The Reluctant Mate

Porter

How dare this fucker take Amanda? How dare he hurt her? How dare he risk her fragile human life by shooting a gun anywhere near her?

I lunged at him, and snapped my jaws around his arm and wrenched it away from his body, breaking something. He screamed like the pansy he was. Maybe it was sick and twisted, but I enjoyed his screams, and my wolf loved the taste of his blood. My animal nature had wanted to kill him since the moment we’d known he’d hurt her, and he’d given me the perfect excuse not to hold back.

Lee was saying something, but I was lost in a blind rage.

Steven’s screams finally stopped when he was a mangled mess of corpse on the floor, and even that wasn’t enough to completely satisfy my need for revenge. For justice.

“Come on, Porter. You’re done here. Your mate needs you.”

The thought of Amanda finally snapped me back into sanity. What if she needed me?

I jumped outside through the broken window, still covered in sticky fur. She was sitting on the ground next to Krystal wrapping her arm with a piece of cloth that looked like it had been ripped from a shirt. She was only in her bra and pants, and the lack of a shirt made me wish I had one to give her. Or that Steven was still alive so I could kill him again.

“It’s really fine, Amanda. We heal fast. I’ll be as good as new in a few days. Probably won’t even scar.”

“You could have died.”

“Not too likely. We’re a very sturdy bunch. It’s hard to kill us without silver or wolfsbane. Not impossible, but...”

“Porter!” Amanda gasped. I shifted back to human so I could talk to her.

“Maybe you should have washed up a bit?” Krystal commented, pulling her arm away from Amanda’s clumsy ministrations. She was probably right.

Nice going, Porter. Traumatize your mate by looking like an active serial killer.

“Amanda, I—”

“Well, I’m just gonna go guard those stupid humans now. Wouldn’t want them to escape before they’re dealt with.” Krystal walked away swiftly, leaving me with my shaking mate.

“Sorry,” I said to her.

She glanced at me. “For what?”

“Uh, this,” I indicated the blood that coated my chest and arms. My face was probably worse, since I could still taste the tang of iron in my mouth. I sat down onto the ground next to her, close but not touching. I didn’t want to get blood on her, and I wasn’t sure she’d welcome my touch after what I had done.

“Is he dead?”

“Yes.” Hopefully she wouldn’t be upset by that. She had just seen me kill a human. Even someone evil like that bastard still wasn’t nothing.

She sighed and put her face in her hands. “I really thought he’d given up.”

“It’s strange. Maybe he wanted you to let your guard down?”

She looked over at me. “It seemed to bother him I was with you.” She shrugged. “I guess he thought it was too serious between us and felt threatened. I guess he didn’t mind letting me do my own thing as long as I was still running from him.”

“Huh.” I didn’t know what to say about that.

“If only he knew.” She offered me a shaky smile. “I want to go home. But we can’t. Jason said something about how we need to stay here until the Alpha Assembly agents come here and clean up?”

“Yeah. They’ll want to hear witness statements.”

“Are you going to be in trouble?”

“Nah. He attacked my mate. And they’ll make sure the human police suspect nothing. It’s what they do.”

“Good.”

“Are you scared?”

“I was.”

“Sorry.”

“Not of you.” She wrapped her hands around her knees and looked smaller than usual. “I’m glad you came for me, although I don’t know how you found me so fast.”

“Since we’re increasingly wrapped up with the vampire forces anyway, Carrie asked them for help. They traced your phone to the last tower, and we searched from there.”

“Is that bad?”

“Not really. We’re all a part of the accords either way.”

“I guess I’m causing trouble for everyone.”

I shrugged. “You’re pack.”

“But am I though?”

“Yes. You are.”

She started picking up rocks beside her. “I’m just a human.”

“You’re my mate. And there’ve been times when non-mates who were close to a pack join, too. Doesn’t happen often, but it’s not forbidden, although the member is a part of the accords then, too, and they risk running into trouble with the hunters if they expose anything to the mundane.”

“I probably should join.” She looked so defeated all of a sudden.

