by Selena Cross
*****
Anna wondered how long it would take her to ignore his presence before he left her alone. She didn’t want either of them there; she just wanted to be left alone to wallow in her own self-pity. It angered Anna how pitiful she was at that moment, considering she’d never been one to wallow about anything. When her parents were still alive and drinking all the time, she was the one who’d be strong and protect her sister from her parents drunken rages. When they died in the car accident from drunk driving, she was the one who picked up the pieces and put everything on the back burner to care for her sister. When her sister ran off and forgot she even existed, she went back to school, while working, and graduated with honors and a Bachelor’s degree in accounting.
She never just wallowed and threw herself pity parties, so why was she doing it now? Maybe it was because it had all finally come to a head and she’d finally just let it all break her down. These tears weren’t just because of how Drew and Carter had treated her; they were also for how her parents had treated her, how her sister had treated her, and how life had treated her.
She could feel the tension resonating off Carter and part of her wanted to answer him, but just a small part. The rest of her just wanted him to leave her alone and go away. Then she felt the harsh warmth of his touch as he placed his hand on her hip.
“Anna?” he choked out again.
She couldn’t ignore him anymore with his hand there because even though she didn’t want to admit it, even that simple touch had somehow seeped into the rest of her body and comforted her, and even in this state she began to feel aroused by it. She hated her body. Why did she have to feel anything for this horrible monster?
“Yes, Carter?” her whisper was barely audible, but she knew he could hear her.
“Anna, could you please turn around? I need to talk to you and I don’t really want to talk to your back.” Carter stated.
This just made Anna even more angry, the nerve of that man to think he could treat her like he had then tell her what to do. Anna deserved better. She deserved respect.
“I guess we all have to do things we don’t want to then, huh Carter?” she snapped back at him.
Carter sighed heavily and his hand slipped from her hip, which Anna quickly regretted the loss of, “I’m sorry, Anna. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I have some prejudices against humans that I shouldn’t have taken out on you. I knew even when I said all the stuff I said that you were a good person, but I just couldn’t let go and now it has put a wedge between us.”
Anna swallowed past the lump in her throat. Of all the things she expected him to say, this was not one of them. She couldn’t really believe what she was hearing.
She turned around and lay on her back to face him. As soon as she looked at him, he seemed to pale considerably and looked like he was about to cry also. However, Anna knew that couldn’t be the case, Carter would never cry over her pain.
“Oh Anna,” he croaked out. “Look at what I’ve done to you.”
His hand suddenly went to her cheek, which made Anna flinch because she thought he would slap her. That was what her father had done when Anna was younger and cried over something they’d said or done. It was the reason Anna had stopped crying about things and started hardening herself to the pain others could inflict.
Carter gasped when he saw her flinch and withdrew his hand quickly before it even made contact with her face, “I’m not going to hurt you, Anna. I’d never lift a hand to you.”
Anna found herself snorting at his declaration and lifted her arm to pull up her sleeve and show him the bruises he left when he’d dragged her upstairs the day before. His eyes widened and then he looked away, but Anna had seen the flicker of shame that had come into his eyes before he turned, which made her wish she hadn’t shown him. She didn’t know why she still cared about his and Drew’s feelings, but she did nonetheless.
His head dropped to his hands as he leaned on his knees, “God, I’m so sorry, Anna. You must think I’m nothing but a monster.”
A big part of her urged her to say no, but she held back because that is exactly what she thought about him, and it didn’t matter whether he was a werewolf or human.
He looked up and she was surprised to find his eyes were lined with tears. Something inside her chest tightened and she really wanted to just reach over and hold him, but again she refrained. It would be too easy to just give him what he wanted from her and once he got it, he would just throw her away like everyone else had.
He reached for her face again, but she didn’t flinch this time. He placed his hand on her cheek and wiped away a tear that had fallen.
“Anna, I wish I could go back and change what I did to you yesterday, I really do. I didn’t mean to hurt you like I did and would never intentionally do so, you have to believe me.”
She didn’t really have to believe anything he said, but for some reason a part of her did.
“Please, I’m begging you, if you just give me a chance to make it up to you, I will prove that I’d never do anything to cause you pain and I really only want you to be happy here.”
Anna finally found her voice after moments of silence, “If you want me to be happy then let me go.”
Carter’s face-hardened a bit when she said it, “I can’t do that. Drew and I’ve been searching for our mate for a long time and, now that we’ve found you we can’t just let you walk away.”
“But, I’m human. How can I be your mate?” argued Anna.
“It’s rare, but werewolves and humans can be mates. I don’t know of an Alpha being mated to a human because yours is a weaker species, and Alpha’s must have strong mates to stand next to them. However, Drew is my Beta and strongest over everyone in my Pack save me, that could make up for it.”
Anna sat up, pushing her hair out of her face, “See, I’m too weak. I’d just hold you two back, you should let me go.”
Carter just chuckled at her effort, which really pissed her off.
