Never His Mate: a Rejected Mates Shifter Romance (Claws and Fangs Book 1)

The logical side of my brain tells me that I’m reading too much into it. But then I remember the way his alpha wolf stared out at me from behind his eyes and I’m not so sure that’s the case.

Because the last time he looked at me like that? I had just licked his blood from my claws and sat with my legs spread, feeling the length of Ryker’s erection under my ass.

So, yeah. Forgive me for being thrown a bit.

By the time Ryker’s disappeared through the exit, I realize that that… all of that… it really happened. My former Alpha—the mate who rejected me—just showed up out of nowhere, and though he made it pretty clear that it wasn’t an accident⁠—

I’m hanging onto my wolf by a thread, Gemma. A year. A whole fucking year I’ve been looking for you…

—I honestly can’t believe it.

I go into alpha mode myself. Though I consider myself a lone wolf, I really am part of a small pack of two. I live with Aleks, I eat with him, and I’m as protective of him as he is of me. I don’t think of him as a prospective mate or anything, and he’d probably be insulted that my instincts toward him are more like he’s my pup, but seeing him in such bad a shape?

I have to help him.

I don’t even tell Tony to cover the bar again. Now that the spectacle is over, the rest of the bar’s staff is reacting, too. I can see that Natalie’s on her phone—straining my ears, I hear her say Charlie and know she’s called the boss—and two other waitresses are fielding comments, concerns, complaints from our customers. Tony’s moved behind the bar, and maybe he thought it would be a good place to hide after Ryker attacked Aleks, but he can handle anyone who—rightly so—needs another drink.

“Come on, Aleks,” I murmur. “I’ve got you.”

I lead him into the backroom. Because it couples as a makeshift break room, there’s a handful of chairs. I plop Aleks in the nearest one, tell him to sit tight, and dash over to the massive fridge.

As I go, his voice calls after me. “That was him. Wasn’t it?”

I don’t pretend to misunderstand. “Yeah. That was him.”

Aleks knows about Ryker. At least, he knows what I felt comfortable enough to admit. He knows that I left my pack because my adopted father agreed that I should mate with Mountainside’s new Alpha. I arrived at the mountain, the Alpha decided he wanted another mate, and he rejected me. Since I didn’t want to go back to Lakeview with my tail between my legs, I moved to Muncie instead.

Aleks, once he made his intentions clear, always marveled that Ryker gave me up. I thought it was sweet, but a little heavy-handed.

So, yeah. He knows about Ryker.

But did I ever confess that he was my fated mate?

It… might’ve slipped my mind.

“I’m so sorry, Gem. He caught me off guard.”

My laugh comes out far more hollow than I mean it to. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

“I didn’t want to involve the humans. I didn’t want Roman to find out, either.” He sighs, shifting in the seat to a more comfortable position. “Guess that’s a lost cause. He’ll know as soon as the first vamp reports in that we’ve got another shifter in town.”

Another shifter because, like me, his senses would’ve told him that the wolf who crossed into Muncie last night was different than Ryker.

So what was that about? An advanced guard? Or was it a wolf who got lucky enough to spy Gemma Swann walking around Muncie and ran back to Accalia to tell their Alpha?

“I don’t think Ryker’s gonna say ‘thanks’ for trying to cover his ass,” I mutter, grabbing the first blood bag I can reach from the fridge.

“I didn’t do it for the mangy wolf. I did it for you.”

“Me?”

“I know how much he hurt you. I wasn’t sure if you still cared about him even after all this time. But then the way he treated you… I couldn’t help myself.”

I use my claw to pop the plastic on the blood bag. I hold it out to Aleks. “Here. Drink this.”

If he notices that I pointedly avoided responding to his comment, he lets it go. Though he’s going to great lengths to act as if he’s fine, I watch in amazement as he lifts the puncture in the plastic to his fang. The second fang makes another hole. Seconds later, he’s drained the whole bag.

“Let me get you another one.”

“Thank you.”

He’s really got to stop thanking me. It only makes me feel worse that his injuries are my fault.

Ryker might have done this to him, but make no mistake. I’m responsible.

I bring three more bags over to Aleks. Partly because I’m desperate for him to recover, and partly because he can’t talk when his fangs are busy with the blood. In the end, it takes six bags before his chest is completely healed and his light green eyes lose that glassy look.

