He was tempted to bow, or do something equally ridiculous. He’d done it when he’d met Kameron, who’d been stunned by Mal’s reaction. It hadn’t been Mal’s fault he didn’t know what alphas were, not in details anyway. He’d thought it meant they were like kings or something, but thinking about Kameron being a king made him want to laugh now that he knew the man.
He did extend his hand to the alpha, though, and Dominic shook it and smiled. “I don’t think I know you.”
“I’m Malcolm Yates. Call me Mal, please.”
“Welcome to Whitedell, Mal. I’m Dominic.”
“I know. The alpha.”
“Yes.”
Dominic let go of Mal’s hand and looked at Will. “I thought you were going home.”
Will shuffled. “I tried to, but Nysys grabbed me before I could exit the house, then Mal came in...”
Dominic smiled. “And?”
Will rolled his eyes. “He’s my mate.”
“Shhh!” Jayden hissed. “Don’t let Nysys hear you. He’ll whip up a party, and you don’t want that, believe me.”
Everyone looked at the living room. There was no Nysys in sight, but the noise they could hear suddenly went from a conversation to sex sounds, and Mal wondered what Nysys was watching.
Dominic arched a brow at Will, and Will shook his head. “It’s not porn. Believe me, there’s too much blood for it to be.”
A woman moaned loudly and Mal snickered. “It sure sounds like porn.”
“Nysys wouldn’t watch porn with women,” Jayden said, still watching the open door to the living room. “I think I’m going to go in there and check on him, just in case, you know? It might be interesting, for research sake.”
“Sure. For research sake,” Dominic said, but Jayden was already disappearing inside the living room.
Mal’s phone vibrated again, and all eyes went to him. He rolled his eyes. “You guys can hear the vibration?”
“Yes,” Will said, a frown hitched on his forehead.
Mal reached up and tried to smooth it out. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know where I am.”
Dominic arched a brow in question. While he wasn’t using his alpha superpower, or whatever it was that always made Mal want to answer Kameron’s question, he answered anyway. “Ex-boyfriend.”
Nick snorted and Mal scowled at him. “What? Paul is an ex-boyfriend.”
“Oh, he sure is, but he’s also a creepy stalker.”
“Yeah, well, there’s nothing I can do. I already changed my number, but he found the new one. I’m done. He can call as much he wants, I’m not answering anyway.”
The phone stopped vibrating, only to vibrate again a few seconds later. At least it stopped right away, so it was a text instead of a call. Mal ignored it, even though everyone was looking at him, probably waiting for him to take his phone out and read the text. He wouldn’t. He’d already read enough of them to know what would be written in it, and the last thing he wanted right now was to have to read Paul’s empty promises.
Nick looked at Mal. “Ready to go home?”
“What? We’ve been here only an hour!”
Nick shrugged. “I’m done talking to Dominic.”
“Why did we drive all the way here? You could have talked to him on the phone.”
“And you wouldn’t have met your mate.”
Mal sighed. “Yeah, fine. That’s right. Still doesn’t tell me why you couldn’t call.”
Dominic chuckled. “Why don’t you stay with us for dinner? That includes you, Will.”
“I should go home,” Will said. He looked at Mal, and Mal didn’t’ want him to go. Will had said he wanted to take things slow, though.
It didn’t mean Mal had to like it or to play along. “Stay, please? We just met.”
Will smiled. “Of course.”
Dominic clasped Mal and Will’s shoulders. “Great. I’m going to see what’s happening in the kitchen. I’d suggest you stay here if you want a bit of privacy, but it’s not going to last long anyway, not at dinnertime.”
“Or you could go to the living room and watch TV with the others,” Heath said. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Will grimaced. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I don’t enjoy seeing that much blood.”
Heath snorted. “As if you’re going to watch the screen anyway.”
