I sighed heavily.
I had had a torturously sleepless night where I had jerked off more times than I care to remember to the memory of the blow job Kit had given me yesterday.
If I was being completely honest with myself, I would not be able to stick to the noble intentions I was so adamant about last night when I first laid eyes on my mate.
I know that I was trying to be all romantic and noble about things when it came to holding off on claiming my mate.
But I doubted that I had the strength to hold out on him much longer.
Especially when not only Kit, but the local shifter community, as well, kept on pointing out to me that my mate had grown up around shifters.
It had been that thought that had plagued me last night, as well. Shifters whose mates refused to claim them or hold out on them tended not to cope well. It wasn’t that they had complete mental breakdowns—actually, that was true for a shifter who had met their mate, but the mate refused to claim them for obscene periods of time. In the short term though, a shifter experienced intense longing that sometimes became debilitating because it could then manifest depression as time went on.
I wondered if Kit felt the same longing. I hated that I would cause even the tiniest bit of suffering because I insisted that this was the right thing to do.
Fuck, I felt the longing for him and I was the one doing the denying. However, I wasn’t denying him forever. It was just for a short period.
Honestly, I give myself a week, tops, before I give into temptation.
“Earth to Enforcer Leo.”
I shook my head, realizing that Simmons was still talking to me.
“Don’t worry, Simmons, I don’t think I’m that cool to hold out too long on my mate.”
The bear chuckled again. “Yeah, that’s the thing with mates. Once you know, you know.”
“Exactly.” I nodded curtly. “Now enough about my love life and more about work. Anything new happen lately I should know before the sheriff gets in?”
“Nope.” Simmons made a popping sound as he emphasized the ‘p’. He scratched his chin adding, “Although one of the old biddies in your pride called in to say that a strange human rode into town yesterday evening. But as far as I can tell the guy was just driving through.”
“So the usual?” I smirked. A human driving through town to get to another town was not exactly an uncommon occurrence worthy of police attention, but there will always be the odd paranoid shifter.
“Pretty much.” Simmons shrugged. “To be perfectly honest, you finding your mate is the only thing that has happened here in months. Hell, don’t be surprised if someone takes an ad out in the paper for you two.”
I couldn’t hold back the laughter then. “I’m actually pretty sure that my mate would get a kick out of that. He has a fun sense of humor. I wonder how many shifters will stop him today at work.”
“Definitely a few would be wanting to introduce themselves, maybe fake reasons to bring their pets in. As I said, most exciting thing to happen around here in months.” Simmons leaned back and stacked his hands behind his head. “And I hope with the cat out of the bag, so to speak, that he’ll be inviting some of his coyote friends over.”
I winked at the officer. “Kit has an unmated brother back in San Diego. No idea what he looks like or what he could possibly look like since he and Kit are stepbrothers.”
“Well, he needs to bring his brother around quick smart.”
I shook my head in amusement.
That was the moment that the sheriff of Furnas County Police walked in, better known to me as Beta Ned Kavalee. The beta grinned at me.
“Congrats, Leo.” He shook my hand enthusiastically. “The alpha and alpha mate are ecstatic about your mating. Alpha mate is already planning a party with your mother from what I hear.”
“Really? Why is this news to me?”
The sheriff gave a nonchalant shrug. “Probably because I went over to the alpha’s house this morning to meet with him and found out then.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, incredulous.
“Well, actually I found out about your mating yesterday afternoon. I got a call from one of your cousins when I was over at the celebrations in Arapahoe.” The sheriff had the audacity to appear meek, which was not a convincing look on a beta lion shifter. “But when I went to my meeting with the alpha this morning, the alpha mate was on the phone with your mother. Alpha Andrew told me that the ladies are excited about your upcoming mating ceremony.”
I sighed heavily. “I haven’t even had a chance to get to know the man properly, let alone claim him.”
“Call me crazy, but I think that’s nuts.”
Simmons snorted. Oh yeah, the sheriff just echoed what my fellow officer had told me not ten minutes ago. Beta Ned and I merely glanced at the man.
“I’m not going to hold out for weeks. I doubt that I could last that long without my mate,” I argued as I once again thought of the shitty night I had last night after I got home. “Maybe I’ll be able to wait a few days for Kit and me to get to know each other a little better. We’re going out on a date tonight to the movies.”
“Well, at least you’re realistic. No one resists the mate pull that long.”
I only grunted in agreement. There wasn’t anything I could say to that.
“So date night at the movies tonight?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’m going to have a quick look online and see what is being shown in the towns. Hopefully the new Marvel movie.”
“Just when I thought that you wanted to be romantic you want to take your mate to a superhero movie?” scoffed Simmons.
“We spoke about the things we like to watch. We’re both into comic book movies.” Defensively I added, “Besides, there is always an element of romance. The hero always needs his lady.”
“Damsel in distress.”
I frowned at Simmons but said nothing.
