The She-Wolf’s Mate (Book 2 She-Wolf Series)

Samantha

I took a shower, trying to calm my nerves. Then paced a groove in the floor as I thought about my options.

Who the fuck does he think he is, I thought.

‘Our mate’ Ayisha offered.

I sighed.

Ayisha had struggled ever since the night of the Alpha Ceremony. She understood and agreed that Luke was our number one priority, but a wolf craved connection. We were both inexplicably linked to Ivar and Rankor, and the pull to be with them was a strong one. Even now, I felt drawn to where he laid in the living room.

In the distance, I heard tires rolling down gravel drive. I frowned. I wasn’t expecting anyone. When I pulled back the curtain to see who it was, my stomach dropped.

“Oh shit,” I muttered and I turned around to hustle down the stairs.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Just as I reached the front door, I heard Ivar’s voice behind me.

“Who’s here, mate?” Before I could answer he continued, “It can’t be the fucking beta since I warned you about what I would do to him should you continue your little romance.”

My mouth ran dry as I heard Ivar get up from the couch at the same time I heard Emerick’s car door slam shut. Although I heard Ivar wince when he stood, his movements were strong and sure when he strode to the foyer with nothing but a blanket wrapped around his waist. Had I not witnessed his pain earlier, I would have never been able to guess his injuries.

“Emerick is just a friend,” I insisted. “He’s probably checking on me since I didn’t show up to work after I told him I would be there.”

“Right,” Ivar sneered. “Well, let’s invite our good friend in.”

I had hoped to send Emerick away before he reached the door. Now it seemed that wouldn't be an option.

There was no way the next few minutes were going to end peacefully. My fated mate stood next to me, naked, and my former lover marched up to my door after being told by the other to keep his distance.

“What’s wrong little wolf?” Ivar asked when I hesitated to open the door. “Afraid of what I’ll do to the beta?”

“I thought you didn’t want anyone to know you were here,” I offered, weakly.

“For him, I’ll make an exception,” Ivar sneered. “Apparently he had trouble hearing me when I told him to stay the fuck away.”

“Ivar, please,” I begged, and turned to look in his eyes. “He’s just a friend.”

For a moment, I saw something flash behind the icy blue orbs staring back at me, but just as quickly, it was gone.

“Open the door, Samantha,” he commanded.

I slowly did as he said. I blocked the entryway as much as possible, hoping I could keep Emerick from coming inside.

“Hey, Sam!” Emerick called, walking up the porch steps. “I was worried when you didn’t show up to the pack ho -"

I could see the moment he scented Ivar. He froze, his entire body growing tense. Ivar closed the distance behind me and wrapped one arm firmly around my waist. The other he propped casually on the doorframe.

“Good afternoon, former Beta Stone,” Ivar’s voice carried a fake cheerfulness that had me rolling my eyes.

I tried to nonchalantly push his arm off of me, but he held firm. I noticed the raw skin on his hands had started to heal over, but still looked painful. His feet had looked much worse, so I was surprised at his carefree demeanor. Combine that with his other injuries and days worth of exhaustion, and I was sure his patience was just a short fuse.

Emerick seemed to be frozen in shock where he stood, so I forced a bright smile.

“Hey, Emerick! You know, King Ivar just stopped by, and we had some things to discuss so I was just going to take the day.”

I said a silent prayer that he would drop it and go so we could avoid a confrontation. My hopes were dashed immediately.

“How fucking dare you show up here!” Emerick shouted, stomping up the porch and pointing a menacing finger at the man behind me. “You left her for a fucking year. Tore her fucking heart out, you piece of shit! Now you have the audacity to show your face!”

The king stood up straight as Emerick drew near, but kept his arm wrapped around me protectively. I could feel his muscles flex where he was pressed against me. I knew while he appeared calm, he was ready for a fight.

“Em, please,” I begged. “Just stop!”

He acted like he didn’t hear me and stopped moving when he was only an arms length away. Ivar pulled me towards the side to step in front. Although I tried to resist, he moved me as though I weighed nothing.

