by Chandra Ryan
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Reluctant Mate
Copyright © 2015 by Chandra Ryan
ISBN: 978-1-61333-801-8
Cover art by Fiona Jayde
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC
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Black Hills Wolves Stories
Wolf’s Return
What a Wolf Wants
Black Hills Desperado
Wolf’s Song
Claiming His Mate
When Hell Freezes
Portrait of a Lone Wolf
Alpha in Disguise
A Wolf’s Promise
Reluctant Mate
Diamond Moon
Wolf on a Leash
Tempting the Wolf
Coming Soon
Worth Fighting For
Promiscuous Wolf
A Wolf Awakens
Dedication
To the incredibly talented Rebecca Royce and my wonderful husband. You both convinced me I had a werewolf buried somewhere in me and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Reluctant Mate
Black Hills Wolves
By
Chandra Ryan
Chapter One
Aimee sat in Gee’s Bar with her back to the door. The position wasn’t one she would normally be comfortable in, but her pack surrounded her in the one place where she was safe. A tingle of recognition swept through her and forced her to reconsider her positioning. Humans might not be able to harm her here, but there were other dangers she should’ve considered.
She placed a twenty on the bar to settle her tab then moved to stand. She had to get out of there. Fear and anticipation warred in the pit of her stomach as the tingling intensified. As the source got closer to her, the sensation grew. If she could feel him, then he could feel her. She needed to leave before he saw her face.
The bar became a blur as she ducked around the patrons. No one noticed her. Or if they did, they didn’t care. There was no reason for them to worry about a woman weaving through their midst. She could already see the door in front of her. She might make it to freedom.
“Excuse me.” The massive wall of a man stepped in front of her, blocking her escape and dashing her hopes of a clean break.
“I was leaving.” She didn’t dare look up at him. He had her scent. She couldn’t do anything about that. But she didn’t want to have him memorizing her face as well.
“So soon? I just got here.”
She didn’t try to hide the harsh undercurrent of her laugh. “Arrogant much? It’s not like I was waiting for someone.”
“You weren’t waiting for me.” One of his fingers slid under her chin and pulled her head up until her gaze met his.
His touch sent a thrill through her body, but she ignored the sensation. If she refused to recognize the attraction, then it didn’t exist. She couldn’t do the same about him, though. There was no denying his existence. His thick black hair fell to his shoulders in loose curls, and a day’s worth of stubble grew on his chiseled jaw. The sight of him made her heart beat faster and her breath catch in the back of her throat. In short, he was everything a female Wolf could want in a male. Something he seemed aware of as he continued talking. “I didn’t come here looking for you. But now we’ve found each other, I would think—”
“As I already said, I’m leaving.” She didn’t give a damn what he thought. With a stiff movement, she raised her left hand and twisted the ring on her third finger.
He gasped at the wedding band but released her and stepped out of the way. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were married.”
And why would he? He’s found his mate. This close to him, her skin buzzed with the tingling mate call. But Aimee didn’t want a mate. She’d buried her true love. She would never replace him. She walked past the stranger out into the clear night.
She should go home and crawl into her bed. If she tried, she might be able to forget all about him. Instead, she let out an exhausted sigh as she made her way toward the woods. She was a realist, and the reality she found herself in hinged on one fact—she wouldn’t be able to forget him. She’d seen him for one brief second and he’d already been burned into her soul. That was the way it went with mates. He’d managed to get under her skin already, regardless of how she felt about the situation.
As soon as she stepped off the path, she accepted her four-hundred-dollar designer shoes would be ruined. One pair of shoes didn’t matter. She had a closetful of them. But she didn’t have any place to wear them since she’d moved out to the sticks. Her days in court were over. Her old life was over. Nobody cared about her shoes anymore.
The tree branches pulled at the smooth twist she’d worked her blonde hair into, but she didn’t try to stop them. Some things couldn’t be controlled. The grasping and tugging of nature happened to be one of them. She didn’t even bother to remove the little twigs and leaves from her hair as she broke into the clearing.
As if guided by some unseen force, she made her way to the middle of the clearing and stared up at the moon. The light it emitted filled her with warmth despite its wispy crescent shape. The moon called to her—loudly. As if the celestial body knew she’d been ignoring it and demanded her attention.
“I….” She sank down to the soft grass and sniffled “I can’t do this. I can’t love another.” She’d been there, done that, and had the broken heart to prove it. “Asking me to isn’t fair.”
Life isn’t fair.
Max’s voice echoed in the back of her head. So calm and patient.
This was their spot. The place their relationship had started. She used to sneak off to meet him here when they’d been home on vacations and holidays. Back before they ran away and got married.
