Bosun by V. Vaughn Read Free Book Online Page B

evening, we manage to eat dinner, but it is only to provide fuel for more bedroom exercise. I’m on my way home to shower and get ready for work, and I flip my visor down as the sun peeks up from the horizon in vivid shades of orange to burn through dawn. I’m deliriously happy and sing loudly to the radio.
    Pillow talk last night was Bosun answering my questions about life as a werewolf. He even offered to shift for me so I could see how it works. A piece of me was afraid that might shatter my perception of reality, so I declined with a request to see it another time. While I’m sure there will be things about my relationship with a werewolf that’ll be tricky, I’m too in love to care.
    My phone buzzes with a text, and I smile, imagining it’s something sweet from Bosun. I don’t check until I pull into my driveway, and I discover it’s from Katie.
    “ What happened last night? ”
    Not quite sure about the protocol for discussing these things in the human world, I text back. “ Keeping the ringtone. See you soon. ”
    “ Awesome. I have so much to tell you. ”
    I imagine if I didn’t have a girlfriend to share this with, I’d be bursting with things to share too. Poor Katie. It must have been hard not to be able to tell your best friend you’re in love with a werewolf. She’s right. We have so much to talk about.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    W hen I get to work, Katie is already there, and the aroma of dark-roast coffee wafts toward me as I walk in the door. I call out, “You’re the best friend ever!”
    “And now you are.” After I slip out of my jacket and hang it up, Katie hands me a steaming mug of caffeine, and it’s hot in my hands. She says, “I’m so excited to finally be able to talk to you about my real life.”
    “I can’t believe you’ve kept it a secret all this time. It must have been so hard.” We wander out into the main room of the salon.
    “It was, but you can understand why I didn’t, right?”
    I plop down in a chair. “Of course. The fear on Bosun’s face when he told me spoke volumes. He thought I’d run, screaming.”
    “Well, you are taking it rather well.” The computer dings as she boots up the receptionist’s laptop. “But I thought you might. You’ve always been open to adventure. So tell me what happened, and don’t leave anything out.”
    Heat rushes to my face. “Um, I’m going to leave some of it out.”
    “Oh my God! You slept with him too?” She plops down in the chair next to me, and we both swing to face each other. “This is going to be good.”
    “Okay, so you know I’d gone to his house the night before. He took me down to the water, and we heard howling. Bosun told me it was a male wolf calling his female. I jokingly howled at him, not having any idea what he really was.”
    “Ah, that explains the ringtone.”
    “Yeah. So last night, he mentioned the howling and how I noticed he transmits so much heat, and then he said he was a werewolf. At first I thought he was joking. But then I saw his face, and he was so afraid, and I... God, Katie, I’m so in love with this guy that all I could think was that I needed to show him I didn’t care.” I lift my cup to my mouth and grin. “So I did.” I take a sip.
    “Hussy. So what do you think today?”
    “I’m not sure. I asked a hundred questions last night, and I bet I’ll have a hundred more. So far, I haven’t heard anything I can’t live with.” Katie gets up and takes my mug from me to get us more coffee. As she walks toward the back room I say, “Besides, you’re happily married to one, so I figure I can be too. If it comes to that.”
    Katie’s face is serious as she approaches me and hands me my cup. “Dev, I’m a werewolf too.”
    My jaw drops. “What?” I scan her body quickly with my eyes, as if I’d be able to see it. “Wait. Why?”
    “Because I wanted to be. At first. And then I didn’t. Which is why I ran off to college.”
    “Right.” Katie came home after her freshman