Love at First Scent
Chapter 7

“You’re smiling, Boss.”

Craig looked up to see Diego’s smirk from the desk across from his own. “Some rule against smiling now?” he muttered.

“Nah.” Diego laughed. “It’s just that you normally don’t appear to have such a good time filling out budget requests.”

“What can I say, the budget is looking mighty promising.”

“You should ask her to come to the street fair this weekend. Ladies love that kind of Hallmark romance movie sh!t.”

Craig had to laugh. Diego was leaning back in his chair, throwing nuts in the air and trying to catch them in his mouth.

“How do you fool so many women into falling all over you again?” he asked as a peanut bounced off the other man’s forehead.

Diego laughed as well. Nothing much could ruin that wolf’s sunny disposition. “Fool them? Honesty is the answer to that, my friend. I’m completely honest with them about what I’m looking for, and they can’t get enough of it.”

For all the ego the man had, Craig couldn’t disagree that Diego had appeared to be nothing less than honest in all things—and he appreciated it in a second, not only as a ranger but especially as a member of his pack.

But still…

Craig waited for the perfect moment, just as the next nut was falling back down and Diego’s chair was balancing precariously on the back two legs.

“My wolf seems to think that Caro is the one.”

Bingo!Diego’s eyes went wide as the snack went straight down his throat, causing a sequence of choking and gagging until the chair tipped over backward, sending his ranger to the floor in spectacular fashion.

“You found your mate?” Diego wheezed out, a ridiculous grin breaking out on his face despite his sprawled state on the floor, “Congratulations, Alpha.”

“Yeah, well, since my mate made a point of telling me she was a married woman, let’s wait and see if the Goddess has screwed me over before we start to celebrate.”

“But … I didn’t scent a male on her, aside from you after you had picked her up.” Diego seemed pensive.

“Me neither, so I’m hoping there’s more to the story than there appears.” Craig sighed. “But since she has already made her marital status clear to me, it would be rude to ask her out.”

“Hmm, why don’t we call Bennett and see what he knows about the situation?”

“Good idea, I’ll do that as soon as I’m done with this stupid paperwork.”

Twenty minutes later, Bennett strolled into the ranger station before Craig even had a chance to call him.

“I heard you wanted to speak with me, Alpha.” He took a seat in front of the desk. “And I think I have good news.”

“You already know what I’m going to ask?” Craig raised one eyebrow.

Small towns sure take some getting used to. It’s impossible to keep any kind of secret around here.

Not that Craig was trying to keep anything a secret, but until he knew Caro’s circumstances, he didn’t want to risk making her uncomfortable.

Bennett laughed. “Yeah, well, you know. Small pack, even smaller town. After the incident this morning—thank you for looking after Caro, by the way—the ladies had coffee and breakfast at the café, on the patio. Since they are unaware most of us here are shifters with excellent hearing, they were speaking openly and old Mrs. Alice took note of their conversation.”

“Oh? Anything enlightening?”

“Short of betraying Caro’s confidence, which I won’t do, as I already consider her family,” the other wolf continued, “I can tell you that she is near finalizing a divorce. It appears the relationship has been on bad terms for a long period of time. So, I feel like she could be receptive to an overture if she is interested in you—but you may want to be delicate about it.”

Craig frowned. “Delicate?”

Bennett laughed. “I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of experience wooing a human, do you?”

“No.”

“You just have to remember that they aren’t ruled by instinct like us shifters are. You have to give allowances for them to think about things.”

“Ah, I see,” Craig mused. “And that has worked with your Ellie?”

“Ellie lets her instincts out more than her sister would I think. She doesn’t have the same emotional baggage. I have no doubt the DNA tests will show a high percentage of shifter genes, and I believe her transition will be easier than I’d dare hope.” He smiled. “Which means Caro’s should as well.”

Both men smiled just as Diego burst into the room like a child on Christmas morning. “The doc just emailed me the results from Ellie’s hair sample. She’s definitely got shifter somewhere in her line. He thinks it’s prevalent enough that just being exposed to shifter pheromones eventually would cause a turning, even without a mating.”

Bennett’s eyes lit up. “That’s great news! What type of shifter did he indicate? Are they wolves?”

Diego laughed. “Umm, well, not quite. While they are of the canine family, it seems your ladies are of the Vulpes genus.”

“They’re foxes?” Craig was surprised, but then he thought about Ellie’s personality and that made a lot of sense. She was friendly and open. Most of the elder pack females had adopted her as one of their own. She would make an excellent mate for Bennett.

“Yup.” Diego handed over the email and slapped a hand to Bennett’s back. “Congrats, man. Looks like you both lucked out.”

Craig looked at the younger male who was grinning like an idiot, but then again, he supposed things would be much easier for Bennett when it came to sharing Ellie’s shifter heritage with her and offering to share his life as well.

For Craig, it seemed things were going to be a bit trickier. Where should he start with the woman who was meant to be his?