Greg grinned. “Yeah, before that, though, we were all sloppy drunk. Climbed the lift bridge, got into shit…it was a good night.”
“It was,” she agreed. “We’ve had some good times.”
“That night, you admitted you were lonely sometimes. You said you wanted to find someone, but knew you’d never have a mate. You told me how you accepted it and all, part of the gig, but sometimes you wished…”
“I was I love you man drunk. I get it, Greg.” Scowling at him, she got up to leave.
“I always hoped you’d find someone who worked. Like a manwife. Because you’re a good alpha, but no one should be alone.”
Her hand stilled on the doorknob, and she looked back at him. “Yeah? Thanks.”
“I think the Lynwood thing could work out for you,” he added.
Biting her lip, she nodded and left him. Walking down the hall, she considered his words. Yeah, the Lynwood thing looked good on paper. He was submissive, she was dominant. He tried to save her at risk of his own life. She wanted him.
But he’d told her where he came from and how he didn’t want to be part of a pack. She’d avoided him for two days while her wolf practically paced holes in her gut wanting to see for herself he was okay. Sure, reports of his improvements were great, but the wolf wouldn’t be satisfied until she saw her mate, knew he was fine, felt his breath under her hand.
Things weren’t as black and white for the woman. She’d known he didn’t want pack, but she’d practically forced it on him. It was mid-battle, there wasn’t time to do otherwise, but would he forgive her pushing the issue when he was practically unconscious? He agreed, but had he realized what he signed on for, really understood it?
For the hundredth time, she stood outside his door, second guessing the hell out of herself and torn between wanting to go to him and fearing what his response would be when she did.
The door opened, solving the indecision for her. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he answered. He looked good, his color back to normal. Through their bond, she could feel his returning strength. The white bandages around his waist, though, looked stark against all his dark flesh.
Pushing him into the room, she ordered him back to bed. “Now, lay down. You shouldn’t be up.”
He obeyed her, lying on his back and she crawled up next to him. With a pair of scissors from the bedside table, she snipped away the bandages. They hadn’t told her he hadn’t healed. How bad was it? Why hadn’t they told her sooner so she could—?
His flesh was pinkened, healing. Puckered with one long slice that could’ve gutted him. Stroking it, she tried to calm her heartrate. Tried to still her momentary panic. “Sorry. I saw the bandages and panicked,” she explained.
His hand covered hers on his torso. “Not complaining. Look, to be clear, you can order me into a bed and cut clothing off me any time you want. I’ll probably never bitch about it, either, Alpha sweetheart.”
Looking at his hand covering hers, at the band of gold still twined around his arm, she swallowed hard. “I have been trying to decide how exactly to apologize to you. How to make it right. I haven’t come up with anything yet, but if you want—”
He sat up, his hand cupping her face. “You’re upset. I’m sorry. I tried to fix things, but I failed you. You figured it out, though, and somehow managed to save us both. I—”
His eyes met hers, his expression unreadable. When he didn’t look away, he asked her, “So how am I not being forced to look away?”
“Well, for one, you’re not challenging me. You’re just looking at me. For two, I think a mate is allowed to look their mate in the eye.” She waited for her words to register, for him to balk at what she’d done to save them. For him to damn her for tying him to a pack when he’d been very clear on his thoughts in regard to that topic.
“What else can I do?” He licked his lips and the aroma of his attraction spiked, going to her head like a drug.
“What do you mean?”
Leaning toward her, he kissed her gently. “I mean, what else can I do that won’t be considered a challenge, Alpha sweetheart? Because I’ve had some really detailed fantasies about you and if I can make them reality, I’m not opposed to taking advantage of the mate bond to do it.”
Shivering at the sexual promise lacing his tone, she twined her arms around his neck. “But it made you part of the pack.”
“It made me part of you. You’re not him, not the kind of monster I didn’t want to be affiliated with. You gave me family, you gave me yourself. I do feel a little ripped off, though.”
Since he’d pulled her into his lap and begun unbuttoning her shirt, she arched into his touch. The skirt she’d worn rode up, bunching around her waist, but he’d soon retrieved the scissors and removed the barrier. “Ripped off?”
“Yeah, that wasn’t how a mating is supposed to go, sweetheart.”
No, a mating was supposed to be two people giving their bodies and lives to each other. As his hands raced over her flesh, she closed her eyes. He was okay.
“You’re still not in charge, rogue.”
His teeth nipped her shoulder. “Then command me, lady.”
Divesting him of his pajama pants, she then straddled him, shoving him back to the pillows. “You’re going to pleasure me.”
