Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“But you can’t just give up,” Allegra cried. It took me a moment to realize she wasn’t suddenly able to read my thoughts and was replying to what I’d said about not being anyone’s mate.
“It’s not as though I have much of a choice. You’ve already paraded me past every single unattached male shifter in Timber Ridge.” I shrugged and reached for a lemon-filled donut. Zeke had barely rolled out of bed this morning before he’d hopped into his truck to drive almost an hour round trip to hit up a specific bakery because it was what Allegra was craving for breakfast. He’d remembered which kind were my favorite and had brought them back for me, which had earned him an extra kiss from my best friend. Not that she really needed an excuse since the happy couple was already lip locked most of the time.
“Then we’ll just have to look elsewhere,” she insisted after polishing off the maple bacon donut she’d devoured in no time flat.
I wrinkled my nose when she reached for a Sriracha-drizzled one next. “In all the years I’ve known you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat anything other than plain old glazed or strawberry jam filled.”
She set the spicy donut on the napkin in front of her, and her teeth bit into her bottom lip. “Yeah, the baby’s really messing with my taste buds.”
Since I had a big chunk of donut in my mouth, I nodded in response. After I chewed and swallowed, I grinned big because Allegra’s baffled expression as she patted her belly was adorable. The past month had been a whirlwind for her, ending with Zeke telling her that she was pregnant a few days ago. It was too early for a test to confirm she was carrying his baby, but his shifter senses had picked up on the pregnancy right away. They hadn’t been able to keep it a secret from anyone in Timber Ridge since the news spread like wildfire as soon as the first shifter scented it on her. Even though her parents had quickly gotten on board with her relationship with Zeke when we all went home for the holiday, she hadn’t gotten up the nerve to tell them yet. I’d hitched a ride back with them, and her relief at passing that hurdle had been obvious. But I knew she worried that her overprotective mom would head straight for Timber Ridge as soon as she learned of the pregnancy and never leave. Which I could totally see happen with how much she hovered over Allegra, something I was envious of since I wished my mom would give me a sliver of the attention she got from hers.
I pulled myself out of my pity party when Allegra reached for her donut. “Give that to me,” I huffed, snatching the donut out of her hand. “I’m not entirely convinced the baby is telling you that sriracha sounds like a great idea since you’re so early in your pregnancy, but the reason you want this doesn’t really matter. We both know you’re going to give yourself heartburn if you eat something this spicy.”
Allegra’s lips curved down in a pout. “You don’t know that it’s too spicy. Maybe the sweetness of the donut will overpower the sriracha, and I’ll barely taste it.”
I lifted the donut to my mouth and licked some of the red drizzle off the top. The heat hit my tongue, but it was quickly followed by the sweet from the sugar. Allegra might’ve been right about being able to handle the donut, but I wasn’t willing to admit it to her in case she was wrong. “There’s no way you’d miss the spiciness.”
“Jerk.” She shook her head and laughed as she grabbed a strawberry jam-filled donut to replace the one I stole. “I guess it’s better if you eat the stupid donut since you like hot things way more than I do.”
I dropped the sriracha donut on the napkin in front of me and picked up the half of the lemon-filled one I hadn’t eaten yet. “Nah, I’m not sure I want to breathe fire all day.”
“Breathe fire,” she echoed, clapping her hands together in excitement. “That’s it!”
I had zero idea what she was talking about, but I recognized that gleam in her eye enough to know I should probably be at least a little worried. “What’s it?”
“Maybe you didn’t find your hunky shifter here because you’re going to end up with a dragon!” She wagged her brows.
“I don’t know why you’re acting like it would be such a great thing for me to be paired with a dragon.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
“Yeah, well...I don’t understand why you’re being all pissy over the possibility,” she grumbled.
“Remember how Larissa said that Kace told her there weren’t that many dragon shifters?” Allegra nodded. “If fate matched me with one of them, the odds of me finding my guy just went way down.”