“It should be, damn it. You fought for them. You made saving their miserable hides your life’s ambition. They owed you. They owed me.” One warm tear slid down her cheek, but she brushed the singular drop aside with an angry swipe of her hand.
Needing to explain to the universe why she would not accept her mate, she looked back up at the sky and spoke directly to the moon. “But they let him die because he was human.”
They could’ve saved him. If her pack had deemed him worthy, he could’ve been bonded to her. Her health and longevity would’ve cured the cancer eating away at him. But her Alpha at the time didn’t believe in human and Wolf bonding. Bonding a human to a Wolf carried a death sentence. None of her pack mates would help her. They wouldn’t take the risk. Not even for the man who had fought in court for them every day. Sure, the pack had a different Alpha. But what the hell good did that do her? Max was dead. That chapter of her life had come to an end.
She lay down on the grass and let the bitter tears flow unchecked. They weren’t going to change anything or make her mate disappear, but they might make her feel better. Feeling better would be enough.
When the tears were all gone and the ground lost its comfort, though
, she had to admit crying had been a lost cause. She hadn’t felt good since Max had been diagnosed. A few tears shed in the middle of the woods wouldn’t change anything.
Rising, she dusted off what she could of the dirt and grass on her pencil skirt and blazer. If anyone saw her, they’d probably think she’d had a wild tryst under the moon. The thought made her laugh. Like being a lawyer, her days of wild trysts were way beyond her. They belonged to a much younger Wolf.
The woods fell behind her as she made her way back to civilization. She smiled at thinking of Los Lobos as civilized. She’d been here two weeks and she already considered the small town civilized. It amazed her how far she’d fallen since leaving the big city. This town couldn’t even be considered rustic let alone cultured.
Still, the peace and quiet had grown on her. Repairs were in progress. Even if the new Alpha couldn’t help Max, he did seem like an upstanding kind of guy. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad place to find a new life. But she wished she knew what she wanted to do next.
She came to her little bungalow and opened the door as silently as possible. Her pack mates kept telling her the town was safe, but she trusted her nose better than empty promises. One quick sniff told her no one hid in the small shelter.
Relieved, she stepped through the doorway and flipped on the light as she slipped her shoes off. She’d been correct. They were ruined. As was her designer outfit. But she didn’t care. The only things she cared about were a nice glass of wine, a hot bubble bath, and a good night’s sleep. Everything would look better in the morning.
She went into the kitchen, opened a bottle of red wine, and poured herself a large glass before making her way into the bathroom. After she took a drink, she sighed. Things had already started looking up. The alcohol in the wine made her blood warm. It was perfect for sipping while soaking in a tub of bubbles. After she’d run her bath and undressed, she set her MP3 player on random and slipped into the hot, sudsy water. Yes, things are improving.
So what if she’d met her mate? No one could tell her she had to fall in love with him.
Jackson made his way to the bar and slouched down onto a stool. It figured. He’d found his mate after a lifetime of searching and she already had a husband. Probably for the best, all things considered. She looked a little too highbrow for his tastes, with her pointy shoes and button-up suit. She would most likely scream at him to wash his hands every time he went to touch her.
“What can I get you?”
He looked up at the huge, weathered man behind the bar. He didn’t smell like Wolf. He carried a different scent on him. But Jackson hadn’t spent enough time around the other shifters to recognize which animal the bartender smelled like. Still, the rest of the pack didn’t seem to have a problem with him, so Jackson didn’t have any complaints. “Whiskey. Neat.”
“Rough night, huh?”
“Yeah. Got blown off by little miss high and mighty.” He didn’t dare say she was his mate. He wasn’t ready to let that little tidbit become common knowledge.
“Don’t take the brush-off personally.” The bartender set the glass in front of him then poured Jackson a healthy amount of the amber alcohol. “Name’s Gee.”
“Jackson.” He sniffed again in an attempt at placing the smell.
“That’s bear you’re smelling.”
His face heated at being caught. “Oh. Sorry. Bear shifter living in a pack of wolves? Must be interesting.”
“Yep. Every day is an adventure.” Gee studied him for a second longer then nodded. “You aren’t from around here.”
“Nope. But I’d hoped to make this my home. I opened the garage.”
“Nice to have some new blood. As to miss high and mighty, her rejection has nothing to do with you. Aimee lost her husband. Her wounds are still healing.”
He recognized the words, but he couldn’t process the sentence. “Lost her husband?”
“Yeah. He passed a couple of years ago.”
So she lied. She felt the mating and lied.
“You should drink the whiskey and take a deep breath,” the bartender said, interrupting Jackson’s thoughts. “You don’t look so good.”
