Page 14

There she was again, all teasing smiles and flushed cheeks. She tossed Theo down a pair of pants and that was when he remembered he was stark-ass naked in front of her.

Shit.

It was his turn to blush bright red, and he was sure Ryder was teasing him mercilessly in his head. He’d never hear the end of this.

“You can go,” he hissed to his friend as he yanked on the borrowed pants.

Ryder rolled his eyes but didn’t hesitate to lope off in the direction of home. Theo was sure his father would be pissed when Ryder returned without him, but he didn’t care about that right now.

He didn’t care about anything other than finding out more about this girl.

“What’s your name?” he asked, his nakedness covered now even if the pants were a bit short and a bit tight.

“Phoebe,” she said with a smile. “What’s yours?”

“Theo.”

Her smile grew. “I like that name.”

“You do?” His heart raced like it mattered that she liked his name. It wasn’t like he picked it himself or anything. But he felt inexplicably proud.

“I do,” she said with a laugh. “Do you want to come up?”

Did he want to come up into the magical treehouse with the pretty girl?

Uh … Hell, yes, he did.

“Sure.”

He found the ladder and climbed up to the wood deck. Phoebe was grinning at him as he pulled himself up.

“I’ve never met a werewolf before,” she said by way of greeting. “But I’ve heard you’re dangerous.”

Theo glanced down at himself, so much scrawnier than his older brothers. He hadn’t put on much muscle yet. He was still waiting. And the only dangerous thing he’d done lately was steal some candy from Rafe’s Snickers stash. He’d definitely get his ass kicked for that later.

“Nah,” he said. “We’re not all dangerous.”

“Oh, good.” Phoebe’s eyes twinkled.

“I’ve never met a dryad before,” he said. “But I’ve heard they’re sneaky.”

Mimicking Theo’s reaction, Phoebe looked down at herself. She was wearing a faded blue sundress. Her feet were bare and her skin was sunburned.

Theo found her painfully beautiful to look at.

She looked up and smirked mischievously. “We can be sneaky,” she admitted. “But we’re always kind to our friends.”

“And are we friends?” he asked, embarrassed by how badly he wanted the answer to be yes.

“I don’t know yet, Theo the werewolf.” She glanced around at the other trees nearby. “Let’s go inside. I have nosy neighbors.”

Theo looked at the empty trees. Or he thought they were empty anyway.

“How many are there of you?”

Phoebe shrugged. “A bunch,” she said as he followed her inside the house. “Sometimes my mother lives with me but she’s not here at the moment.”

The inside of Phoebe’s house was nearly as miraculous as the outside. The walls were covered in a brightly colored mural of flowers and trees and birds. Painted ladybugs crawled around the window frames and tulips sprung up from behind the couch. It made him smile.