by M. A. Church
“When werecats mate, be it humans or werecats, they drink each other’s blood and come in each other. It takes both to finish the process, and they have twenty-four hours to complete it.”
“What if it’s not finished in the allotted time?”
“Death of the shifter.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” Aidric settled more comfortably against me. “First the shifter experiences horrible pain. Next the shifter stops sleeping and eating. Then hallucinations start, and the shifter spirals into madness. They shift and go feral—often behaving like a rabid animal. Their humanity is gone. It ends with the shifter being put down to end the pain and for safety reasons.”
I was stunned. “Fuck, you guys really got the short end of the stick, didn’t you?”
“Humans don’t get off much easier. They feel like they have a bad case of the flu—low-grade fevers and body aches.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“It is when it’s the rest of your life. They could function, of course, but it’d be a miserable existence. Speaking of mating humans, we have to get permission from our Alpha first.”
“It’s a miracle your species has survived as long as it has.”
“That doesn’t happen with werewolves?”
“Um, no. Werewolves exchange bites, usually where their shoulder and neck meet, and there is no time limit,” I said. “The mating bite usually happens during sex, and the scar stays since the bite mark shows a werewolf is mated. Nobody dies; nobody gets sick.”
“What if you mate humans?”
“Honestly it doesn’t happen often, but obviously it did with my nephew Jack.”
“That’s right. Have they mated yet?”
“No. Baylor is still… adjusting.” I sighed. I really didn’t want to get into how negative the pack felt toward him. He wasn’t a werewolf—which in the minds of the pack was bad enough—but he was also a hunter. Strike that. He was a wannabe hunter. “Anyway, the bite infects the human, and they take on some of our characteristics. They aren’t able to shift into a wolf, though.”
“That’s pretty much what happens with humans we mate,” Aidric said.
“Yeah, but we don’t have a certain amount of time to get it done.”
“Lucky you.” Aidric rested his hand on my thigh. “So if we mate, you bite me and leave a scar. Is that right?”
“If you were a werewolf, I’d say yes. I don’t know of another werewolf who’s mated to a werecat. But if we have sex, that first time I’m most definitely going to want to bite you. I’m going to assume the scar would stay since you’re my mate.” I shrugged. “You said werecats also bite. Does that mean you’re going to want to bite me?”
“I’m in the same situation as you. I don’t know of a werewolf-werecat pairing either, but I’m going to guess yes. Marshell and Remi are the only ones I know personally who are different paranormal species and mated.”
“Ah yes, the Vetala. Interesting character. Very powerful.”
“Yes, he is. He and Remi are good together. Marshell can be scary, but basically he’s a good guy.”
I remembered the power surge from Marshell. I’d never admit it out loud, but I was almost certain he was more powerful than me. “Jack’s stupidity in stalking him left me breathless. Marshell could’ve killed him. I’m glad he didn’t.”
“Speaking of Marshell, the repairs to his rent house were finished, and the landlord seemed pleased.”
“Good, I’m glad that’s resolved.”
My idiotic nephew was obsessed with the Vetala and broke into a house where Marshell and two others lived. In a jealous rage, Jack damaged parts of the rental because he thought Marshell had a sexual relationship with the human, named Lawson, who lived there.
At the time Jack didn’t know Marshell considered Lawson nothing more than a brother. On top of that, Lawson had a mate—another werecat named Heller, who was also a beta to the West Falls Clowder.
When Jack figured out Lawson wasn’t Marshell’s mate, he left him alone… only to focus on the person who really was Marshell’s mate—another West Falls beta named Remi. When the dust settled, I ended up making a few trips to the clowder’s lands to make reparations and to apologize. Little did I know how closely entwined my life was going to become with these werecats.
Marshell previously had a reputation of being a playboy, but he hadn’t met his mate, Remi, while screwing around. Unfortunately Jack seemed incapable of taking no for an answer and started stalking Marshell.
