Furred Lines: A Fated Mate Romance

by Jade, Amelia

  Which is when Aiden darted in low and ripped the throat from it.

  She cried out and turned around, not wanting to see the result. It wasn’t the first time she’d watched a challenge, nor the first time she’d seen a werewolf bleed out and die from the result of one. But that didn’t mean she enjoyed it.

  “Okay,” she said as Aiden limped back into her view. “Now, what the fuck was that all about?” So far she’d been fairly patient, but it was about time she started getting answers about everything that had been going on.

  Before she could though, she saw Aiden straighten painfully, his eyes focused on the house. Turning, she saw someone else emerge from inside. As they walked over, she saw his eyes dart back and forth between Aiden and the body. Beside her, her newfound love was holding a position of attention that had to have his body screaming with agony from the wounds.

  “What is going on here?” the newcomer asked.

  “Rayne decided that he could deal with me on his own,” Aiden said stiffly. “Word unfortunately was not given to your teams that I was on the inside, and they came after me as well as the rest of Stephen’s pack. When I finally got Willow to safety, two of his goons took me down.”

  The two RRT members who had remained nearby for the entire thing shifted uncomfortably as the newcomer’s gaze shifted from one to the other.

  “Is that true?” he asked, his voice deadly quiet.

  “Uh, Rayne said it was part of the operation,” one of them protested, looking uncomfortable. “He didn’t tell us the truth. We thought we were just following orders.”

  As much as she didn’t like it, even Willow could hear the truth in his voice. She wanted them to pay for aiding this Rayne in his quest to kill Aiden. But it seemed they were innocent.

  “You’re fired,” the newcomer said. “Get the fuck out of my city, and never come back.”

  “But—” One of them started to protest, but the rest of the words died on his lips as the newcomer took a step toward him.

  “Who is this?” she asked, speaking out of the corner of her mouth. She was tired of thinking of him as “the new guy.”

  “Uh, Willow, this is Mack, my former Alpha. Mack, this is Willow, the girl I told you about.”

  She lifted her eyebrows. “You told him about me?”

  Aiden blushed.

  “Yes, he did,” Mack said, stepping in front of both of them. “He told me all about the goings-on here.”

  Behind them there was the sound of a struggle. They all turned to see two more members bringing Stephen from the house, held firmly between them.

  “Willow, I know we just met, and this will make me seem like an asshole, but your father has to die for his crimes.” There was an awkward pause. “Um, if you want to say anything, I’ll give you some time.”

  Mack went to move away, but Willow shook her head.

  “No,” she said, her voice hard. “I would have loved to speak to my father, to tell him I loved him.” She spat in Stephen’s direction. “But my father died thirty-five years ago, murdered by this pathetic asshole.”

  Stephen’s eyes went wide. “Who told you?! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all.” He started to struggle.

  Willow shook her head. He was insane. Being presented with his death had caused a break with reality in Stephen. It was most obvious in his eyes. They were wide, looking back and forth, focusing on things only he could see.

  “I didn’t,” she said sadly. “I just played a hunch. I still don’t understand why.”

  “I’m not sure we ever will,” Aiden said softly from next to her, taking her hand in his. “But my guess is perhaps they stumbled onto his operation and threatened to expose it. He killed them and took you in as cover, to make himself appear more down-to-earth and likable by everyone else.”

  Willow nodded. “I’d come to most of that same conclusion myself.” She looked up at Mack. “Do what you have to do.”

  “Inside,” Mack said, indicating he wanted it to happen out of sight.

  The werewolves holding Stephen in place yanked him back to his feet and hauled him inside and away from her.

  “Are you okay?” Aiden asked.

  She shrugged. “Most of my entire world has been turned upside down. I’ve gone from latching on to a fake father, to a brand-new man in my life. I’m terrified that I’m going to learn that you’ve been faking everything all along.”

  Aiden grimaced. “I’ve not been faking who I am, or how I feel about you. The only thing that I didn’t tell you was that Mack sent me here in hopes that I might be able to expose whatever it was your f—” he shook his head—“what Stephen was up to. I was still banished, and I’m now without a pack. That part was all true. As is the part where you’re my mate, and I am so madly in love with you. None of that was a lie, Willow, I swear to you.”

  She squeezed his hand tight. “I never figured I would actually find a mate. But if I’m forced to do that, I suppose I can’t argue about it being you.” She winked.

  “Just a warning. I have no idea what the future holds for me. We’ll probably have to move out of the city, find somewhere new to live. I overstayed my welcome here, and screwed up one too many times before I found something worth changing my ways for.”

  Willow furrowed her eyebrows. “You did? What’s that?”

  The werewolf lowered his head, shaking it slightly. It took a moment for Willow to realize it was laughter.

  “You!” he said, looking up at last.

  “Um, oh.” She felt rather sheepish. That was a fairly obvious answer. “Thanks?”