He gets up, swallowing another ‘thank you’ when I glare at him. I’m stacking the empties so that I know how much I’m going to owe my boss, and I would’ve willingly replaced six more if it meant that I did something for Aleks instead of the other way around for once.

Even though Ryker’s gone, I refuse to leave Charlie’s. I don’t know what staying at work proves, but when I snap my human teeth at Aleks after he suggests that we head back to the apartment together, he throws up his hands in a silent apology. He then offers to stay, but the idea of him sticking around like some kind of personal bodyguard—or, worse, getting in the way if Ryker does come back—just rubs me the wrong way.

The only way to make all of Charlie’s believe that what happened was no big deal is to act like it. That means that Aleks has to leave, and I have to return to my post behind the bar before I give Charlie a conniption.

Besides, both of us know that Aleks can’t stay. He still needs to feed; human blood straight from the source is far more potent than the chilled stuff that Charlie keeps at the bar. And then there’s the matter of Roman…

He’s not wrong when he says that the story of what happened in the bar will come better from him than one of the vamp customers. Just like I’ll have to deal with Charlie, he’s got his own boss to answer to.

I give Aleks one of the chef coats they keep in the kitchen since his shirt is toast. A quick splash in the bathroom and no one could tell that he was attacked barely half an hour ago.

With a searching look, he asks me one final time, “Are you sure you want to stay? I can walk you back to the apartment before I go see Roman.”

I shake my head. “I’ll be fine. Actually, I should probably stay until close to make up for everything. I’ll see you later. Okay?”

“Be careful, mały wilku.”

Be careful? Now that I know Ryker’s in town, he should be the one who’s careful.

He caught Aleks off guard. As much as I hate to admit it, he caught me unaware, too, but he won’t do that again.

We’ll see about that.

Yeah, Ryker. We will.

Bring it on.

I get super lucky. Not too long after I finally convince Aleks to leave, Charlie calls. He wants to hear about what happened from me, so I tell him that it’s handled and he doesn’t need to come down tonight. He never comes by the bar on Saturdays since it’s his poker night with a couple of Cadre members, so I know that he’ll head downtown if he has to but he won’t want to—and, trust me, I don’t want him coming down, either.

Since there’s no sign of Ryker when I leave the backroom, I figure that everything’s okay for now. I have no illusion that he’s gone back to Accalia, but so long as he waits until I’m done with my shift, I can deal.

And if he doesn’t know how to find me at home to resume our challenge? Oh, well. That’s not my problem.

That doesn’t stop me from looking up whenever I get the chance. Now that I have his scent in my nose—and my wolf is prickly from his sudden appearance—I’m sure that I’ll pick up on him if he decides to push me by coming back to Charlie’s. Still, I can’t help it. The sense of looming anticipation has only gotten worse now that I know what caused it.

It’s the calm before the fucking storm, and I know it. I just try to act like I don’t.

By the time night falls, the bar is slammed. I don’t know if it’s because word got around to the supe population and they’re hoping for a rematch between Ryker and Aleks or what, but I’ve never seen the place so busy even on a Saturday. A majority of the patrons are vamps, too, and I have to consciously tune out the conversations because almost every single one seems to mention the brawl.

There goes any hope that it didn’t get out. I just hope that Aleks can keep Roman calm, and that I don’t get my sorry tail tossed out of Muncie because Ryker couldn’t control himself.

For the first time in ages, Hailey shows up to a weekend shift on time. I can tell from the way she’s buzzing that she’s heard the gossip and she’s dying to ask me about it. And while we are super busy, I make sure to keep myself occupied because I just don’t want to listen to a human talk about how amazing it is that a vampire and a shifter fought over me in the middle of Charlie’s.

Because I know my co-worker. That’s totally what she thinks happened.

And maybe it did? I don’t know, and I wish I didn’t care.

I throw myself into serving customers, even bringing food out to tables when the waitresses fall behind if only because I need the distraction. Even so, my head pops up every time the door opens before I swallow a snarl and resolve not to do it again.

At around nine o’clock, Jimmy Fiorello walks into the bar. It’s not Ryker, so I just give him a wave as I pour out a Rum and Coke for Jane. A second later, I do a double-take.

His wrinkled face is all scrunched up.

Uh-oh. I don’t know why, but that seems like it’s a bad sign.

