Micah's Mate

by Abigail Raines

  The tonic that I brew myself, that I’ve brewed very carefully and in secret since leaving my pack, is in the medicine cabinet. It’s disguised as a liquid medication. As far as I can tell, Michelle never knew a thing about it. She never asked what I took it for because I was careful with it. It’s only in the bathroom cabinet now because I live alone and even if someone snoops, the label is long faded. It looks looks just like any forgotten medication you might keep in the back of your cabinet.

  But it’s not just any other medication. It’s a tonic that I brew which disguises my shifter scent. I take a swallow of it and hold a hand to my stomach, trying not to gag. It tastes disgusting. But it’s saving my life.

  That tonic is why the Tremblays don’t know I’m just like them, a wolf shifter.

  And if I’m very careful, they’ll never know.

  Chapter Two: Micah

  I was happy being single. I was a rich, hot, goddamn wolf shifter with the world at my fingertips...and my paws. I had the vague notion of wanting a mate someday, but honestly, I could get any woman I wanted, human or shifter, and when I felt like it, I did. It was never anything serious and I was fine with that. I always felt there was a certain kind of woman I was looking for and assumed I would never find her. Not because she was so unusual or because there was anything wrong with most women, but just because it was hard to think I’d ever be so lucky.

  Then I met Luna.

  The first time I saw her at Xander’s place, back when Michelle was first pregnant with Trevor, I felt as if somebody had struck my head like a gong. I’d never seen anybody who was this petite yet filled up a room. At least to me she does. Luna is short, about 5’2. She’s blonde and her brown eyes are so big they almost look too large for her face. She’s got a little cupid’s bow mouth but it’s nearly always open because she talks a lot, blinking up at you with those eyes as she gestures constantly, like she’s showing you whatever she’s talking about with her hands. She’s also funny. I’ve only had the chance to talk to her a few times and when I’m not falling all over myself, I’m utterly charmed. Bewitched. Enchanted.

  The first time I saw her, all I could think was: I want her.

  The trouble with that is, she’s human...which doesn’t make any sense. Because each time I’ve gotten anywhere near her, I’ve had that intense feeling that she’s the one, my mate, my mine. Aaron had the same feeling about Michelle and she turned out to have the shifter gene, even if she can’t actually shift. So that made sense. Sometimes, I wonder if Luna has that too? It would explain why I feel this way, and why just bedding her would never be enough. But what are the odds of that? Michelle and Luna aren’t related or anything. They’re just friends. There are likely at least a few thousand people with that gene, but that’s still not very many when you think about it.

  The even bigger trouble is though, even assuming she’s human...I just don’t care.

  I know that I absolutely should. If Michelle had been fully human, it would have potentially started a war within our clan and despite how much Xander puffed up his chest, he would’ve sided with Aaron in the end. But some of the packs might have turned against us.

  But if Luna is human? I don’t care. I still want her. I have pretty good instincts. At least I like to think so. When I looked at Luna, I just knew. And if, for some reason, the fates have decided that I’m going to fall in love with this human woman? Well, who am I to argue? Who is my pack or my clan to argue? The rule is stupid if you ask me. And I wouldn’t feel bad about breaking it. I’m loyal to my pack and my clan but, to me, that doesn’t mean you follow some stupid arbitrary rule and give up a chance at true love. At least I’m not going to just because some old wolves said so a thousand years ago.

  So when my brother happens to mention that Michelle is having her best friend over for dinner, I jump at the chance to crash. Aaron doesn't want to let me come at first. Apparently Luna’s been real weird about hanging out at their place. I have no idea what that’s about, but pretty much anything in relation to Luna intrigues me. I tell Aaron I am going to come over whether he likes it or not and he caves. He’s been very reasonable since he has a kid, much more territorial yes, but also more reasonable sometimes. And by that I mean it’s slightly easier to push him around. He’s lucky I don’t usually take advantage of it. Instead, I mainly tease him.

  “What’s the vibe at this thing?” I say into the phone now. I’ve just gotten home from work at the ad firm. Addleson & Weiss is a great agency but sometimes work really exhausts me. I’m in the creative department and I put a lot of energy into the stuff I write.

