Page 2
She placed her hand on my thigh and moved it north to the front of my pants, right over my bulge. “For this.”
I stared into her hazy eyes and let my shoulders relax. Hazel had been going on and on and on and on lately about this mate thing, and it had been stressing me the fuck out. Every time I told her to stop, she’d double down on it.
But Linda? She knew exactly what I needed, when I needed it.
And she wasn’t going to bitch and complain about me being with another woman. She was the one who invited them all over anyway. I could live my life freely, break this godforsaken curse on my pack, and everyone could live happily ever after.
“Did you guys see that house was bought right outside our property?” Matt asked. “I saw some humans moving in on my run this morning. Didn’t think anyone would move into that place.”
“Hmm,” I murmured, but I didn’t really care.
All my packmates knew how to interact with humans and to hide themselves from them, especially when they shifted in and out of wolf form. I didn’t like anyone outside my packmates to be that close, but the town wouldn’t sell us the property.
Hazel sat across from me again and raised her brows.
Not this again.
“Yeah, looked like a brother and a sister,” Matt continued.
“Is the brother hot?” One of Linda’s friends giggled. “Please say yes.”
Matt cleared his throat, a small smile crossing his lips. “I don’t know about him, but the sister …” He whistled softly, the sound traveling through the small café. “I had to head to the packhouse and rub one out.”
“That’s why you were late to our meeting this morning?” Rowen, one of my warriors, chuckled. “You were jerking off?”
Matt shrugged. “Hey, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.”
My packmates fell into a quiet chatter, and I blew out a deep breath, shoulders slumping forward. I had so much business to take care of back at the packhouse that I really shouldn’t be here, bullshitting right now.
Rogues had been spotted multiple times on our property. Wolf Hunters too.
The bell on the door jingled, and suddenly, the sweet scent of honeysuckle invaded the room, drifting through my nostrils and paralyzing me to the spot. My gaze was fixed on my friends, yet the hairs on my arms were standing up, and I … I could feel my heart racing.
“Listen,” a soft voice said in a hushed whisper. “All I’m saying is that I would never—and you can quote me on this—ever date an alpha male. They’re way too possessive, they think their shit doesn’t stink, and they order you to do things all day long.”
From my peripheral vision, I watched her walk closer with a man at her side. The intoxicating scent was coming from her—there wasn’t any doubt in my mind. I stiffened and clenched my jaw, unable to stop myself from gazing over my shoulder at her.
She had light-brown hair sitting in curls down her chest, blazing green eyes, a dimple on the left side of her mouth, and opal earrings adorned in silver. And that honeysuckle … Goddess, that scent was nothing like I had ever smelled before.
“That’s the chick,” Matt said through our mindlink.
“Didn’t you date someone just like that in high school?” The guy laughed beside her.
She raised her hand and peered away. “We don’t talk about him. Okay?”
“You did say to quote you on that.”
Her gaze shifted around the café to everyone and anyone except the man who I assumed was her brother. And when her eyes met mine, my wolf went wild inside me, growling that one cursed word that I despised.
“Mate.”
Chapter Two
Ember
“Jared was his name, wasn’t it? The big QB,” Pavel said, really trying to rub it in that I might have had a thing for guys with alphahole tendencies.
But not anymore. No, no, no. This girl had learned her lesson.
