Mated to the Playboy Wolf: A BBW Valentine's Day Wolf-Shifter Romance

by Cara Wylde

  His nickname was hilarious. If this had been some random online dating website, Tessa would have never chatted with someone who had that silly nickname. But Alma Venus had access to a list of shape-shifters provided directly by the Council of the Six Factions. Everything was perfectly regulated so that the system would be safe for both male shifters looking for a bride, and women who had decided to become mail-order brides.

  She sat there for a few moments, wondering how much she could ask him. Could she ask him outright what species he belonged to? Not that she really minded; she studied them all equally. Sometimes, a shifter from a certain faction would choose a bride who had initially prepared for another faction. It was just the way love and attraction worked. It felt like an important question, though. It would help Tessa know how she should behave with him. Luckily, she didn’t have to ask him, because almost instantly another message came through.

  hot_freckled_dude: Wolf-shifter, here. Beta of the Dark Wolves. I don’t know if you’ve heard of my pack. Anyway, the Alpha is Karl Blackmane. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He’s much more interesting than I am. LOL Also, married, so… bummer for you. LOL

  Her heart jumped in her throat, and she suddenly felt dizzy. Everyone knew who the Blackmanes were, especially the mail-order brides of Alma Venus. They were a legendary wolf clan, with an incredible reputation, and the two male Alphas had both married Alma Venus brides. Their wives were also a legend here, at the agency. Avelyn was Max Blackmane’s mate, and the first human female to become a hybrid. Claudia, Karl Blackmane’s mate, was best friends with Avelyn. Now, they were also sisters-in-law, which Tessa thought was amazing.

  Why the hell would someone who belonged to Clan Blackmane be interested in Tessa? They deserved the top girls, the absolute stunning beauties. Tessa was just too… normal for a Blackmane. She was plain, a little too curvy, and on a constant diet. Not good enough for someone that popular. Even the thought of meeting a Dark Wolf, especially the Beta, had her entire body shaking with fear.

  But she had to reply now; it would be rude if she didn’t.

  Tessa: I’m Tessa Forbes, 23 years old… but you already know that from my profile. Please, feel free to ask me anything.

  Monique Delacroix, manager of the agency, always told the girls it was their choice who they talked to and what they told them, but Tessa had the strong feeling that she wanted to be honest with this guy. She wanted to simply be upfront about everything. Maybe that was naivety speaking, but since it was too late for her to ask anyone for advice, she simply allowed her instincts to drive her.

  hot_freckled_dude: Well, since I’ve seen more than a picture of you, I think it’s only fair to send you a pic of my gorgeous self. Don’t be shy, and do tell me how handsome I am ;)

  That actually made her smile and caused some of the anxiety to subside. At least, he wasn’t one of those super serious wolves, the ones who didn’t know how to have any fun. Tessa didn’t think she’d be able to put up with that for her entire life. She was on the quieter side herself, shy from years of never quite feeling good enough for anyone, so she needed someone fun, loving, and confident to bring her out of her shell.

  “Oh wow,” she murmured as Matt finally appeared on her screen.

  She had no idea what she’d been expecting to see, but he was definitely the total opposite. In the best way possible. He had longer reddish hair which, judging by the messy style, he didn’t do much with, piercing mossy green eyes that she could just imagine losing herself into, and a good bunch of freckles splattered across his pale cheeks.

  “Haha,” she laughed. “He really is hot and freckled.”

  Then, there was his frame. Tessa knew werewolves were incredibly strong and masculine. It was one of their most attractive traits. But Matt didn’t exactly look like the bulky guy she was expecting. He was leaner, his muscles bulged nicely underneath his thin T-shirt, and his whole body was well-built and well-balanced. She wouldn’t mind feeling those arms wrapped around her.

  hot_freckled_dude: I’ve stunned you into silence, huh?

