The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne

by Butler, R. E.

  Loud, fast footsteps rushed towards her, and she screamed and spun, instinct taking over. With a quick right jab, she connected with the face of the person rushing towards her and heard a snap, and the man took a step back with a groan.

  “Oh, fuck!” Michael pressed his fingers to his nose.

  “Michael, shit, I’m so sorry! I, I, you scared me.”

  He blinked dazed eyes at her. “You punched me!”

  “You scared me!” she growled at him and slugged his shoulder.

  Dropping his hand to rub his shoulder, he growled back, “Would you hit like a girl? Shit!”

  His nose was bleeding, and she felt terrible. “Sorry. Sorry, it’s just been a really bad couple of days. I think someone is stalking me.”

  He frowned and tugged off his tight t-shirt and held it to his nose. “Why do you think someone is stalking you?”

  Fixed on his lovely chest, she didn’t answer him. A gentle squeeze on her shoulder reminded her that there was a face attached to that chest. A damn handsome one. “Sorry, um, well someone broke into my car yesterday, jimmied the lock on the passenger side and scraped the paint up a bit in the process. The creepy thing is that they took one of my workout tops. And then last night, I heard talking outside my bedroom window, but the voices were really low. And then there were…like animal noises? Snorting and stuff, and it completely freaked me out so I went across the hall and spent the night on Trav’s couch. This morning there were claw marks in the dirt under my window. How scary is that?” She rubbed her arms as a shiver cascaded through her.

  He suddenly looked angry. “I'm going to follow you home and take a look around.”

  Relieved, she looked up at him. “And you’ll let me clean you up?”

  “Sure, sweetheart. It’s the least you could do since you tried to break my perfectly straight nose.”

  “Well,” she huffed, “now you know not to sneak up on a girl who knows how to throw a punch.” Looking around she asked, “Where’s your bike?”

  “Up towards the road.”

  “Hop in; I’ll drive you up there.”

  Complying, he sat down heavily in the seat and pulled his shirt back over his head. Too bad. She stopped next to his bike and asked, “Why did you park so far out here and walk to the gym? You didn’t say why you were here.”

  “It’s a long story, so I’ll tell you after I check out your place.”

  Nodding, she watched him get out of the car and onto his bike. Once it rumbled to life, she took off towards her apartment. Fifteen minutes later, Michael was sitting on the edge of the tub while she carefully wiped the dried blood from his nose. “Well,” she wrung out the cloth and patted his skin dry with another towel, “you’re a little tall for me to have hit right on so you might not get a black eye from it, but it will be sore for a bit. Will you heal it pretty fast?”

  He pulled the towel from her hand and tossed it on the counter and kissed her palm. “It’s already healing, sweetheart. I’ll be fine by morning, no worries. And I’m glad that you can take care of yourself, even if I wish I didn’t have firsthand knowledge of that.” He grinned wryly, and she chuckled. Something about Michael made the whole inside of her body go liquid. His pretty blue eyes, the tousled hair, and the way he always seemed to have a smile for her. He made her feel special, and she hadn’t felt special in a long, long time.

  “I’m going to scent around your bedroom window outside. Go open it so I know which one it is.”

  She nodded and went to the window, lifting it while he walked outside. In the moonlight, she could see how serious he was, his face the perfect picture of concentration. His steps slowed considerably as he neared her window, and a rumbling growl trickled from his mouth. She heard keys jangling, and a penlight attached to his keychain lit up the small area. He sighed, turned off the flashlight, and looked at her but said nothing, walking back the way he came until he opened the front door and came inside.

  He shut and locked the front door and joined her in the bedroom.

  “Well?”

  “I think you know who was here last night, Shyne. But I think you’re afraid of what that means.”

  She swallowed hard and blinked at the tears that threatened. “The…my bosses from the gym. They acted strange today, almost giddy. And then last night with the voices, I thought I heard Mason’s laugh. It’s such a unique sound, but I didn’t want to believe it. What are they doing to me, Michael?” The tears that threatened became full blown, and in two long strides, Michael pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly against him while she cried.