“No pressure, Amanda.”

“I should probably let you mark me, too.”

Even though I wanted that more than anything, I didn’t want her to decide it like this. “We can talk about that later if you want.”

“Well, it’s...” She trailed off, a black SUV roared down the driveway. Two females and a male all dressed in black suits stepped out. Jason walked over to talk to them. I could clearly hear their conversation as Jason explained everything that had happened.

“And this human Steven took your beta female?”

“Yes. He’s dead, but we interrogated his lackeys and he’s been paying them to keep tabs on her for over a year now.”

“That’s almost alpha mate level obsessiveness,” one agent observed, shaking her head. “Odd behaviour in humans. Well, I guess we’ll have to sort this mess out.”

The three started walking around the yard. One of the females, a werewolf who looked young for her position, knelt down by Amanda and held out a white t-shirt. “Give me a minute with her.”

I looked to Amanda. She nodded and took the shirt and pulled it over her head.

“Please tell me everything that happened.”

I was distracted from the conversation when the male intercepted me with a pair of grey sweatpants. I wondered if they carried around a box of bulk standard clothing for just these sorts of situations. “Hello. I’m Agent Johnson, and I’m interested in hearing what happened from your perspective.”

I pulled them on. They were slightly small, but they’d do. Years of shifting had removed any lingering shyness from me, but I still understood the preference not to want to talk to another male with everything hanging out.

“So, what happened?”

“That bastard took my mate. I started worrying when she was late coming home, and then I found her car at work. We found her—you can talk to our luna about those details, and then I rushed in to save her. We weren’t going to kill him, but then he nearly shot her and my wolf went for his throat.

I left out the convenient fact that I was just as in control as my wolf when I’d killed him. It was less trouble if I just blamed it on my animal side and I felt no shame for the omission. He questioned me for a few more minutes, marking down details as I spoke.

Agent Johnson finally nodded. “Judging from your state, it’s a mess in there?”

“That’s accurate.” Steven resembled hamburger and it really was a good look for him.

“We’re probably going to have to sell it as an animal attack.” He groaned. “A bear in the house? It’s a tough sell. But more believable than werewolves.”

I chuckled at his joke, but my attention was straying back to Amanda who was still talking to the other agent.

“What’s going to happen to those two?” I asked, forcing my gaze back towards the humans who were still bound together.

“Standard memory adjustment, keeping them as close to the truth as possible. Since they were perpetrators of a crime, we’ll have them confess their guilt to the human authorities, maybe play it as if they’re coming clean due to the trauma of seeing their employer ripped to pieces by an animal. We’ll remove all traces of your pack from the area once you’re gone, and wrap everything up with a nice little bow.”

Looked like everything was going to work out just fine—as long as Amanda was okay. “Sounds good. Thanks, Agent.”

“You’re welcome, Beta.”

I made my way back towards my mate, since no one stopped me.

“We could modify your memories, too, if it’s too much to take. You’d remember that we did it and that you consented, but not what happened. I know our world is bit different than what you humans are accustomed to,” the agent said, her voice kind.

My heart stopped. I didn’t want Amanda’s mind being messed with. It was fairly safe, but nothing was ever guaranteed with magic. I didn’t entirely trust it.

But before I could interfere, she shook her head. “No thanks.”

“Well, then, we’ll contact your pack if anything else comes up. Thanks for your cooperation.” She stood up and glance at me. “You’re free to go once Terra cleans you up.”

Amanda nodded.

“You okay?” I asked her as we walked away.

“Sure? Maybe?”

I wanted to ask her more, but then the other agent descended on us and stripped us of evidence using a combo of chemicals and magic. Other than her phone which was recovered in the van in the driveway, all of Amanda’s things would be delivered once cleaned. Jason called the other teams to provide backup once we located her, so they arrived not too long after the agents were done with us.

Dressed in more new clothing, we sat in the backseat which was covered in plastic and we found ourselves on the way home.

Amanda leaned on me during the ride, and was snoring lightly by the time we got back to the territory. I carried her to bed.