The Reluctant Mate

Porter

I was sitting with my mate in the pack dining hall and she was smiling. She was half dressed in a combo of the skirt she had worn to have supper with me the night before and my hoodie, which was amazing. There were a few people around but it didn’t seem to bother her and that was all that mattered to me.

Smiling while eating with me. And not those tentative wary smiles I’d been getting while we dated, actual smiles that reached her eyes.

My wolf was absolutely thrilled with this change of events. Nothing could faze him when he was with her as long as she was safe. I wanted to invite her to live with me, but I didn’t want to risk scaring her off again. I’d have to approach that carefully. Marking her would be amazing but she was way too skittish for that and I’d learned my lesson.

“So what’s with all the training, anyway?” she asked between bites. “You said you train, Kain told me he’d been training for half his life, so he would have started when he was what? Five? That’s crazy.”

“More like seven. Most kids start doing some around the age of ten to fifteen, depending on the pack. But Kain’s dad started him early since he was about fourth in line for the alpha title in our old pack. We kept it up after we escaped since he likes it and it helps.”

“But why so much?”

“It’s a dangerous world.”

Amanda cocked her head at me. “I know. But how is it that we humans don’t realize just how dangerous?”

I tried to think of how to explain. “There were some accords reached between the supernatural species and hunters a couple hundred years ago, and one of the points was not to expose us to humans.”

“I don’t know what you think we’d do to you. We’re obviously weaker.”

“Well, yes, but you outnumber all of us combined, even counting the hunters.”

“Fair enough. So if a mob of enough humans came after you with torches and pitchforks, they could beat you.”

I grinned. “Well, they’d have to catch us first. And there are way more dangerous weapons they could use against us.”

She smiled back at me and my wolf practically jumped around in my mind. “Well your secret is safe with me,” she said.

“I know.”

“Hey, can we interrupt?” Carrie’s voice was soft in my head.

Truly I wanted to say no and keep Amanda’s attention all to my greedy self, but I wanted her to feel comfortable with my pack, too. It was too soon to see if she would be willing to join the pack, but I wanted that, too. “Yeah okay.”

Jason and Carrie had just come in the door and she walked towards us. Jason instead went to get food.

“Hi Amanda,” Carrie said as she sat down beside my mate.

“Hey,” Amanda agreed, shooting my luna a smile. I didn’t even envy other people—well at least females—anymore when she was happy with them since she seemed so happy with me too. “Food’s pretty good.”

“All thanks to Carrie,” Jason said as he slid a tray in front of her.

Carrie rolled her eyes. “You can thank the people who do the cooking for that.”

“We’ve got better supplies now though,” Krystal agreed with her baby on her hip. She sat down across from my mate and greeted her as she popped Rosella into her highchair. I guessed they were now drinking buddies. She winked at me. “Since you were already interrupted I thought I’d join you too. She certainly smells a lot like you right now, Porter.”

“Please do not make an issue of it.”

“Of course not. I’d never jeopardize your chances with your mate. You were an absolute bear when things weren’t going well, Beta.” She said all that as she looked at my mate with a sweet smile. I was already regretting the interruption.

“So, how have things been?” Carrie asked Amanda.

“Pretty good. Work’s meh. You?”

“Busy as always. We had some rogue trouble on our border.”

Jason nodded. “Most rogues view us pretty favourably but they were definitely going feral. But we cleared it up.”

Krystal nodded. “Michael got a nasty bite but he’s okay now. My poor mate.”

“What’s feral?” Amanda asked.

“Wolves don’t do well without connections. Most of us go a bit insane if we’re separated from others for too long.”

Krystal grinned. “Porter only half knows what he was talking about. Rouge for a couple of years and he thinks he’s an expert. There’re lots of ways to survive well as a rogue. Michael and I both grew up rogues, but our parents were both mated pairs who masqueraded among the humans. If you’ve got your mate, you can endure a lot. Michael and I weren’t degrading at all since we were together. And pups are usually fine if their parents are fine. Or, some werewolves form informal bonds with other creatures and that gives them the anchor they need. Of course some rogues don’t have those supports, and if they go too long without...their outcomes aren’t always great. Usually the hunters find them and put them down once they start risking exposure.”

“That seems cruel,” Amanda said.

Krystal shrugged. “It is, but the cruellest part is how hard it is for rogues to find a pack. That’s why I support Glenshadow so strongly. We give chances to people who don’t have any.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“We only take in the ones that aren’t huge risks,” Jason said.

Carrie nodded. “I would like to have some off territory refuge where we could help more risky rogues eventually, but one project at a time. We’ve got people moving into the pack house next week but there’s still so much to do.” She looked really excited and proud. She was a good luna.

Amanda smiled at our luna. “And here I was starting to think Jason was a drug lord cult leader or something.”

Krystal snorted. Rosella stopped beating the highchair with her spoon long enough to study the faces of the adults around her, probably trying to figure out what everyone found so amusing.

Jason looked amused. “I only drug my mate with my—”

Carrie smacked him. “Jason.”

“—charm.”

My luna did that adoring eye thing in his direction that had so bothered me when Amanda was shutting me out. Then she turned her attention back to Amanda. “I think you watch too much television. Your theories are way out there.”

“Says the werewolf.” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

“Werewolves are real and perfectly normal. Look, we’re all sitting around eating just like humans do. We’re not way out there at all.”

“So are crime rings,” my mate argued.

“She’s got a point. And they’d be more real to a mundane human than the world they don’t know about.”

“That almost sounds like an insult. Mundane.”

Carrie shrugged. “It’s not an insult, it’s a distinction. And you’re not mundane anymore, you’re a werewolf’s mate. And there are humans who practice magic.” I was glad she didn’t seem upset by the reminder. Was she finally really accepting me? It seemed like it. I tried not to smile like a fool.

Amanda looked intrigued for a moment. “Could I do that?”

Carrie shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I hear it takes years of study.”

“Never mind that then,” Amanda said dismissively, and she turned her attention back to her food.

Once she was done I suggested we head off, and she agreed, which made me happy. I loved seeing her getting along with pack but even more I loved having her all to myself. I was just considering where I could take her—Kain was back home now so we wouldn’t get proper privacy there considering the thinness of the trailer walls—and it was debatable whether a human would be game for sex in the forest somewhere when her words brought me up short.

“So, I was thinking.”

“What?” I was instantly wary.

“I never did see a shift other than a bunch of monsters in the dark. I mean sure I spotted wolves walking around once or twice from the window.”

“You want to see my wolf?”

“Well, I am curious. You—he wouldn’t hurt me?”

“No, never. Most mates wouldn’t even consider hurting each other. It’s a way bigger risk that I might hurt someone if I saw them as a threat than anything else. Or wolves can get a bit overeager with the marking.”

“Hmm. Marking.”

“I’d love to but I can wait,” I admitted.

She nodded. “I think you’ve proven that you can wait.”

Oh good, my suffering wasn’t all in vain.