Chapter 11
Zane
I stare at the closed door Evie just disappeared behind, a smile still on my face.
Orange chicken. I commit it to memory and make a plan to buy her orange chicken every chance I get, not that I have a clue what orange chicken is.
Hopefully Reid does, or I’ll ask my mom or sister.
I squeeze my fists tight; I hate that she’s hungry.
I heard her stomach growling, even as far away as I was.
Of course, my wolf hearing helped. In fact, I heard every single thing that went down this morning, including the manager or whoever she is that’s always harping on my girl for some reason.
And I heard and saw every single thing that happened with the guy who dared to put his lips on my mate.
Anger burns through me again, and I want to give into it and find this guy and end his very existence.
I can’t believe he dared to touch her and ask her on a date.
I squeeze my eyes shut. It’s going to kill me that she’s out with him during my game on Saturday.
My wolf pushes against his barriers, and I tighten my control.
I need to go back inside, but first I need to cool down.
Knowing that Reid is in there keeping an eye on her helps.
I push all thoughts of this guy from my mind, or my wolf will follow the scent we memorized and find him and kill him.
I search for my mate’s scent instead and let it calm me.
An urge to get inside and lay eyes on her pushes me towards the front of the building.
“Zane.” I lift my head to see Quint about to walk into the coffee shop.
“Hey.”
He pauses at the door and takes me in. “You good, Man?”
His question is casual, but I can sense the concern underneath it. “Yeah.”
He switches to our pack link. I can feel your rage from over here; it’s pretty powerful. You’d better not go in there until you cool down. What’s wrong?
I found her.
He’s quick to respond. That’s awesome!
She’s human and has no idea what I am. She’s also dating another guy.
Quint looks about how I feel right now—gut punched. I nod towards the door because the longer we stand out here staring at each other without talking, the more attention we’re going to draw. He takes a step towards the door. “Let me know what I can do to help.”
“Thanks.”
I follow him inside the shop and instantly look for Evie. When I don’t see her, I figure she’s in the back. Quint gets in line to get a drink, and I walk over to the table where I left Reid. He looks up at me, probably trying to gauge my mood. “Is she in the back?” I ask.
“She left.”
I scowl at him. “You should have told me.”
I reach for my bag, but he stops me. “Let her go for now. She went with her friend, the one that was nice. You already followed her when she went out for her break; you don’t want to come on too hard too fast.”
I pull my chair out and drop into it. “I hate it when you’re right.”
He smirks at me. “You figure out anything more outside?” he asks quietly.
I blow out a breath of frustration. “She likes orange chicken. What even is orange chicken?”
“It’s from Panda Express,” Quint says, pulling over a chair to sit with us. “Seriously, you’ve never eaten at Panda Express?”
“You know Zane,” Reid interjects. “He’s a stickler for eating healthy.”
“It’s Chinese fast food,” I tell them, looking at my phone.
“Yeah, we know. Everybody knows, except you apparently,” Quint says.
“That chicken does look good.” I’m not a big Chinese food fan, mostly because it’s unhealthy, but that chicken does look like it might be good.
“If you try it, make sure you try some Beijing Beef too,” Quint says
“And the Honey Sesame Chicken,” Reid adds.
“Oh, and the Honey Walnut Shrimp,” Quint says, and Reid nods in agreement.
I grin at the two of them. “Are you two hungry?”
“Starving,” Quint says.
“Come on.” I grab my bag and stand up. “Let's grab lunch.” On my way out the door, I happen to look over towards the serving counter and lock eyes with the girl with the dark cropped hair, who makes life hard on my mate. I make a mental note to keep tabs on her. I’m not sure why she’s got it out for my mate, but I’m going to make it my business to find out.
I take a step away from the door, and the scent of that Jace guy hits me.
I snap my gaze up and lock eyes on the male who kissed my mate not too long ago.
Anger floods me instantly, and I work to keep my wolf under control.
“Easy,” Reid says quietly from next to me. It doesn’t escape my notice that Quint and Reid have each taken a position on either side of me. The three of us would scare off any normal person, but apparently Jace isn’t normal. He walks towards us without an ounce of fear on his face.
“Hey,” he says in an angry tone. His attitude is so different than it was a little bit ago with Evie. “I hear you’re trying to make a move on my girl.”
Anger burns through me at his choice of words, but I keep my emotions on lockdown. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He gives me a cold smile. “Sure, you don’t, Blackwood.
” He steps closer, but I don’t move a muscle.
“Listen to me very carefully. Evie is mine.” My wolf threatens to leap from my chest and take a piece out of this guy, but years of working on my iron control keep him from being able to do just that.
“I wasn’t aware she was a possession,” I tell him, keeping my voice even and steady.