  I have three different outfits picked out for this dinner because I am a clotheshorse. My brothers might make fun of me but women think I’m fashionable, so there.

  “The vibe?” Aaron asks, bewildered.

  “I mean casual, dressy…”

  “Micah… It’s just dinner at my place. There is no vibe. Wear whatever.”

  I decide that means casual and opt for my favorite black, designer skinny jeans. They make my ass look fantastic. I pair it with a gray v-neck sweater and a leather jacket. I spend forty-five minutes on my hair. I maintain my very carefully cultivated but careless looking hint of stubble.

  At seven, I grab the bottle of wine I picked out to bring as a little gift. Every once in a while, Mason takes me out wine shopping so I’ll have some good vintages on hand to take to dinner parties. I don’t know if this really counts as a dinner party but I want Luna to see me being magnanimous.

  At seven-thirty, I rap on my brother’s door. When Michelle answers, holding Trevor in her arms, even my snarky little heart melts. My nephew grins, all pink gums, when he sees me. I greet Michelle and wrap them in a hug and then it’s all about Trevor grabbing my finger and attempting to gum it to death.

  I look up at Michelle and say, “Is Luna-”

  “Not here yet,” Michelle says knowingly. “Wow. You really have a crush, huh?”

  “No,” I say a little petulantly. “I just think she’s...fetching.”

  “Fetching,” Michelle says, as she sways, holding the baby. “I don’t hear that one a lot.”

  “Is my brother here!” That’s Aaron shouting from the kitchen.

  “Yeah!” I call back. “I’m flirting with Michelle!”

  “Get your paws off my mate!”

  Michelle rolls her eyes and shouts at Aaron to shut up. It was pleasant to find that once the dust had settled on whether Michelle would be accepted into the family, we all got along swimmingly. Xander too. Everyone loves Michelle. We especially love how good she is for Aaron who has definitely managed to unclench a little bit since he found his mate and had a kid. Now his stressing is tempered by delight and starry-eyed affection.

  Must be nice, I think.

  Michelle takes my arm, just to tease Aaron, and I escort her into her own living room. I take the wine to the dining room table.

  My brother’s place was nice before Michelle got there, but it was just a notch below warm. Now though, it feels so homey. Michelle brought quilts that her mother made and one blanket of yellow and red triangles decorates his plain black couch. Somehow, it really works. So do Michelle’s two shelves of DVDs shoved up against Aaron’s historical documentaries. Everything just seems to fit together with them. I find myself wanting that too.

  Aaron’s kitchen though, looks nearly the same, except that now, it’s always messier. It’s eternally cluttered with baby bottles and baby food containers. I find Aaron sauteing peppers at his huge stove. He’s growing a beard now, a bit of dark fluff decorating his chin. I think it suits him.

  “What are we eating?” I say, and steal a slice of green pepper to nibble on.

  “Chicken cacciatore.”

  “Ooh. Sounds good.” I can’t help but wonder why Luna isn’t here yet. They said 7:30 and now it’s past that. I glance back toward the front door and hear Aaron chuckling at me.

  “What’re you gonna do, Micah?” Aaron says, sighing. He looks amused yet concer
ned. “Sweep Luna off her feet? Marry an actual human?”

  “Why not?” I say shrugging.

  Aaron just makes a disgusted noise and shakes his head. “After everything I just went through with Michelle.”

  “Yeah exactly, that,” I say, stealing a couple more pepper slices as I lean on the counter. “Hey, maybe you actually primed them, ya know? Those old fogey elders and alphas? To be more understanding? A little more open-minded?”

  Aaron actually laughs at that, sounding utterly incredulous. “Okay, sure. Ask Xander what he thinks about that.”

  “No, thank you,” I murmur around a pepper.

  I feel her before I see her. I don’t know how to explain that given that she’s human. Though I wouldn’t put it past the fates to give me such a confounding mate. But somehow, I know that she’s coming a full minute before Michelle opens the door. I feel her presence approaching. I sniff lightly, being discreet, so Aaron won’t tease.

