“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
She scurried to the other side of the big sorting table so that she couldn’t see him from the waist down. Naked naked wasn’t as disturbing as when Nathan shifted into that weird blend of human and Wolf that made him look like both and neither.
When he started to come around the table, she squeaked and scampered to the doorway of the back room. “You should put on some clothes when you’re in human form.”
He snarled at her.
Okay, not interested in clothes, she thought, trying to ignore her curiosity and not peek at his parts, since that could be construed as sending a signal. At least, according to The Dimwit’s Guide to Dating that she’d been reading ever since that . . . confusion . . . with Simon the night he’d shifted from Wolf to human form and she kicked him off the bed. But the kicking was because of the dream she’d been having and not because of Simon being naked . . . and human.
Since Nathan didn’t seem to care one way or the other if she saw him naked, maybe Wolves and humans didn’t read the same signals?
The office’s back door opened. Nathan, looking satisfied, shifted to Wolf form and returned to the front room.
Okay, that signal was clear enough.
“Tattletale,” Meg muttered as Simon and Vlad rushed in.
“Meg!” Simon said. He bared his teeth. “Nathan says you’re itchy. Why are you itchy?”
“I’m not.” She didn’t feel even the slightest tingle anymore.
“Arroo!” Nathan said, his forelegs on the front counter so he could watch what was going on in the sorting room.
Meg turned and glared at him. He stared back.
“I was itchy, but now I’m not,” she amended when Simon growled, clearly more inclined to take Nathan’s word over hers right now.
She held out her hands. “No more prickles. When that deliveryman showed up, the pins-and-needles feeling started and kept getting worse. I got away from the front counter as soon as I could.”
Vlad hissed. Simon and Nathan growled.
Meg decided she didn’t like being growled at in stereo.
“We’re not upset with you,” Vlad said.
Funny, it sure sounded that way.
“What was delivered that caused the prickles?”
“A flower arrangement,” she replied.
As soon as she moved toward the door with the PRIVATE sign, the prickling began again around her rib cage. When she reached the door, the pins-and-needles feeling became a painful buzz along her ribs and a fierce prickling in her hands. She’d been focused on what she was feeling and hadn’t realized Simon and Vlad were standing so close. When she tried to back up, she stepped on Simon’s foot, making him yelp.
Simon grabbed her and hustled her to the back room.
“Is she all right?” Vlad asked, rushing to join them.
“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her hands. “The prickling is fading again, so there must be something about the flower arrangement that is causing the reaction. The flowers came from a company called Blooming Blossoms. They’ve never delivered here before.” She stopped, thought.
“Meg?” Simon said sharply. “You turned pale.”
“Delivery for Theral,” she whispered. “The flowers are for Theral.”