Chapter Seven
Rafe
“I really messed up, but I never dreamed that I could have another mate.” It was incredible to meet Quill and learn that I was wrong, but Pierce was also ours. When I made the arrangements to meet, I didn’t know that. In fact, until he stood up to walk away, I didn’t know he was someone special to me. “And now he’ll never come back.”
I was in the process of telling Quill about my encounter with Pierce and how badly I’d screwed up. “I shouldn’t have done it at all. A contract marriage could never satisfy either of us. You should have seen his face. He thought I had been scamming him. And maybe I almost was, but I was afraid if I told him ahead of time, he’d never have shown up.”
Quill had come right up to me in the club, where I sat mulling over the fact that Pierce had left so suddenly. He had introduced himself and told me that I was his mate. Along with someone who smelled like peach cobbler. My head spun. That was exactly the scent that had been in the air when I was talking to the human. I’d thought it was a dessert being served at a table nearby.
“You weren’t scamming him. You printed out what you needed and he had the chance to say yes or no.”
“But he said no…and I was offering our mate a sexless relationship.”
We had a drink and talked about everything except for my foolishness in letting our mate get away. Not that I could have held him hostage, but I should have done a better job showing him who I was, who we were together. I’d only wanted a contract mate, but it didn’t take long before I knew he was more.
“And then he was gone. And it was all my fault.”
As I shared about my circumstances with Quill, I was feeling the shift inside me. I’d been completely shut down since the tragedy of my mate’s loss. Never in a million years intended to get serious with anyone again. Once I’d been in my mate’s presence, even for such a short time, I’d known what it felt like, and on top of the heartache of loss lay the despair of being confident I’d never experience that again.
“And he’s a human,” I finished with. “But he’s our mate.” Our mate. Something else I’d never seen coming. “Did you ever expect to have two fated mates?”
“No, but it makes perfect sense now that it’s happening.” He picked up his drink and took a sip. “I guess there’s no second-guessing Fate.”
“It’s just still really odd feeling. And I don’t know what I can do to make it up to him or if he’d even want any part of me.” I swallowed hard against the sense of loss.
“Do you have his contact information?” Quill asked.
“I do, but not sure he’d welcome me trying right now.” My wolf was bouncing inside me, demanding to meet our mate. “It’s so hard to think when my animal is wound up.”
“Me too. I wish there was somewhere we could go and shift. I don’t want to go far, but my porcupine wants out, wants to meet your wolf.”
“And same from my wolf. I understand there is an area out back where we can do just that.” Standing, I held out my hand. “Want to see if someone will show us where to go?”
He accepted my grip and assistance to stand. “There are quite a few shifted in here, but my animal has never been much of a crowd shifter.”
“Your porcupine would be a big hit on the dance floor,” I said, giving his fingers a squeeze. “You sure you don’t want to give it a try?”
“You’re a troublemaker.” He laughed. “And no because I am going to be working here, and I have a strong feeling that the powers that be would prefer I don’t poke holes in all the customers.”
Still chuckling, we found our way through the crowd to a side door where another bear bouncer held court. “Hi,” he said. “Can I help you?”
“We want to shift, and I hear there’s an outdoor area for that?”
“I’m a porcupine,” put in Quill. “So indoors isn’t the best idea.”
“Aren’t you the new bartender?”
“I am.” Quill glanced at me, wide-eyed. “Word sure travels fast here.
“Welcome aboard.” He was glad to explain to us how to get to the open space, and promised it was unlikely to be mobbed. Apparently, the fact it even existed was kind of an open secret, and they didn’t make a real point of letting folks know about it. And staff got priority.
It made me feel pretty special to be allowed to even go there. We needed to shift in the worst way, my alpha mate’s animal clearly needed open space to do it, and we didn’t want to leave and drive elsewhere when our omega might come back.
Outside, in the back, there was a slope with light tree cover. The cool night air and moonlight made for a perfect night to run. But speaking of running, no sooner were we outside than Quills steps lagged. “I have one concern,” he said. “Before we go…I’m not very speedy.”
“It’s okay. We’re not racing or anything. I think our animals mostly just want to get acquainted. So, ready?”
He flashed a quick grin. “I knew I liked you.”
Although it wasn’t great manners to ogle while undressing to shift, I couldn’t help myself. Quill was close to my height, but his musculature was more developed than I’d have expected from a porcupine. Not that I’d ever met one before, that I knew of. He was hot, and funny, and Fate was rapidly moving back onto my good list.
“Gonna leer at me all night?” he asked, but his smile and twinkling eyes told me he didn’t really mind.
“I wouldn’t mind.” But I did take off my clothes and shift, allowing my wolf the pleasure of watching his porcupine take form. It was only fair.
We would have made an odd pair to someone who didn’t understand what we were about, two alphas walking around the darkened countryside and just allowing our animals to be together. It was a level of bliss I’d never experienced before, and when we went back in, somehow our table was still available. But there was no sign of our human.