“Yeah. I don’t feel so good.” He downed the drink in one gulp. “The universe has one fucked-up sense of humor.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?” He wanted to laugh. There was no maybe about it. The stuck-up bitch who’d made a fool of him in front of everybody happened to be his mate. The universe had created them for each other. The mechanic and the snob. The karmic joke had to be one of the best he’d heard in a long time. Or, at least, it would be if his chest didn’t ache every time he breathed in. “She told me she was married.”
“She had been. At one time. There’s no joke in that.” Gee’s glare turned Jackson’s blood to ice. “She loved him very much.”
He leaned away from the bar. Everything from Gee’s size to the air of menace he displayed told Jackson to tread carefully. It was clear the man felt protective of this pack. Aimee included.
“I don’t doubt she loved him. It’s….” He somehow managed to stop before the rest of the truth slipped out.
“What?” Gee’s expression softened, but there was no doubt in Jackson’s mind if he said the wrong thing, the man would throw him out before he could blink.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing is ever nothing. Stop sulking and spit it out. Why do you think our Aimee owes you the time of day?”
“She’s my mate.” Jackson murmured so no one but Gee could hear.
“Oh.”
He stared at the empty glass in his hands, unable to bring himself to look up at Gee as the truth spilled from his soul. “I’ve searched for so long. I never married or had kids. I always knew I’d find her. Then I did.” He motioned for a refill.
“Sounds like she put a couple wrinkles in your plans.”
“Yeah.” This time he sipped the drink. “In all the years of imagining what finding her would be like, I never once pictured someone like her.”
“She’s a good woman. Gave up her art for the pack.”
“She used to be an artist? ” For the first time since he saw her, he found himself interested for some reason other than being her mate. “What happened?”
“I may give counsel, but I don’t gossip. You should talk to her if you want to know more.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“The universe doesn’t give many gifts. To scorn one of the precious is a dangerous game.”
Maybe the man was right. As soon as the thought popped into his head, he remembered the ease with which she’d lied to him while standing there in her designer clothes with her perfectly polished nails. “I’m not scorning anything. I did approach her. She took one look at me and hightailed it out of here.”
“She did.” Gee had the nerve to smile.
“Her running out of here like her house was on fire makes you happy?”
“You’re a Wolf. Chase her.”
He played with the glass for a few more seconds before finishing the drink. “Chase her.”
Why hadn’t he thought of it? Giving chase seemed so obvious when someone else said it. “Best idea I’ve heard all night.”
After he settled his tab, he made his way out into the night. There might not be many houses in the recovering town, but there were enough to make hunting her down a challenge. Finding her would take time. He could ask someone where she lived but he only knew her first name. He doubted any of the pack would give a stranger directions to her house. Not at this time of night. Plus, opening his senses to track her excited him. Knowing she was near, he couldn’t stop smelling for her anyway. Might as well put the instinct to good use.
He walked around for half an hour before he found a house that smelled of her—freshly roasted coffee and vanilla. Back at the bar, he liked her scent, but he hadn’t been able to identify it with all the other Wolves so close. But at that moment, enveloped by her smell, he could place the aromas. They were
comforting and enticing at the same time.
He took a deep breath as he worked up the nerve to climb the porch steps. He wasn’t a coward, but he also didn’t like rushing headfirst into rejection. From what he’d gathered about her so far, he guessed she wouldn’t throw open the door and rush into his arms. He gritted his teeth at the thought. He couldn’t help it. Her cold shoulder irritated him. He may be a mechanic, but he was one of the best damn mechanics in the state. Still, he had a sinking feeling her late husband had held a white-collar kind of job.
Soft voices coming from her house made his decision to intrude on her evening easier for him. If she had it in her to entertain guests at this hour, he didn’t feel bad about knocking on her door. When she didn’t answer, however, his earlier irritation grew.
She might be used to the finer things in life, but he was a damn good catch. Okay, so maybe he had grease under his nails and calluses on his hands. He was a hard worker who didn’t shirk his duties. And maybe his clothes came from department-store racks. They looked good on him. He took care of himself.
When he knocked the second time, the door vibrated with the force he used. If she didn’t want him, fine. So be it. But he deserved to hear her say the words. Her flat out ignoring him pissed him off.
When a few more minutes passed, he growled. Who the hell does she think she is, anyway? He didn’t give a shit what she’d sacrificed for the pack. She acted like a stuck-up bitch, and someone should call her on it.
He raised his fist for the third time, but the door swung open. There, on the other side of the threshold, stood his mate wrapped in nothing more than a delectable towel. Her mouth moved as if she were saying something, but he couldn’t get past how beautiful she looked. And smelled. Damn, he wanted to leap into her house and lick her.
“Well? I’m waiting?” She tapped her foot in clear irritation.
Oh, right. She’s been talking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”