  In a soothing voice he said softly, “They want to make you their clanmate, Shyne. They’re staking a claim to you and trying to get the competition out of the way.”

  She choked on a sob and looked up at him incredulously. “I don’t understand. Mate? Like, what, like a wife? For who?”

  “All of them.” He frowned.

  She shivered again. “They really share their wife like that? It’s, well, it’s completely barbaric!”

  “I’m glad you think so.” He let a small smile touch the corner of his mouth.

  “And fuck them anyway.” She pushed away from him and rubbed at her eyes. “Nobody picks who gets me forever but me, and I certainly don’t want three meat-heads that think it’s okay to share!”

  She stopped in her rant and looked at him. “Do wolves share like that?”

  “What? Hell no. When we find our mate it’s only that person for us forever. Wolf, human, or otherwise.”

  “Otherwise? What else is out there?”

  “Well, a lot, let’s just say. But around here, just wolf and hyena apparently, although my friend Linus’ wife is a supernatural mate, which is just a fancy way of saying that they were made for each other.”

  Before she could stop herself, Shyne asked, "How do you know when you've found your mate?" She clapped her hand over her mouth with a groan. Very cool, Shyne.

  He chuckled in a low sort of way that crept down her spine and made all the parts between tingle. “It's a combination of things." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and settled his warm hands on her shoulders. "Our human nature and our wolf nature have to be in agreement for it to be what we call a truemate, where both sides of us agree that she's the one for us. And if you're asking about me, personally, my wolf and I happen to really feel drawn to this one gorgeous girl.”

  “Yeah?” Her heart sped up. His wolf liked her? How the hell cool was that?

  He pulled her by the waistband of her workout pants until she was once again pressed against him. “Yeah, she’s got the prettiest brown eyes, and this gorgeous long black hair, and this skin,” he dropped his mouth to her neck and pressed open kisses down to her shoulder, “it tastes like candy, and it’s the prettiest color. Like coffee with a lot of cream. Just like I like it.” He twined his fingers with hers, his naturally tanned skin in contrast to her darker coloring. “I feel so drawn to you. I have ever since I saw you at that county fair. You’re the reason I joined the gym, because I wanted to get to know you and be near you. I honestly never believed you were in any real danger from them, or I would have done something about it.”

  “Like what?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Like put you over my shoulder and carried you caveman-style out of your apartment and back to my place. And if you’d protested, I would have tied you up for good measure so you didn’t escape.”

  “I wouldn’t protest,” she said with a whisper.

  “Good. Come home with me, Shyne. It will be completely above-board until we get the dogs straightened out.”

  “Dogs?”

  “The three hyenas at the gym. There’s something you should know, too. I know why they took your clothes from your car.”

  She stood with her mouth open as he told her how they lured him away from his pack the night before with her sweat-soaked top, drugged and muzzled him, and dropped him off at a wildlife park near Louisville. If it wasn’t so scary, it would have been
funny. But there wasn’t anything funny about kidnapping and drugging. She was thoroughly embarrassed that they’d used the top she left in the car to get to him. Yesterday she had back-to-back classes and noticed halfway through her first class that a seam split on the top. She grabbed her spare from her locker and tossed the ripped one in the car so she could take it home and repair it.

  “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Michael.”

  “It’s not your fault. So pack a bag, and let’s get to my place.”

  He suggested she pack a few days of clothes and toiletries and let Trav know he could reach her on her cell. While she busied herself with packing, Michael made a dozen innuendos, barely veiling the heat in his voice. He was stretched out way too sexy on her bed while she pulled a backpack from the bottom of the closet and went to the dresser.

  “If you keep taking your time,” he put his hands under his head so his biceps bunched on either side, “I’m going to think there’s a reason you want me to stay in your bed.”

  “Michael!” she groaned, trying not to smile. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I had no idea wolves were so horny!”

