Free How to Date a Werewolf by Rose Pressey Page B

whispered. I tapped my foot, signaling my impatience with her.
    Nothing. No movement, not even a twitch of her tail. She had a lot of nerve to show her shifted form in the daylight like that, and not to mention in the middle of a busy restaurant.
    The space was small, without a lot of room to move, but I walked forward and peered down. Lily wasn’t alone. Huddled behind the trash can were two hairy beasts. They whispered to each other while I watched. Probably plotting their attack against me.
    I cleared my throat. “Excuse me. I said I can see you. Don’t ignore me.” I spoke through clenched teeth. “You’re not very good at this game.” Trying to keep my voice to a whisper wasn’t easy. My anger escalated.
    In that moment, both of them stood, and I stumbled backward a couple of steps when I took in their size. For a second, I wobbled on my feet until I finally righted myself. Something was different.
    The Martin necklace was missing from around Lily’s neck, and her eyes glowed a different hue. Her usually shiny fur wasn’t clean and pretty as it normally was. The other wolf had an overbite and wore a thick gold chain around his neck. Yes, the beast was a he --and don’t ask me how I knew, because I don’t want to talk about it.
    All right, if you must know, one word would describe it. Eww . He seriously needed to wear pants. And how the hell he got a necklace around his thick, hairy neck I had no idea. More than likely I wouldn’t want to know.
    Anyway, like I said, a different vibe came from them, and I got the sinking sensation Lily wasn’t one of the mangy mutts standing before me. I never thought I’d be happy to see her, but this was one time when I would have welcomed a visit from Lily instead of the scruffy animals facing me.
    We stared at each other for a few seconds and I worried Jack would come to find me. Undoubtedly, he wondered what could be taking me so long.
    “What do you want? I don’t have time to play these silly games.” I sure as hell wasn’t going to let them spoil my date.
    Overbite-wonder-wolf winked at me and stared as if I was the only steak in a vegetarian restaurant. My stomach churned. The other one with short, multicolored fur let out a growl and in a split second slashed the front of my shirt with a claw.
    “You stupid...” Temper. Temper. I had to control my temper. After all, I was in a restaurant. Breathe in. Breathe out. Apparently they wanted to rumble, but I wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Jack why my clothes looked like I’d shoved them through a paper shredder, then put them back on. There was only one thing to do: I’d have to duck into the ladies’ room, take off my clothes--fighting lupines would ruin my outfit--and change into my werewolf-self. Then I’d kick some werewolf butt, put my clothes back on and continue my date. Easy peasy. But if I didn’t get busy, that margarita glass would be dry before I could even say Wolfman.
    I dashed toward the ladies’ room, hurried in and slammed the door shut behind me. With fumbling fingers, I locked the access. Thankfully, I moved too quickly for them. They scratched at the wood as I secured the latch. The knob jiggled. Drawn-out scratches echoed from the other side, down the length of the door. More jiggling, followed by pounding. Would anyone hear and come save me? I moved away from the door, staring at it and wondering if they’d knock it in. Then silence. I needed to hurry.
    I pulled my ripped blouse--I’d get them for that--over my head, and then shimmied out of my jeans. Scanning the room, I didn’t see anywhere to stash my clothes. Finally, I settled on stuffing them under the sink and prayed no one would steal them before I annihilated the dirty wolves. Jennifer had been right about the matching underwear thing--a werewolf in granny panties wouldn’t be cool. Another “I told you so” could be heard in the distance. I had no alternative but to strip off everything.
    So there I stood in the