Searching the room for my friend to tell her to grab the rum and a kitchen torch, my gaze landed on a man headed straight toward me. I didn’t recognize him—and with his looks, I definitely would have remembered if we had met before—but Ramsey and Aero were staring at him while she laughed. I vaguely remembered Aero mentioning that the friend they had named their son after was coming to visit and assumed it was him.
As my breath caught in my throat, I racked my brain trying to remember what he’d said about the guy. It wasn’t much, just that the wolf shifter was a part of the pack in the wilderness where Ramsey had stayed after she was rescued. One thing was for sure, my coworker hadn’t mentioned how hot the guy was.
His deep brown eyes were locked on my face as he stalked closer, and they were filled with desire. My fingers itched to stroke through his thick, dark hair that was a couple of inches longer than the current style. A muscle jumped in his angular jaw as his tall, muscular body prowled toward me with animal grace.
Living in Timber Ridge, I’d seen lots of attractive male shifters. Although I had appreciated their good looks, I had never reacted to one of them…until now. I was surrounded by everyone I knew in town—many of whom had an enhanced sense of smell—and my panties were freaking drenched. Because of him.
If I had been in any doubt over what my libido roaring to life meant, his growled, “Mate,” as he yanked Kace’s hand off my shoulder would’ve eliminated it.
Kace stepped away from me with a smile. “Calm down, Rome. I have a mate of my own.”
“Don’t care,” he grunted, wrapping his arm around my back to pull me against his side. “She’s mine.”
The alpha quirked a brow. “Do you even know her name?”
Aero and Ramsey’s friend—the wolf shifter who was apparently my fated mate—snarled at him before answering. “Thora.”
Kace aimed a soft smile at me. “But does she know yours?”
A giggle bubbled up my chest at his question. I’d heard the guy say a grand total of six words and knew only what Aero had mentioned about him. Luckily, that included his name. “He’s Rome. Arbor is named after him.”
Rome’s nose wrinkled at the reminder that everyone used the baby’s middle name, making me laugh again.
“Then I guess we can skip introductions.” He turned toward Peppa. “Now that Thora is here, can you please tell Larken to bring out the baked Alaska?”
“Sure, since you said please,” she teased as they walked away.
Rome shifted his hold on me until we were facing each other. “Happy Birthday, mate.”
There had only been two matings in the pack since I moved to Timber Ridge. Aero had gone up to the Wilderness Pack to hunt Ramsey down, so I hadn’t been around to see how things went down for them. I hadn’t been at the hospital when Peppa and Cason had met after the birth of his niece and nephew, but their connection had been obvious even to me when they’d come into the restaurant six days later. They’d been so darn sweet together. It was what started my dreams of finding a hunky shifter of my own. And now I apparently had one.
“Is it really as easy as that? We see each other from across a crowded room, and boom…we’re mates?”
Rome scanned the room before tugging me into the kitchen, where we’d have some privacy. “What have you been told about the mating process?”
My cheeks filled with heat as I thought about how Peppa had blushed when Larken and I had teased her about all the sex she and Cason must’ve had during the almost week he’d kept her away from Timber Treasures after our opening night. “Um…mostly just that you only feel desire for your fated mate, so there’s lots of, uh…orgasms involved. Because of all that pent-up need. And some biting.”
“Yeah, pretty baby. There will definitely be as many orgasms as you can handle.” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Rome’s mouth as his lips curved into a satisfied smile. “Gotta take care of all that pent-up need for you.”
“Uh-huh.”
I was too dazed to come up with a better reply, but Rome didn’t seem happy with my answer. My head jerked up when his mouth pressed into a flat line, and a growl rumbled up his chest. “Fuck, I…shit.”
I couldn’t imagine what he could be upset about when finding your fated mate was supposed to be the best day in a shifter’s life. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s no other way to say this than to just get the words out there.” He wrapped one of his hands around the back of my neck. “And you gotta understand that your answer isn’t going to change a damn thing between us.”