  He laughed. “Hey, what can I say? I’m lying in a bed that smells like my best wet dream and watching the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on rummage in her underwear drawer. And by the way, don’t pack those on my account.”

  She blushed sharply. “I thought you said it was all above-board?”

  “Yeah, sure, sure. Of course. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy teasing you. You are too cute when you blush.”

  She hurried through packing, grabbing toiletries and zipping the bag with shaking fingers. He pulled it from her hand and slung it over his shoulder. They walked out together, and she knocked on Trav’s door and told him she was staying with Michael for a few days. He ran his eyes up and down Michael with a sultry grin, and she gave him a shove back into his apartment. “You can’t have him, Trav.”

  “Fine, don’t share. I always knew you were selfish, Shyne.” He kissed her cheek with a loud smacking sound and finger waved to them as he shut the door.

  “So he’s your best friend?” Michael asked, holding the door open for her.

  “Yeah, we met when I aged out of the home and didn't have anyone else.”

  He stopped at the bike and opened the case at the back to put her pack into it. “Home?”

  She blushed, but not from sexy thoughts. “I spent a few years in a group foster home.”

  His features softened, and the sincerity in his eyes was almost overwhelming. “I’m sorry, love. So you were young when your parents died?”

  “Three.”

  He opened his mouth to say something that she was sure was going to destroy her, and she put her finger on his lips. “This has been a hell of a couple of days. If you say anything remotely sweet I’m going to have a total meltdown, so can we put a pin in this conversation?”

  “Of course, sweetheart.” He handed her a helmet, and she strapped it on, climbing onto the large bike behind him. “Hold on,” he cautioned, and she snugged her arms tighter around him as they left her apartment complex and headed south to his hometown of Allen.

  It was kind of strange to leave her home and go to a literal wolf’s den, but something about the whole situation seemed right. She liked Michael. Hell, the truth was she loved him. And from what he'd said earlier about him and his wolf being in agreement, she was fairly certain that he also loved her. And it was too sweet to know that his wolf liked her.

  He pulled into the Infinity Pines trailer park and drove down the main road and turned right. When he stopped in front of a white double wide, he turned off the engine and took off his helmet. She slid off the bike and handed him her helmet. He opened the door for her, holding her bag, and she stepped inside. What greeted her was a slightly messy man-cave sort of place. A leather sectional sofa sat in front of a TV and stereo system that dominated the room and told her where his priorities were when it came to entertainment. Beer-girl posters were tacked to a few walls, some framed pictures were leaning against the walls but not hung up, and a pool table sat where the kitchen table should be.

  "It's a little messy, and not much, I know," he started, and she shook her head.

  "It's your home, Michael. You don't have to apologize." It was perfect, actually. Exactly what she'd pictured in her mind.

  He showed her to the bedroom and suggested she get ready for bed. He was going to call his brother and tell him what happened, even though he knew he was going to get ribbed over the situation.

  "He'll really tease you?" she asked incredulously. Never having had a brother or sister, she had no idea how they really acted.

  "Well, sure. But only because I'm okay. If I was hurt badly or something awful had happened, it would be different. Go on and take a shower and lay down. You look about ready to drop." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and gave her a gentle nudge towards the bedroom.

  The bedroom had a king bed with a dark wood headboard. The side table had a black alarm clock and a small statue of a wolf. Framed posters of various bands she'd never heard of littered the walls, along with a corkboard that was full of concert stubs, notes, and pictures. She pushed on the bathroom door, but it wouldn't open all the way until she got a still-wet towel out from behind it. The bathroom was small and plain white, but messy as hell. Beard trimmings were scattered in the sink, blue globs of toothpaste dotted the surface, and a pile of clothes next to the toilet made her question how long it had been since he'd cleaned. Ignoring the mess, she put her bag on the counter and stripped, turning on the shower.

