Chapter 3
GABE
Mika had asked me a question, but his loose grip on my hand was still sending tingling shock waves up my arm. That was weird, right?
He'd asked how I knew Bruce, and he was still waiting for an answer. "He's marrying my best friend, Becca," I said. "You?"
"Bruce's pac—" He cleared his throat. "We're neighbors and went to the same school. We grew apart while he was away, but I still consider him one of my best friends."
Thanks to the times Becca had forced me and Bruce to "socialize" (her word), I recognized the faux pas. Shifters weren't supposed to say words like "shifter" or "pack" to humans. I leaned toward him and lowered my voice to a whisper. "You're a shifter?"
Neither of us was winning any awards for our conversation techniques. My face felt as if it were on fire.
"Yeah." He dropped my hand, and I missed his warmth. "About that drink … I think I'm going to need a few before I can think around you."
I laughed. Mika appeared to be struggling as much as I was, but he had some decent flirting skills beneath all the direct eye contact I kept avoiding. He was as handsome as I remembered, too.
I followed when he led the way out of the courtroom, down the open marble staircase, and outside. He knew his way to the bar we frequented on Fridays after work. I felt strange going inside on a Monday, but the same regulars sat at the bar. I waved to a couple of coworkers playing pool.
Mika hesitated inside the door, but I led him to a small booth along the wall with a great view of the pool table. I was not gifted with the flirting gene, so I welcomed any distraction that might take the pressure off me.
It worked. For a few minutes, Mika and I watched the cutthroat game of Eight Ball until the court reporter won, and the bailiff handed him the wad of cash they'd placed on the edge of the table.
"Who carries cash anymore?" I asked.
Mika laughed. "Shifters are leery of banks, so most still use cash."
They were shifters. That explained why they avoided me, since shifters knew humans by scent. I was intrigued by Mika's statement regarding the banks. Because they avoided me, I knew so little about shifter culture. "Why?"
Our server came to take our drink order, saving me from making another awkward remark. I ordered the chili cheese fries, and Mika made it a double. I'd skipped lunch, too nervous to eat when I recognized him from Bruce and Becca's party.
After the server left, Mika studied me so long that I almost forgot my question. "We couldn't have bank accounts or credit cards until 1974, when we founded Leon, Wolfe, and Deere."
His tone was informative, and not in that snide, "I thought everyone knew that" way. He wanted to educate me. If my tattoo experience had taught me anything, it was that I still had a lot to learn.
Mika rolled his eyes, and his cheeks darkened again. "I'm so sorry. No one wants to talk about shifters hiding in plain sight or the history of banking on their first date."
"Is that what this is?" I asked. I wasn't a flirt, but I could bat my eyelashes mercilessly.
Once again, our server saved the day, swooping in to deliver our beers and the overstuffed platter of fries covered with three kinds of cheese and topped with chili and jalapenos.
"Try some," I said, nudging the plate toward Mika.
"If an omega is offering me food, this is the best date I've ever been on." He pulled a fry from the edge of the plate and dipped it in the fixings on top. He took a bite and made the sexiest noise I'd ever heard.
"Mm, gods, why is this so good?"
"Because it's terrible for you."
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." He took another fry and made more erotic noises. "My mom already thinks I don't eat healthily enough."
"Shifters have moms?" I asked. "I mean … I have two dads."
I knew so little about the shifter community. Becca had told me about Bruce when we were in undergrad, but beyond their keen sense of smell, I knew so little.
"Some meerkat shifters have moms," he said. "We're a matriarchal society, like real meerkats. Didn't you watch—"
I held my hand up to stop him from asking the same question that everyone who'd seen my tattoo had asked me in the last twenty-four hours. "We only had the free television channels you can watch with an antenna."
Mika grinned. "Same. Mom said television would rot our brains."
"Your mom and my omega dad would get along."
Mika pointed to my arm. "So why the meerkat tattoo?"
Heat flared in my face, and my eyes watered. "It's a funny story," I began.
The longer I talked, the more confused Mika looked. "You got a random tattoo?" He said when I finished. "That's brave." Once again, his tone was neutral instead of condescending, which amazed me.
"You and Becca are close," he said. "That's cool that you both got tattoos at the same time."
Grateful for the subject change, I kept it short. "She's been my best friend since forever." Then my tongue decided I needed to overshare. "I'm a little worried she's going to marry Bruce, move to the suburbs, and forget all about me in a matter of months."
Instead of losing interest, Mika frowned and shook his head. "She doesn't strike me as the type, and Bruce wouldn't let her. He's a big believer in family of all types, especially found family."
"Tell me more." Everything I knew about Bruce was what Becca had told me.
When he showed up for date nights, that was my signal to leave.
And, of course, Becca gushed afterward and said he was the best guy in the world.
Hearing a similar story from Mika would ease my anxiety about my bestie's future, or so I thought.
I also might have wanted him to keep talking. His voice was low and melodious. Even when he talked about banking, he lured me in.
"Bruce's family isn't quite as large as mine, but it's big for a wolf pack.
He got lost after his first shift, and he ended up in meerkat territory.
We coexist with the wolves, but he was the first one I'd met.
