Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(62)

“Women? As in plural? More than one?” The thought of Lee and a string of women was somewhat unsettling. I always kind of took Lee for a monk. He was the definition of emotionally unavailable. He was a lone wolf and by his nature tended to push people away.

Neil turned briefly with that know-it-all smile he got when he knew the good gossip and I didn’t. “He’s considered the stud of choice among the unattached Dallas she-wolves. I’m sure his number is in the women’s restroom of the local wolf bar with the tag line ‘get it here.’”

My mouth dropped open. “Are we talking about the same wolf? Lee isn’t exactly a ladies’ man. He’s the most charmless man I’ve ever met. He doesn’t even look at women.”

“Well, honey, I don’t know about looking,” Neil said, taking back up his naked hike, “but he sure likes playing with them. I’m kind of lying though. I know what it is about Lee they all like.”

“Spit it out.” I wanted to know.

“Okay, so like most of the odd non-human creatures, werewolves have trouble with fertility. Unless you and Dev get it on in close proximity, it can be hard to get a wolf pregnant. Not surprisingly, this makes a lot of wolves slightly obsessed with having babies. Also not surprisingly, there’s a small faction of female wolves who don’t want to be broodmares for the next generation of puppies,” Neil explained. “Most of the male wolves I grew up around measured their masculinity by whether or not they could impregnate a female. It’s an instinct. When I was fifteen, my dad tried to pair me with another fifteen-year-old. Unfortunately, my proposed mate’s name was Jane instead of John and it just didn’t work for me.”

He’d been kicked out of his pack for his refusal to mate with the females. I hadn’t realized how young he’d been when he was expected to try to become a dad.

“Lee doesn’t have that instinct,” Neil continued. “Take Zack, for example. He’s been dating Lisa for a month or so and they aren’t using anything. He’s actually hoping she turns up pregnant so they can get married.”

“Wow, that’s fast.” It wasn’t unheard of for two wolves to get married without first proving their fertility, but it rarely happened. They tended to like to know they were compatible first.

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. It’s normal in the wolf world. You humans take your fertility for granted. Anyway, Lee is willing to use protection and he doesn’t get obsessed with the women he screws, so he has a parade of happy women coming in and out of that sad apartment.”

“I had no idea.” It was odd to think of Lee having a life outside of work. He had a whole second job as the she-wolves’ booty call.

“Yeah, I think he wanted to keep it that way,” Neil allowed. He shook off his guilt at having let me in on the secret. I was surprised he managed to keep it from me for this long. “Of course, if he really wanted to keep it that way, he shouldn’t have gotten himself made into a love slave and forced me to walk through the woods to save his ass. Zoey, seriously, don’t give him a hard time about it. He’s private. It would bug him if you knew.”

“He knows everything about me.” He did that thing where he sniffed me from top to bottom at least twice a day. It was invasive and I’d strangely gotten used to it. Now I didn’t even stop what I was doing, but it had the side effect of him knowing every bit of my business. He knew how often I had sex and with whom.

“That’s his job, Z. He takes it seriously. He considers you to be his responsibility. I think he loves you a little. You’re like the sister he didn’t know he wanted. Zack told me their mom died when they were young. Their dad kind of drifted in and out, so Lee had to raise him. It’s second nature to protect the people he cares about. I think he’s happy with his life right now.”

“I’m glad you like him.” It warmed my heart that Neil finally had a father figure. My dad had been good to Neil, but he needed another wolf to look up to.

“I like him a lot, Z. I didn’t expect him to accept me but he did. He even asks me how Chad is doing from time to time, and I never give him too much information. He’s a good man.” Neil stopped and pointed. “He’s also in that scary house about two hundred feet that way.”

I took a deep breath and got ready for my second fight of the evening. “Okay,” I said, putting down my cargo. Neil wouldn’t want it any closer to the fray. “I promise that once we save him I won’t give him a hard time about becoming a female vamp’s love slave.”

Neil looked at me like I had lost my damn mind. “Are you kidding? I was talking about his string of one-night stands back home. We’re so giving him a ton of shit about this. We’ll be giving him hell about this night forever.”

“Agreed,” I said with a smile as I changed the clip in my gun. I was happy because it would have been hard not to tease the crap out of him about this particular incident. The good news was the cold iron should work on this faery vampire as well as it had on the ogre. She didn’t care about silver, unlike the Earth plane’s vamps. In this case, her Fae nature was more important than her undead status.

I studied the small house in the middle of the forest. It was completely incongruous against the wild nature around it. The cottage had been painted white and stood out starkly against the greenery. It was like a lighthouse for people lost in the woods at night. I was sure many a roaming hunter had thought he could get a hospitable meal and a place to sleep when he came across this small brugh. Of course, it wouldn’t be long before he became the dinner and settled here for the longest of sleeps.