  His message snapped her out of her trance. It seemed like he was doing all the talking, and it was time for her to act like she was interested, lest he’d get the wrong vibe. This time, as she replied, she was a whole mix of emotions, even more confused than before. She knew she liked the way he looked, and he sounded like a nice guy, but it was all a little too much. Too good to be true, maybe? The first shifter to show any interest in her was pretty much a legend. How could she deal with that?

  Tessa: It’s safe to say that you have :)

  Her reply was much flirtier than she had intended. But that couldn’t be a bad thing, right?

  After that, an hour of intense conversation flew very quickly. Tessa became so sucked in by Matt that she didn’t even notice the time shooting by, never mind the exhaustion that threatened to make her head fall on the keyboard. He was so different from anyone she’d ever talked to, and she wanted to know everything about him.

  Unfortunately, he was being a little evasive about himself. He seemed more interested in her, but she didn’t mind that. It felt nice that someone was asking her so many questions; it made her feel important. That was… until he asked her the only question that could make her blood run cold.

  hot_freckled_dude: So, what is your relationship history like?

  From his point of view, it probably was such an innocent question, something he needed to know, but for her it opened a whole can of worms she had tried to forget about a long time ago. She didn’t like even thinking about her past, never mind talking about it, but it was inescapable in her current situation. If she wanted to find someone with whom she could be forever, then she needed to be honest. It was better to do it from the outset. She just hoped her story wouldn’t scare him off.

  Tessa: I met my first boyfriend in high school and feel in love with him quickly.

  She was typing with shaky fingers, her heart thundering painfully in her chest. She remembered that heady rush whenever she was around him, that childish intoxication which had only resulted in her getting her heart broken.

  Tessa: After a year of dating, I found out he’d been cheating on me with my best friend. He even had a good argument for it. At least, in his mind. He said he did it because I refused to sleep with him, because I had told him I wanted us to wait until I felt ready. Well, my best friend sure acted like she had been born ready.

  That had marked the beginning of her distrust in other humans. Not only had her boyfriend betrayed her, but her best friend, too. Moreover, they had both blamed it on her, as if she had asked for it because she didn’t want to have sex with the guy. Her friend had even had the audacity to tell Tessa all her relationships would end the same if she kept refusing to give men what they wanted.

  hot_freckled_dude: What a dickhead!

  Matt’s reply had come quickly, but it failed to make Tessa smile. There was still more to come.

  Tessa: Some time after that, I met another guy. This relationship was longer than the first, but mostly because I couldn’t admit to myself that things weren’t okay. I was so, so unhappy, but everything seemed fine if you looked at the situation from the outside, so I ended up staying with him for longer than I should have.

  At the time, Tessa’s new boyfriend had seemed like a dream; the man to pull her out of her heartbreak. Of course, she had been terribly wrong.

  Tessa: Things were great at first, but after I moved in with him, I started to come second to everything else. His video games were more important than me, his friends… When he went out for a beer, he never invited me. And he thought because I’m a woman, I should do everything around the house, waiting for him with a warm dinner on the table included. We fought a lot, especially in the last months. Eventually, he vanished without a trace. I tried to reach him, but he had changed his phone number and blocked me on social media. One month later, I saw a picture of him on a friend’s account. He was getting married to someone else.

  Tessa des
perately hoped her uncensored confession wouldn’t freak him out. It was pretty heavy to learn that everyone had screwed her over. She didn’t want Matt to think there was something majorly wrong with her and that was why she had attracted only assholes into her life. However, her hatred of humans had made her want to find out more about shifters, which had driven her to the agency.

  Surely, a shape-shifter could never be as rotten? That was Tessa’s thinking, and now that she had almost completed her studies of shifter culture and got her own page in the Alma Venus catalog, she would soon find out whether she was right or wrong.

  While she waited for him to reply, nausea took over her whole body. She was tired, a little hungry, and a headache throbbed between her temples. She bit the inside of her cheek, wondering why it was taking Matt so long to say something. Maybe he had logged off? Maybe he didn’t want to know more? Maybe it had all been a little too much and she shouldn’t have been so honest to someone she didn’t even know.