  Aiden just shook his head a few more times and then leaned in and kissed her. “You’re welcome.”

  “So, where do we go then?” The idea of leaving the city behind scared her. She’d lived here her entire life, aside from when she went away to school, but even that was in a big city. The idea of country living wasn’t something that had ever crossed her mind, even though the pack house was well outside the outskirts of town, almost enough to be classified as country living.

  “You don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to,” Mack said, speaking up at last, having maintained polite silence.

  She looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  Mack glanced at Aiden, and then beyond him. “Well, there’s an opening now in my pack. If you can show me you truly have changed, then you would be welcomed back.”

  Aiden stiffened next to her.

  “Willow would of course be welcome too.”

  Her mate relaxed somewhat, but he still seemed as hard as metal. She shook his hand. “Well, what do you say?”

  “Umm, can I take a few days to think about it?”

  Mack blinked in obvious surprise. “Of course. But not too long, I’ll need to fill the position soon. Seventy-two hours. No longer.”

  Aiden nodded. “Right, three days. Got it.”

  Willow wasn’t sure what she was missing, but one thing was clear. It was going to be an interesting next three days.

  “Is there anything else?” she asked, stunned at how calm her voice sounded. “Because if not, Aiden’s going to take me to a hotel and I’m going to have a breakdown about how the life I’ve known was a lie and is gone now, if that’s okay with everyone.”

  The words were barely out of her mouth when she suddenly felt dizzy as adrenaline faded and realization set in.

  “Aiden.”

  “Yes my love?”

  “Catch me.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to faint.”

  And she did.

  Twenty-Two

  Aiden

  “Have you thought about your answer to Mack yet?”

  He looked up from where he was cutting the chicken that they were going to have in the salad for lunch.

  Salad. Aiden hated that word. It meant green and colorful things and some sort of oily liquid poured all over it. Give him meat ‘n’ potatoes every day. Yum. Broccoli and cauliflower were acceptable as long as there was some shr
edded cheese to go on top. He’d also had asparagus that he’d enjoyed before, though truthfully he wasn’t sure if it was that, or the bacon it had been wrapped in. But a salad? No thanks. Not for him, if given the choice.

  It made Willow happy though, and over the past three days that had been his entire world: giving her everything she wanted or needed. Attention. Space. Sex. Food. Massages or his shoulder to cry on. An ear to listen. Nothing had been too much or too little for him to give his mate as she tried to process everything that had happened in a short period of time.

  Three days was not enough for her to get over it. They were both aware of that. But it was enough time for her to start to accept it. She was no longer bursting out into tears several times an hour and seeking out the comfort of his embrace. And if her last question was anything to go by, she was starting to feel calm enough to talk about him.

  Which was a relief, because Aiden had no fucking idea what to do. He was utterly lost.

  “Thought about it? Oh yes. I’ve thought about it a lot.”

  His back was to her as he focused on the cutting board in their hotel room’s little kitchen, so he couldn’t see what sort of look she gave him.

  “And?”

  “And what? I’ve thought about it. I still have no idea what I’m going to say or do.”

  He could sense the glare.

  “What? I only said I’d thought about it.”

  “When you answer in the affirmative without clarifying, that usually means in most social circumstances that you have an answer, you jerk!”

  A piece of celery bounced off his head.

  “Don’t forget to chop that up too,” she smirked as he caught it before it hit the ground.

  Celery? Eewwwwww.

  “Yes, mistress,” he said, hunching over some more.

  “Right. So, spill. What are you thinking?”

  He paused, setting the celery down on the counter where it wouldn’t encounter the raw chicken. Then he resumed cutting, taking a deep breath in. The question he needed to ask wasn’t a big one, but he worried about the answer anyway.

  “Just tell me already,” she said. “Did you want to stay, or go somewhere else?”

  “I want you,” he said firmly. “Would you stay if I accepted the position?”

  Willow was at his side in a heartbeat. “Of course I would stay! I thought I’d made that clear to you, Aiden. I’m in this with you now. It’s all your fault…you seduced me with your charming good looks.” She pinched his cheek.

  He sighed.

  “It sounds like you don’t want to do it though.”

  “I…I don’t know. I mean, I liked Mack. I respect him big time. But I don’t know if I want to go back to being under him.”

  She nodded. “I understand. So you want to leave town?”

  “Not really. I like it here. I don’t know what to do.”

  There was a long pause. Willow wrapped her arms around him from the side and rested her head on his shoulder. “I have an idea,” she said after a moment.

  “You do?”

  “Mm-hmm. If you’re up for it.”

  He put the knife down and looked at her straight on. “I’m listening.”

  She started to speak, and the more she talked, the larger his grin got.

  Damn, this girl gets me perfectly.

  Twenty-Three

  Aiden

  They waited for the metal gate to open and then he guided the truck up the driveway to a house that looked very familiar.