“If you can, you should take your mate to the grill by the lake in Alma,” the sheriff put in helpfully. “Best date place around. Great food and atmosphere. Really cozy. Probably the thing you’re looking for. I take my mate there at least once a month when we do our weekly date nights.”
“I was going to check what was playing in Alma anyway, but it is almost an hour away.” The journey was not ideal for a weeknight date, but it would give Kit and me plenty of time to talk more. I suppose that is the upside of that plan.
“Not much going on at the moment. You can take fifteen minutes to plan before you go out on patrol,” the sheriff told me.
“Thank you, beta. I was going to do it on my lunch break.”
“Things are always quiet around here for the most part, and I don’t want you distracted and causing an accident while you’re on patrol,” the beta told me in a firm voice. He wanted no argument and I wasn’t about to turn down an offer like that.
* * * *
I had it all planned. We were going to go to the cinema over in Oxford to see the latest comic book movie. It was only a half hour drive, but it still was plenty of time for us to tell each other about our families. Despite the fact we couldn’t go to the lakeside grill in Alma for dinner, we did end up going to a nice Italian restaurant near the cinemas.
“Tonight is perfect.” My mate leaned into my side as we walked into the cinema.
“Only the best for my man,” I whispered into Kit’s ear, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek, which was prickly from the stubble of his shaved face. The sensation on my lips was nothing short of erotic.
There weren’t too many other people, and like a couple of horny teens we went to sit in the back of the theater.
While the superheroes saved the day on the big screen, we started making out in the middle of the probably overlong ultimate fight scene.
“Jesus,” I moaned against Kit’s lips. “I want you so bad, my mate.”
“I want you.” He whimpered. “But the movie.”
I groaned and looked down at the ten or so other peop
le in the theater. The closest were two rows in front of us and they could definitely hear us, if for no other reason than they were wolf shifters. Sometimes being a shifter or being around other shifters was goddamn inconvenient.
“You’re right. And people can hear us.”
“Fuck,” Kit hissed and settled back in his seat. “Way to spoil a mood.” He turned back to the screen.
I leaned in and whispered, “Right, then. If you want I will find us somewhere to make out later.”
“You better.”
My mate pouted and he looked fucking adorable. He even crossed his arms moodily over his chest and glared at the screen. I only allowed myself to laugh to myself. I wasn’t about to let my mate hear my amusement or tell him how adorable and sexy he was in that moment.
That was all for another time, when we were completely alone.
Chapter Six
Kit Pryde
My mate was perfect in every way.
That was exactly how I felt after two more dates with the sexy lion.
We went to the movies the day after the Fourth of July. Then the night after that we just stayed in at my place. I cooked a simple chicken and prawn stir fry and a chocolate mousse for desert. We drank wine and just talked. It may sound boring but it was really quite pleasant. If nothing else, we really did get to know each other on a more intimate level.
Of course, we also ended up making out on my couch. I palmed his hard, thick cock and my reward was what had to be the best orgasm in the world from what had to be the best blow job in the world.
And this was the man I could keep all to myself for the rest of our long lives?
I am one fucking lucky bastard, I must admit.
I had honestly thought that we were going to end up having sex after that. Unfortunately, an accident out on the highway involving a tourist bus meant that Leo, along with the rest of the deputies, had to attend.
Still, Leo promised to send me a text when he was on his way home. Leo hadn’t wanted to call me, just in case I was asleep. He didn’t want to wake me because I would be going to work the next morning. This was totally for my peace of mind, just in case I happened to look at the time and start to worry about my mate.
Leo had left at eight o’clock.
I ended up sitting up in bed reading gay erotic fiction on my tablet. It was something that I did most nights, the tablet merely replacing all the physical books I had bought myself over the span of a few short years after I finished high school and switched to eBooks in my mid-twenties. I may like the physical pages, but the convenience of eBooks and availability of the books that I wanted definitely won out in the end for me these days.
The problem was that tonight I wasn’t reading as fast as I normally did. I could normally get a good one or two hundred pages done before I turned out the light. Depending on how early I got to bed. I usually turned off the light by eleven thirty or midnight. That definitely depended on how engrossed in my book I was.
So when I heard my phone vibrate at eleven o’clock, I dived for my bedside cupboard and snatched my cell up. Swiping in my unlock pattern, I saw that I just received a message. My heart rate picked up, sure that it was from Leo. I felt my heart plummet when I realized that it wasn’t Leo. In fact, it wasn’t from anyone in my contacts list. All I saw was the country code followed by a string of numbers. I wasn’t sure if I recognized the number.
Frowning, I read the text.
Please, Kit. I need to speak to you. We need to sort things out. Don’t shut me out.
I bit my bottom lip, trying to figure out what to say. My first instinct was to call my mate, mostly because he was a cop and I was getting a creepy message from an unknown number.
Who is this? How do you know me, and how did you get my number?
Within half a minute there was a response.
Don’t be stupid, Kit.
