His Wolf's Choice

by Mary Goldberger

  After grabbing a bottle of water, Daya headed for her bedroom putting the bottle on the nightstand while she got undressed so she could take a shower.

  Staring in the mirror over her dresser, Daya traced a finger over the light outline where her mate mark once sat, but now it was like a scar that had healed over. It started disappearing almost a week after she left remembering the pain which went through her when Jared marked Jasmine cutting their bond. It had hurt, Daya recalled, but not as much as it should’ve according to her uncle.

  Normally a breaking of a mate bond should leave the individual in severe pain, and yet Daya had been able to move around that day even though she was pale and occasionally sick to her stomach.

  “I guess I probably should’ve told my uncle that I was never truly attracted to Jared,” Daya uttered turning away from the mirror wondering why she was even thinking about that wolf now when she hadn’t thought about him since the day of the mate bond breaking.

  Shaking her head, she finished undressing and headed into the bathroom to take her shower forcing the feeling that something was going to happen from her mind.

  A chuckle came out thinking about the other women at the study session and the gorgeous men who had made their presence known.

  “I wouldn’t be a female if I didn’t notice,” Daya remarked turning on the water to the shower before stepping in and turning her face up to the hot water. “I may be a little wiser, but I hope they have fun tonight although it is most likely that they will get their hearts broken tomorrow.”

  She took a quick shower because she still had some studying for the test tomorrow especially after the useless study session although Professor Jansen had done her best.

  The next day, Kala walked around the room while her last class for the day took their exam noticing that the young women who came to her house were struggling. Shaking her head, her lips tightened briefly since that had been the reason for the session knowing these ladies had needed the extra studying, but they had been too busy flirting with her boys than in learning the material.

  She walked over to Daya who was nibbling on the end of her pencil and taking a swift glance at her sheet, Kala turned away a smile teasing the corners of her mouth. She headed for her desk striding past Kelsey, Jaime’s mate as they recognized yesterday, and noted she looked relaxed her pencil flying over the paper.

  Glancing over the students one more time, Kala shifted her gaze to the clock on the wall opposite her desk. “Five more minutes,” she called out seeing heads nod or flash up at her in shock.

  At the sound of the door opening, Kala turned a frown in that direction which deepened when Jaime and Garin walked in.

  Her hand came up in a silence notion before she flashed her hand at them one time letting them know the class had five more minutes.

  Garin and Jaime nodded their heads stepping back to lean against the wall eyes going over the class.

  She turned back to the class noticing some of the young women had noticed their uninvited guests which distracted them from finishing the exam.

  “Time’s up,” Kala called out relieved to see the five minutes was up since the arrival of Garin and Jaime had distracted most of her students from working on their exams.

  Groans echoed throughout the room, but others gladly put down their pencils and Kala sat down at her desk since the students knew to put the exams on the corner of her desk as they left the room.

  Kala glanced up when Tammie Peterson, the blond young woman from last night, put her paper down almost knocking over the pile since her gaze was focused on Garin licking her lips at the sight of him.

  Kala shifted Garin a subtle look seeing him react to the practiced movement, and she stifled the snarl that came to her throat.

  She almost made a comment to Tammie when the sound of a phone echoed in the silence and her head jerked in the direction of the noise since cells were supposed to be off in her classroom.

  Her eyes widened slightly when Daya gave her an apologetic look digging the phone out of her bag her exam clutched in her hand.

  She answered it. “Hello.”

  A second later, she yanked the phone from her ear as the sound of a woman crying on the other end could be heard in the room.

  Daya waited until the crying settled down before she lifted the phone back to her ear gathering her things at the same time.

  “Bethea,” Daya began only to stop a frown shifting across her face, and then she sighed. “Just tell him you are not giving him any sex until the baby is born.”

  She chuckled and rolled her eyes walking over to the desk laying down her exam. “You would think that is the perfect plan to punish Tobias.”

  Her face grew serious while a resigned look came across it. “Then why don’t you wear him out so that he can’t even thing about sex much less another woman.”

  She listened for a few more minutes before she hung up the phone, and she shifted her bag closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Then her cell rung again, and she snapped it open answering it without any hesitation.

  “Your wife called me up at four o’clock this morning because you were not in bed with her. I had to calm her down before she would hang up and then I tried to go back to sleep since I had class at eight. She called me back an hour later wondering if you were cheating,” her voice stopping when Tobias started protesting against it and Daya cut him off knowing that his mate would know for sure but wasn’t thinking straight because of pregnancy hormones. “Bethea has been calling me all day because she thinks you don’t want her anymore. She believes that you’re disgusted by the fact that she is as fat as a cow, her words not mine, because she pregnant with your child. Right now, she is thinking you are going to dump her because you have someone else you are in love with. Even I don’t understand the irrational thoughts of your wife at this moment, although I think her hormones are off the chart so why don’t you go home and spend some quality time with her.”

  Without waiting for a response, she pulled the phone from her ear and ended the call turning her phone off a second later. She glanced over at Kala who was staring at her with narrowed eyes and her face became flush even though her voice was calm when she uttered, “I’m sorry, Professor, about having my phone on in class.”