“Just curious: you said werecats had to exchange come and blood. If the pairing is male-female, how does that work?”
Aidric smirked. “You’re asking me? The one who’s never had sex with a woman? Come on, Carter, think about it. You stick your dick in her and come… and you’d get her come inside you by….”
“Ah.” I knew where he was going with that. “Okay. She comes by oral sex.”
“Give the man a prize. Jeez.” Aidric fidgeted on the couch. “Even though I bottom and have never been interested in topping, I’m probably going to want to… ah, top when we mate. From my understanding, it’s kind of instinctual with males.”
Well, hell. “I’ve never…. Not really sure how my wolf is going to react to that. Although….” I sat quietly, waiting for my wolf to give some sort of sign about his feelings on the subject. He was curiously quiet. I took that as a good sign. “Well, he’s not snapping and snarling, so I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”
“You, you… would consider it?”
I shrugged. “If that’s what we need to be fully mated, then I can survive one time. Honestly I don’t see myself wanting to do it much.”
“Good thing, since I prefer bottoming.”
“I’m glad we can agree on that.” I threaded my fingers through his. “Of course that’s not set in stone. If we should want to reevaluate that….”
“Yes, if either one of us wants to reopen that subject, we agree to, right?”
“Right,” I said. “Back to Sabrina. Did she say anything else?”
“She told me you planned to mate her before you met me.”
“How did I miss what a troublemaker she is? That’s absolutely untrue. Not only did I make it clear I had no plans to mate her, that she wasn’t my mate, I also told her and the elders I wouldn’t be forced into a mating. Dammit, she knew she wasn’t my destined mate.”
“She did?”
“You better believe she did. There’s a scent, as you know. She smelled good, but she didn’t feel like mine. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I slept with her, but that’s all it would’ve ever been regardless if I’d met you or not. I found out she was spreading rumors within the pack that we were going to be mated, but she shouldn’t have done that. I’m not trying to push you, but—”
“But you’re about to, aren’t you?” Aidric said.
“All we’ve done is talk about mating, but you never actually…. We’ve talked all around the subject, but nothing’s been confirmed.”
“Impatient much? I’ve been here half a day, spent next to no time with you, and only met a handful of your pack. Not to mention the last one I met left me wanting to strangle her. Then we’ve had a… couple of tense moments between us too. Do you really want to push me into giving you an answer right now?”
I ran my hand over my head. When put like that, it really did sound like I was pushing. “Okay, you have a point.”
“You know, I could turn the tables and ask you the same thing.”
Huh? Could he really not know how I felt? “There’s no question of whether or not I want to mate you.”
Aidric blinked. “Um, really?”
Could he really not know? “I thought I made it pretty clear. I told you I want you as my mate, and I also told you I trusted you. If I didn’t, I never would’ve let you use the scarf on me. My wolf would’ve had a fit. I told you my wolf decided you’re the one.”
“T
hat’s all you need? Your animal says I’m the one, and that’s it? You know nothing about me. For all you know, I snore like a freight train, leave wet towels all over the bathroom, and do nothing but sit in front of the TV all day.”
“Do you snore?”
“Well, not that I know.”
“Do you leave wet towels all over the bathroom? I have to tell you, from what little I know about you so far, I can’t see you doing that.”
“No, I’m actually a neat freak.” Aidric frowned at me. “But that might bother you.”
“I bet Shea could give you a run for your money.” Since I had my arm around him, I gave in to the urge to run my fingers through his hair. It was as soft as I thought it’d be. “Regardless, I can live with your need for things to be in a certain place.”
“What has Shea got to do with anything?”
“My two betas are both equally in charge of keeping the pack house clean.”
Aidric leaned back to look at me. “Really?”
“Is that not what you guys do?”
“We don’t have a pack house, per se. If we have meetings, we go to our Alpha’s home.”