“She’s mine, and I will be her first everything.
That one hasn’t had a lot of experience around men; I can tell.
” A smug smile fills his face. “I’ll teach her everything she needs to know.
” I stare him down, willing myself not to move, not to kill him.
“Know this, Blackwood. Evie is mine, and if you mess around with her, I’ll know. And she’ll pay the consequences.”
I will rip this guy’s hands from his body. “Are you seriously telling me that you’re going to hurt the girl you’re supposedly dating?”
“We’re dating, and I’m telling you that you’d better stay far, far away from her.”
I take a step towards him. “You afraid of a little competition?”
He smirks. “From a brute like you? Not at all. You’re not Evie’s type.”
His words reverberate through me, but I refuse to let them land.
I don’t know what’s all at play here, so I choose my words very carefully.
I don’t know if he knows I’m a wolf, or if he knows Evie is my mate.
I’m not going to give him either of those pieces of information, but I’m also not going to stand back while he threatens my mate.
“You’d better watch yourself, Witman,” I say in a low controlled voice.
I did my research to figure out who he was while I was sitting inside the shop, after he kissed my girl.
I didn’t get much, but I did get his full name.
I give him a hard glare, so he knows I’m serious.
“I don’t stand by and watch innocent girls get hurt, no matter who they are. ”
He scoffs. “Are you threatening me?”
“No. A threat is an empty warning. Nothing about what I just said is a threat.” I let my words sink in.
Suddenly, his lips turn up into a grin. “Can’t say it hasn’t been fun, Blackwood.” He turns and walks away, whistling as he goes.
I stare after him, keeping a tight hold on my wolf. He's not sure why we can’t go chase him down and kill him. At the moment, I’m having a hard time understanding why not as well. Reid turns to me. “You did good. I wanted to kill him, and Evie’s not even my mate.”
“Is there something off about that guy, or is it just me?” Quint asks, still staring in the direction Jace went.
I face Quint. “How so?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know; there’s just something that’s...off. Does he smell weird to you?” he asks suddenly. I take a whiff of his lingering scent again but don’t catch anything. “I think you should have your dad or Coach catch his scent and see if it triggers anything to them.”
It’s a good suggestion. “I’ll talk to my dad about it.”
“When do I get to meet this girl?” Quint asks as we walk.
“Sometime soon, when I’m sure we won’t scare her away.”
Quint grins at me. “If you haven’t scared her away yet, I’ll be fine.” He sobers. “Will you keep your distance from her now, so that you don’t make things difficult for her?”
“I don’t want to make things difficult for her, but I’m not going to stay away from her either. I don’t trust Jace, and I want to get her away from him. The sooner the better.”
“Then I guess we’d better come up with a plan.” Quint says.
Reid and I both give him a look. “We?” I ask.
“Yeah, we need to come up with ideas for ways for you to spend time with her without letting Jace know,” Quint adds.
“I think I’ve got it on my own,” I tell him.
He gives me a wry look. “Yeah, how’s that going for you?” I don’t bother answering his question. “Seriously, if we work together, one of us can keep Jace occupied so you can spend time with her. He doesn’t have to know.”
I give the idea some thought. “Maybe.”
Quint slaps a hand down on my shoulder. “There is no maybe; you have a mate to win over. We’ll help you do it. We just have to get Slate on board.”
“No,” I interject quickly. “Slate’s the last one we need to help; he’ll scare her away.”
“She’s not Slate’s mate; she’s yours. He won’t scare her away. If anything, maybe he’ll scare Jace away. That would be a great solution to our problem,” Quint says with grin.
“Okay, but just the four of us. No more,” I concede.
“Perfect. I’ll start making a plan, and I want to meet her soon.”
“We’ll find a way; give her time,” I tell him.
“How about now?” Reid asks quietly at the same time her scent hits me.
I turn to see Evie and her friend, Tessa, walking towards us.
I can tell she hasn’t seen us yet. Tessa’s talking a mile a minute, and Evie is listening and nodding.
They get almost all the way to us before Tessa’s voice cuts off unexpectedly, and Evie looks straight ahead to see us standing in their path.
She smiles, and I suck in a breath. “Hi, again.”
“Hey, Evie. Are you back for work?”
She waves off my question. “No, we’re just walking this way.” She turns to her friend, who keeps elbowing her side. “This is my suitemate, Tessa. Tessa, this is—”
“Zane Blackwood,” Tessa supplies in a voice filled with awe. “Can I shake your hand?”
I’m not particularly keen on the idea of another woman touching me besides my mate, but I force myself to put my hand out. I don’t want to do anything to alienate my mate, and being rude to her friend would probably fall into that category.