  Daya put away her phone feeling the few students left in the class staring at her not that she cared what they thought, but she didn’t mean to disrespect her Professor.

  “Daya,” Professor Jansen called out getting her attention when she started for the door.

  Glancing over her shoulder, Kala saw the questioning look in her dark eyes and smiled. “Have a good weekend.”

  Daya chuckled nodding her head. “I wish you the same, Professor Jansen.”

  From his position on the wall, Garin watched the interchange between his Alpha Female and the female student surprised when his wolf purred. I like that smell.

  Sniffing the air, Garin was startled to smell a hint of strawberries and mint, and his wolf purred again. She smells human, Garin reminded him even though he found the intermingling smells appeasing himself.

  She is, his wolf responded still feeling relax and contentment from the smell.

  “Hi, Baby,” a voice cooed interrupting his chat with his wolf, which annoyed him although it didn’t show on his face when he turned to face Tammie.

  He smiled at her slowly his eyes running over her while his wolf gagged at the scent coming off her, and even he found her perfume to be too strong until another scent, although not as strong, filtered through his senses.

  She must be really sure of herself, his wolf snarled anger vibrating through him.

  Garin couldn’t fault his other half from being angry pissed himself that the woman in front of him was able to have sex with another man a few hours ago, and here she was cozying up to him leaning closer to give him a hungry kiss.

  She is gone. His wolf’s sudden disappointed response had Garin lifting his head eyes searching the room. T
he woman that elicited such a response from his wolf was gone.

  “Hey,” Tammie pouted, and he merely shook his head to clear it smiling down at her, and she preened up at him before pulling him back down for another kiss.

  “Please take that outside,” Kala ordered breaking them apart, and Garin turned his eyes in her direction seeing the brief flash of disappointment before she shielded her eyes and turned to the exam papers she was gathering together.

  “Gladly,” Tammie smirked, and Garin felt his wolf growl at her attitude towards his Alpha Female.

  Garin nodded his head to Kala and then met Jaime’s eyes who gave a single nod of his head although his eyes were focused on the redhead, Kelsey, from last night’s study session.

  Garin grinned escorting Tammie out of the room seeing the satisfied grin shift across her face, and he realized that she thought he was grinning because of her.

  Shaking his head lightly, he walked her out of the building and over to his vehicle feeling Tammie brush against him trying to elicit a response in him which was working until he noticed the cherry red mustang parked two cars down from his own.

  His mouth dropped open at the view which Tammie took advantage of pulling him down onto the hood of his car when the smell from earlier hit him again.

  Garin pulled away feeling his wolf get excited, but not because of the woman who was lying on the hood of his car. He shifted his eyes around until they met a pair of dark brown eyes which was blank when she looked at him a set of keys in her hand.

  “Why are you stopping?” Tammie uttered in a sultry voice until she noticed he wasn’t looking at her. Turning her gaze to the woman standing there, she laughed and cooed, “Would you like to join us, Daya? I’m sure Garin would love a threesome, but don’t be too surprise if he focuses more on me.”

  Garin watched dark brown eyes fill with disgust before she turned away. “No, thank you. I prefer a man to focus on me and only me.”

  Garin felt something in his stomach tighten at her words and he continued watching her out of the corner of his eye as she got into her car and drove away. Then Tammie pulled him back around to latch onto his lips grinding her hips up to him.

  Garin wasn’t a shy person and rarely did he care about what others thought of him, but he found himself pulling away from Tammie even as she pouted her overly made lips at him which was smeared now because of their kisses.

  “Garin,” she pleaded reaching out to him, but Garin merely helped her to her feet and ushered her over to the passenger side of his car.

  There was a hint of anger in her eyes when he helped her inside, but Garin closed the door quickly and hurried around to the other side seeing the smug look on her face when he climbed inside starting the car before he even closed the door.

  Sliding a hand onto his thigh, and even higher, making him gasp she whispered in just the right tone. “We can finish up at my place.”

  Garin nodded his head reversing out of the parking spot before shifting gears to drive out of the parking lot.

  “Although I think it would’ve been more exciting if you took me on the hood of your car,” Tammie uttered coyly, but Garin found that he didn’t like the idea at all.

  He wasn’t a teenager no more, the words of the brown eyed woman repeating in his head, and he realized he agreed with her. He wanted his lover focused on him, and not the scene she wanted to make, or the rush of excitement from the location instead of who they were with.

  Feeling his wolf laugh, Garin stifled a groan shifting in his seat feeling Tammie’s hand brush against him, but he wondered what she would think if he told her bluntly that her touch wasn’t what was eliciting such a response from him.

  Shaking his head again, he firmed his mouth remembering the woman from his Alpha Female’s class and her phone conversation. Sex was something she definitely knew about, Garin surmised surprised when something rolled through him at the thought.

  Did you not notice it? His wolf questioned roughly.