“What’s up, Jim?”

“Is Charlie having a cat problem? ‘Cause I’m telling you, Gem, it fucking stinks out there.”

No way in hell does Charlie have a cat problem. Though Aleks’s fang keeps my shifter nature shielded from vampires, other animals know exactly what I am. Ever since I started at the bar, there hasn’t been a sign of any kind of critter. No mice. No rats. They sense me and stay away. Cats, too. Without the mice to hunt, they’re not brave enough to face off against a human-shaped wolf.

But if it’s not a cat⁠—

“Don’t worry about it. Hailey will get you a drink, and I’ll go see what that’s about. Kay, Hailey?”

“A whiskey for Jim, and Gem deals with the cat pee. Sounds good to me.”

I laugh along with Hailey’s comment, though my wolf is already champing at the bit, desperate to scare off any predator attempting to encroach on my territory.

One step outside and I’m sure that that’s exactly what’s going on here. Because the stink? That’s urine all right. Straight up piss. But it’s not what Jimmy thinks.

Across the street, leaning with his back up against an electrical pole, arms crossed over his button-down shirt, a smug look on his face… there’s Ryker.

And unless my instincts are wrong—and I know for sure they’re not—he’s responsible for the piss.

He wasn’t wearing those clothes before, I realize. He’d had a black t-shirt on when he first stormed into the bar, and he left with Aleks’s blood smeared all over his jeans. Now, he’s traded his tee for a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of jeans a few shades darker.

And maybe he changed because walking around with blood on him in a Fang City is a bad idea. Considering he’s an alpha wolf shifter, though, I think there’s a much more logical reason.

On the plus side, that means he was most likely in wolf form when he decided to take that piss…

I fist my hands on my hips, trying to keep back my claws. As soon as Ryker saw me, he pushed off of the pole, lazily moving across the street until we’re on the same side. He gives me a crooked smile, as if he’s decided that making this whole thing seem like a joke is a better way to approach me.

Only I’m definitely not laughing.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Marking my territory.”

Marking his⁠—

I try to stay calm. Try being the operative word there. If my claws shoot out and tear open my palms, I’ll have a hard time popping the caps off of bottles of beer. Sure, I’ll heal pretty quickly, but it’ll be a pain in the ass until then.

Stay in control, Gem. You got this.

Gritting my teeth, I say shortly, “You pissed a circle around the bar?”

“The bar, and everything inside of it,” he agrees.

“But why? It’s not your territory.” If anything, it’s mine. “This bar belongs to Charlie.”

“Ah.” He holds up a finger. No claws, which means he’s still in control of his wolf, too. “But you’re inside of this bar. And you belong to me.”

My jaw drops.

Oh. He did not just say that.

Okay, say I kill Ryker. It’s okay because, technically, this is an alpha challenge. He came into my territory, he challenged me, and now he’s trying to mark something that is mine. Pack law says me killing him would be totally justified, right?

My wolf lets out a chuffing sound. Straight up disagreement.

No. Damn it. She’s right. As angry as I am, I still can’t kill him.

But that doesn’t mean I have to put up with this shit.

“Get out of here.”

His eyes are still a lighter shade than normal. They twinkle as his smile widens just enough to stab at me. “Make me.”

“Excuse me?”

A liiiittle bit wider. “You heard me. You’re an alpha. If this is your territory, protect it.”

I’d really, really hoped that he’d forgotten about that. Maybe then I could’ve convinced myself that he meant it when he said he’d been looking for me for a year. When he said I was his mate.

But it’s not me he wants. It’s an alpha female.

And if I do what he said, if I prove it, he’ll never leave me alone.

“Ryker—”

“Come on, sweetheart.”

I blink. “Sweetheart?”

“You prefer Gemma?”

“It’s Gem.”

He ignores that. Lifting his hands, he reaches for the first button on his shirt. “Sweetheart it is then,” he says before he flicks that top button open.

And then another.

“What are you doing?”

“Making it easier for you.”

I know exactly what he means, too. I wish I didn’t, but I do.

Wolves show dominance with both fighting and sex. By taking off his shirt, he’s signaling that he’s open to either; he’ll take off his clothes so can prepare to shift, or to mount his mate. Sounds weird to non-shifters, but because we’re of the same rank, he’s actually showing me a tiny bit of respect right now. Unlike when he attacked Aleks, he’s turning this into an official challenge.

