by Sam Crescent
“You will not fall for this.” A mate was something for life, and she wasn’t interested in living with a man who would kidnap her.
Mates were supposed to be something deep and meaningful, and it lasted forever. There would be no one else but Micah.
There was a knock at the door. “Leave me alone, Micah.” You don’t want him and yet you remembered his name.
She hadn’t been able to forget him, not once. If she also told the truth, she would have to admit she had also been dreaming about him a lot.
“It’s not Micah. I’m Darla. Micah asked me to come and see how you’re doing.”
Picking up the blanket, she opened the door and saw a tall woman with long brown hair and sparkling eyes.
“Micah is my brother.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, no worries. I’m mated to his best friend, and I have to say I’m so excited about you right now. My brother has finally found his mate, and believe me, it’s so fun to watch him eat his own words.”
“Eat his own words?”
“Yep. He’s always joking around with the mated males. Telling them how we’ve got them held by the balls. Please tell me you intend to hold Micah by the balls? Don’t make it easy for him.”
“I’m here because he kidnapped me.” She folded her arms, which was hard to do as the blanket was so thick.
“Holy shit, you’re not joking? He couldn’t even wait?”
“He came to my apartment, told me how he’d been hunting me, and then he drugged me with chloroform, and I woke up here.”
“That asshole.” Darla bent over and burst out laughing. “This is going to be so much fun watching you guys. Micah likes to say how no woman would ever make him fall in love with them. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned.”
“Can you get me back home?” Hayley asked. Darla seemed nice, but this wasn’t her home, nor even close.
“I can’t. Pack law states that we can’t interfere with mates. You may not feel your connection, but it is there.”
Hayley growled.
Great.
She was stuck here.
****
Right. Pancakes were good. Bacon was even better, and scrambled eggs. What about dinner rolls? Micah emptied out most of the food from the fridge, and was whipping up pancakes with as many sides as he could think of. He even had some maple syrup to warm up.
“Wow, who are you feeding? A tiger?” David asked.
David was a fellow wolf shifter, his best friend, and mated to his sister.
“I’m making some food for my mate. She’s going to need her strength.”
David sniffed the air. “You’ve not mated her yet.”
“I will.”
He couldn’t look at his friend. When he had seen that David had mated to Darla, Micah recalled all of the jokes and ribbing he gave his friend.
“You will?”
“Well, first I’ve got to get her to agree to stay. I kind of … kidnapped her.”
David burst out laughing.
“It’s fine. She just doesn’t know what we’re like.”
“This is just too good. You always said that your mate would be so easy and she would know how important it was for you two to be mated together. Now you’re telling me your woman doesn’t even want you?”
“It’s not that she doesn’t want me. She doesn’t get how important it is for us to be together. No problem.”
“I’ve got to meet this woman. She’s after my own heart.”
Micah growled. He couldn’t help it. The thought of any man touching what belonged to him made him want to tear out his throat.
“Whoa, you do know I’m mated, right? There’s no chance in hell of me ever wanting anyone else but my own woman.”
“I don’t care. You stay away from Hayley.”
“Hayley? Wait, why do I recognize that name.” David frowned and rubbed his chin.
Micah gritted his teeth.
“Holy shit, this woman is the one who stayed over at the motel. She loved to take walks in the forest.”
“I wasn’t around while she was here. I left, remember?”
“Yeah, you went mate searching and all the time, your mate came home.”
Micah didn’t need to relive his own mistake. He had heard many times that mates would find a way to be together. It was some kind of gravitational pull. Two souls that were meant to be together no matter what. He never believed in it thinking it was an old wives’ tale, or something like that.
If only he had some faith, he would have been able to date Hayley and not kidnap her.
“I like her,” Darla said, entering the kitchen.
“Where is she?” Micah asked, dolloping mounds of pancake batter into a skillet.
“She’s heading down.”
He heard her walking downstairs. Seconds later, she appeared in the doorway, and his heart squeezed. She wore one of his old shirts, and a pair of boxer briefs. He was bigger than her in everything. Her blonde hair was also down and all around her shoulders. She looked so beautiful.
“Morning,” he said.
She glared at him, but still muttered a ‘morning’.
“Here, Hayley. This is my mate, David.”
“Hey, David,” Hayley said, taking a seat beside Darla. The sound of her stomach growling filled the entire kitchen.
In a flash, Micah placed a bowl of diced fruit in front of her. “Please, eat something.”
She stared at the fruit and then at his hand before looking back at the fruit. He handed her a fork, and she took it. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He watched as she speared a mango slice, taking a bite.
Satisfied that she was eating, he went back to flipping pancakes.
His mate was in his home.
He was feeding her.
The wolf inside him was dancing and so damn happy right now. Micah couldn’t help but smile. This was the first time in his entire life that he had felt truly content.
“So, Hayley, how are you finding Forest Palm?” David asked.
“I loved it the last time I was here. I didn’t expect to be back so soon.”
