The Reluctant Mate

Amanda

Steven was vile, made worse by the contrast with Porter. Plus, my acting skills were too rusty to handle the task of pretending I liked him. I straddled him and moaned with disgust, although hoped he couldn’t tell the difference. Or that he’d enjoy it if he could.

“Show me how much you missed me, baby girl.”

Ugh. How had I let him manipulate me for so long? Sure, he could hurt me, but I wasn’t afraid of that anymore as long as he didn’t kill me. If he didn’t have that gun...

There was shouting outside. One of my kidnappers yelled something about a wolf.

A wolf? It couldn’t be Porter, could it?

Did I dare hope? How could they have found me so quickly?

“Move,” he ordered, and I was happy to obey this one. “Stay put.”

Steven walked out of the room and yelled, “What do you two think I’m paying you for? Shut the hell up and do your damn jobs!”

I went to the bedroom window and scanned the area. I was disappointed not to see a single wolf in sight. But one of the thugs outside was obviously upset. “But there’s a wolf and it’s acting strange.”

“Just fucking deal with it.” Steven had that tone where his patience was all used up. It used to make me scared. It still made me scared but I was done with cooperating. I picked up the lamp from the bedside table and yanked it from the wall. I didn’t know if the wolf outside was Porter or just a coincidence, but I didn’t want to just passively do what Steven wanted again.

I slipped behind the door.

He walked back in the room, obviously distracted.

“Amanda? Baby girl?” The you’ve-really-fucked-up-this time tone grew with every syllable and he held up the gun. He turned to search for me in the rest of the house. “Where—”

I slammed the lamp straight onto his head with a sickeningly satisfying thump, but I didn’t waste time enjoying the moment. I hit him with the lamp a second time, and a third, and this time he brought up his hand up to protect his head and stop me. I screamed as loud as I could as I lunged for the gun. I wasn’t able to grab it, but it felt from his hand and skidded across the floor and under the bed.

He looked towards it, and I kneed him in the balls with as much force as I could muster. Steven howled but sadly didn’t go down, so I ran and I grabbed the gun and held it pointing at him as steadily as my shaking hands could manage.

“Amanda, baby girl,” he said. He was clearly pissed, both hands holding himself. He stood, slightly bent, clearly still hurting. A trickle of blood was dripping down his forehead, too. Good.

“I don’t want to hear it, Steven.”

He took a step forward.

“Stay back,” I said, adjusting my sweating palms on the cool heavy weapon. “I will shoot you.”

He stopped well out of reach and held out his hand, as if I was just going to handle the gun. “Just give me the gun before you hurt yourself.”

I scoffed at that. “I don’t think so. What the hell were you thinking, bringing me here?”

“I told you, you belong to me. I got this place for you—so we could be together without the stress of everyday life. I came here for you.”

“Sure, sure. Then why’d you take so long to come after me?”

“I gave you a bit of time, that’s all. But playtime is over. Give me the gun, and we’ll go back to how things used to be.”

A shiver ran down my spine and my heart pounded. “Not a chance.” I didn’t know how many bullets were in the gun so I didn’t want to waste any, so I kept the gun in my left hand and grabbed an ugly vase off a dresser with the other. I threw it at him, and he barely dodged it.

That vein that warned me I’d gone too far pulsed. I grabbed a bottle of water and chucked it at him next. Then the box of tissues, which went wide and completely missed him.

“Enough of the tantrum. Give me that damn gun!” he snarled, stomping forward. “I know you don’t know how to use it, so stop fighting like the good girl I know you can—”

I pointed it at his chest and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Aw, fuck. He lunged for me, so I did the only thing I could think of. I threw it right at his face.

And for once my missile hit the mark. He swore, and I pushed past him and ran out of the room. I sprinted down the hall towards the sound of breaking glass, just in time to see a huge wolf shaking shards from his fur.

“Porter!” I almost collapsed in relief at the sight of him, huge and powerful and with eyes full of fury, although they softened as they reached my own. I threw myself at him and hugged his neck. “Steven took me, I was worried that I’d never see you again.

He rubbed his muzzle against me before moved to put me behind him, his attention fixed toward the hall.

Steven emerged and gaped at the sight of a huge wolf standing on shattered glass in the centre of his living room. His face paled as he levelled the gun towards my werewolf boyfriend. My heart almost stopped. I didn’t want him to get hurt.

Porter growled aggressively and seemed completely unconcerned about the gun pointed at him.

I jumped as a hand grabbed me from behind, but my fist was blocked by Krystal’s hand.

“Sorry,” I gasped, taking in the fact I could have punched her in the face. She was only wearing a blood splattered shirt.

“Who the fuck are you?” Steven asked her, glancing between the wolf and the woman who had invaded his creepy hideaway. “Are these your wolves?”

“You can call me none of your fucking business, psycho,” Krystal said. “You’re just lucky that Porter’s too angry to drag this out, because if it were up to me—”

“Don’t tell him more than he needs to know, Krystal,” a very naked Jason said as he walked into the room, along with a wolf I recognized as Lee. Steven looked even more dumbstruck.

Krystal shrugged. “What’s it matter? Porter’s going to kill him either way, Alpha.”

Jason looked conflicted for a second before shooting my ex an evil smirk. “As an alpha, I really shouldn’t let him kill the bastard, but as a friend it’s just so damn tempting.”

“Well, you know my opinion on it.” Krystal looked at Lee, who growled.

Steven finally regained himself enough to try to put on a good show. “‘Let him?’ I’m the one with the gun here, and you’re all trespassing.” He swung the gun wildly between everyone. Krystal pulled me behind her.

Porter growled.

Steven stood up straighter. I regretted not grabbing the gun and running outside. I didn’t want Porter or the others to get shot. “I’ve got the gun,” he repeated, and the bluster seemed to give him courage. “Get out of here and I won’t hurt any of you.”

Jason heaved a disappointed sigh. “We’ll tie him up with the others, and have his memory modified to confess to the human authorities.”

“Are you people fucking insane?” Steven said, his voice getting nearer and nearer to a shout. “I said, I have the gun! Get down on the floor!”

“Yeah, yeah, the gun. Impressive. Lee, Porter...”

The two wolves advanced on him, Porter growling.

Steven whimpered and there was a loud bang. Krystal flinched. “Ow! I have a kid, asshole!” Blood oozed from her arm under the hand she had slapped over the wound. Porter looked towards Krystal’s wound, and the bullet hole in the wall only a foot away from where I was standing.

And he snapped.

Steven screamed as a few hundred pound of snarling rage and razor sharp teeth hit him.

Jason shrugged. “I guess we can call it self-defense? I mean, the human did attack first. I can only imagine the fucking paperwork this is going to cause...”

Krystal nudged me. “We should get out of here, sweetie. You’re not going to want to see this. Lee’ll bring Porter out when he calms down.” I could barely hear her over the sounds of Steven’s screaming.

I followed Krystal and Jason out of the house.