but Theo didn’t look. He put both hands on the counter and pushed against it as he waited for the rest.
    “He had symbols, I don’t know, lines or something, tattooed on the backs of his hands and his wrists and on his neck. He was wearing a sweater with long sleeves, but my guess is he’s covered in ink.”
    Theo spoke faintly. “He marked himself, with magic.” There were marks in Zeki Janowitz’s skin. Marks meant to last forever, to announce to the world who he was, what he cared about. He’d devoted himself to magic. Which was admirable, even as it stabbed Theo in the chest. Theo told himself he would never have expected a human to want to mark themselves for their mate the way weres did. He told himself that three times, and then he went to the ovens to exchange one tray of cookies for another. He blinked at the stinging heat in his eyes.
    “All in black.” Violet must have had an interest in tattoos, judging from the approval in their voice. “I wonder how painful that was. He could have them somewhere intimate .” Theo closed his eyes. Violet kept talking. “He wore skinny jeans with a baggy cardigan; he must still feel the nip in the air. He had some stubble on his chin, not much, though. I think he remembered me from school, but he didn’t say. And he’s got bright eyes. How eyes of brown can be bright is a mystery. Maybe it’s the human magic.”
    “Human magic is the same as the magic that beings use, but they work it consciously, with effort,” Theo corrected patiently, as he often did these days when he heard someone comment on magic. Theo had researched it, years ago. He’d never gotten the chance to learn about his mate, and magic had seemed the least painful avenue to study, the least personal to Zeki himself. Theo had never thought Zeki would return, or need Theo to know anything about his chosen field, but he had wanted to know just the same.
    Wondering about his lost mate’s tattoos, about the life he’d lived somewhere else and where he planned to go, was a pain to curl around later. Theo continued to line up cookies on his racks and then cut out more. He’d lost count some time ago, which was a problem. People were going to talk about him more for this, but they would have talked about him anyway. Theo’s sad story was one of their favorites.
    Now his failed mate was in town again, and Theo’s kitchen was filled with dozens and dozens of cookies. He was going to get stares in the grocery store, overhear whispers on his way to work. All it would take was the right group of weres to be around if Theo ran into Zeki somewhere public. “People are going to get worse.” His voice broke.
    “Yeah.” At least Violet didn’t try to lie. “Between this and the sheriff’s peculiar situation, the town is abuzz.”
    Theo raised his head. “How does the town know who he is?” He turned to glare at Violet, not that Violet would have told, but if Violet had acted strange around Zeki, someone might have noticed. Violet made a puzzled face at him right as Theo stopped again. The rest of what Violet had said sank in. “What happened to the sheriff?”
    They rolled their eyes. “God, Theo, you manage to tune out the world like no one else. Our sheriff has been struck down by Cupid. Or instinct, as you’d say.”
    “The sheriff’s in love?” That was big news. Sheriff Neri was the unquestioned alpha wolf in a town full of them. Who he fell in love with