“I don’t want to be a brood mare to a couple of gay werewolves,” Anna finally snapped.
Carter’s face went serious and he looked as if she’d slapped him again. She held her breath wondering if he’d keep his promise about not hurting her. After tense seconds, he sighed and looked away.
“Drew and I are mates, yes, but we are not gay. We don’t define our sexuality by the same terms you humans do. We mate with who we’re meant to be with, whether man or woman. If it’s two men as mates, then usually there is a third for them, who are female, so we can carry on our line, and vice versa. If they’re male and female, then sometimes they stay as a couple, but that isn’t guaranteed, there may be someone else that comes along and increases the size of the family. Sometimes there are as many as four or five males to one female.”
Anna felt the heat creeping up her face at the last part. She could hardly imagine giving herself to one or two men, let alone four or five. Carter turned back around to look at her and a lopsided smile appeared on his face when he saw her blush.
“Don’t worry, little one. I don’t think there will be more than Drew and me as your mates.” He teased.
Anna coughed and then it was her turn to look away, “So have you and Drew ever been with another woman?”
“Before I met Drew, we’d both been with plenty of women, yes,” he answered, knowing well that is not what she meant.
She turned to face him again, “I meant since you’ve been together.”
A flicker of a smile went across his face, but he quickly schooled his features, “Yes, of course. Drew and I’ve shared some of the available females within our Pack over the years. We do still take pleasure in sinking into a nice warm pussy every once in a while.”
*****
Carter enjoyed her gasp when he spoke about enjoying pussy, as well as the dark blush that rose to her cheeks. She looked down at her hands that she was fidgeting with, pulling on the comforter, and tried to hide her face with her hair. When she’d sat up earlier her hai
r had been all mussed and curly, and Carter had a hard time not wanting to run his hands through the silky locks. Now he wanted to push those locks out of his way so he could see her face again.
He reached for her chin and tilted her face up to look at him, while his other hand pushed the hair out of her face. She was biting on her bottom lip and had her eyes squeezed tightly shut. He wanted to laugh at her attempt to block him out, but then he smelled her arousal. He breathed in deeply and his mouth began to water as his wolf begged him to jump between her legs for just one taste. His cock was rock hard as desire coursed through his veins to fuck her silly.
He’d been truthful about sometimes wanting the feel of a warm pussy, but he hadn’t mentioned that it was never as satisfying as being with his mate. Drew and he always took the women together when they’d decide to take a woman to bed because neither of them would be able to reach release without the other. Now with Anna, the release would be able to be met with either and it would always be satisfying. When they’d share her together, it would be intense.
Carter couldn’t wait for that intensity, unfortunately since she was human, it would have to wait until she changed. Otherwise they’d risk hurting her.
After long, agonizing moments of him trying to control his wolf, Anna opened her eyes. She pulled away abruptly at the look of hunger he knew she saw and climbed to the other side of the bed to create space. With the minimal distance, Carter was able to reign in the raging fire a little bit, and let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“What happened? Why do your eyes look like you want to eat me for dinner?” She questioned, panic in her voice.
Carter couldn’t help the wicked smile that formed on his face, even though he’d try to fight it at first. “Because I do.”
Anna squeaked and made a dash for her bathroom, but Carter was faster and blocked her off before she even reached the door.
He wrapped his arms around her waist as he tried calming her down, “Calm down Anna, I was just joking.”
“No you weren’t, I saw the look in your eyes. It was like your wolf was about to jump out and get me.”
She tried to wiggle out of his arms, but he just tightened his grip, which didn’t help him much because it put her soft curves more flush against him and her wiggling made his cock painfully harder. He didn’t want to let her go for fear that she’d flee, but he also didn’t want to cum in his pants like a teenage boy.
“Okay, I wasn’t joking, I do want to eat you, but not the way you think,” he pushed his erection into her wiggling butt and she immediately halted all movement.
“I’m still a virgin,” her announcement came way out of left field and forced him to let go of her completely.
He’d accidentally let go too fast because she fell back onto the bed, where she proceeded to right herself before sitting down with her legs crossed and closed tight.
“Y-you what? Say that again.” Carter stumbled after the air started filling his lungs again from where it had been knocked out by her statement.
She bit her lip again, which only made him want to groan because it brought his attention to her delectable mouth. Then she fidgeted with her shirt hem a bit before turning her eyes back to him.
“I’m a virgin,” she said in a calm manner, as if it was nothing big.
“How?” was all he could blurt out.
“How, what? How does one remain a virgin? Simple, you just don’t have sex, or any relationship at all for that manner.” She looked sad for a moment with this remark and Carter automatically wanted to comfort her, but he still didn’t understand.
“But that doesn’t make sense, you’re twenty-five. How have you remained a virgin this long?” he winced at his harsh way of saying it, but saw no other way to put it delicately.