  After she cleaned up, she wrapped a towel around herself, dried her hair with her travel hair dryer so she didn't wake up with a case of unfixable bed-hair, and debated on what to wear to bed. Part of her wanted to wear absolutely nothing, but that was way more out-there than she liked being. And Michael wasn't the sort of guy that you fucked on a whim. He might be goofy and sweet, but underneath that she had a gut feeling that he had been waiting for her as long as she had been waiting for him. She wanted him to know that he was worth the wait.

  She opted for a tank and shorts set, and after brushing her teeth and taking one last glimpse of herself in the mirror, she slipped into his bed and waited. She heard him moving around and speaking quietly and assumed he was talking to his brother. She still couldn't believe that the boys had drugged and kidnapped him. She didn't know what to do about it, either.

  Her phone beeped, and she got up and pulled it from the bag she'd left on a small desk by the window. It was a message from Mason.

  Hope you're okay. You looked upset. Wanna talk?

  "Which one's Mason?" Michael's sudden appearance made her heart stop.

  "Shit!" she squeaked, and he put his hands up in defense with a laugh, and she also laughed, once her heart started beating again. "You're damn quiet."

  He grinned, showing the dimple she wanted to tongue for hours. "Part of being a wolf. Can't sneak up on tasty bunnies if you're tearing through the woods like an elephant."

  She smirked up at him. "Do elephants tear around the woods often?"

  His smile made her knees weak. "Only in the spring."

  He prompted, "So, Mason?"

  "The youngest, with the long curly hair."

  He plucked the phone from her hand and read the text. "What are you going to say?" He handed it back to her.

  "I don't know." She looked up at him again, searching his face. "Are you going to get back at them? For the zoo thing?"

  He folded his arms across his chest, and his arms bulged with the motion. She was unable to maintain eye contact with him, as her whole body heated and her heart began to beat faster. He tipped her chin up with one finger. "You want me to tell you the truth?"

  "I want..." she managed to get out but was entirely unable to concentrate while he was touching her.

  He seized her in his arms, the air whooshing out of her lungs, and she gasped a deep breath in surprise. His mouth landed on hers, a
nd his tongue demanded entrance. She opened willingly, burying her fingers in his soft hair. "Tell me you're mine," he growled against her mouth, his voice deeper than normal, the sound of pure pleasure.

  "Yes, Michael," she moaned as he lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to the bed. Her back met the sheets, and he followed her down, standing on the floor as he leaned over her, still holding her body tight to his.

  His lush mouth nipped across her jaw and down her neck, and he sucked her flesh into his mouth and bit down on her pulse, hard enough to bruise and make her nerve endings go haywire. She arched up against him, grinding the apex of her thighs against the zipper of his jeans.

  She ripped the shirt up his body and nicked his back with her nails as she went. He shuddered and released her flesh, licking across the bruise and nuzzling under her ear. Her hands suddenly were pressed against the bed, and she looked up at him, her eyes half closed with desire. "I like this game," she cooed, and he groaned.

  "No game, love. We should stop before we go too far."

  Her legs tightened around his waist, and she tugged him closer, her body riding against his and sending pleasurable jolts through her. He fisted both wrists with one hand and gently pushed her legs away from him. In a blink, he had pulled her up the bed and climbed up next to her. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "You really want to stop?"

  He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as if he were having an internal battle with himself, and when his eyes opened again she realized that they'd not been blue earlier, but amber. "That was, uh, a little jealous wolf thing there. I mean, I do very much want to make love to you, Shyne, but not tonight. Not borne out of some baser need for me to make you mine in truth. And you don't know anything about my kind, and that involves some pretty serious conversations."

  "Just how long will these conversations take?" She turned on her side and rested her head on her bent arm.

  He chuckled, but the sound was forced. Second thoughts? She could only hope. "Not a long time, but right now, baby, you're stressed out and freaked out, and there are other more important things to deal with at the moment." He leaned in closely and kissed her gently on the mouth. "Besides," he murmured in her ear, "when we make love for the first time, I want you wide awake so you remember every little thing that we do."