  There, a whiff of some perfume. It’s slightly familiar, something I’ve smelled before on other human girls but now it stands for Michelle and I want to bury my nose in her neck. I can smell her shampoo and I can smell her blood. There’s something else too. It’s incredibly faint but it’s there and I have no idea what it is, something just a little bit metallic. But scents are sort of like little knick knacks we shifters can pick up and put down to examine. I pick up the perfume again. I pick up the scent of her lipstick.

  Only then does she knock on the door and I smile to myself.

  “I knew she was coming,” I say softly. “I felt her.”

  “Micah, I swear to God,” Aaron says. “You’ve met her what, three times?”

  “That’s enough to know,” I say, smirking at him.

  “Christ,” Aaron says. He looks genuinely surprised as he spoons his pasta into a pan and mixes the chicken with the peppers. “I’ve never heard you like this before.”

  I shrug then, feeling a little sheepish.

  I hear her laugh like a happy little chime and I can’t make out what they’re saying but Michelle is talking now, sounding happy to see Luna. She sounds like she’s reassuring her about something.

  “Hey,” I say quietly to Aaron, and I lean next to him at the stove. “Did you ever find out why Luna’s been weird about hanging with you guys?”

  “Mmm, yeah,” Aaron says, stirring his chicken around. “But it’s probably none of your business.”

  “Oh, c’mon.”

  “Nope,” Aaron says. “Can you just relax?”

  I hear the click of Luna’s heels on the floor and her perfume wafts closer. I can smell her skin.

  “No,” I mumble. “Not a chance.”

  I stand up straight, and check my hair in the reflection of Aaron’s espresso machine.

  Now, I have to tell you, I am very smooth. Everyone will agree (except my brothers) that I know what I’m doing with the ladies.

  But if I’m being honest, I haven’t been my normally unassailable and smooth self with Luna so far, not in the three (count em’ three) times that I’ve met her. I’ve stuttered, I’ve blushed, I’ve shifted from foot to foot, and done sort of strange things with my arms. Basically, I have been everything, but I have not been smooth.

  That stops now.

  I stand up straight and run my fingers through my hair. I take a little tin of mints out of my pocket and pop one.

  Aaron sees that and says, “Geez.”

  “Shut up, old man,” I say, straightening my sweater. “You don’t even remember the pain of courting.”

  “I just found my mate,” Aaron says, rolling his eyes. “And I’m younger than you!”

  “Hush.” I chew up my mint and nod to myself. She’s right out there. I don’t know why they haven’t joined us in the kitchen but I’m not waiting any longer. “No time like the present,” I say.

  I start striding out to them all confident-like but the minute I spot Luna in a cute gray knit dress that hugs her not too subtle curves and see the mischievous turn of her smile, her bright eyes sparkling as she laughs at something Michelle said, and the swing of her ponytail, I lose all sense of myself.

  I shove my hands in my pockets, which I guess looks casual, but I wanted to look strong.

  But my mouth? I don’t even know what’s it’s doing.

  “Um.” I swallow. My mouth feels too dry. What is that? That is so weird. Maybe I’m imagining it. “Uh...h-hey.” I run a hand through my hair as I step up to Luna and like every other time I’ve met her, it’s like her tiny frame still somehow fills the room with her very presence. “Hey...there. Hi. Hey.”

  My cheeks are burning.

  For one moment I see the corner of Luna’s pretty mouth turn up and her eyes flash, like maybe she’s actually happy to see me. But then she visibly cools. She just nods at me.

  “Hey,” she says.

  Michelle looks back and forth between us. If nothing else, Luna is no longer paying the slightest attention to Michelle and baby Trevor. She’s looking at me. I’m going to count that as a win, even if I don’t like the way she’s looking at me.

  “It’s good to see you,” I manage to say. I’m grinning from ear to ear now, as I step a little closer to her, my hands still in my pockets. I want to be clever and charming. I’m like a seventeen-year-old on prom night instead. “You look beautiful.”

  Wow. Original.

