Chapter 5
By Thursday, Dare was falling hard for Audrey. He’d watched on the sidelines while his brothers fell for their mates and hadn’t really believed his eyes with how fast it had happened to them both. Then he experienced it, and for damn sure it was like getting hit in the heart with lightning.
Crazy. Fast. Incredible.
He wanted to be with Audrey all the time, learn all about her, drive her wild in bed, wake up with her in his arms.
He wanted everything.
Up to and including mating her, marking her, and bringing her home for good.
He knew she was falling for him too, but they hadn’t actually said the words to each other yet.
His gaze snagged on movement out on the deck as the bears of Five Pines Construction in King Lake finished the last of the punch list so the deck could be inspected on Tuesday. The month had flown. The deck’s grand opening was next Friday.
And he wanted Audrey by his side, hopefully with his marks on her neck.
Pushing open the door, he greeted the males.
Luke, who’d been at the tavern the most, was there, as well as Riggs, and Colt, the alpha of the bear den.
He shook Colt’s hand. “It looks great. Thank you guys for all your hard work.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Colt said. He put his hands on his hips and looked around. “It’ll be a big draw for customers. We’re looking forward to the summer concerts.”
They talked about the deck, plans for the summer, and the inspection.
“We’ll be back to clean tomorrow,” Riggs said. “That way we’re not in the way of the audition you said you have planned for Saturday.”
“Sounds good.”
“You okay?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You just look different.”
“I’m happy.”
“Oh.” Luke laughed. “Why? What happened?”
“I met my truemate on Monday. She’s human, from Mill Creek.”
“Well, hot damn, that’s great!” Luke said.
“Thanks,” Dare said. He was still shocked at how the whole thing had happened.
Audrey had lived in Mill Creek – just across the bridge – her whole life. He’d been in King Lake for a few years. How had fate kept them so close without bringing them together before now?
He left the bears discussing their hopes to find their own truemates and headed into the main room of the tavern. As he was thinking about his beautiful mate, and whether Sigh’s burgers were actually magic, his phone buzzed.
He lifted it and smiled at the screen.
Still on for dinner? she texted.
Of course. 6 okay?
Yep. What should I wear?
Nothing?
Ha.
He chuckled. I made a reservation at Tony’s. You said you’ve always wanted to try their cookie pizza for dessert sometime. Tonight seems good to me.
How cool! See you at 6!
He smiled at his phone and slipped it into his pocket.
Six couldn’t come fast enough.
Dinner had been spectacular. The Italian place was what he would have called a hole in the wall, tucked in the middle of a busy strip mall and ordinary looking. But the food had been anything but ordinary.
After sharing family-style chicken parm and spaghetti, they split a giant cookie shaped like a pizza with a scoop of hand-cranked vanilla ice cream in the center and lots of toppings.
While they ate, they talked about the little stuff first, how their respective days went, Sigh messing up a food delivery so they got ground chicken instead of ground beef, her telling him about the book she’d fallen asleep reading the night before.
“Would you like to come hang out Saturday at The Howl?” he asked. “We’ve got one more band auditioning before we open. So, it’ll just be you and me, the pack, and the band.”
“I’d love to.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure,” she said, taking a bite of cookie and ice cream. “I want to see more of your life.”
“You’re my life, Audrey.”
Her expression softened, but he caught the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. He covered her free hand with his. “Was that too much?”
“No,” she said. “We’ve only known each other since Monday. It doesn’t feel like that, though.”
“I know it’s fast for you. And I know we haven’t really talked about wolves and mates, but I want to. I’m an open book. Ask me anything.”
She took another bite and put her fork down. Then she covered his hand with hers. “I heard you call me your mate that first night. Then I talked to Juliette on Tuesday at the bookstore and she said if you said it, you meant it. But you didn’t say it again.”
He frowned. “I didn’t mean to stop saying it. I was worried I was putting pressure on you so I eased off.”
She leaned forward a little, her voice low and warm. “Dare, we’ve tumbled into bed every day since we met. I adore you. I do think it’s fast, but I know that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it. We just kind of fit together. How else can that be described except with fate and mates?”
He hummed in agreement. “You’re mine, Audrey. My truemate. I don’t know why it took so long for us to cross paths, but I’m so glad you’re in my life.” He told her about marking with fangs and being mates, about her being part of the pack.
She squeezed his hand. “I’d like you to meet my parents. Before we do anything permanent.”
“When?”
“I’m supposed to have breakfast with them Saturday morning. You could come.”
“Perfect, then you can get to know my pack too.”
After dinner, he drove her home, and they tumbled into bed just like she’d said they’d done since they met. He was nuts about her, and soon he hoped, she’d be his marked mate.