“I find it odd that the members of the Redclaw Pack speak so freely to their king,” Ivar said, his voice dangerously low now. “I will have to have a discussion with my mate about proper decorum going forward.”

Emerick stilled. While he hated Ivar for being the reason he and I were no longer together, he still respected the crown. He grew up knowing Ivar as the all-powerful king of the werewolves. I hoped that his ingrained deference was enough to keep them from tearing each other apart.

“As for what I’m doing here, frankly it’s none of your business Stone,” Ivar said, coolly. “However, you should know I am here for my mate, and I will not allow some insignificant male to stand in my way.”

“She won’t have you,” Emerick spat.

I gripped Ivar’s forearm, silently begging him not to go out the door. The contact seemed to lessen his tension slightly, and he glanced back at me from the corner of his eye.

I mouthed, Please.

He narrowed his eyes in return. I bowed my head in submission, praying he would see how deeply I hoped for him not to take my friend’s life. I knew at the end of the day, Emerick wouldn’t stand a chance against my mate. The great king would tear him to pieces and not even break a sweat.

At my show of respect, Ivar stepped back and looped his arm around me, allowing me to stand at his side once again.

“Emerick, I need you to go,” I told him firmly.

“What?” He asked, clearly dumbfounded. “You’re doing this? After everything you’ve gone through this last year?”

Ivar opened his mouth to speak above me, but I beat him to it.

“As Ivar already told you, it’s none of your concern. You have been a great friend to me, Emerick. Please don’t do something that will force me to end it.”

Emerick kept his hands fisted at his sides.

I knew he wanted to argue. I knew he wanted to fight. I knew he had never let go of the hope that he and I would be together one day.

I never led him on, but now I realized I should have done more to draw a boundary between us. Emerick still felt he had a claim over me.

“Stone, this is your free pass,” Ivar warned him. “Out of respect for my mate, your alpha, I will allow you to walk away. If you challenge me, it will be a fight to the death,” he gave Emerick a pointed look. “You will not be the victor.”

Finally, Emerick sighed. “This is what you want, Sam?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

It wasn’t totally a lie. I did want Emerick to back down.

“Now that he’s back, you both could reject each other,” he said quietly.

It was a theory he had presented to me a few months after Ivar left. At the time, I pointed out that we would have to be face to face to try it out. In truth, I wasn’t sure that I would be capable of rejecting Ivar, and there was no proof that it would even work.

Fated mates were very rare. Fated mates rejecting their bond were all but unheard of.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Ivar growled next to me.

I tried to slow him down by clinging to his arm as he pushed through the doorway.

“I will not reject him!” I shouted while I fought to hold Ivar back.

At my words, the king calmed slightly. I met his gaze and I moved to stand in front of him with my hands against his chest. His body was still wound tight, as though ready to lunge at Emerick.

“Em, you need to leave. Now,” I commanded.

He swore behind me before stomping to his car. I kept my eyes locked on Ivar’s, hoping he would just let my ex-lover leave.

“Stone!” Ivar shouted and Emerick paused. “Do not come back here.”

Emerick started to walk again.

“And if you ever touch my mate again,” Ivar continued, “I’ll have your head.”

Emerick reached his car, got in and slammed the door closed. Ivar and I stayed locked in place until the tires peeled down the driveway. Then, I felt him start to slump against me.

“Ivar?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he muttered but I felt more of his weight pressing into me. “I’m just... a little… lightheaded.”

I looped my arm under his and guided him back inside the door.

“When was the last time you ate or drank?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t offered him anything since he’d been here.

“Before I left Canada,” he mumbled.

“Shit,” I hissed. “Okay, back to the couch. I’ll grab you something.”

He crumpled immediately, breathing heavily. How he kept upright while facing down my former boyfriend, I wasn’t quite sure.