  But Luna seems to soften at that. “Thank you,” she says. “So do you. What, did you take an hour to do your hair? I’m guessing three kinds of product.”

  She’s smiling and she’s fucking with me. My heart leaps in my chest.

  “Forty-five minutes,” I say, tipping my chin up. “And only two kinds of product.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. My bad.”

  I feel steadier on my feet. “That’ll teach you to go assuming things.”

  I’m nearly a foot taller than her but I slouch a little bit and duck my head. She blinks up at me with her long, dark lashes. Neither of us is speaking. I feel like we’re almost sizing each other up. Or rather, she’s sizing me up and I’m thinking that she’s small enough that I could sweep her up in my arms and carry her up a flight of stairs, no problem. For what other possible purpose have I been killing myself with free weights after all?

  “So how are you?” She finally says.

  I stare at her, trying to process the question. All I can think is that I’m great because I’m talking to Luna. The only explanation for something like this is that she’s my mate. Anything else is bullshit. Dimly, I think that outside of this moment...I’m okaaay. I don’t always like my job and in my darker and more lonely moments, I suspect I’m the least necessary of the Tremblay brothers. But...rich, successful, handsome as hell. How bad can I be?

  “I’m wonderful,” I say, truly believing it. “At the moment.”

  Luna seems to know exactly what I mean by that and her lips twitch as she decides what to do with it. “You’re a flirt,” she says.

  “Yeah.” I nod, crossing my arms. I nudge her shoe with mine. “So are you.”

  “Exactly,” Luna says. She takes a little step back now and suddenly she seems nervous. She’s off her game. I wonder what on earth it was that made her not want to come over. “We’re both flirts. And that’s all. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  I feel like she’s turning down something before I even had the chance to offer it. So I take the chance of offering it anyway.

  “I want to take you out,” I say.

  “No.” That’s it. That’s all she says.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation.”

  “No,” I say, put back on my heels just a little bit. “You don’t. But-”

  “Just let it go, Micah,” Luna says. She smiles softly and if I didn’t know better I’d say she looks pained. I feel like she wants to say yes but she can’t for some reason. Curious. “Let’s just enjoy dinner, okay?”

  I’m about to talk again when Aaron announces the food is ready.
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br />   Chapter Three: Luna

  Dinner turned out to be easier than I had thought and also harder. It was great to see Michelle, so happy in her new role as mom and so in love with her man. The only strange part about our friendship now is that she thinks I don’t know about the shifter thing. I suppose it was already strange, since I was hiding my true nature from her, but that I’m used to.

  All weekend after the dinner, I can’t stop thinking about Micah Tremblay. It’s not just that he’s gorgeous and charming and even more adorable when he’s flustered; it’s that I feel something around him. I couldn’t put my finger on it before because the other times I’ve met him, all the other Tremblays were around too and I was terrified the entire time that they would suddenly realize what I was. But at that much more intimate dinner, I felt it and I knew exactly what it was.

  He’s my mate.

  They do say female shifters feel that connection even more strongly than the men. I wonder how Micah feels. I’m sure it’s there to some degree for him, and that’s why he came on so strong. After I turned him down, he did let it go. But he continued to flirt and we couldn’t quite stop staring at each other. I knew Michelle and Aaron were all too aware of it. I must’ve seemed ridiculous as I sat there at the table, picking at Aaron’s excellent chicken cacciatore. It was just difficult to concentrate once I realized what I was feeling.

  Aaron’s dining table is on an elevated level above the living room, so you have to climb three short steps. Aaron called for dinner and Micah climbed the steps and when I approached, he held out his hand to help me up. The steps were short, it wasn’t necessary. It was just a sweet, old-fashioned gesture of chivalry, and something about it made all the clouds and fears in my head clear and I thought to myself: He’s my mate.

  If I wasn’t sure then, a moment later when I took his hand, I was positive. His hand was so warm and solid in mind and I felt that rush of excitement you feel when your soulmate touches you for the first time. I felt alive.

  So I spent the rest of the rest of the weekend telling myself I must be wrong.