Micah looked up to see that she was looking at him.
“She’s here against her will,” Micah said. “She doesn’t believe that we’re mates, and she doesn’t care how important that means to me.”
“How dare you? You expect me to give up my whole life because you say so? You … pig.”
“First, I’m a wolf, babe. Remember that. Second, what life? You lived alone, and from the smell of the apartment, you hadn’t been with a man in a long time. I’d have smelled him.” And he would have killed him. There was no way his wolf would have been able to handle that kind of intimate touch between his mate and another man.
“You … ugh, I don’t like you. How come this is the first time I’ve met you?” she asked. “Do you even live here, or is this someone else’s house?”
“I live here, babe. This is my place.”
“So why didn’t I see you before? I was here for like two weeks, and you’re telling me that not once during that time you didn’t venture out to town?”
David laughed. “Micah was out … hunting, weren’t you, mate?”
Micah glared.
“Hunting? Like rabbit and deer or stuff?” Hayley asked, eating a piece of strawberry now.
“No. I was actually out hunting for my mate.” This was not going well for him, not well at all.
She stopped eating and stared at him. “Oh, wait a second. You’re telling me that you could have been here when I was here, but you were determined to find a mate, and you went looking elsewhere?”
“Yes.”
Hayley started laughing. “I really shouldn’t laugh, but it is so funny.”
He was screwed, royally screwed.
Finishing the pancakes, he handed them out to Hayley first, and then his sister and brother-in-law. During breakfast, he watched Hayley talk with Darla and David. She seemed happy talking
to them, and he was pleased he didn’t send them away so he could be alone with Hayley. She wasn’t ready for that, not yet anyway.
Her body wanted him. He smelled her arousal, but her mind was nowhere near where her body wanted to be.
Chapter Three
Darla and David, the double Ds, didn’t stay for long. Hayley stared out the window, watching the car drive away. The house had gone really quiet, and she didn’t know if she even wanted to be left alone with Micah.
Her body was betraying her.
Every second she spent with him, the more aroused she became. Her clit was so swollen, begging to be touched. She knew it had to do with being close to Micah.
“Is this normal?” she asked.
She knew he was in the room even before he made a sound.
“Yes. You want me, and your body wants me.”
“I’m not a wolf.”
“You feel me, and your body senses me. We don’t know how humans are able to get the same cravings, only that they do.” He moved up behind her, and she closed her eyes as he gripped her shoulders. “It will get worse.”
She couldn’t even think of it getting worse right now. All of her life, she had never felt the desire to screw anyone, and yet, she wanted to jump on his dick and ride it. This was not like her, not even close.
“I don’t do stuff like this. Not with complete strangers.”
“I’m not a stranger, and there is only one of me. I can take care of you. I won’t let anyone else touch you. You belong to me.”
“That’s what bothers me.” She spun around to face him. He held onto her arms, and she didn’t like how they seemed to burn. Not in a bad way either. No, she wanted him so much it made her ache for him in ways she didn’t like. “I don’t know you, and I don’t want to have sex with you.”
“We’re mates. It’s going to happen.” He ran his hand down her arm. She didn’t like how the burn eased under his touch and became pleasurable. “You feel that. You need me, Hayley.”
“I don’t want to need anyone.”
“Whatever happened to that girl from foster care?” he asked, causing her to frown.
“I told you. She got adopted and after a letter, I never heard from her again.”
“Did it bother you?” he asked.
“Not really. I was happy that she had finally found a home. When you’re in care, you don’t really think about anything else. She got a home, and I moved on. Last I heard she was happy, why dwell?”
“Your curiosity about the wolves, it never faded.”
“Not for a second, but I can’t go around begging people for answers.”
“Babe, I’ve told you we’re destined to be mates. From the moment I smelled you across the street as you were packing up your car, I knew.”
She frowned. “You never said anything. You demanded my name.”
“I was reeling. Especially as I’d been in the café and several of the pack were talking about you. You liked to take long treks alone in the forest.”
“I love the forest,” she said.
“Why live in a city?” he asked.
She didn’t know why, and told him so. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s over.”
“It’s never over. Do you believe in fate?”
“No.”
“Well, I do. I believe we were bound to meet and bound to be together. It’s what drove you here, and it also helped that you were intrigued by our kind.” He took hold of her hand and pressed it against his chest.
She didn’t like how the need faded out, and she was able to focus. There was no way she was going to be hanging off his every word just to stop the arousal.
“You’re not my prisoner here. I can give you a life you’ve always wanted.”
“What’s the catch?” she asked. She didn’t like how tempted she was.
“Give me a chance. Give the two of us a chance to mean something to each other.”
“Micah, I don’t know. This thing between us, it scares me. I’m not used to not having control.”
He pushed some of her hair off her face. “You think I don’t feel that? Never have I felt this overwhelmed before in my life. I adore you and yet you flinch away from my touch, even though I know I make you feel amazing.”