  Garin didn’t understand the question and his wolf snarled lightly. Her innocence, Garin. She was talking about sex, yet there was a wary look in her eyes and she flushed after hanging up the phone and apologizing to our Alpha Female. She was merely making it up trying to help her friend.

  Garin found himself recalling the exchange shocked to realize that his other half was right missing what Tammie was saying to him in the passenger seat.

  Tammie, unaware of Garin’s inattention, was chatting along and while Garin wasn’t listening, his wolf was even if he had been interested in the woman sitting in the vehicle with his human half; a simple, yet exotic smell had changed everything.

  Chapter 2

  Later that evening, Daya found herself thinking about what she saw that afternoon and she shook her head trying to push away the thoughts since her body had reacted to the heat in that man’s blue eyes. When she arrived, she had to take a cool shower trying to soothe her sensitized skin although the feeling didn’t diminish, and now hour later, the feelings was returning.

  “No, no,” Daya groaned flopping back on her bed eyes on the ceiling. “He is a shapeshifter, and I’m a human. Even if he was interested, which I doubt considering the woman he was lying on top of, it will be merely a repeat of what happened with Jared. A human like me can never be the mate of a shapeshifter.”

  She forced herself to remember all those moments at her uncle’s pack from the day she mated with Jared until the day she left, and she gave a determined nod of head. “A good reason to stay as far away as possible even if it means failing the class.”

  She frowned at the thought since she liked Professor Jansen, but she was an Alpha Female which meant it was possible she could run into the blue eye man again.

  “I don’t want to be hurt again,” Daya uttered in a whisper closing her eyes while her face paled and her hands clenched into fists by her side.

  The ringing of her cell got her attention, and Daya sat up opening her eyes a smile coming to her face when she read the caller id.

  “Hi, Bethea, how are you and Tobias doing?” Daya asked her smile becoming brighter while listening to her friend on the other end.

  She was grateful for the call because it took her mind off what happened at school and a pair of blue eyes that did something funny to her insides listening to Bethea go on about how Tobias took her out.

  “He said that you told him to spend some quality time with me,” Bethea gushed excitement in her voice. “I’m sorry if I was bothering you all day.”

  “It was no problem, Bethea, although your last call along with Tobias’ happened during my class which I had an exam in today,” Daya told her with a chuckle.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Bethea uttered in concern. “I hope I didn’t make you mess up on the exam.”

  “No,” Daya assured her leaving her bedroom heading for the kitchen. She found that she was hungry and something light would be good this evening. “The class was over when you called, but the Professor doesn’t like us to have our cell’s on in class and I forgot to turn mine off until after Tobias called.”

  Bethea laughed before asking her how she was doing, and Daya answered truthfully although she omitted a few things like the fact her Professor was an Alpha Female. Even more importantly, how she suddenly found herself attracted to a shapeshifter after everything she had gone through with Jared.

  The conversation didn’t last long since Bethea had to go, and yet Daya noted she hesitated briefly before hanging up as if she wanted to tell her something.

  Daya closed her phone slowly wondering what Bethea wanted to tell her. She wondered if it had something to do with her uncle before she shook the thought away. Her uncle would tell her if something was wrong with him, she hoped anyway.

  Putting down her phone, she searched through her cabinets to make herself something simple yet good, and she settled on an omelet loaded with whatever she could find to put in it.

  Sitting at the table twenty minutes later, Daya ate slowly complementing
how to be busy so she could avoid class when a thought came to her.

  Reaching for her cell again, she called her work getting her supervisor after a few minutes of waiting.

  “Hi, it is Daya Stevens. You mentioned that you were shorthanded next week,” she mentioned respectfully. “If you still need someone to fill in, I can do the shifts.”

  She smiled when the voice on the other end assured her that they were still in need of help and told her to be at work by seven on Monday.

  Daya hung up putting her phone back on the table and finished her omelet. “I’ll go at the end of next week and drop the class.”

  Getting up from the table, Daya walked over to the sink to do her few dishes before heading for bed. She had to work tomorrow night, but there were a few things she had to do before then.

  Her mouth turned down at the corners thinking about her job since she had already been offered a position, but after what happened today in meeting those blue eyes she had to rethink her decision in staying here.

  Shifting her eyes around the room four days later, Kala frowned realizing that Daya wasn’t in class again today wondering if she was all right since it was the second day she had missed.

  “Okay, class,’ she called out in a weary voice. “Begin reading the article in front of you, and a paragraph, write a response to the author. I want questions on the subject the author is speaking on along with your own opinions which I want written as if trying to persuade the author that your opinion has more weight.”

  The class groaned not liking these exercises, but Kala didn’t relent since she found the exercise helpful in understanding if her students were knowledgeable about current events.

  “It is due by the end of class,” Kala informed them eyes going over the class noting Kelsey focused on her work although Jaime would be there soon to pick her up.

  Striding back to her seat to grade last period’s work, Kala found her eyes drawn to Tammie who kept looking at the door and she hid her smile of satisfaction. If Tammie was expecting Garin, then she was going to be disappointed since he was off on a mission for his Alpha.