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At least not in front of Theo. Runa would be happy to tell Fee her feelings about the wolf after he left. And as much as Fee wasn’t looking forward to that, it wasn’t anything he needed to worry about.
Theo huffed. “I just thought you might want to spend time with her since you don’t see her that often.”
Fee shrugged. “She’ll be here for a while.” She saw her mother plenty. Just because they didn’t sleep in a dogpile or however things worked in Theo’s pack, didn’t mean they didn’t have a close relationship.
“And you said you’d help paint my bedroom,” she added with a pout.
Theo sighed. “Alright, let’s get to it, then.” He draped a plastic sheet over her bed and dresser. He’d already pushed the furniture to the center of the room.
He poured the paint into the tray and ran the roller through it.
“Wow, it’s like you’re a professional,” Fee said with a grin. She knew Theo was doing a lot of house painting in the local towns and keeping some of the money for himself. And that felt important. Like a safety net.
Like he if ever wanted to leave…
She shook the thought away. Theo would never leave his pack.
Theo laughed. “Yep. I’m really building an empire.”
“Do you ever paint anything else?”
He looked at her over his shoulder as he rolled the paint on the wall. “No, Fee. I told you before, that’s not my thing.”
She’d tried to get Theo to add to her mural ever since that initial little bumblebee they’d team worked, but he always refused, always claimed he didn’t have any artistic skills, but Fee thought he just wasn’t letting it out.
Someday she’d get him to crack.
To open up.
To let her in and to let his creativity out.
“Why are you repainting anyway?” he asked as he covered the old lilac color.
“Just wanted a change.”
He huffed a laugh.
“What?” she demanded.
“I’m just surprised you’ve kept me around this long. You’re always wanting a change.”
She loaded her own roller with paint and stood beside him. She bumped his hip with hers.
“You better behave or I might trade you in for a different werewolf.”
He bumped her back and she yelped, almost tipping over. Theo laughed. She fake-scowled at him.
“That’s it. I need a new werewolf!”
He put his roller down and scooped her up instead, wrapping his arms around her waist. She shrieked as he lifted her off the ground.
“You’d never get rid of me, Fee.” He spun her around until she was laughing too hard to breathe and the walls were splattered in paint from the roller she was still holding.
He put her down and planted a kiss on the top of her head and then took up a paint brush. While Fee caught her breath, he painted a giant heart on the wall with a T+F inside it.
“There.” He grinned. “How’s that for artwork?”
“Truly groundbreaking,” she said.