I thought back to when I had fought to keep my composure after being challenged. It felt like a lifetime ago. Back then, Emerick had been the one to hold me up. My heart hurt for him at the thought.

As I stared at the magnificently frustrating man before me, I realized he had dropped the blanket from his waist at some point between the door and the couch. Blushing, I quickly left to retrieve it before making my way to the kitchen.

I poured him water, grabbed a sports drink, and set some leftovers to heat in the microwave. Cautiously, I made my way over to the seemingly slumbering king.

“You need to sit up, Ivar,” I said, gently.

He opened one eye and grimaced before pulling himself up with a groan. He took the water I offered with a grunt, but turned up his nose at the sports drink.

“It’ll help you rehydrate,” I told him.

“You can’t taste the synthetic bullshit they put in that?” he asked.

“Uh, no. I’ve never really thought about it,” I frowned.

“Probably because you’re used to it,” he decided. “It’s hard nowadays to find food without all the additives.”

I sometimes forgot that he was from a different time. With heightened senses maybe it was easy to taste chemicals in modern food when you knew differently. He reached out and took the drink despite his protests, downing both it and the water in a couple gulps.

The microwave beeped from the other room and I stood.

“I’ll get you more while I grab the food.”

When I came back, Ivar had turned to put his feet on the floor, elbows resting on his knees and head in his hands. As I approached, he looked up. His eyes betrayed his exhaustion.

I noticed for the first time the blood pooling on the rug. I looked up and realized his massive footprints were also drying crimson on the wood floor.

I handed him the leftover Pad Thai, biting my lip with worry.

“I know you didn’t want anyone to know you’re here,” I told him, slowly. “But the secret is out. I think I should take you to the med bay at the pack house.”

“Nope,” was his only response.

“Ivar, you’re hurt -"

“Which is why I can’t go to your pack house,” he cut me off. “I don’t care that your pack knows I’m here. I care that they know about my current condition. It’s easier to hide that here. Stop trying to get rid of me. I find it annoying.”

I watched as he scarfed down his food.

“I’m not trying to get rid of you,” I told him. “I’m worried about you.”

“You can cut the act, sweetheart,” he said, blandly. “The beta’s gone.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, perplexed by what he was implying.

“Please,” he sneered and rolled his eyes. “Don’t try to convince me the ice queen suddenly cares about my well-being.”

“How can you think I don’t care about you?” I snapped back. “I’ve taken care of you since you showed up on my doorstep.”

“That’s not the same as caring about me, though,” he clarified. “You feel obligated to take care of me.”

“I care about you, Ivar,” I said, quietly. “I’ve always cared about you.”

“Really?” He asked, sarcastically. “You never tried to get in contact with me the entire time we were apart. You just carried on with your life.”

“What was I supposed to do?” I demanded. “I told you, I have responsibilities. Besides, you never reached out either. On top of that, you had some female dangling off your arm. Doesn’t seem like you were too busy caring about me either.”

“I needed you and you chose being alpha over me!” He shouted.

“I chose my son over you and I would do it a thousand times over!” I shouted back. “And needing me is not the same as loving me.”

We both glared at each other. Each one of us seething. Finally, Ivar looked away.

“She’s my half-sister,” he said.

“What?” I snapped.

“The woman I was photographed with,” he clarified. “She’s my half-sister, Trinity.”

“Oh.”

He nodded. “She’s a witch. She went with me to siphon energy, so that I could appear… okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how those pictures would appear to you.”

I felt my jaw fall open. When I saw the photos, it felt like a punch to the gut. It hurt me so deeply that Ivar could have a relationship while I had immediately lost all feelings for other men the moment I met him. Knowing the truth lifted a burden I hadn’t realized I carried from my shoulders.

“Thank you for telling me,” I said, sincerely.

He nodded again, and then met my gaze. I sat down heavily next to him then, leaning my head onto his bare shoulder. He didn’t pull away at my touch, but he also didn’t further it. Still, I reveled in the heat of his skin against mine.

“Why didn’t you stay?” I whispered.