  It should, considering he’d lived there for nine years until the past few weeks.

  “You got this.”

  He glanced over at Willow and flashed her a smile. She was right. He was ready for this. He’d been ready for it for a long, long time now. Until recently though, he hadn’t known it, hadn’t believed it. Nor had he had the person in his life to wake him up enough to make the changes necessary for him to be able to achieve it.

  Now he had it all, and he couldn’t be happier. Even if Mack decided he didn’t like the idea, Aiden knew he had to make the attempt.

  The white pickup courtesy of Stephen’s estate pulled to a halt and he emerged.

  Mack was waiting for him.

  “You’re cutting it close,” he remarked, glancing at his wrist. There was no watch there.

  “I didn’t want to rush my decision,” he returned as Willow came around the front of the truck to stand at his side.

  “So you’ve made one then?”

  He nodded. “I have.”

  “So, are you going to come rejoin the pack?”

  Aiden steeled himself, taking in a breath, and shook his head. “No.”

  Mack’s eyebrows lifted noticeably. He hadn’t been expecting that answer. “I see. So, you’re going to head out then?”

  “Actually, I have another idea.”

  Beside him Willow squeezed his hand and gave him a minute nod. It was all the support he needed.

  “I want my own pack.”

  Mack frowned. “You can’t. Not here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because we already have enough packs in the city, Aiden. We don’t have room for ano—Oh.”

  The sudden look of understanding that spread across Mack’s face was priceless. Aiden wished he had a recording of it. Birthday parties and regional meetings would never be the same again.

  “You want Stephen’s territory.”

  “Yes,” he said bluntly. “I can do it, and you need somebody there you can trust.”

  “True,” Mack said slowly, his eyes looking away as he thought the idea over.

  “I can do this, Mack. I can do it better than Stephen ever did, and bring unity to the city.”

  “Where will you get your pack from?”

  Aiden smiled. Mack had already moved past any issues he had with Aiden, and was checking to see if he’d thought everything through.

  “Well, I happen to know where several dozen shifters are currently recovering after spending a long time drugged and drained of their blood. Once they recover, I suspect some of them will want to stick around and help make amends in the community. They weren’t responsible for the problems their blood caused with the humans, but that doesn’t mean they won’t help.”

  “Interesting.”

  “I’m going to show them that there is the possibility to change yourself. I’ll take them and any other castoffs. I’ll turn them into decent members, or I’ll deal with it as necessary.” Aiden’s voice grew harder, more confident as he spoke. “I’m living proof that you can overcome yourself, Mack. There are others out there who deserve that last chance as well. I want to provide it to them.”

  Mack was looking at him intently as he made his impassioned speech. Nothing in his gaze gave away his feelings. Aiden began to grow nervous. He’d thought he had all the answers. Both he and Willow had spent the past eight hours planning everything out, trying to come up with any problems Mack might have with it and address that ahead of time.

  “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”

  Aiden opened his mouth to reply when he realized the question had been directed at Willow.

  “Aiden isn’t meant to be a second, even to an Alpha like you, Mack. He’s an Alpha, and he deserves to have a pack. He saved me. Now let him do the same to some others.”

  Mack’s gaze swung back over to Aiden. “That’s quite some high praise. Do you think you can live up to it?”

  Aiden nodded. “Yes. And if I falter, she’ll be there to smack me around until I do. With her by my side, I can’t fail.”

  His former Alpha started to chuckle. “You know what, that might be the most convincing thing you’ve said. Okay Aiden, with the powers granted to me as the residing regional Alpha, it’s yours. I’ll have all of Stephens assets transferred over to you. With the rest of them in jail for a rather lengthy stay, they won’t need any of it, even if they hadn’t forfeited it all with their actions. Stay here for the night, and we’ll take care of the paperwork in the morning.”
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  “We haven’t eaten yet,” he began. They’d never intended to stay, regardless of the decision. Now though, it appeared they were going to eat with Mack and his pack tonight.

  “Good. Dinner should be just about ready. Chicken and scalloped potatoes tonight. Sound okay?”

  “Sounds heavenly,” he replied, sighing in relief that there was no mention of vegetables.

  An elbow hit him in the ribs.

  “Is anyone making any vegetables? I think we should have a salad or something with dinner. I could go grab a bunch of kale if you’d like?”

  Both Mack and Aiden groaned good-naturedly.

  “She’s going to get along with Maggie better than I think I’m comfortable with,” Mack complained as they headed inside.

  Willow looked back and forth between them. “Who’s Maggie?”

  “His mate,” Aiden replied. “She’s always harping on him to eat more vegetables.”

  “Ooh, I like her already!” Willow said, clapping her hands together.

  Aiden and Mack spoke together. “I was afraid of that.”

  ********

  ********

  This concludes Furred Lines. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

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