She understood his frustration. Taking hold of his hand, she couldn’t resist tracing a finger down his palm. “Fine. I’ll do it.” She had nothing left to lose and everything to gain.
“It requires you spending time with me.”
“I get it. I’m at your mercy and I’m to give you as much of myself as possible.”
Micah cupped the back of her head and leaned in close. His breath fanned across her face, and he was so close that she was sure he was going to kiss her. Suddenly, he pulled away. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”
She was going to regret it. She loved his touch too much to be able to resist for long. This was going to be the hardest time of her life.
****
“What did you think of Forest Palm?” Micah asked.
They walked side by side as they made their way down the long stretch of town. Hayley’s arms were folded, and she was wearing one of his red checkered shirts. It was one of his favorites, and especially now as she was inside it. The scent of her was keeping his wolf at bay. So long as his wolf didn’t want to come out and play, he would be fine. He would never hurt his mate, nor would his wolf. The biggest problem was if he felt there was a threat. His wolf wasn’t exactly known for drawing the women to him, not human women anyway. The only woman he wanted was right beside him.
The urge to touch her was so strong that he was having to fist his hands to keep from reaching out.
Men, women, and kids were looking toward them.
“Everyone is staring,” she said.
He chuckled. “They all know who you are.”
“They do?” She stepped closer to him, and he had no choice but to wrap his arm around her shoulders.
“Yeah. I told them straight that the next woman I’d be walking around town with would be my mate.”
“They look like they want to kill me.”
“I’ll protect you. I’ve told you that.” He closed his eyes as he breathed in her scent. Never had he met a more stubborn woman.
“So weird.”
“What is?” he asked.
“All of my life I’ve been curious about wolves, and what it would be like to finally meet one, yet here I am, and I’m so confused.”
“Ask me anything. If you remember that girl’s name, I can try to find her.”
Hayley stopped and looked at him. “You can?”
“If she’s part of a pack, I can certainly call around. That’s what packs do. We connect, we help each other, and we band together.”
“Kind of like a family?”
“Kind of. I’m not saying it’s all peaceful. There have been a few problems between packs. It happens when one pack gets too big and starts encroaching on another’s land.”
“Are you big? This is a pretty big place.”
“Nope. There’s not another pack for miles around. We’re safe here, and everyone here just wants to live their lives in peace. What more can a guy or woman ask for?”
He loved it when she smiled, and right now she was doing exactly that.
“I do love it here. I found … I don’t know. Like you said, it was peaceful, and I didn’t have to worry about banging into anyone or causing any trouble. It was nice.”
“Why did you live in the city if you hate it so much?” he asked. He loathed going to the city. The smells from such a heavily crowded place always interfered with his sense of smell. It had been next to impossible to find her, and he hadn’t liked that. If she had been anywhere else, he’d have found her in a matter of hours.
“I’m hungry,” she said.
It had been nearly four hours since breakfast. After taking her on a tour of the house, he had also taken her for a long walk around his cabin and surrounding woodland before walking out to to
wn. She did enjoy long walks.
“There’s a diner just up ahead.” He held her hand, running his thumb across the back of her hand.
No one interrupted them as they made their way inside the diner and toward a booth. The scents of burgers, fried chicken, and pasta were heavy in the air. The thing about being a wolf, it meant he had an appetite and was always hungry.
Hayley took a seat opposite him and tucked some hair behind her ear. “I loved coming here.”
“I can’t believe I picked the week you visited to go mate hunting.”
“Why did you decide to go mate hunting?” she asked.
Micah chuckled. “If I told you that I’m sixty years old, what would you think?”
Her gaze was on him. “There’s no way you’re sixty. I wouldn’t put you a day over thirty.”
“I’m sixty-one in November.”
“Wow!”
“It’s a wolf thing. We age slower than everyone else. You’ll have a long life.”
“Wait, how? I’m not even a wolf.”
“When we complete the mating, you and I, we’ll be connected. You’ll age slower.”
“What happened to your parents? Do they know you’ve mated with a human?” she asked, glancing around the diner.
“My parents are dead.”
“Oh, sorry.” He saw her frown. “How?”
“You’re a curious person.”
“Wouldn’t you rather me be curious than, I don’t know, screaming and scared?”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t want you screaming away from me.” He reached across the table, taking hold of her hands.
“Is this another part of it?” she asked. “Holding hands, touching me.”
“Yeah, it really is. You have no idea how calming it is to me just to hold you.”
The smile was back on her face.
“Her name was Lettie. Lettie Sandsman. I would appreciate it if you could at least tell me if she’s happy. I’d like to know that,” she said.
“I’ll start making calls. You didn’t know anything else about her or where she went?” Micah asked.
“I don’t. I only know it was a pack, and that she was loving it there. I just want to make sure. A lot of bad shit can happen and I’m hoping it didn’t happen to her.”
“You cared about her?”