After promising to see her Friday afternoon when she was finished with work, he headed home to help close the tavern.
He hated leaving her. But he couldn’t just keep abandoning his brothers when there were so few workers there.
“How’d dinner go?” Trick asked as he wiped down the bar.
“Great. How was it here?”
“Dinner rush was a little wild, but we got through it.”
“I’ll be behind the bar tomorrow night, don’t worry.”
“You cut me slack when I was getting to know Cassidy, so I’m happy to do the same for you.”
Dare was turning a chair over and setting it on the table when the front door opened.
He turned to say they were closed, when he froze.
He blinked, certain he was seeing things.
But no.
A female strode into the tavern like she had every right to be there despite the fact it was after closing. Tall and slender, with pale blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail, she wore tight pants and a fitted top that looked like a deep inhale would bust the seams.
She was pretty in a cold way, all sharp angles and smirks, just like she’d been years earlier when she’d been standing with his old alpha.
Nadia.
His wolf went from thinking sweet thoughts about cuddling Audrey to positively furious to see the blast from the unhappy past walk through the door.
Her gaze swept the room, then settled on him.
“Darrin.”
“Nadia. Why are you here?”
Trick joined him, a steady presence at his side, always the protector.
She glanced at him then back at Dare. “I heard rumors that you made something of yourselves here, so I wanted to see for myself.”
He crossed his arms. What the hell was she doing there?
“You’ve seen it, so you can leave.”
She moved forward, closing the distance. He caught the scent of heavy perfume and the old pack, and his wolf rioted. He put up his hand to keep her from getting too close and she stopped with a smirk. “So rude. Thomas said that exile would make you arrogant. I see he was right.”
“I don’t live under Thomas’s rules anymore. And I don’t care what he or anyone in the pack has to say about me or my pack.”
“He might have been wrong about some things, but he was right about us.”
“Hell no he wasn’t. And there never was an us. There was an alpha on a power trip and an arranged mating that I never agreed to. I don’t know what you’re doing here, but whatever you’re looking for, you’re not going to find it.”
“You bailed,” she said, lifting her chin. “You embarrassed me.”
“I saved us both from being tied together for life in a mating that wasn’t right.”
Years earlier, Nadia had stood with Thomas while he declared that Dare would take her for a mate or face exile. Dare had been high ranked, and Nadia had wanted the power the mating would bring. He wasn’t sure she even liked him, and he sure as hell had never given her a second look.
He refused and walked away with his brothers.
And now that he’d met Audrey, he knew it was the best thing that he’d ever done.
“No male will take me as a mate because you refused me so publicly. So I’ve come to claim the life you denied me and take my place at your side and in your bed.”
His wolf was two seconds from shifting in pure rage.
“I’m not mating you. I walked away to find my future, and I did. I have my truemate and I’m not going to abandon her because you can’t get laid.”
She inhaled sharply and her nose wrinkled. “You smell like a human. Don’t tell me you’re screwing a human? That will never work.”
“Be very careful with your next words,” he said, his voice low.
“Fate wouldn’t hand a human mate to an alpha wolf. You’re pretending.”
“She’s my truemate.”
“Wolves belong with wolves.”
“You don’t get to come into my place and tell me who I belong to.”
“You sound just like Thomas.”
He smiled coldly. “I’m nothing like him. Now if you want to test me, keep pushing. You are not welcome in my pack’s territory. You need to leave.”
Next to him, Trick cracked his knuckles with a subtle growl.
“You’re making a mistake,” Nadia said.
“Leave or I’ll make you leave.”
“Enjoy your human,” she said, spinning on her heels and stalking out of the tavern.
He stared at the door as it swung shut, his wolf pacing beneath his skin.
“Well, she’s just as sweet as I remember her being,” Trick said.
Dare sighed. He opened the door and saw a dark vehicle drive away. He shut the door and locked it.
“Something happened to make her come here,” Trick said. “Maybe you rejecting her really did put some kind of scarlet letter on her so no one will mate her.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“I know. But maybe Thomas pushed her to try to bring you back. He never had kids. You know he thought you’d take over for him when he stepped down.”
“Yeah, but that was not the pack I was born to lead.”
Trick grinned. “Hell no it wasn’t.”
He didn’t know why Nadia had shown up now, except that fate must have wanted to kick him while he was happy. It was clear that Nadia had come to insert herself into his life, to take what he and his brothers had built.
But he wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
Nadia could dredge up the past all she wanted, but it didn’t have a hold over him any longer. He was the King Lake Pack’s alpha, and that meant he decided who he wanted in his life and in his bed, and that was Audrey.
But he wasn’t sure he’d seen the last of Nadia.