Page 47 of The Golden Receiver

He took my silence as something else though, and he elaborated further on the question. “Growing up with a dad, I mean.”

Something about the way he worded it made my heart ache. He’d not grown up with that. He’d told me how his parents had given him to the pack after he first shifted. “I can’t imagine anything else,” I told him honestly. “I had a lot more freedom than a lot of my classmates. Especially once Pops decided I was old enough to be left home alone. I’d walk home after football practice, do my homework, make a sandwich for dinner, things like that. And every morning, I’d wake up and he’d make me breakfast. That was our real time.”

“You mean, someone could get you to do more than grunt in the mornings?” he asked with a laugh.

“No, but Pops tried anyway. He got used to the fact that I wasn’t a morning person. Never took it personal.”

“I’m getting used to it too,” he teased. “Though maybe I should try your dad’s way. Bring you food for our runs. See if that makes you any less grumpy.”

I glared at him as I took a bite of my burger.

Evander asked me a few more questions about my childhood while we ate. Most of the time, when people did that, I always felt like I was being interviewed or something. Evander seemed genuinely interested. He laughed at the right times, and he loved my bar stories. When I told him how I’d gotten into football, he started telling me stories of his own. Him and Luke and a few other pack members used to watch every weekend. Then Luke would take him out back and throw to him, mostly because he had too much energy.

I could imagine that part easily.

Before long, we’d both cleared our plates, but I didn’t want the time to end.

That was new. Usually after about an hour with anyone, I was ready for them to disappear. I could count on one hand the number of exceptions I’d had in my life, and one of them was Teagan. Another one was my Pops. When I’d met Evander, I sure as hell hadn’t thought that he’d put his name on that very short list, but he had.

I’d noticed it Sunday, and I thought it was maybe just a post-sex glitch. I was thinking that I knew better now. He was something more than just a teammate who I had great sexual chemistry with, and I didn’t want this time to end.

“You wanna go for a walk?” I asked him once we got outside. We’d turned toward the dorm, and that feeling of not wanting the time I was spending with him to be over doubled and tripled immediately.

Evander smiled, and I swear it was brighter than the setting sun behind him. It made his eyes do that glowing thing I’d seen a few times. “Why do your eyes glow?” I asked him suddenly. I’d been curious about it since the first time I’d seen it.

“They don’t really glow,” he told me. “It’s… you know when you see pictures of cats and dogs and sometimes their eyes look like they’re glowing? It’s a reflection of the light. Happens usually when we need to see better, you know? Like when the sun’s setting or it’s dark out.”

That tracked with the times I’d seen his eyes glow. The first time had been after the Alpha Claw Omega party, when he’d followed me home and we’d ended up kissing outside the science building. The second time had been in the woods after I found out I got the starting job, but not the one I wanted. Now that I was thinking about it, I thought I’d seen his eyes spark a bit during our morning runs, but I’d only had quick glances. I’d thought it was a trick of the light, but now I knew it was just a werewolf thing.

“Any other weird things about werewolf anatomy?” I asked him with a grin.

“I have a tail,” he told me with a bright smile.

“I think I would have noticed if you had a tail.” I’d seen him naked, and I hadn’t seen a single tail in sight.

“Not all the time,” he informed me. He let out a laugh. “But when I turn into a werewolf, I have a tail. And Kali made sure that we could partially shift at will. One year, I went as a dog for Halloween, and I didn’t have to buy a tail or ears. It was really cool.”

I was almost tempted to ask him to show me his tail, but I figured that might be intrusive. It might also be a little weird to see some guy I was hooking up with sprout a tail. I’d have to get used to it eventually, but that seemed like something to ask for in private. Not walking across a campus with a bunch of other people around. Not that anyone else seemed to mind. We’d just been passed by a girl with antlers holding hands with some guy with purple skin.

“You want to see it, don’t you?” he teased.

Were my thoughts written all over my face or something? I wasn’t used to people being able to read me the way he did. “Does curiosity have a scent?” I asked, elbowing him playfully.

“No, but most people hear about the tail and want to see it.”

Well, that was something. “Maybe another time.”

“Just let me know. I’ll happily show it to you. Or my ears. Or even the full werewolf form sometime. Just say the word.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure if I would ever ask, but it was nice to know I had an open invite.

We made a lap around campus, and we somehow never ran out of things to talk about. I learned about some of his pack mates, and I told him about the team I played on before I came to Creelin. He told me about the first football team he ever played on, and I told him a little about mine. He seemed to remember a lot more about his than I did.

When we got back over near Karloff Hall, I still wasn’t ready for the night to be over, but I had my responsibilities. I needed to read a chapter before bed, and I knew I had an early morning.

“Do you want to come up to my room?” Evander asked when we got to the dorm.

I did, but I knew better. “I’ve got homework.” I could hear my own disappointment, and I knew that there was no way in hell Evander would miss it. He had that superhuman hearing, after all. He also had that uncanny ability to read me like a book. “I have to read a chapter before class tomorrow.”