“So,” Kisten said loudly when David started to look uncomfortable. “Rachel tells me you asked her to be your absent partner so you could get two salaries and she could get a good rate on her insurance.”

“Ah, yes…” David stammered, looking down so his hat hid his eyes. “About that…”

I jumped as Kisten’s cold hand worked its way under my coat and touched the skin at my waist. “I like that,” he murmured, not talking about how his fingers were tracing small circles to warm my middle. “Inventive. My kind of man.”

David’s head came up. “Would you excuse me,” he muttered, sending a quick hand to fiddle with his glasses. “I haven’t said hello to Ceri and Keasley yet.”

I chuckled, and Kisten pulled me closer. “You do that, Mr. Peabody,” Kisten said.

The short Were jerked to a stop, gave him a warning frown, then continued, stopping to get a glass of his wine on the way.

My smile slowly faded. The scent of leather became obvious, mixing with the hard aroma of burning ash, and I snuggled closer into Kisten. “Hey,” I said softly, my gaze fixed on the fire. “David wants me to sign a paper. Make me part of his pack.”

His breath caught. “You’re kidding,” he said, pushing me away so he could focus on me. His blue eyes were wide and his face surprised and wondering.

Looking at my cold fingers, I slipped them into his. “I’d like you to witness it.”

“Oh.” His gaze went to the fire and he shifted his arm to lean a smidgen away.

I grinned in understanding and laughed. “No, you idiot,” I said, pushing on his arm. “It’s a pack membership, not an interspecies bond. I’m not marrying the guy, for the Turn’s sake. It’s only a legal agreement so I can get my insurance through him and his company won’t fire him. He’d ask a Were woman, but he doesn’t want a pack, and that’s what he’d get if he asked one.”

Kisten exhaled long and slow, and I could feel the softness return to his grip. “Good,” he said, pulling me closer. “ ’Cause you’re my alpha bitch, babe, and no one else’s.”

I gave him a telling look, which was hard to do seeing as I was almost in his lap. “Babe?” I said dryly. “You know what I did to the last guy who called me that?”

Kisten jerked me closer. “Maybe later, love,” he whispered to start a delicious tingle in me. “We don’t want to shock your friends,” he added, and I followed his gaze to where Howard and Keasley were laughing while Ceri tried to eat her s’more without getting messy.

“Will you witness the paper for me?” I asked.