* * * *
It was weird. Okay, it was more than weird, and Will wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
They’d all eaten dinner in a joyful chaos that had made Will’s head hurt. There had been something like thirty people in the dining room, and he didn’t think he’d ever eaten with a group that big. Not even Heath’s family was that big.
Will hadn’t known anyone well, apart from Heath, and more marginally, Jayden and Mal. Mal had stuck by his side for the entirety of the meal, looking at him every so often, always smiling. It made Will’s heart feel funny, and he hadn’t expected it.
Of course, he’d known he’d eventually find someone else when Heath had dumped him. He’d also known it wouldn’t happen fast, and he’d been right, but what he hadn’t expected was that the next man he’d kiss would be his mate.
That he still needed to wrap his mind around, and it wasn’t easy, not with the way Mal looked at him, with promises in his eyes. Will wanted to know all of them, and he hated himself for suggesting taking things slow.
He could always change his mind, and he was pretty sure Mal wouldn’t have problems with it, but he held strong. He needed to be sure before he gave his heart away again. Mal might have been his mate, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt Will. Mal was human, so he wouldn’t feel the same impulse to be with Will and to stay with him as Will. He wouldn’t have too many problems walking away, not even after they mated, and Will didn’t want to have his heart shredded to pieces again. He didn’t think he’d be able to bear it.
When everyone was done eating, the cleaning up began, and Will could see it was a dance everyone who lived in the mansion knew. They were quick and efficient, and at the same time, they looked like they were having fun, and Will didn’t think there was anything less fun than cleaning up a kitchen and putting everything in a dishwasher.
“Let’s go watch more episodes!” Nysys yelled at the room.
A few people groaned, and they hadn’t even been watching the series with Nysys and Keenan like Will, Heath, and Mal had.
Mal smiled at Will. “You think we can find a quieter place? I’m pretty sure Nick will want to go home soon, and I’d like to talk to you without the sound of people either dying or having sex as a soundtrack.”
The guy sitting on Mal’s other side leaned toward them and blushed. “You might want to try the library, or the pond out back.”
“Can you tell us where the library is?”
“Sure. Let me just talk to Darin for a sec.”
The guy got up and walked to the other side of the table, where two twins were talking. He stopped next to one of them and said something Will couldn’t hear over the noise in the room. The guy—Darin, obviously—waved Will’s guide away and he came back toward them.
“Do you want to go now?” the guide asked, and Will nodded.
Mal leaned against Will’s side as they followed the other man out. “Trevor’s a cheetah shifter. What kind of shifter are you? I realized I hadn’t asked yet.”
“Bear.”
“Bear? Cool. Do you think you can show me sometime?”
“Of course I can.”
“Are you going to eat me?”
Will leaned closer to Mal and whispered next to his ear, “Only in a good way.”
Trevor sputtered and turned a violent shade of red. Will hadn’t meant for him to hear his answer. He didn’t even know why he’d answered like that. He wasn’t the adventurous kind of guy, and he certainly wasn’t the kind of guy who dirty-talked his boyfriend or mate in front of someone else. He didn’t even do it in the bedroom, for fuck’s sake.
Mal laughed and elbowed Will’s side. “That’s fine with me.”
Will blushed. It wasn’t as spectacular as it had been in Trevor’s case, but he could feel the heat on his cheeks. “Sorry.”
“What for?”
“For saying that. I don’t know what came over me.”
Trevor pushed open a door at the end of a hallway on the first floor and stepped to the side. “Here you go. The only person who might come here is Jayden, but I think I saw him going back to the living room with Nysys and Keenan, so you should be safe, at least for a while.”
Mal smiled at Trevor. “Thanks. We shouldn’t be long because me and Nick have a long drive to go back home, but it’ll be nice to be alone for a little while.”
“I’ll, uh, I’ll be downstairs if you need me. Darin wanted to try to bake new cupcakes, and I usually help him.” Trevor blushed again and hurried away before Mal could say anything more.