“My parents died before I graduated high school and I had to work to raise my little sister because we had no other family. I guess I just never had the time or desire to be with anybody else,” she was embarrassed for her admission and Carter knew he was making it worse by just gawking at her, but he just couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“So you’ve never even kissed a man before?”
Her blush came back. “Once in high school, but his braces cut my lip and I haven’t wished to relive the experience since.”
A part of him wanted to chuckle at the scene that painted, but he knew better.
He was completely floored, here he was relaying all his sexual escapades to her as if they were nothing and she was a complete and utter virgin. He felt like a heel. For the second time since he’d met her, she’d managed to make him look like an outrageous ass and all she’d to do was be her innocent little self.
Then an idea popped into his head, he and Drew would be her first for everything. With that prospect, his cock perked back up and seemed to come back to life again. It wasn’t very often that a man found his mate and she’d be completely free from ever being touched by another man, especially within Packs. All the males in the Pack shared unmated females regularly during their heating season, so most males were just glad they’d found their mate and didn’t worry about how many others she’d been with before.
He uprooted himself from where he stood and took a seat next to her on the bed. He could see how nervous she was and now that he’d gotten over the initial shock, wanted to reassure her a bit.
Taking one of her hands in his, he laced their fingers together. “Anna, I know all of this is a bit frightening for you, and up until just a few moments ago I didn’t realize how frightening it really was. I know I haven’t made the greatest impression on you and I understand you not trusting me, but I’ll never harm you in any way.” Carter took a large breath because he knew the next thing he said was going to be hard, “I’m willing to wait for you to grow to trust me before we do anything. The last thing I want to do is push this mating on you.”
“But aren’t you already?” she whispered, probably hoping he wouldn’t hear it.
“In a way, yes, I guess I am, but Drew and I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time and we don’t want to give up our chance of having a family.” She opened her mouth to say something, but Carter cut her off, “I’m not talking about having pups. I’m talking about us all just being mates. If you don’t want to give us pups right away and want to wait a while, we would be fine with that as long as we had each other, you, Drew, and me.
“Just give me two months to prove myself to you, Anna. Two months, and if you still don’t want to be with us, we’ll let you go.”
Minutes ticked by and Carter thought he was going to explode from the anxiety. Why had he said he’d let her leave them after two months? Why did he feel the need to have her trust him?
Finally, she broke the tense silence, “Okay, I will try.”
A sense of relief and of dread filled him at the same time. What if he screwed up again within the two months? What if, at the end, she decided to leave anyway?
Resigning himself to accept the terms that he already laid out, he kissed her hand before he let it go and stood up. He had to convince her that she could come to care for Drew and him. He couldn’t lose her.
“I’m going to give you some privacy so you can freshen up or whatever. Drew and I have an important meeting today and probably won’t be home until dinner.” As he reached her door, he pulled it open then turned to look at her and said, “I’d really like to see you for dinner, if it’s okay.”
She nodded, but bit her lip again. Carter barely held back a groan as he stepped out and closed her door quietly. It was going to be a long two months.
*****
Drew just sat in the office of their Pack’s compound gaping at his mate. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You told her she could leave in two months if she wasn’t happy?” he asked, hoping he hadn’t heard him right.
Carter just nodded solemnly, and then put his head in his hands as he leaned against his desk. “I didn’t know what else to do, D
rew. I didn’t want to say it, but it just popped out and then I couldn’t take it back after I had.”
Drew was tense all over. He couldn’t lose Anna after all the time it took to find her, especially since once he’d found her, he’d fallen in love with her, instantly. He just sat there, watching his mate as the man tore at his hair. He saw how much Carter was beating himself up over this and couldn’t help but want to comfort him.
He stood up and rounded the desk to stand beside him. Then he slipped his hand into one of the hands in Carter’s hair and pulled it away in order to get his attention. Carter looked up at him and Drew’s chest tightened at the lost look in his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Carter. We will just have to work extra hard to convince Anna that she needs to stay with us. It will work out, you’ll see,” Drew tried to smile, even though now, he didn’t really know whether he was lying to himself and Carter, or not.
“God, I hope so, Drew. I don’t want to lose her.” Drew’s breath hitched at his confession. Just the day before Carter was ranting about how she was nothing but a selfish human, not worthy of their mating. Now here he sat looking completely helpless and afraid that he was going to lose her.
Anna had a way of wiggling in under your skin quickly, once you gave her a chance. She’d done it to him almost instantly and it seemed, once he let his guard down and his prejudices go, she was doing it to Carter too.
Drew knelt down a bit until his lips brushed against Carter’s.
“We won’t let that happen, Carter,” he said before he kissed Carter fully.
Carter opened for him instantly and he plunged into his mouth. Tasting the tangy delicious taste of his mate, he wondered what it would taste like when he kissed Anna. Would she be sweet and decadent, with a hint of innocence, or would she be spicy and filled with fire?
Gods, Drew couldn’t wait to find out. He only hoped that he’d find out and it wouldn’t take as long as two months.