I don’t have to follow along. In fact, I have no intention of it. But between his marking the bar and the way he’s undressing himself right now, Ryker is treating me like both an alpha and a mate.

Which, yeah, is what I’m supposed to be, but still.

“I’m not stripping down.”

“You will eventually.”

He sounds so sure that even my wolf is offended. I flash my canines, before spitting out, “You gave up your chance to be my mate when you chose Trish Danvers.”

“I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

“You don’t understand. I didn’t choose Trish.”

Bullshit.

It doesn’t matter to me that I can scent no deception coming from him. I was there, and I’m not about to let him make me doubt what happened.

I scoff. “You rejected me for her. Don’t deny it.”

He doesn’t. Instead, he says, “That night… you didn’t give me a chance to tell you what was going on. You just left, and then I spent… oh, that’s right… a whole fucking year trying to find you so that I finally could explain.”

Explain? Seriously?

“‘I have no intention of mating you this moon or the next’,” I mimic. All these months later and his off-handed comment is still burned in my brain. “Sound familiar? If you can explain that, go right ahead. Otherwise you wasted a year and, sorry, but that seems like a you problem.”

With a soft snick, I notice that he just set free his claws. Ooh… looks like I finally touched a nerve there.

“I couldn’t mate you, Gemma. And, yes, Trish is part of the reason why. But it’s not what you think.”

“Please.” Does he think I’m an idiot? Or does he just hope I’ll fall for his story? “I heard rumors about you and Trish from the moment I arrived on the mountain. And it wasn’t just the pack gossips. Even Shane confirmed you were spending all your free time with Trish.”

He definitely wasn’t spending it with me, that was for sure.

“Shane?” Ryker echoes.

“Yeah. Your Beta. You remember? The one who got stuck with babysitting duty while you were busy with Trish.”

“Omegas need to be protected,” he reminds me. “What did you expect me to do?”

Honestly, I expected him to be the one doing the protecting if he really believed I needed it. Sure, I didn’t, but he didn’t know that then, did he?

Ugh.

“Make up your mind, Ryker. You challenged me on my turf. You just admitted I was an alpha. So am I? Or should we go back to pretending I’m still an omega?”

“Omega? Hardly. You’re like me, Gemma. Pure alpha, but you’re not the Alpha. Without a pack of your own to lead, you have no idea what it’s like to be responsible for every life, from the retired gammas to the youngest pup.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I tell him. “I’m not on my own. Muncie is my new pack.”

“You belong to the Mountainside Pack. You belong with me.”

“You wish.”

Ryker looms closer. A spark of temper has the heights of his sculpted cheeks going red as he says in a low voice, “You think this is a challenge. You don’t know how right you are. But not like you think, sweetheart. You’ll never be my mate? I told you. We’ll see about that.”

That’s it. I don’t care if I stab my own hands, I let out my own claws.

Rising up on my tiptoes, going nose to nose with Ryker, I say, “Oh, yeah?”

His eyes drop to my mouth. “Yeah.”

I swallow. His gaze follows the motion of my throat before locking back on my mouth. And I know that he’s going to kiss me, almost as much as I’m absolutely sure that I… I’m not going to stop him.

I tilt my head slightly.

Ryker’s so close, I can feel the heat of his breath on my skin.

“Gem— oh. I’m sorry.”

I’m not. I swear to the Luna, I’ll never, ever complain about Hailey’s habitual lateness ever again. Because right now? Her timing couldn’t be any more perfect.

I back away so quickly, if it wasn’t for my shifter’s reflexes, I would’ve landed on my ass. I recover, purposely giving my back to Ryker while hoping against hope that Hailey didn’t realize how close I came to falling under his spell like that.

“Hailey. What’s up?”

She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear, biting down on her lip.

Oh, yeah. She realizes.

“Sorry,” she says again, “it’s just that Clark has a complicated order I keep messing up on, and Charlie’s on the phone again. I thought I’d see if you were done out here.”

“Uh. Yeah. Just give me a sec— oh. Never mind. I’m coming.”

Because when I turned around again, I saw that all that’s left of Ryker is the stink of his piss in the air and a sinking feeling in my gut that I’ve only just tapped the surface of what he’s doing here.

And I was right. It has everything to do with me.