  Just as disappointment threatened to engulf her, he popped up on her screen again, and relief flooded her soul. She hadn’t screwed up, after all. Not yet.

  hot_freckled_dude: You deserve better. Maybe you’ll let a sexy redhead wolf take you out sometime?

  A beaming grin spread across her face as she realized she would actually like that.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Are you whistling?” Karl asked Matt, bewilderment clear in his expression. “What the hell is wrong with you? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you whistle.”

  “Well, my dear friend,” Matt grinned happily, still flying high from the wonderful conversation he’d had the night before. “I’m here to have coffee and breakfast with your lovely wife, while you’re slaving away in the office. You don’t need me right away, do you?”

  He could see Karl was curios, and the information was itching inside Matt’s head, clawing to get out, but it wasn’t Karl the one he wanted to discuss it with. Claudia was the one with the knowledge and expertise Matt needed.

  “You’d better not be hitting on the love of my life,” Karl growled jokingly, already knowing that his Beta would never do anything to hurt him.

  Claudia stepped into Karl’s office and laughed at her husband’s possessiveness. Matt threw his arm over her shoulder, and she rolled her eyes when he replied to Karl with the utmost immaturity:

  “I’ll see if I can stay away from her. But just because it’s you.”

  The massive grin on the Beta’s face told his Alpha he was hiding something, but Karl didn’t have time to pry it out of him. Claudia would surely tell him later. He just needed to remember to ask her.

  “Alright, then,” he moved his dark green eyes between his wife and his best friend. “I’ll see you two later. Now, go play and let me work.”

  As soon as the door clicked behind them, Claudia turned to Matt with a curious look on her face.

  “So, what happened? Good night’s sleep?”

  She knew it was more than that, but she didn’t want to rush him. Instead, she motioned for him to follow her to the kitchen.

  “You might have to make me some bacon if you want to find out,” he shrugged, mock-apologetically.

  He took a chair at her kitchen table, sat down and crossed his legs in a casual manner. He was playing a part, of course. On the inside, he felt nothing like casual. He had just had the best night of his life, and he’d managed it without shagging anyone, which was a miracle in itself.

  There was something about Tessa, something that intrigued him, and he couldn’t wait to find out more. She was nothing like the women he’d been with before. She wasn’t headstrong, nor very confident. However, she had been brutally honest with him, especially when it had come to her personal life, and Matt could appreciate that in a woman. There was something so sweet and adorable about her, that all he wanted was to spend all his life whispering little encouragements in her tiny ear, letting her know how wonderful she was and how all those guys who had broken her heart had only done themselves a huge disfavor. They were most likely living crappy lives right now, while Tessa was about to have her world shaken by his pure awesomeness. Matt knew that she was broken, and he wanted to be the one to fix her.

  The sizzling sound of the bacon being cooked snapped him out of his dreams. He jumped out of the chair and took the spatula from Claudia’s hand.

  “Sit down, silly,” he tutted at her. “You’re pregnant. I can’t ask you to cook for me. Anyway, where is your cook? On vacation?”

  Claudia laughed and took his place at the table.

  “I don’t like having him and his assistants around in the morning. I prefer cooking breakfast myself for Jess and Karl. The cook and the rest of the staff start before lunch.”

  Matt nodded while flipping the bacon.

  From where she was sitting, Claudia looked expectantly at him.

  “Well, come on then! How did it go?”

  He turned to her, a nonchalant smile tugging at his lips.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Claudia rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. She was so used to his tricks, that it was impossible for her to ever fall for them.

  “You know for a fact that I didn’t take your advice,” Matt continued. “I didn’t go back home and log on to the Alma Venus website. Also, I totally didn’t meet the love of my life last night.”

