Nash laughed then squashed it when I gave him a glare.
“No one’s getting rid of her, okay?” I boomed, even though I obviously wasn’t alpha around here, and if he wanted Natalie gone, she’d be gone. But I’d go with her.
Rob held up a hand. “Cool your tits, cowboy. Nobody’s threatening your mate.”
“Sheffield’s place is like our pack’s new breeding ground,” Nash said with a smirk. He was having too much fun with this.
Rob had met his mate in Willow, who’d been the DEA agent pretending to be Natalie. Now the real Natalie showed up, and I was claiming her.
One by one, our core pack members were all mating humans. There must be some reason Fate changed the rules on us. I didn’t really care, not now that Natalie was mine. The why of it didn’t fucking matter.
“Maybe she’ll sell the place,” Nash offered. “She needs money, right? That’s the only reason she wanted to start a bed and breakfast. It’s not like it was her dream or anything.”
Rob shook his head. “Jett Markle tried repeatedly to buy the place off her last year and so did Boyd. She didn’t bite. That property means something to her.”
“Okay, so I just have to help her find a new vision for it,” I said slowly, rubbing the back of my neck. “Get her to think again about it being a B&B. I mean, she doesn’t seem the type who enjoys coddling and feeding strangers on a daily basis.”
“You mean you’re not the type. Getting it on with her’s going to be hard if you’ve got Mr. and Mrs. Tourist from Iowa in the next bedroom.” Nash laughed at his own humor. I didn’t find it so funny because he was right. I intended to get it on with her frequently. Thoroughly. And loudly.
“Sounds like you’ve got as much reason to sway her as me,” Rob said.
“I’ll do it but my way.”
I had no intention of sharing my space with Natalie with anyone besides pups. If she was so attached to the house, I’d move in there. The cabin my grandparents left me was too small for settling down anyway. I also had a soft spot for the Sheffield house having worked there for a bunch of years. I hadn’t given it much thought then, but now? Now it was ideal. Plenty of land, near the rest of the pack, my parents. Levi and his growing family.
Rob levelled me a look. “You’d better. We can’t have the neighboring property crawling with humans. I never worried about Old Man Sheffield because he kept to himself and gave us privacy, but I don’t even like the idea of having a human—hey.” Rob infused alpha command in the last word, and the noise in my throat instantly turned off.
Fuck, I was growling again. “Sorry,” I muttered, dropping my gaze to show submission.
“She’s your mate, I’ll leave you to take care of it, Rand,” Rob said then pointed at me. “But see that you do.”
I gulped and nodded. I’d never, ever had the slightest urge to defy my alpha on anything, but the thought of either telling my mate she couldn’t do something or, worse, working against her nearly flayed me alive. This time yesterday, I hadn’t even known I had a mate, let alone had a desperate need to satisfy one.
But I didn’t have to work against her. I just had to win her over. Show her what it could be like between us then reveal myself and what we were. Then she’d understand she couldn’t open a B&B next door. It was as simple as that. A bunch of orgasms would make both of us feel a whole fucking lot better.
“No problem,” I said. Nash and I stood and walked out.
“No problem, huh?” Nash jeered as we cut across the back lawn. “I’ve never seen you lose your shit as you were back there.”
I let out a puff of breath. Okay, yeah. He was right. “Her scent. It’s driving me fucking insane. I had to drive away. Now it’s killing me to be away from her.”
Nash only grinned, slapped me on the shoulder. The asshole. “Good luck. I’m sure you’re going to have fun trying.”
I frowned. He was having too much pleasure at my expense. Total asshole.
I wanted to toss Natalie over my shoulder and take her to bed, fuck her until she forgot any name but mine. Bite her neck and claim her. That wasn’t going to go over well. She was human, and discovering the guy who’d just fucked her hard was also a wolf shifter was hard to process. She’d said she wasn’t wild about spiders. Did that mean all animals? Would she be afraid of my inner wolf? No. I’d get rid of every worry she had. Every doubt. Show her she was everything to me. That I’d take care of her. Protect her. Show her pleasure. She’d have no doubt about me. About us.