“That guy is weird,” Will said, following Mal inside the library.
The place was huge, and it smelled heavenly. Enormous shelves covered the walls from ceiling to floor, leather couches were scattered in the middle of the room and under the windows. The smell of wood, leather, and paper, made Will want to move in there and never leave.
Soft yellow light illuminated the room, and Mal took Will’s hand and dragged him to a couch under the window. They sat, and Will looked out the window. It was all very romantic, and he hadn’t even had to try. “What did you want to talk about?”
Mal took his phone out, looked at the screen, grimaced, and slid his thumb on it. “First, give me your number. If we’re going to date, we’ll need to call each other.”
“If?”
“Since we’re going to date. Better?”
“Do you have a problem with that?”
Mal looked up from his phone and frowned. “With dating?”
“Yes. Shifters don’t, not usually, or at least not for long.”
“Will, I’m human. I’m more used to dating than to the bite-your-boyfriend-to bind-yourself-to-him-forever thing. I don’t mind dating at all.”
“Good.”
“Now give me your number.”
Will rattled the number out, and Mal just had the time to save it before his phone vibrated again. Will held his hand out, and Mal hesitated, but after a few seconds he put his phone in Will’s hand. Will read the text that had just arrived.
Baby, tell me where you are now. I’m taking you home.
Will pressed his lips together. “Are you sure you’re safe?”
Mal sighed and looked at the sky outside the window. “For now, yeah. He still hasn’t found me, and the pack really is well protected, especially after the attack.”
Will had to bite his tongue. He didn’t want his mate to be in a place other shifters attacked, but he couldn’t very well tell Mal to leave the pack. “So will you want to stay with the pack?”
“What do you mean?”
“After.”
Mal wrinkled his nose. “You mean after we mate?”
“Yes.”
“Well, for someone who wants to wait, you’re sure thinking ahead.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I don’t know the answer to the question, though. I guess you’ll want to stay close to your family, and I only have friends.”
“I don’t have a family.”
“No?”
Will didn’t want to talk about it. They’d just met, and they were supposed to make out until Mal had to leave. Instead he sighed heavily. “Let’s just say they didn’t take me being gay very well. I was lucky I had Heath and his family. They took me in, and I love them, but with what happened, I haven’t seen them much lately.”
Mal took Will’s hand in his. “I get it. The same happened to me, and that’s when I met Arlen. We’ve been together since then, and he’s my best friend.”
“And you don’t want to leave him.”
“Of course I don’t, but I don’t want you to leave your family, either. Why don’t we wait to talk about these things, huh? We can get to know each other like you want to, and take things slower. I’m not in any rush. I’m just happy I found you.”
Will looked at Mal, at the way his eyelashes fanned over his cheeks, and he leaned down to kiss him.
Mal was right, they didn’t need to talk about it now. They had all the time in the world.
Chapter Three
Mal had to resist the urge to throw his phone against the wall. Instead, he checked who the caller was, and was he glad he had when he saw who it was. “Hey, Will.”
He and Will had been dating for a few weeks, and everything was great. Will was very sweet and considerate, but Mal was glad they’d decided to keep things on the slow side. Paul had been sweet in the beginning, too, and that hadn’t ended well. It hadn’t ended at all actually, since Paul was still calling and texting.
“Are you free tonight?”
Mal tried to forget about Paul and to focus on Will. “Oh, I don’t know. I have to see if I can fit you between helping Simon shop and listening to Arlen whine about his mates.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Of course it’s a yes. What did you have in mind?”
“Dinner and a movie?”
“On one condition,”
“Which is?”
“I know you’re tired. We don’t have to go out, so can we do it here at home?”
Will was silent for a few seconds, then, “The dinner and the movie?”
“Yeah.” Mal smirked. “Why? What else could I be talking about?”
“Uh, nothing, nothing.”
Mal laughed. “Aww, you’re cute when you’re flustered.”