“Let me start now,” he offered. Tugging her higher, he slipped his fingertips between her legs. In seconds, her body bucked, sliding against his hardness in a way which satisfied neither of them, but felt damned good to her.
Lifting, she pushed him inside her. Merging their mouths, the kiss twined out, their hips moving together slowly as their tongues echoed the motion. “Take me, rogue. Show me what you can do.”
He flipped her, pulling her leg up for better penetration. “Your wish, in this case, is actually my pleasure, sweetheart.”
She could only take the delicious motion for moments before she pulled him down, teeth hovering over the juncture between shoulder and neck. “Faster,” she whispered.
“Yes, please,” he panted. “God, do it, Dara. Please.”
Her teeth clamped down on his neck. He cried out, her power shivering over them both to cloak him in her magic. When his teeth caught her neck, they froze, linked by teeth and sexes, one animal in two bodies.
But the climax was too close, the pleasure at a point of tension too strong to resist. With her nails digging into his back, he moved and she met him and they danced over the precipice together. “Mate,” she whispered. “Pack, partner, lover.”
“Friend,” he answered. “Yours. I’m yours, Dara.”
“I give myself to you, too, my rogue.”
“Always knew you would, Alpha sweetheart. I just wasn’t sure how.”
Smiling, she held him close. In his arms, she really did feel powerful. Safe. So many lives were linked to theirs, but she could protect them all.
And him? He’d be there to hold her through the night. “Thank you,” she whispered.
His dark eyes met hers, full of peace he both gave and was given. “Love you, too, Dara.”
Hugging him, she didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. He got her.
They were one.
The Odd Series
We hope you enjoyed Odd Wolf, Book Three of the Odd Series. Keep reading for an excerpt from book three!
Series Information
Odd Stuff, Book One
Odd Melody, Book Two
Odd Wolf, Book Three
Odd Mate, Book Four
Coming Soon:
Wicked Odd, Book Five
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Virginia Nelson is the hybrid author of more than forty novels and novellas, both indie and with eight different publishers. She’s also the editor of more than 60 novels for various publishers and authors. Virginia Nelson has been a bestseller on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and ARe. Her debut novel, Odd Stuff, won Best Books of 2010 from HEA Reviews.
Virginia is also a painter and a student at Kent State University. Aside fr
om that, she’s the mother of three wonderful biological children and copious numbers of adopted kiddos. Sometimes called the rainbow unicorn of romance, she’s also far from perfect and knows it.
You can find out more about her on her website.
VIRGINIA NELSON
http://virg-nelson.com
Books for sale. Snark for free.
Other Books From this Author:
Standalone(Alphabetical List)
Accidental Pirate
Back In Time
Catching Death
Clothing Optional
Dom of the Dead
Forever Devoted
Her Sexy Skunk
Hunting for Love
Hypnotist
Lips of Velvet
Penthouse Prince
Rumpling Riley
Rumor Has It
Sugar on Top
Taming of a Sex God
Taking Control
Turn Me On
Wolf on a Leash
The Were, The Witch and The Baby
Anthologies/Box Sets
Just One Bite, Volume Two, Wolf Bait
Box of 21 1Night Stands, Dom of the Dead
Spank or Treat, The Elder Warlock
4 Sexy Snarky Tales: 4 in 1 Bundle
Under a Wolf Moon, Odd Wolf
Romancing the Wolf
Non Fiction
Secrets of a Snarky Writer
Trending on the Toilet
Series (Alphabetical List)
The Bond of Three Series
Taming Tabitha
Calling Caralisa
Riding Ripley
Fighting for Fiona
The Magical Series
Magical Curves
Magical Mayhem - Coming Soon
The Odd Stuff Series
Odd Stuff
Odd Melody
Odd Wolf
Odd Mate
The Watkin’s Pond Series
Runaway Groom
While You Were Writing
Must Love Cake
Your free excerpt of Odd Mate!!
Odd Mate, Book Four
When a gamer wolf searches for love, only an odd mate will do.
Charly spends his days working in a used video game shop and most of his nights as the second to one of the rarest of their kind—a female Alpha. Most of the Pack figured he and Dara had a thing, but her recent mating wakens a wave of unwelcome pity. He can't exactly admit the one wolf he ever loved left him years ago. At least, he can’t until she reappears close enough for him to try again.
Gretchen fell in love with a sweet, nerdy bear of a man but ran fast and hard from his side when she realized he'd hate her for a genetic twist of fate she couldn't change. Now she's back in town and drawn to his side.
Can a wolf sworn to destroy all coyotes claim a coywolf mate, or will he be forced to obliterate the only girl he ever loved?