He wandered into our garden and started chasing my cousins.
This was before I could shift, so I was keeping watch. "
Mika chuckled at the memory. "I yelled at him until he shifted back, and he was apologetic. He said he only wanted to play, and I believed him because he was so young. It had been his first shift."
From Becca's story of how she'd discovered he was a shifter, Bruce had a hard time controlling the change when he was young.
"My cousins and I walked him back to his territory," Mika continued, "but then he wanted us to meet his dad, their pack alpha. My cousins shifted back to their meerkat forms and ran away, but I stayed. I didn't have much of a choice, not being able to shift, and I didn't want to be rude."
Mika grabbed another fry from the plate and washed it down with a swig of beer before continuing.
"I really didn't know what to expect, meeting a pack alpha.
Our clan dynamic is different from most shifters.
Mom's a beta, but she's our leader. She treats the rest of us like betas.
Until I scented Bruce's dad, and he scented me, I didn't even know I was an alpha.
He greeted me like an equal, and I nearly passed out on their kitchen floor. "
"It must be cool to be an alpha." I couldn't keep the wistfulness from my tone. I'd always been a little jealous of my big, strong alpha schoolmates. When I felt sorry for myself, I wondered if my omega dad would respect me more if I was an alpha instead.
Mika laughed. "I thought it would be cool, too, but my mom put the kibosh on posturing the moment I got home. She smelled the alpha wolf on me and sat me down for a long talk about how outdated customs based on gender roles were unwelcome in her household."
"Did she threaten to kick you out?"
His eyes widened in horror. "Worse! She offered me her leadership position!
She said I could see how I liked leading our family for a day.
I knew better than to take her up on it.
My mom's … not to sound speciesist, but she's superhuman.
I was only thirteen. Even now, I wouldn't last a day in her shoes. "
I glanced down at the plate of fries to find it empty. I'd been so engrossed in his story, I'd eaten the rest. "Want seconds?" I asked.
"I should probably head back to my apartment for some real food." He offered his hand again. "It was great getting to know you better, Gabe."
I didn't want the night to end, but I didn't know how to continue. My apartment was a one-bedroom efficiency two blocks from the courthouse. Perfect commute, but lax on "bring a date home" luxuries, like walls between the bedroom and living room, and enough space to put all my stuff.
Mika studied me for another moment. "I bet we could find the meerkat show on one of my streaming services while we eat dinner, if you want to join me."
"Alone? At your apartment?" I might have squeaked.
He frowned. "Wait. How old are you? I assumed you were Becca's age—"
"Twenty-eight." I assumed Mika was close to my age, since Bruce was only a year older.
"So … your dads won't let you date until you're thirty?"
I fanned my face and laughed. "Nothing like that. I'm not a 'take me back to your place' kind of guy, I guess?" I tried to laugh it off, but Mika stared at me until I sobered and offered the truth. "I don't like being alone with alphas."
Mika nodded. "That's fair. Would it help if I told you I'm not allowed to mate without my mom's permission?"
He waited for me to swig the last of my beer before dropping that question on me. I snorted beer through my nose by accident. I grabbed the pile of napkins in the center of our table and clutched it to my face while I continued to laugh-choke.
Finally, I managed to sputter, "Dude, you've gotta wait for a guy to swallow before you say things like that!"
He grinned. "I can think of three lewd responses to that, but I won't say them out loud because I'm a gentleman."
Despite my earlier misgivings about being alone with an alpha, I wished I was alone with him right now. I would drop to my knees and pry those responses from him. I wanted to hear those same sexy noises he made over his food in a more appropriate setting.
My tattoo itched, and I glanced down at it. For a moment, it looked like the meerkat winked at me.
What the hell. Yes, I was taking a risk, but Mika was different from the other alphas I'd met. "I'd love to learn more about meerkats tonight, over dinner." Maybe his matriarchal society made him less of a threat to me, an unmated omega.
My omega dad would say I was ridiculous for even thinking an alpha was a threat, but those high school sex ed horror stories stuck with me.
I refused to be mated and marked against my will.
Some said it was impossible to mark someone who didn't want it, but I didn't take any chances.
It would go against my "bachelor for life" credo.
Instead of treating me like I was a fool, Mika had reassured me he wasn't like that. Maybe I was na?ve to trust him, but my gut wasn't cramping with anxiety. Even my meerkat tattoo looked more playful in his presence.
I followed him to the third floor of the parking garage in a daze. It was only when we reached his black SUV that I noticed he'd been holding my hand since we left the bar. Letting him go felt like a loss I couldn't explain.
He opened the passenger door for me, and my heart melted a little.
I'd been on dates with alphas who opened doors for me, but they always ended with the same alpha proving he was a complete asshole, saying I owed him sex because he took me out and bought me dinner, and threatening to mark me if I didn't put out.
Somehow, I could tell Mika wasn't like that.
Inside, the vehicle smelled like new leather and alpha. My human senses weren't as strong as a shifter's, but I already knew his alpha smell. Here in his vehicle, it was overwhelming and fucking devastating to my confirmed bachelor status.
Mine. Mika smelled like mine.