Before I could muster a thought, my phone vibrated in my hand and the screen lit up when another text arrived.
This is Mike.
My heart stopped for a moment and my stomach plummeted. Another text came in.
You know—your boyfriend. Did you seriously delete my number from your phone?
I shook my head even though I was on my own. To say I was shocked was an understatement. A part of me was also a teensy little bit amused, because me not knowing that it had been Mike, just went to show how reliant I was on my phone for saving all numbers for me. Yet, if you asked my mom and dad they could rattle off all the numbers of important friends and family.
Of course I deleted your number. I don’t have a reason to need to keep your number. I furiously jabbed at the cell phone keyboard. We broke up when I found out that you can’t be faithful to me. I moved here weeks ago and I have moved on. I wasn’t aware that there was anything that we needed to sort out.
There. That pretty much summed up the situation. I couldn’t tell my very human ex-boyfriend that I had a lion shifter mate.
Well, I could, but the repercussions would be disastrous. Sure, Mike—Mike being the Mr. X I spoke of earlier—probably wouldn’t believe me. But I would have charges brought against me to the shifter law enforcement and there would be trial and…in the end I would be found guilty because I put the shifter world in danger. And that is all fair enough since the paranormal world had to stay secret. I think Tommy Lee Jones said it best in one of his movies where he said something to the effect of that a person can handle finding out that there is more to the world than humans. However, a group of people is basically like causing a herd of buffalo to stampede—they are stupid and resort to violence when you have every man and his dog putting in his two cents on “how to deal with a situation”. And this being America, that dealing usually means guns or some other violence.
I thought we could have another go of things.
That was the response I got from my ex, Mike.
No thank you. How we left things when we broke up is fine by me. I am not rehashing our shitty history.
I wonder how many ways I can come up with to say no.
I made a mistake. I’m sorry. I’m lost without you.
How predictable. It was like a bad soap opera.
Yes, you did. Shit happens. You hurt me but I am happy with where I am at in my life now. Us breaking up was for the best. I hope that you’ve learnt your lesson for when you find another guy to go out with.
Can I get a humanitarian award for this awesome reply?
Seriously, can I?
Kit, really, I want to see you. We can talk and you know, sort things out.
I felt a growl forming in the back of my throat.
No. The only way I’ll want to talk to you about what happened between us more is if you’re on some twelve step program and you need to confront your past. Since I’m sure that’s not what’s going on here, I just want you to move on. You’re forgiven, and despite what happened my life has changed for the better since I moved from San Diego. I figure that you’re trying to work out your life now, but you have to see that you and I are definitely in the past.
Seriously, where is that award?
I am already writing the speech: “My grown-up reaction to having my ex text me in the middle of the night is all because of my wonderful, handsome, sexy mate Leo. Meeting Leo was definitely the final step to me being able to become comfortable in my new surroundings and more comfortable in my own skin. I have grown up in leaps and bounds, like giving Leo a blow job in my kitchen on the Fourth of July…”
It’s almost poetry.
However, I suppose I’m not that much of a humanitarian, but I need some sort of award for this fucked up exchange.
Can I call you?
Okay, I was definitely getting pissed off with this now.
Please understand when I say no, Mike. Look, sort yourself out, find yourself a nice guy and have a good life. That’s all I want for you. As long as you understand that I will never be that guy.
I waited for a bit.
Thankfully, no reply
came.
Now I was wide awake and wondering how I was going to tell Leo that my ex had texted me. Shifters were known for being possessive of their mates, especially if they haven’t been claimed. I knew that it was the right thing to tell Leo about the texts and maybe even show him, but I knew that my lion would hit the proverbial roof.
* * * *
Leo sent me a text around midnight to say that he was on his way home.
For more than one reason, I was relieved that it was my mate, safe and well and on his way home after what was sure to have been a horrific accident.
Part of me had been petrified that it was Mike again, and that I would have to deal with him again. Naturally, the last thing in this world that I wanted to do was speak to the ex who had cheated on me when I’ve only just met my mate and was getting to know the man that Fate had decided was my perfect match. It honestly made me wonder why in the hell I had tried dating when I had firsthand knowledge from the pack’s seer that I had a mate out there. Then again, that could be said about any paranormal. Why would they date when they had a mate out there in the world? Why didn’t paranormals just have fuck buddies? Well, a lot did, but a lot do have romantic relationships, too. Mind you, there was never a guarantee that you would meet and claim your mate.
With all these thoughts swirling in my head, I knew that I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep anytime soon.
The last thing I remembered as I tossed and turned in bed was seeing that the time was two o’clock on the digital alarm clock beside my bed.
The next time I became aware, the jarring sound of my alarm clock woke me up. It was time to get ready for work.
Work that day was, luckily, uneventful. I had to desex a couple of cats. Had a number of pets that needed a routine check-up and shots. But other than that, nothing to write home about, as my dad liked to say.
The Vet's Big Cat [Furnas and Gosper Shifters 1] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 5