Tempted (Two Marks 1)

Cord raised his hands as if in a stick-up, but his smile remained. “She’s not mine,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I know it. My wolf knows it. She’s safe with me.” He lifted his nose in the air. “Even if she’s not marked.”

They glanced between me and Cord, then nodded, although when they left me behind, they didn’t seem all that happy about it.

“Wolves are possessive,” Cord said as we watched through the front window as they climbed into Wade’s truck. “I’m thrilled they found their mate. I mean, a human mate is unexpected, but any true mating is welcome.” He looked at me. “They’re good men, Caitlyn. I hope you’ll stick around.”

I was struggling to keep up again. “True mating?”

“Right.” He leaned back against the reception desk and folded his arms across his white lab coat. “Our species can mate and produce offspring with anyone—shifter or human, but only a true mate will instigate the biological urge to mark a female. That’s what we call a ‘true mate’.

He tipped his head. “Let’s head back to my office. Bring your lollipop, and we can talk. I’ll answer any questions you have.”

It was hard not to like Cord when he took that affable family doctor tone. I’d bet children loved coming to see him. Especially with the bowl of lollipops at the front desk.

“I want to know what being marked means.” I made air quotes with my fingers as I followed him.

He went around his desk in a small, tidy office. He pointed to a seat across from him and I sat. The room wasn’t any different than any other doctor’s office, not that I had any idea what it would look like otherwise. Pictures of wolves on the walls? Wolf print paintings from little kids? Little… pups?

Yeah, I had a lot of questions. To busy myself, I pulled the wrapper off the lollipop and dropped it in the trash.

“Marked is when a male—or, in our species’ case, two males—claim their female. The urge is only triggered when a wolf finds his true mate, which causes his canines to descend, coated with a special serum. He then bites his mate during lovemaking, embedding the serum, which carries his scent, permanently into her flesh.”

I winced. That didn’t sound particularly appealing.

“A female shifter would instantly heal from such a marking.” He tipped his head to the side and considered me. “A human female is another story. It could be dangerous if they hit a major artery, or if it got infected while healing.”

“Wait, so the purpose is to mark her? Why? To keep other males away?”

Cord grinned. “Yes. Other shifters can smell that she belongs to someone. Is claimed.”

“So you knew Wade and Landry hadn’t marked me yet—by my scent?”

His gaze dropped to my neck again for a moment. “Right.”

“Is it like the shifter equivalent of getting married?”

He set his hands on his desk, shrugged. He was a handsome man. Rugged and big, as if it was in the DNA of the Two Marks pack for the males to be supersized. There was an intelligence behind his eyes too. He wasn’t as… wild as Landry or Wade, maybe because he’d had to go somewhere for college and medical school. Residency.

If I wasn’t already into Landry and Wade, I’d have set my sights on Cord. But now, he didn’t do anything for me.

“Marriages can end,” he said. “Divorce happens all the time. Wolves mate for life. Especially the Two Marks variety. Wade and Landry knew you by your scent. Their wolves recognized that you were the one, and they had the urge to mark you as their mate. They didn’t need to date you, to get to know you like humans do. One deep breath, and you belonged to them. You just didn’t know it.”

I blushed, remembering how easily I’d taken Wade back to my apartment.

“Could I have been drawn to them as well? Maybe not by scent, but… attraction?”

He gave me a reassuring smile, then leaned back in his chair. “Sure. As a human, it probably scared you, the intensity between the three of you?”

I glanced away. “Definitely. And the fact that I was drawn to two men. I’m not… I’ve never—”

“There is no shame in a Two Marks triad. You have human values attached to what is considered an appropriate relationship. If you let those go, you can see that what you share with Landry and Wade is real.”

It certainly felt real. More real than anything in my life had ever felt. “I almost wonder… if this is why I’ve always been obsessed with wolves.”

Cord tilted his head and shrugged. His white shirt didn’t hide the way his muscles flexed when he did that. I wondered if he had a mate, because I had no doubt she was a happy woman. “Could be. I’m a man of science, but most shifters would call a true match the intervention of Fate.”