The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne (9 page)

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Michael paced, walking a trail back and forth across the back patio at Jason and Cadence's.  He had no idea how long Shyne would be at that boxing match, but every time he checked his phone to make sure she hadn't called and he'd missed it, his nerves ratcheted up another notch.  Was time standing fucking still?

"You're making me nauseous," Cadence complained, perched on Jason's lap in one of the cushioned patio chairs.

"Sorry."  He ran his hands through his hair a few times and leaned against the railing. 

"So you really like this girl, huh?" Jason teased.  "It's about time you settled down."

"I was thinking the same thing," he smiled at his older brother and his sister-in-law.  The only thing missing from the evening, in his mind, was Shyne.

He stayed at their house until Cadence fell asleep on Jason's lap while they were reminiscing about their younger days.  He'd taken the evening off from the bar, happy that they had enough trustworthy staff so he could take time off occasionally.  In truth, the bar was making him batty.  And now that Shyne was in his life, the last thing he wanted was a serious commitment like the bar to interfere with getting to spend time with her.

She sounded tired when he answered his cell on the first ring.  It was well after one a.m.  "You weren't sleeping, were you?" she yawned at the end, and he wished he was there to put her to bed.  And other things.

"Nah.  I'm a night owl."

"I thought you were a wolf."

He laughed.  "And that.  Was it, I mean, did you have fun?"  He smacked himself in the head for not being able to put a decent sentence together.

She let out a thoughtful sigh, and he heard the sound of a zipper lowering.  Oh for the love of all things holy!  Was she undressing while she was talking to him on the phone?  "Yeah, it was okay.  I told you that they were acting kind of strange, clingy?"

His wolf sat up in his mind.  "Yeah."

"Well, I don't know.  It was almost worse tonight.  I always liked Mason, he's sweet and kind of goofy, but when it's the three of them, they come on pretty strong.  And then they kept making little snide comments about wolves all night long.  It was really, I don't know, stressful?"

He heard the rustle of fabric and the creak of what sounded like a bed and pictured her sliding naked into bed and wanted even more to be there with her.  "I'm sorry, sweetheart.  I think I made things worse for you there, and I hate that."

"No, you didn't have anything to do with it.  They've hinted around for a while now that they wanted more from me than just friendship, but I'm pretty good at keeping things casual.  Or at least I was.  At least I have tomorrow off from work."

"So I can maybe persuade you to let me take you out to dinner?"

"Maybe," she practically purred and his wolf went nuts.

"What if I promise that it'll be the best first date ever?"  Oh hell, why did he promise that?

"Really?  Well, I wouldn't want to turn down the best first date ever."  She paused for a few moments, and he had a feeling she was grinning like the Cheshire cat.  "Okay.  When do you want to pick me up, and what should I wear?"

Dumbfounded by the question, he was silent so long she said his name twice before he snapped out of things.  "I'll pick you up at eight, and wear something pretty."

She laughed lightly and sighed, "Thanks, Michael."

"For what, doll?"

"For being sweet.  I needed that."

"Anytime.  Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Michael."

By the time he was shaving for his date, he had everything in order, and it had been no small feat.  He'd picked both Cadence and Karly's brains, and his mom's, bought a new dress shirt for the occasion, and borrowed Karly's Porsche Boxter with her and Linus' blessing.  If it wasn't a completely ludicrous car to have for a man who was thinking about marriage and family, he would offer to buy it from them.  As it was, he realized that he needed to get something more than his motorcycle, and soon.

He'd not ever known that someone could be breath-taking in real life, figuring it for one of those romance novel clichés, but here she was — heart-stoppingly, breath-stealingly gorgeous.  And all his.  Her dress was black with white trim and thin straps, curve-hugging to the waist and then flared to mid-thigh where the skirt fell.  Her beautiful bare legs ended in black heeled sandals where a toe ring glinted along with a shimmery ankle bracelet.

Her onyx hair fell like a satiny wave down past her shoulders, and he had such an urge to run his fingers through it that he almost cracked the bouquet in half squeezing it so hard.  "You look gorgeous, sweetheart," he handed her the flowers and kissed her cheek.  Although roses had seemed like a good idea, the three women he polled said they were old stand-bys and urged him to think outside the box.  He went to a florist recommended by Linus and explained what he needed.  The old woman behind the counter had worked her magic and given him a large bouquet of soft pink and yellow Peruvian lilies, tied with a pink satin ribbon.

Shyne fawned over them, inviting him in while she put them in water.  Already, he was heady with the knowledge that he'd done at least one thing right tonight.  When the flowers were sitting on the coffee table in a clear vase, she took his hand, and they walked out to his borrowed car.  She didn't seem to care about the car, which he found interesting, but as he drove to the restaurant, he realized that she actually really only cared that he was there with her.  Everything else was just...details for her.  He felt exactly the same way.

The restaurant was an Italian bistro that served fantastic lobster ravioli.  Since she had admitted at the bar that she didn't drink before driving, he decided to follow her lead, and they both enjoyed sweet tea with their meal instead of wine.  He'd once made fun of Linus for not drinking at the bar when Karly was with him.  Now he understood.  In fact, he now understood a lot of things that his friends had dealt with as they found their mates.

For dessert, he made arrangements with Robert to use the lake.  While Shyne sat in the car waiting, he laid out a blanket on the dock and arranged a few candles and two plates of desserts that Karly had made special for the occasion.

Shyne sat across from him, the plates between them, and he fed her a mini apple tart.  She repaid the favor, selecting a small square of mocha cheesecake.  The silence hung between them as they shared the sweet little bites of desserts and said nothing.  When the plates were empty and the taste of sugar was heavy on both of their lips, she crossed the small space between them, fisted her hands in his hair, and kissed him for all she was worth.  Her tongue slid past his lips with a moan that made his cock stand at attention, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.  Her body molded against his as she fed at his mouth, nipping his lips before delving back in to slide her tongue against his.  He'd never been so thoroughly kissed in all his life, and his mind reeled at the feelings coursing through him.