Chapter One
Everyone knows a good story doesn’t begin with a dream sequence. Due to the simple rule of storytelling, Charly knew he wasn’t dreaming when he spotted her sitting cross-legged on the small dividing wall between the college campus and the parking lot. It was her, it had to be.
Lifting an arm to wave, he called out, “Hey, Gretchen!”
She didn’t turn, didn’t even seem to hear him, her golden head bent to look at something in her lap. Even from a distance, he recognized her profile and couldn’t resist calling again, “Gretchen!”
His heart accelerated, a direct and immediate reaction to finally putting his eyes on the one woman who ever managed to make him want to be the kind of guy he read about—some comic book hero hell bent on saving the world who could say the right thing and sweep the perfect girl off her scantily clad feet.
Not that Gretchen was nearly naked, but a guy could wish.
Closer, he could see the cord which likely impeded her ability to hear him. She wore some kind of earbuds and a hoodie covered in cartoon characters. Her jeans were ratty and her hair as brilliant as he remembered. A trace of her scent—wild and a little heady—made it to him and he sucked in the familiar bouquet with a twist of bittersweet joy. He didn’t know why she’d just vanished one day, no trace left behind for him to track and no word on where she’d gone, but she had. He wasn’t letting her slip away so easily a second time.
Losing her once in a lifetime was enough to let him know he didn’t want it to happen a second time. Reaching out one hand, he planned to nudge her shoulder, get her attention, and maybe ask her out.
But a ball of fur in his periphery distracted him moments before wet and fangs closed on his arm.
Who would dare attack him in broad daylight?
The wild musky scent of the attacker alerted him before his human brain caught up with the program. Coywolf.
The dangerous breed of shifter was a combination of coyote and wolf, but not actually either anymore. Coywolves were bigger than wolves, more suited to urban terrain and altogether meaner than shit.
Not to mention Charly was in human form, it was daytime, and they were on a college campus, and if he did a thing to defend himself, his professors might see. Nothing ensured an A faster than a prof finding out their student could shift into a four-legged death machine, but he preferred his grades be based on his actual performance rather than sheer terror on the part of the humans.
Besides, it would really piss off Dara if he shifted in public. She’d never proved terribly understanding about them scaring the humans.
Fending off the attack to the best of his ability, considering, he tried to also scan the area to see if any other coywolves were around. Last thing he needed was for one to attack Gretchen while he was distracted, meaning he’d shift to protect her and worry about apologizing to his Alpha later if he had to.
But he saw neither other wolves nor Gretchen. She’d vanished. Again.
“Dammit!”
Not sure if he was more pissed because he’d been attacked or because he’d lost sight of the girl of his dreams, Charly closed one hand over the snapping muzzle mere inches from his face. “You picked the wrong wolf to tangle with, Hybrid.”
The other animal didn’t answer, more focused on trying to tear out his throat than conversation.
Pinching down hard on the pressure points at the joint of the jaw, Charly managed to pry the creature off him in stages. Humans gathered, all gasping in horror and one pulling out their cellphone—yeah, a Vine of their interaction wasn’t on his list of things to do, either. He needed to end this and fast. One snap and he’d managed to boink the coywolf’s head off the pavement, stunning the creature. Once it was distracted, Charly shoved away then ran fast and hard toward the parking lot. Tugging his hoodie up to hide his face a bit, he ducked between cars, sneaking a look back towards the main hall of the school.
The coywolf shook off his stupor then turned to lope, looking unconcerned, away from the humans, most of which had cell phones out to snap pictures. Stupid animal—attention from the humans weren’t in its best interest any more than it was in Charly’s. As it vanished, Charly again scented the air, searching for a trace of her, but all he could smell was the reek of the coywolf rubbed into his clothes. He’d need a shower.
His phone chirped and he pulled it out to unlock the screen with a swipe of his finger.
Something going on at the campus of the community college. Twitter blowing up. You near there?
Scowling at the phone, he loped to his car, got in, and revved the engine before bothering to reply. I was the ruckus, got attacked by coywolf.
What? You okay? Dara’s text was short and to the point, a sign his Alpha worried.
Fine or I wouldn’t be texting, he replied.
Get to the warehouse. Emergency meeting.
KO, he typed back and shifted the car into gear. Looked like he’d be skipping another class.
Not unusual, really. As beta to the local Alpha, Charly missed about as many classes as he managed to attend due to Pack duties. Most of his profs
found him to be a little lazy, thinking he slept through classes or spent his spare time gaming or something.
Wouldn’t they shit if he told them the truth? Doc, I’m a werewolf and I had Pack business to attend to.
Yeah, that’d fly like Iron Man minus the rockets. But those worries were for another day. Today? His Pack needed him and Pack came first. Always.
It had to. He didn’t have anything else.
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