The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne (11 page)

BOOK: The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne
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“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?"

BOOK: The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne
3.51Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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