  “What?” Claudia screeched, almost jumping up. She would have managed to, had she not gotten such a round stomach. “You did? And you what? Are you kidding me?”

  She couldn’t even begin to get her head around it. She knew Matt had always been a playboy, and even though she had sensed he might finally be ready to settle down, she certainly hadn’t thought it would happen so quickly.

  “The love of your life?!”

  “Well, the hottest girl currently living and studying at Alma Venus, anyway.”

  Matt pulled out his phone and showed her Tessa’s profile. As he looked at her portrait again, their conversation came back to him, and he felt a delicious heat starting inside his stomach and making its way to every cell of his body.

  “Wow, yeah, she’s pretty…”

  Claudia didn’t sound as happy as he thought she should be, which had him a little concerned.

  “What? What is it? Do you know her?”

  A million possible unpleasant scenarios raced through his mind as he considered the potential reasons for Claudia’s negativity. Was Tessa different than what she had let on? Was she, in fact, a massive bitch? Maybe she was totally wrong for him…

  “No, it’s not that,” Claudia said kindly, looking at him with nothing but love in her eyes. “I don’t know her, but I know you and, no offense, but you’re very impulsive and you tend to… flit. From woman to woman, I mean.” She looked at Tessa’s picture again. “She’s lovely, but I’m afraid you’re going to break her heart.”

  Claudia’s words stabbed Matt right through the chest, like a cold, merciless dagger. Now, that wasn’t fair, and he gave her a look to suggest as much. Maybe he was known for taking a lot of time to commit to something or someone, but he’d changed. Ever since Karl married Claudia and he saw the other possibilities, he’d been slowly changing. He wanted more for himself, and he felt strongly that Tessa would be the catalyst for this new him.

  “It isn’t like that,” he insisted. “We stayed up all night messaging. She’s incredible! I really like her a lot.”

  “But you can’t just like the women from Alma Venus,” Claudia told him seriously, taking his hands in hers for a second. “They are mail-order brides. If you’re going to get involved, it’s serious business. I suggested the agency to you because I feel, deep in my heart, that you’re ready for something new and wonderful. However, seeing you so excited today, so… in a rush, I’m scared I might have miscalculated things. Matt, you can’t just drop her when someone hotter comes your way, so you have to make this decision with a level head.”

  “Yes, yes, I know! Jesus!”

 
; Matt laughed loudly, trying to hide the frustration building up inside him. He knew why Claudia was being cautious; she only had his best interests at heart, but he was also certain about this one.

  Okay, he had to admit: he’d been one hundred percent sure about other things in the past that didn’t quite pan out, but this was different. This was real.

  “Just take things slowly?” she suggested as he handed her the plate of food. “Be careful. Don’t jump in with both feet until you’re sure. If you go into this and change your mind halfway through, you will leave a whole trail of destruction behind you… stuff that might be irreparable.”

  “I promise, mom,” Matt saluted in a mock gesture.

  That made Claudia giggle, somehow relieved. Little did she know that although Matt was saying all the right things out loud, a plan was forming in his head; a crazy, outrageous idea she had actually triggered.

  “Oh, was that Jess?” Claudia asked, thinking she could hear her daughter stir in her sleep. Her hybrid hearing told her the girl was waking up. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

  “I’ll prepare another plate for her,” Matt said distractedly, while typing ferociously on his phone. He was rolling with it now, not only jumping in with both feet, but with his entire body. This was right, he knew it, so what was the point of holding back even a little bit?

  hot_freckled_dude: Good morning, beautiful! I hope you managed to get some sleep. I know last night I asked you on a date, but today I think it might be better if we took it one step further than that. All I can think about is you and my future with you, so… will you be my bride?

  He didn’t even care how insane he sounded. After their amazing chat the previous night, he was confident Tessa felt the same way about him. How could she not? After all, he had made sure to turn on his full personal charm. She was probably swooning over him as he was making Jess eggs and bacon. He smiled to himself.