The Reluctant Mate

Porter

Over the next few weeks I helped my mate move her stuff into my apartment in the pack house and my wolf could barely settle down that we were going to have her beside us every day. Anything we had more than we needed, we picked which we preferred and stored the other. I didn’t even try to get rid of anything because I didn’t want her to feel like she was cornered with me. I wanted her to understand she could always leave while I made sure that she never wanted to.

On the first morning living together, I woke up feeling fantastic. Amanda stirred along with me, and I took a second to admire her. Her hair was pure chaos but I didn’t care because she looked so darn cute, flushed and drowsy from sleep. She moaned, and I wanted to pull her to me and repeat what we had done the night before, but before I got a chance she dragged herself out of bed and headed to the shower, which reminded me that she had to work. And she took the job she hated seriously so I wasn’t going to interfere with that and get myself in trouble.

I unfortunately had responsibilities that couldn’t be ignored either. I gave her a minute to get into the shower and then followed her, shaving while she finished up. Her skin was slightly pink from the hot water and I paused for a moment to watch her walk away, wrapped only in a towel that barely hid her ass. I couldn’t wait for the weekend when I could wake up and spend the first couple hours of my day reminding her just how much she loved living with me.

She was half dressed by the time I’d gotten out of the shower, and I did up my shirt and we walked out. She paused and crouched down beside Uno.

“Be good now. Kain’ll be by to check up on you.”

I didn’t know how she’d gotten the surly kid to agree to do anything, but I wasn’t complaining as we walked down the stairs and outside to the pack dining hall.

“I have to admit, this is incredibly convenient,” she said, filling up her travel mug with coffee and sitting beside me at a table. My wolf liked seeing that she was eating, but if I fussed I got accused of ‘trying to make her fat’ so I kept my mouth closed and focused on my own food, only taking quick peeks at her from time to time.

All too soon she stood up and topped up her travel mug. “I’ve got to go.”

“I’m going to miss you,” I said.

She smiled and my wolf basked in it. He was so pathetic and even worse I didn’t care. She leaned forward and I brought my lips down to hers and wrapped my arms around her, drawing in her amazing scent, like I could take in enough to satisfy my craving for her.

With one quick final peck, she strode out the door and jumped in her car. Even with the sound of her engine fading in the distance, I still felt light as I strode to the pack office, only to find the luna behind the alpha’s desk by herself, talking on the phone, her hand resting on her slightly extended stomach.

“I can assure you that none of our pack members have been anywhere near your land,” she said in a calm voice through gritted teeth. “We don’t control the rogues around here.”

I could make out a few words, but not enough to understand what the unfamiliar voice on the other end of the phone was saying.

“As I’ve already explained to you, Alpha Jason isn’t here right now, but you can talk to me because as luna I’m part of the alpha pair, as you know. However, there’s nothing to talk about because we don’t command rogues to go anywhere, especially onto Bluegorge territory. Think about it, what would that gain us but—”

Carrie’s frown deepened. “Well I’m not a glorified secretary, no matter what you wish to believe, and I will not be taking a message for the alpha. You can try again later if you want to speak to him. Bye.”

She slammed down the phone. “I’m not a murderous person as a rule, but if the Bluegorge alpha had an aneurism or something...I wouldn’t be too disappointed.”

“What’s he saying?”

“He had some rogue issues, which obviously has nothing to do with us. But every time a rogue goes within twenty miles of his borders it’s somehow our fault.” She threw up her hands in exasperation. “If I had a rogue army at my disposal I would send them all to his territory to destroy his phones and smash his computers so I’d never have to see another email with his obnoxious signature on it or here that pompous asshole voice.”

“Where’s Jason?”

“Running the perimeter. We had another rogue sighting. Because, weirdly enough, I don’t magically control all rogues. And the vampire queen’s representative sent another message about working more closely with us, but I don’t think we need to get involved in vampire politics. And there’s about fifty more things. Do you have all day?”

“Well, I’ve got until this afternoon when I head out to the job site.”

“We need more help.” She looked at me like she was analyzing my expression. “I wonder if Amanda wants a job here?”

I wished. The idea of her nearby was beautiful. “Doubt it. She’s fiercely independent. Besides, can the pack afford it?”

“We can find a way. Our resources keep going up, it’s just that our number of dependents has been going up as well. But it would be totally normal in the pack hierarchy. Technically, regardless of the fact she’s human, she’s our beta female, and we could use her. She’s got untapped potential, she’s outgoing, and as a human she’d still be productive around the full moon while the rest of our wolves were getting worked up. But I won’t ask her if she wants to if you don’t want me to.”

“Of course I’d love her to work safely on pack territory. But I won’t ask. I don’t want to risk losing ground with her, Carrie.”

“I’d be the one to ask. And it’s completely up to her. I wasn’t going to if you objected.”

“You can, but don’t pressure her.”

“Of course not. My first priority as luna is taking care of my pack. I wouldn’t intentionally sabotage you, Porter.”