“How… odd.” The more we talked, the more differences I noticed between the two species. We really didn’t have much in common. It was… worrisome. Would the adjustment of moving here and becoming part of my pack be too much for Aidric?
Aidric shrugged. “Cats tend to be more independent than, um, canines. We live together, but we’re not really pack animals, not like… well, wolves.”
“Interesting. I never asked, but what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a copywriter. I put together promotional materials for businesses. That could be designing ads, websites, newsletters, commercials, direct mailings, and many other things. I have a degree in advertising and work from home.”
“It wouldn’t be hard for you to move your base of operations here, would it?”
Aidric rolled his eyes. “No, if I decided that’s what I want to do, I could easily set up my office here, as long as you have reliable and fast internet.”
“We do.” I wanted to press him to give me an answer, but I didn’t. He’d made it clear I might not like what he said if I did. He might not give off a sense of danger like werewolves, but I was finding he had a backbone of iron.
“What about you? Outside of being Alpha, do you have a job?”
“I own several small businesses in town, but my main job is Alpha. I’m pretty much on call 24/7.” I patted Aidric on the leg and stood, pulling him up with me. “Come on, we’ve been sitting here for quite a while. We have time before dinner, so why don’t we do a little bit more exploring, but we’ll stay closer to the pack house this time. While we’re walking around, I’ll introduce you to some of the pack.”
“Lead on, then.”
Chapter Nine
Aidric
“IS THAT him?”
“He’s not as muscular as us, is he?”
“Huh. Is Carter sure that’s his mate?”
“A male. Not sure how that’s going to work in regards to an heir.”
“Poor Sabrina.”
I gritted my teeth at that last comment. Poor Sabrina, my ass. Carter tensed as we walked. He’d heard whispered conversations but hadn’t said anything. Not that he could—nothing hateful was said, although it was pretty obvious this group of pack members were unimpressed with me. Not that I cared, mind you.
We were on our way back to the pack house when an elderly female stepped out on her porch and flagged Carter down.
“That’s Meme,” Carter said. “Her mate is adding a room onto the back of their house. I’ve been meaning to check in with them to see how it’s going. Do you mind if we stop for a moment?”
“No, that’s fine.” I followed Carter toward the home.
“Alpha? Could you help Gerald for a moment? He needs someone to hold the sheetrock so he can screw it in.”
“Sure.”
Meme bustled around Carter, aimlessly chatting without giving anyone the opportunity to respond as she took Carter’s coat. Since she made no effort to take mine, I stripped out of it as she beamed up at Carter. Both coats ended up draped across the back of a recliner.
“Meme, this is Aidric LeClair of the West Falls Clowder and my mate. Aidric, this is Meme Hightower.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“Oh yes. Hello.” Meme turned away. “Alpha? Right back here, please.”
I followed Carter toward the back. Sure enough, there was an elderly werewolf trying to install sheetrock by himself.
“Where did your help go, Gerald?” Carter asked.
“They were supposed to be here an hour ago.” Gerald shook his head. “If you’ll hold the sheetrock, I’ll do the screwing.”
“Do you have a… oh, there it is. Good. You have an electric drill.”
As soon as the drill went on, I headed out of the room. The shrill noise grated on my nerves and made my teeth ache. I followed Meme back to the kitchen. Her greeting hadn’t been the warmest, and the awkwardness was stifling. She leaned against the counter and picked up a mug, which she drank from. She didn’t offer me a seat, nor did she offer me a drink. Great. The level of awkwardness skyrocketed.
“So you’re his mate?”
“Yes.”
“You do realize you’re coming between him and Sabrina. She’s the one he intended to mate.”
Well, hell. I’d been expecting something like this, but not from the sweet-looking grandmother. “Not according to Carter.”
“Bah. Just like any other man, he was playing the field for as long as he could. Of course he was going to mate her, and by coming here, you’ve messed that up. He needs a pup to carry on his line.”