She tugged on his shirt, moving sensually against him and making small whimpering noises, and he stilled her hands before things went too far.  "Sweetheart," he stopped her hands and pulled away slightly, nipping slow kisses across her cheek to her ear, "not like this, not here."  He dropped her hands and cupped her face, watching the candlelight flicker in her eyes.  "The first time we make love, Shyne, I want it to be special and right.  Not like this."

Her curious expression gave way to a genuine smile, and he knew that although he'd need an ice cold shower when he got home, he'd made the right choice.  "You're so sweet, Michael, I," she paused, and he was almost positive she was going to say she loved him.  Could she possibly?  His heart swelled at the thought.

He pulled her into a hug and nestled his face in the crux of her neck.  "You're very important to me, Shyne.  I want to treat you right."

She hugged him back and chuckled, "I want to let you."

The evening ended on a sweet note, as he walked her up to her apartment and said goodnight with a much more chaste kiss this time.  She promised that it was indeed the best first date ever, and he hoped that she never went on another first date again.

The next week, they talked on the phone every night.  She seemed to think that something was going on with the hyenas, but she didn't know what.  One of them had asked her to dinner, and she turned him down.  Although they didn't ask her the reason, she was fairly sure they knew why.  He wanted to tell her to quit her job, that he would happily bring her to his trailer and take care of her until she found another job, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't take him up on the offer.  And he wouldn't want her to think he didn't appreciate all her hard work to get where she was.

On Thursday, he asked her if she'd like to go see a movie on Saturday night, and she agreed.  Before he hung up the phone that night, he reminded her that he wouldn't be able to call her the next night because it was the full moon, and he'd be busy all day and then hunting at night.  The pause was very significant, and he wished he knew what she was thinking.

"You do believe me, about just hunting, don't you?" he asked finally.

"Hmm?  Oh, yeah, of course.  I think you're a lot of things, Michael, but a liar isn't one of them."

"Oh?" he laughed, "What else am I?"

He could practically hear her smile over the phone.  "A smartass."

"True."

"A sweetheart.  A loyal friend.  A good brother.  A sexy, dangerous wolf."

He barked out a laugh as she pulled that phrase from one of their first conversations at the gym.  He wanted her to say that he was hers — that he belonged to her — but she didn't, and that was okay.  Although he had the feeling that he was right on Sunday and that she was falling in love with him as much as he was falling in love with her, he didn't want to push her too far too fast.

"You're the sweetheart, Shyne.  You're too good for me."

"Careful, a girl could get used to all these nice things you keep saying."

"You should.  I plan to flatter you non-stop."

She sighed in a happy way and giggled.  She was just such a girly girl.  He loved it.

"Maybe next full moon, sweetheart, if you're interested, you could come stay at Cadence's house while I'm out hunting with the pack.  We always have a big cookout, and Karly will stay at the house and clean up, and I'm sure she'd like the company.  Cades doesn't shift, so she only goes out to where we are until we shift, and then she walks back and waits for Jason.  It's just... this month it's a little too soon.  I'd need to bring you around more to visit with the other wolves first."

"That would be nice, if you think I'd be welcome."

"Of course."  And he meant that.  Although he could probably have her there, it wasn't official yet that they were mates, and wolves on the full moon did tend to get fairly horny.  He didn't want to have to fight in front of her if he could help it.  Not that he wouldn't destroy anyone that made a move on her, but he'd rather her not see that part of himself if he could get away with it.

All day as he prepared for the full moon, he thought of Shyne and wondered how she was.  When he shifted for the full moon, all he could think about was how stupid it was of him not to ask if he could just come over anyway, even if it would be late.  Or call, at least.  He determined to call her first thing in the morning to say hello and hear her voice.

Shaking his head at himself with an inward smile, he thought,
I'm toast with this girl.  Hot, buttered toast.

He took off with Jason, Bo and Linus as he usually did, but as he ran through the woods, he paused at the familiar scent that hung on the air.

Shyne.

Why was she in the woods?  It wasn’t safe on the full moon, hadn't he explained that to her?  His heart spiked as he branched off from the pack to find her and wait out his shift time until he could yell at her for not being safe.  As he twisted through the woods following her scent and leaving his pack far behind, he prepared the long speech he was going to lay on her about safety.  He hadn’t ever really cared about a woman’s safety before.  Sure, he cared if his mother was safe and Cadence as his sister-in-law and pack alpha, but not like he felt about Shyne.  He lived and breathed her safety already, even if she didn’t realize it.

He was nearly out of the woods, far from their full moon meeting place behind Jason and Cadence's home and in the opposite direction where the pack normally hunted in the summer, when he saw a flash of red fabric on a low shrub.  Drawing close, he recognized one of Shyne's red lycra tank tops that she wore to the gym.  The scent of her was heavy on it, and he sniffed it and then looked around.  Suddenly, the air around him crackled with warning, and his hackles rose just as two of the were-hyenas from the gym stepped into view, surrounding him.

“Hello, Michael,” the bald one said with a sneer as something sharp was jabbed into the back of Michael’s neck.

“Goodbye, jackass,” one said through a tunnel, as Michael slipped into unconsciousness and fell to the ground.

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The first thing he was aware of was grass under his cheek and something hard pressing against the side of his mouth.  Groggily, he reached up to see what it was and felt metal wires fashioned in a cup around his mouth.  He was muzzled!  His eyes opened, and he was staring at four curious natural wolves in a very unnatural habitat.  Those fucking hyenas!  They drugged him, muzzled him, and gave him to the zoo!