The Reluctant Mate

Porter

I’d thrown myself into working on pack business or at the site in every spare minute to keep my mind off my mate. My wolf was depressed, and I wasn’t much better. That first night had been perfect, before everything had crashed to the ground, and then it had been radio silence ever since. I began to suspect that she had taken my number only to get rid of me. It wasn’t like I got hers in return. At the time it hadn’t bothered me much, because I’d have it when she finally texted me.

But she hadn’t texted me.

It wasn’t like I couldn’t contact her if I needed to, I knew where she lived. But maybe this was a test she was putting me through, to see if I would back off since she seemed so reluctant and skittish, and she’d decide it was time to end my misery any day.

By Friday, I barely clung to that increasingly unrealistic hope.

When I wasn’t keeping my mind occupied, I had time to go over every small detail to dissect what I might have done to cause this shift in her, overanalyzing, although that wasn’t like me at all. But I did it anyway. She was obviously attracted to me, and she had enjoyed what we had done together, I was sure of that much. I was starting to think that the fact she liked my body was the only thing that had saved me from being instantly rejected the morning after, that and the fact that as a human she didn’t know about the bond and rejection.

But the mind-blowing sex might have also been the thing that doomed me. Giving in to the temptation of her body had placed me firmly in the category of a one night stand, which sucked. Hindsight being twenty-twenty, I should have teased, tormented, and then held out, so that she would have had a reason that forced her to see me again.

But how had I been supposed to say no when she had been so willing, so demanding? My wolf had been totally into it, and my body too, so what hope did my poor mind have?

It brought some relief when my phone pinged Friday afternoon. A simple text from an unknown number.

Unknown: Hey, it’s Amanda.

Should I text back right away? There was probably some rule about making her wait or something, but I couldn’t resist.

Porter: Hey. It’s Porter. You’ve got the right number.

That was nice and cool, right? At least I didn’t respond with something like ‘please I pathetically need your attention’.

Unknown: The girls and I are going out again tonight, if you want to meet me there.

I did a quick morning patrol along with my other work so my evening was free. Although I would have convinced Randy to rearrange it if I had to.

Porter: I will. What time?

Unknown: Eleven.

That seemed pretty late, but I wasn’t going push my luck and question it.

Porter: See you then.

My wolf spent the rest of the day in pure anticipation. The moment I wouldn’t be too early, I rushed off, quickly driving down the road to the main highway. My mate was waiting, I hoped.

I couldn’t smell her when I arrived at the location she had texted me, but that was likely due to the tons of humans who were packed into the place. Humans didn’t smell any worse or better than werewolves in my opinion, but the number made it overpowering. I hadn’t really given much thought to humans in general, but I wished I had now that my mate turned out to be one. Maybe I could have avoided some of the pitfalls if I had more contact with them in the past and understood them better. Probably treating my mate basically like a wolf-less shifter was the wrong way to go about it.

The crowd was already thick, and I stood in line for a few minutes before the bouncer let me in. Scanning the humans, I found her on the dance floor, along with her friends—and with another male dancing up against her, so close there was barely any visible space between them.

My wolf was instantly furious. Furious with the male for trespassing on what was ours, furious with her for going along with it so obviously willingly. I was torn between the desire to rip his throat out, and the need to leave before I did anything so stupid.

No. I was the beta, and my pack relied on me. I couldn’t jeopardize our security by murdering an oblivious human in cold blood. He didn’t know. She didn’t even know, not really. I focused on calming my breathing. I wanted to go over to her and drag her off to the forest, show her the truth, and demand the monogamy my wolf craved. She was ours and he wanted her to submit to that understanding and act accordingly.

But fuck, if I did that, she’d be pissed. She’d been very clear that I meant nothing to her. I needed to buy time until she was so attached to me that she demanded monogamy herself. Keep calm, Porter, don’t screw this up. Play it cool, man.

Then the fucker put his hands on her hips to drag her firmly into his groin and my good intentions scattered. My wolf wanted his blood in our maw and I could barely think of anything else. I gritted my teeth, and strode forward. I grabbed the bastard by the back of his shirt roughly—although it was gentle compared to what my wolf was begging for me to do—and pulled him back so that he wasn’t touching her anymore.

“What the hell?” he sputtered, and I glared at him as I released my hold on him, trying to keep my wolf from my eyes. I don’t know what he saw, but his face paled and he stumbled back another step away from me.

I was so busy staring down the interloper, I didn’t realize my mate had been watching the entire exchange, and not with a happy expression.

“Porter!”

I turned to her, and released from my stare the human scurried away into the crowd.

She glared at me and crossed her arms. “You don’t have any right to stop me from doing what I want.”

“Is that why you invited me here? So I could see that?”

“I was just dancing.”

“He was practically fucking you on the dance floor,” I growled.

“We’re fully dressed. It was nothing.”

I was so angry, my wolf so upset. I pulled her up against me hard and spoke into her ear. If I had not been so attuned to her scent I wouldn’t have been able to smell her over the overpowering scent of alcohol and the hints of that bastard I had just frightened away. “It’s not nothing, and you know it.”

She glared at me and I was surprised that she didn’t try to get away from me. Instead she hissed. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Porter. You’ve got no right to interfere.”

“Fine, I have no rights when it comes to you. Go find that guy and have shitty, unfulfilling sex with him. But first, tell me that I wasn’t the best you ever had.” It wasn’t arrogance. She had loved what I had done, and I had the advantage of the bond she didn’t even know we had. Pretty much every mated pair worked in the bedroom, even if no other way, because ultimately the bond was meant for furthering the species. If the only thing she would accept from me was sex, then I was going to make it my mission to fuck her so well that she would forget the existence of any other male on the planet.

Her glare sharpened and those sexy lips pursed, but she didn’t deny my words.

I smirked even though I wasn’t really happy. “Tell me that you don’t want me again.”

She shivered. “Stay away from me.”

I released her from my arms and pretended it was easy. “Okay. Go look for him, if that’s what you want to do. I won’t follow you.”

“Fuck you!”

“Yes please.”

She gave me another dirty look but she didn’t go anywhere.