I admit I’ve been cranky as hell lately. The wound of being shot down by Charlie for a second date has festered all week. I rejected my frequently recurring idea to go and arrange a ‘chance’ meeting with her in town. Charlie is smart—she wouldn’t buy it, and I don’t want to come off as desperate.
Which I am, by the way.
This woman is under my skin in a big, bad way. An I-can’t-sleep-at-night-because-I’m-thinking-of-her way. And jerking off five times a day does nothing to relieve the mounting pressure to get inside her again.
I couldn’t have fucked this one up more. I tear open the packages of bacon with my teeth and throw the contents of all three into a cast iron pan.
“Seriously, dude. You’ve been an asshole all week. Ever since—” He stops with a look of surprise on his face, like he thinks he’s put something together. “Ah…”
I want to kill the guy.
“Ever since what?” Rafe asks.
Fuck. Now I’m really going to kill Channing.
“Who did you say you spent the night with last week?” Channing asks.
Rafe folds his arms over his chest, leaning one shoulder in the doorframe of the kitchen of our old ski lodge turned headquarters. “I don’t think you did say, did you?” He tips his head, his sharp alpha gaze suddenly trained on my face.
“Fuck you both.” Gah. Now I’ve basically acknowledged that Charlie is the cause of my distemper.
“I don’t believe it. Did Fate kick you in the nuts, Lance?” Channing chortles.
Rafe stiffens, even though his posture doesn’t change.
I rub the back of my neck. Rafe is going to flip, but if Charlie really is my mate, and the fact that I sprouted fangs and wanted to mark her that night proves she is, then this shit is going to come out anyway.
My pack will have to hold my collar if I go off the deep end.
So I don’t attempt to lie. Instead, I say, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, we’re talking about it.” Rafe is suddenly in motion, crossing the kitchen to pen me in against the stove.
Channing follows his alpha, and takes up my other side.
I don’t mean to, but a growl comes out of my throat, as if the two of them are trying to keep me from my mate.
“Did you just fucking growl at me?” Rafe demands. He’s not just my big brother, he’s pack alpha, meaning his dominance rules here.
“Who is it?” Channing wants to know.
“A friend of Sadie’s,” I admit.
“Which friend?” The ferocity in Rafe’s voice makes me wonder if his interest in Adele, the prickly chocolatier, isn’t also fate-related. But Rafe would never mate.
“Charlie. The blonde. We hooked up; that’s it. She’s not interested in seeing me again.”
Rafe’s gaze narrows. “But you’re interested?”
There’s no point in lying. Rafe would smell it anyway.
“My wolf came out,” I admit. “He wanted to claim her.”
Rafe takes a step back and shakes his head. “Fuck.”
“I’m sorry. I never intended to mate. I definitely wasn’t looking. I mean, she’s a human!”
“Fate kicked you in the nuts.” Channing is so fucking thrilled with himself for figuring it out.
“Shut up, asshole.”
“What are you going to do?” Rafe asks. There’s warning in his tone. A hint of danger.
I shrug. “What can I do? I have to convince her to see me again. Every day that goes on… gets harder.”
“Son of a bitch.” Rafe turns away.
“Tell me about it.”
“The player got played.” Channing’s still way too gleeful about my sitch.
“Played by Charlie?” I snarl.
His perfect toothpaste-commercial smile widens even more. “Played by Fate, sucka.”
“I really don’t know why you find this so amusing.”
“Neither do I.” Rafe backs me up, for once, sending Channing a quelling look. To me, he says, “You’re sure? She’s yours?”
“I’m hers,” I say miserably. I don’t dare tell my alpha that I’ve reduced myself to stalking her in wolf form along her mail route every day just to stay near her. Just because the need to protect her, to keep other males away from her, is so strong, it consumes me.
Rafe’s brows pop. “Well. I guess you’d better figure out how to get that second date.” He says it like it’s a military order.
I rub my hand over my short hair. “Yes, sir.”
I flip the sizzling bacon and tear open a five pound package of ground beef to go with it. I need all the fuel I can get. This need to mate Charlie is running me dry.
After I make a dozen hamburgers piled high with bacon, I take them out to my workstation. I’ve been working on the only angle I could come up with for Charlie: her brother Chad. Charlie’s worried about him because he’s been out of contact. That happens in the military, especially when soldiers are on a tour. It doesn’t mean he’s necessarily in any more danger than usual.