“Shut up.”
Mal’s phone beeped and he scowled at the wall in front of him. He’d changed his phone number again the past week, but Paul had found it. Mal didn’t know how he managed, but he was thinking about ditching cells altogether. He would, if he didn’t think Paul would find a way to get to him anyway. At least this way he was still far enough away that Mal wasn’t scared he’d bump into him while shopping.
There were voices on the other side of the phone and Mal sighed. “You have to get back to work?”
“Yes.”
Mal pouted. “Already?”
“I’ll see you tonight, though.”
“Do you need me to borrow a car and drive to your house?”
“No, I’ll come.”
“You’re sure? You’ve driven here almost every day this week.”
“I’m sure.”
They hung up and Mal’s phone beeped again. He scowled at it, but it was a text from Will.
Miss You.
“Aww. Look at how cute he is,” he said aloud.
“Who, me? I know.”
Mal looked up at Simon. “No, not you.”
Simon stared at Mal. “I haven’t seen you smiling at your phone in a while. You’re not talking about Paul, are you?”
“Yeah, no. Definitely not. Paul is anything but cute.”
Simon flopped on the bed next to Mal and Mal scooted to the side to give him more space. “He’s still calling?”
“Yup.”
“Still trying to get you back?”
“Mostly, although sometimes he slips and starts insulting me instead.”
“The bastard.”
“Yeah.” Mal paused. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“Shopping time.”
“Already?”
“Well, I thought we could have lunch at the mall. What do you think?”
“Sure. What do you need to buy anyway?”
“I don’t need to buy anything, but with your new boyfriend, we haven’t had much time to talk lately.” Simon tried to stare Mal down, but Mal wasn’t having it.
Simon and the others knew about Will, of course, but Mal tried not to talk about it too much, and he hadn’t yet told Simo
n he was Will’s mate. He didn’t want to jinx what he had with Will. He knew it was stupid, but at least this way if something went wrong, he wouldn’t have to see the pity in his friends’ eyes.
Mal hoped everything went great, of course, but he couldn’t help the twinge of uncertainty every time he thought about Will. He knew Will was supposed to be perfect for him so it meant he shouldn’t be like Paul, but how could Mal be sure?
Paul had been so nice in the beginning, so sweet, and Mal had fallen right into his trap. It had taken him only a few days after moving in with Paul to realize something was wrong. Paul wanted him to stay home, always answer his phone even if he was at work, and he’d never been that way before. Mal didn’t have many friends to begin with, and he’d started losing them because of Paul’s behavior.
He should have known something was wrong then, but he’d been on his own, and he’d stayed. He hadn’t thought things could become even worse, but they had, and that was when he’d started hiding the bruises.
Not many people knew about his past. Arlen did, of course, and so did his mates, Elliott, and Kameron, but that was all. Mal was pretty sure Simon had guessed, but he’d never said anything. Everyone else thought Paul was just an ass who couldn’t take no for an answer, although Mal could see some were starting to wonder. Paul was being too insistent lately, and Mal could feel something was about to happen. He didn’t know when or where, but he’d promised himself to forget about Paul and to start living again, and that was what he was trying to do.
Mal’s phone beeped again and he sighed. Simon leaned over him to check the caller name. “Maybe we should stay home,” he suggested, a frown marring his perfect face.
“I don’t want to stay home.”
“Yeah, but that guy is getting creepier. What if he finds you?”
“You’ll protect me.”
Simon snorted. “Right. Unless your Paul’s a twink, I don’t think I can do much to help you.”
Mal looked at Simon. He was wearing painted-on jeans and a yellow T-shirt. He had his usual make-up on, but he was understated. “You’re not seeing your parents today?”
“Nope.”
“You know, I don’t get why you’re doing it.”
Simon batted his lashes at Mal, trying to look innocent. It would have worked better if Mal hadn’t known him almost as well as he knew himself. “Doing what?”
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