The Reluctant Mate

Porter

I slammed the folder closed and shoved it back into the cabinet. I rubbed my neck as I stood up, and then walked to the lobby that connected all our offices. “All done,” I announced.

“About time,” Jason said, leaning against the doorway.

“You could have helped if you were just waiting.”

Jason shrugged. “I can’t focus when I know Carrie’s out there surrounded by human men. Lee’s there keeping an eye on them but that doesn’t make me feel much better.”

I groaned. I could clearly picture Amanda surrounded by those same drooling humans and I didn’t like it either. “Let’s go.”

Jason jumped in the driver’s side of his truck and I did the same on the passenger side.

“I don’t know why Carrie wanted to go out tonight anyway without me.”

“Maybe she wanted a chance to breath.”

“You make it sound like I’m overbearing. Oh, shit, am I turning into a normal alpha?” he asked sarcastically.

I snorted. “You’ll never be a normal alpha. Seriously, though, do the two of you ever slow down?”

“Nope. And you’re no better now that Amanda has accepted you.”

I shrugged. Maybe he was right. It was hard to lie to a werewolf nose. I just wished she would just accept me fully.

I was glad when we arrived. Amanda was dancing, but only with her friends, although her one friend Gloria had broken off and was practically making out on the dance floor. I moved up behind Amanda and wrapped my hands around her. She glanced over her shoulder and then relaxed into my body as soon as she realized it was me. It was subtle, but it was these subtle signs of her growing acceptance that let me hold onto my patience.

She would never be an easy mate, but she would always be what I wanted.

She turned in my arms and kissed me. “I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you, too,” I agreed, inhaling to find her scent buried under the alcohol.

She pulled back and narrowed her eyes. “Are you judging me again?”

“No.” Worrying was a better word, but she didn’t agree with that assessment.

“I drank a very moderate amount, and had a drink spilled on me, which was actually very annoying. But if you’re already planning to hold out on me tonight, I’m going to get completely wasted and make it worthwhile.”

“I’m not holding out on you.”

“Good. Good Porter.” She patted my shoulder with an overly sweet smile.

“I’m not a dog.”

Her smile grew into a wicked grin. “I know you’re not a dog.” She leaned closer on her tip toes and whispered, “You’re a wolf.” A shiver ran down my spine and I pulled her closer so she would feel what she did to me. My mate was good. Definitely too good to have her out in public. Too bad she was determined not to shut out the whole human world. If we were dancing back at our pack I’d carry her back off to our bedroom right now. Instead I was going to have to endure this for...well, there was that time in my truck. But Jason would kill me if I did that in his, and Amanda’s car was too small.

Looked like I was just going to have to be patient until we got home.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“I bet you could guess.” I still held her tight against me.

“I’m guessing I can.”

“The two of you are so sweet I think I’m going to need a dentist in the morning,” Helen joked, although she seemed to be slightly envious of my mate. Maybe Amanda was right that humans would line up to have a werewolf mate after all. But that wasn’t my problem as I looped my arm around my mate and gave her friend an apologetic smile.

We had one drink and danced as much as Amanda wanted to. Jason and Carrie headed back in his truck because she was tired, and but unfortunately my mate seemed to have a never ending supply of energy. Were humans supposed to be nocturnal? All I wanted was to get back to my bed with her, although admittedly I wasn’t really thinking about sleep either.

But I endured all the waiting and ignored the odd human who was brave enough to check her out when she was obviously close to me. Or caught their eye until they inevitably gave in and looked away, much to my satisfaction.

“Ready to go home?” she finally asked.

“More than ready.”

------------

The next day, we ended up over at Jason’s old trailer, where Krystal and Michael were now staying until their house was finished. They’d been camping out and claimed they were perfectly happy, but Jason had convinced them that it was better for Rosella to have better shelter. They might be rogues, but they were dedicated to their child.

Kain had been quiet and withdrawn after we’d first escaped Stonemason and that had dragged on even when we’d first joined up with Michael and Krystal back before we were an actual pack. She’d started the tradition of forcing Kain to celebrate his birthday the first year. Kain had gone along with it without much complaining when he was eleven, but even though he grew taller, he seemed to slouch lower every year while she fussed over him. She’d invited the pack members that Kain was closest with and we all crowded into the room.

Amanda was sitting on the far side of the room beside Carrie, who was talking about some pregnancy related horror with Krystal as she bustled around. Amanda didn’t seem bothered by the topic, and I again wondered what she thought about it. I’d made my peace with whatever Amanda wanted. If she wanted to have kids we would, and if not I’d be happy just to have her. Until she said something, I wasn’t going to worry about it.

There was a huge cake decorated with the number fourteen, and Krystal lit the candles and put it in front of Kain while we sang. He blew them out while still managing to look detached from the whole thing. Krystal cut the cake, and slid Kain the first slice.

Rosella had been free ranging around the room, and she made a beeline towards him and looked up at him with giant pleading eyes. He groaned and reached down and picked her up, and she instantly shoved her chubby hand into his piece.

“Rosella...” Krystal muttered, and then sighed and gave Kain a second piece while the baby made a huge mess with the first.

After cake, we chatted for a while, and then Kain opened up his presents. He seemed satisfied with the haul he got. Amanda had agreed to get him something from us, so I was a bit surprised when she just handed him a card.

He ripped it open and smiled at the bills that fell out, holding them away from Rosella’s grabby hands with a quick “Rosella, no.” He glanced towards Amanda who was sitting right beside me and thanked us.

“I thought we were going to give him something,” I whispered.

“We did. It’s call choices and purchasing power. He’s fourteen, he can buy whatever he wants most now instead of me trying to guess what that is.”

“It’s against Krystal’s rules,” I argued.

She rolled her eyes at me. “I’m just a human. I do things my own way, Porter.”

Kain interjected, “And that right there is why humans are so much better than werewolves. Conformity is lame.”

Krystal sighed. “I only put in the no money rule in so these guys wouldn’t just give him a wad of cash every year. We wanted something meaningful.”

Carrie nodded like she could see it happening and elbowed Jason who looked at her with fake innocence.

“Good thing you stopped that from happening. That would have been so terrible,” Kain snarked before he moved on to the next gift.