Chapter 9 North
North
It was a beautiful summer day—or at least I assumed it was.
I honestly wasn’t paying much attention to the bright sun or the cloudless blue sky as I walked through the city’s large central park downtown.
I was only vaguely aware of the squealing children playing on the swings and monkey bars, the blooming flowers, butterflies and buzzing bees collecting nectar. I had only one thing on my mind.
Joel.
I brought my arm up to my nose, taking in a long sniff, like a junkie desperate for another hit.
He’d rubbed himself so thoroughly against me that I could still smell him on my skin from last night.
I’d skipped the shower this morning just so his scent would linger, and I vowed never to change my shirt again.
Not so long as it retained even the slightest hint of his mouthwatering aroma. Of dewdrops and mist, orchids and moss.
Pay attention, my jaguar grumbled at me, nudging me to get back to the task at hand.
Namely, trying to compose a text to our mate.
I’d incorrectly assumed that texting him would be easier than trying to talk in person.
I wouldn’t have to worry about blurting out the wrong thing, unable to take it back.
Instead, I could take my time to write out the perfect opening line before I hit send. So far, I’d come up with “Hey.”
Growling in frustration, I deleted it. Hey was way too casual for mates—not that he knew we were mates, or even what mates were, but it also seemed too simple after the way we’d rubbed up against each other on that dancefloor.
I might not have had much experience in the bedroom, but that had felt…
intimate. Certainly more serious than “hey.” I typed, then promptly deleted, Sup?
Uuuugh, that was even worse than “hey.” It was like something a guy named Chet might send to his booty call.
I was embarrassed that I’d even considered it in the first place.
Maybe I should ask Kedi what he thought? He was Joel’s roommate, so obviously he would know him better than anyone. He could give me advice on what kind of text my mate might be most receptive to. I wanted to be fun and flirty but not come on too strong. Maybe I should start with a joke.
My beast liked this idea. What do you call a jaguar that juggles? he asked me.
I knew I would regret asking, but I sighed and said, What?
A purr-former.
I could feel his amused snicker rattle through me, and I shook my head, chuckling.
Good one, I told him. It was not. Before he could start nagging at me to text the joke to Joel, I reminded him that our mate didn’t know we were a shifter yet.
He’ll appreciate the joke more after we tell him. He grudgingly agreed.
But how long would we have to wait? I wondered. Was that a first-date topic of conversation? It didn’t seem right to hide what was a large part of me, essentially half my DNA. I wanted him to know me, every part of me.
When Kedi had pulled me aside at the bar last night, he’d filled me in on the Joel/shifter situation.
The blue-haired omega wolf shifter dragged me away from the bar, and as soon as we were out of Joel’s line of sight, he narrowed his eyes at me in a glare, made darker by the strobe lights striping his skin.
“I don’t care if he is your mate, you have to quit it with the whole stalking thing. You’re freaking him out!”
My jaw dropped, but he wasn’t done. “I’m Kedi, his roommate and very best friend in the whole wide world.
I know him better than anyone, so believe me when I tell you to tread lightly.
” His initial fury cooled slightly, and he sighed, crossing his arms over his narrow chest. “The pact forbids me from telling him about shifters, but I figured if he spent enough time around us, he would figure it out, you know? Start asking the right questions. Like, why are your eyes glowing? Why do you keep sniffing me? Why are you guys always getting naked and running through the woods?” A low growl built in my chest at the thought of other alphas being naked for our mate, but Kedi either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“But he always seems to come up with the dumbest excuses for why we’re being all wolfy.
Joel is honestly just the sweetest, most innocent human I’ve ever known.
There isn’t a single suspicious bone in his body.
” His shoulders sagged as his arms dropped to his sides.
“The pact says I can’t tell him about shifters… but you, as his fated mate, can.”
At this point Kedi narrowed his eyes at me, his wolf’s blue-gray glow shining through. “So quit fucking stalking him and get on with the wooing already. And if you fucking harm a single hair on his head, I will tear out your jugular.”
I believed he could do it, too.
Feeling discouraged, I let my feet take me wherever they wanted, off the park’s path and over the grass.
Joel lived around shifters, worked in a shifter-owned establishment filled with half-feral patrons every weekend, but he had somehow managed to remain entirely ignorant to our existence this whole time.
Was that because he was unwilling to accept that shifters existed?
Or maybe that meant he would be entirely accepting of us, since he was clearly comfortable around predators already.
He said my eyes were pretty, my jaguar said, preening. Technically he’d said my eyes were pretty, but my beast had been looking through my eyes at the time, so I wasn’t about to split hairs.
Distracted as I was, I wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings. My senses were full of all things Joel, and it wasn’t until I was nearing the far side of the park that his fresh scent was not simply lingering on my skin. In fact, it had been getting stronger.
“Now I know you’re stalking me,” a voice said with a note of teasing.
My head jerked up, and I found myself face to face with my gorgeous mate.
His blond curls were a bit wild from the wind, and his full lips were tilted in an amused smirk.
I couldn’t help the blush my embarrassment brought to my cheeks.
This time, I really had been stalking him!
My jaguar’s self-satisfaction simmered inside me.
I’d been so distracted, he’d followed Joel’s trail, guiding me right where we both wanted to be.
“It was an accident,” I blurted, instead of outright denial, because that would’ve been a lie. The Omegas Weekly magazine had said if you wanted a stable relationship, honestly was key.
Joel looked up at me from under his long lashes. “I’m not complaining, although most guys would just text, instead of tracking me down at work.”