“There are ways around that.” I was damn tired of talking about something Carter and I hadn’t yet had time to discuss ourselves.
From the back of the house, the drilling paused, and she stopped talking. When it resumed, she started speaking again.
“Unnatural ways,” Meme said. “The best thing for him is to mate her. You don’t belong here, surely you know that. You’re not one of us and never will be. We’ll never accept you. If he mates you, he not only loses any opportunity for his line to retain Alphaship, but this mating will cause dissension within the pack. It already has. If you truly cared about him, you’d go back from where you came.”
Goddess, just shoot me now. I’d been raised to respect our elders, but this was beyond the pale. “Okay, first, you’re way out of line, and Carter wouldn’t be happy if he knew what was being said in here. Secondly, if you have concerns, maybe you should address them to your Alpha and not me.”
“We will, don’t you worry about that.”
Lovely. “You do that. I have one more thing to say to you—I’m his mate. He knows it and I know it, so there’s no arguing the fact.”
“But—”
“I’m not finished. Would you have him give up the one person your werewolf god deemed perfect for him? Would you really do that to your Alpha, someone I assume all of you love?”
There was a pause in the drilling, so I stopped speaking too. I barely noticed since I was struggling not to verbally eviscerate her. Not only would it not do any good, it really needed to come from Carter.
The arrogance of these werewolves was astounding, but she’d succeeded in making me feel like an outsider… and unwanted. The very first thing I was going to do when I returned home was apologize, and profusely, to not only Dolf but to Tal and Kirk too. Especially Kirk.
The drill started up again in the back, and Meme spoke. “Of course we love him. That’s why we’re concerned with this mistake he’s making by mating with you.”
Were we even in the same conversation? “Sounds to me like you’re more concerned about yourselves than him. I—”
The front door opened, and a werewolf about my age walked in. Now who was this?
“Sorry I’m late! I overslept and—what the fuck is he doing here?�
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The sudden hostility from the other werewolf hit me like a tsunami. “Who are—”
Instead of helping or trying to calm the younger werewolf down, Meme stood off to the side, sipping from her mug and smirking. No doubt about it, she’d set me up. I didn’t like the way the other werewolf stared at me with his yellow eyes and claws exposed.
My cat screeched in my head, and my vision sharpened. I knew my eyes had turned an electric blue, a sign that signified my cat was close to the surface. My fangs dropped and my claws extended. I hissed in warning.
“Who am I? My name is Delaney. Sabrina is my sister.”
Why had no one told me she had siblings? Fuck me, this was why I hadn’t wanted to come to Carter’s pack lands. I was surrounded by nothing but werewolves. Even if I shifted, even though I was larger than a Savannah, wolves were both bigger and heavier.
“Scared, pussy?”
I glared at him. “Of you, dog? Not hardly.”
Growling, Delaney took another step toward me. His scent slapped me in the face, and I wrinkled my nose. He smelled like Carter’s pack, but there was something else. Another scent I couldn’t place. Kind of musty. He abruptly stopped. Only then did I notice the drill wasn’t running. All of us froze as a tidal wave of power rolled through the kitchen. Everyone hit the floor but me. I slapped my hands over my ears against the whines coming from the werewolves writhing on the ground.
“Touch him and I will rip out your spine.” Carter strode into the kitchen, eyes glowing yellow and fangs extended.
Holy shit, Carter packed a helluva punch, but his power didn’t hurt me. Instead of putting me on the ground like everyone else in the kitchen, it wrapped around me in a warm, playful hug. There was nothing menacing about it. Instead it felt… good. Right. Like I’d finally found a missing part of myself. Energy shimmered around me, and I relaxed.
The animosity in the room didn’t stand a chance against Carter. Any negative feelings were squashed by the weight of his ability. The power receded like waves retreating from the beach, and what I was left with was contentment. At least for me. After a quick glance at the werewolves gasping on the floor, I was pretty sure contentment wasn’t what they were feeling.