“I was actually trying to text you just now,” I said shyly, waving my phone at him.
“And how’s it going?”
“Not as well as I’d hoped.” I slipped my phone into my pocket before he asked to see what I’d come up with. “But I’m sure if I’d had another week to work on it, it would’ve been a masterpiece.”
“I’m sure,” he agreed, laughing.
I finally managed to peel my gaze away from his face to take in the rest of him.
He was dressed in a pair of gray sweats and a green t-shirt that made his eyes more vibrant.
But even more striking was the fact that he wasn’t alone.
Six pairs of eyes stared up at me from various heights, alert and very suspicious.
“Um, you have dogs,” I said, stating the obvious. Animals tended to be wary of shifters, sensing the beast within us, and these ones were no exception. “At… work, you said?”
His smile was instantaneous, and it made my insides melt.
“They’re not mine. I have a side gig walking dogs for people who work long days.
I love animals, but my current landlord doesn’t allow pets.
” I nearly snorted, thinking about Kedi as Joel’s pet wolf.
My jaguar, meanwhile, only heard that he loved animals.
I’m an animal! he said. He loves me!
“How many jobs do you have?” I said, trying to ignore the inner monologue my beast was having. This was not the time or place to have that discussion, but it was coming—soon.
“Just the three, but if I could find a way to cram another one in there, I totally would.” He shrugged. “What else would I be doing with my time? Might as well be making money. And besides, I have some pretty great coworkers,” he said, scratching the head of the German shepherd at his side.
“So…” I meandered a little closer to him, unable to keep myself from prowling.
“If I asked you out on a date, would you be able to squeeze me into your busy schedule?” My confidence grew as I felt his body come alive at my proximity.
He was not immune to the connection between us, and this heady feeling made me bold.
“Hmm, I’m sure I could pencil you in. What did you have in mind?” he asked, but his voice had gone a little breathy.
“I want to eat you,” I purred without thinking, before panic set in as I replayed what I just said. “I mean, feed you! Cook you dinner!” I groaned and slapped a hand over my face, but thankfully, he was laughing. “I’m sorry, I’m so bad at this.” So much for being suave. “I don’t do this.”
“Do what, talk?” he asked, peeling my hand away from my face. His touch on my wrist felt like searing fire and left my whole body tingling.
“Talk to omegas,” I clarified, wincing. “I don’t…
flirt. Or date—ever.” I felt like I was admitting some great fault, though I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with waiting for the right one to come along.
But he should probably know how inexperienced I really was before we took the next step. “But for you, I’d like to try.”
His gaze softened. “You’re doing fine,” he assured me, grinning, before he closed the final distance between us, bringing us closer than was polite for a public park.
If it weren’t for the Pomeranian trying to mount my leg, I might’ve believed we were back on that dance floor, our bodies melding, grinding to music only we could hear.
My hands moved to his waist all on their own, pulling him flush.
He tipped his chin up toward my ear and whispered, “Besides, there was nothing wrong with your first suggestion. I invite you to dine.”
Fuck. I was assaulted by the image of what me eating Joel would look like, how his floral taste would burst on my tongue as he threw his head back and screamed my name.
Shit, and now I had a hard-on, with no choice but to hide it pressed up against Joel, rather than risk scandalizing the elderly couple currently walking hand in hand down the path behind us.
I made a sound, half whimper, half grunt, as I closed my eyes and tried to think unsexy thoughts, but with Joel’s corresponding erection nudging at mine, there was little hope of that.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s not nice to tease?
” I asked, swallowing thickly. When I peeled my eyes open, he was still there, his pink tongue flicking at the corner of his mouth.
“Who says I’m teasing?” He quirked an eyebrow, as if daring me to have a taste.
First date: chaste kiss, I tried to remind myself of the step-by-step rules to dating, but when Joel rose up on his toes and pressed his lips to mine, all plans of taking things slow were tossed out the window.
His lips were so unbelievably soft, and when he opened his mouth in invitation, I was hopeless to do anything but fall.
I let my tongue slip through, his own tongue there to greet me, and his floral flavor was so much better than anything I could’ve imagined.
I wrapped an arm around his waist and dragged him up, his back bowing as I folded myself over him.
He clung to me as best he could with six leashes hooked over his wrists, and he made the most lewd sound.
I tried to restrain himself, tried to break away, but the next thing I knew, my hand was tracing along the path of his ribs, up to his chest, thumbing his peaked nipple through his shirt. He shuddered in my grip, and the scent of his arousal perfumed the air, fraying my control.
After a long, passionate, perfect first kiss, Joel pulled back just enough to gaze up at me with glazed eyes, blond curls tangled, his cheeks flushed with want. “Yep, you’re doing juuuust fine, but we should probably do that again… just to be sure.”
“Practice makes perfect,” I agreed, nodding eagerly.
But just as he leaned in, his eyelids drifting shut, one of the dogs let out a sharp yip.
Three others joined in, high-pitched and excited.
Joel’s eyes flew open. “Oh shi—” He gasped as all six dogs took off after a rabbit, scampering away between the trees.
And since he was attached to the other end of the leashes, his body was jerked after them, torn out of my arms. He just barely managed to keep on his feet.
I just about shifted into my jaguar to rescue him, but his laughter rang out. I caught one last glimpse of his kiss-swollen lips, tipped in a crooked smile. He was in no danger. “Call me this time!” he yelled over his shoulder as he was dragged away.