13. Banks
13
BANKS
I have to meet the pack. And not any pack, but Reg’s.
Tossing and turning in my bed during the nights when Reg wasn’t with me, nightmares haunted my sleep. Wolves drooling, saliva coating their sharp fangs, a low threatening growl that came from deep in their belly had me sitting up in bed, lathered in sweat, a scream echoing around the room.
I changed the bedding more than once until I curled up on the sofa with the lamps shining and the TV on, the low hum of voices reassuring me I was at home and not in the deep dark woods with wolves wanting to tear me to shreds.
In the morning light, with the dreams banished, I yawned and trudged over the kitchen floor to make cup after cup of strong coffee. I made light of the images that had filled my head since I climbed into bed.
Reg’s wolf was nothing like the ones in my head. Sure, he came from a pack, but that was what wolves did, they belonged to a group. Reg happened to choose a life outside the pack boundaries, but he was still one of them.
And he wanted me to meet them. I winced as my tummy reacted to me standing at attention before a bunch of wolf shifters inspecting me, maybe disapproving of a human mating with one of their kind.
I sank onto the couch and curled up under a blanket.
Reg insisted it wasn’t against pack law that he mate a human. They lived amongst humans, so it happened, and fated mates would never be shunned. Chosen mates wouldn’t either, but they tended to be shifter to shifter. Fate took precedence above all else apart from respecting the Alpha’s wishes. At least that was the theory. We were the first fated pair he knew in real life.
I gulped my coffee and welcomed the burn as it slid down my throat. Mates. Packs. Alphas with an uppercase A. The doors had been opened to a world I didn’t know existed, but I didn’t know the rules other than what Reg had told me.
Marriage wasn’t a thing. Instead, mates marked one another. And while that was a little scary—I got lightheaded at the sight of blood—I wanted to do it to prove to Reg that he was my one and only. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t felt the pull already. It was only when I thought too hard on it that I got squeamish.
Reg was busy at the restaurant and sometimes fell asleep on that couch in the back room I’d fantasised about. I could have met him there after the place closed, but he needed his rest, and I would have disturbed his sleep with my rolling around and screaming about being eaten by wolves. Besides, I didn’t want him worrying about my reaction.
Our relationship at the moment consisted of texts and snatched moments where we called one another if he was on a break. The problem with being the owner slash manager was he rarely got time to sit and have a meal or chat with me.
And I had been given my promotion which included a larger office, an assistant, and a heap more work. I preferred staying late at the office rather than going to bed early—alone—and with wild wolves filling my head.
“Hey.” Reg appeared on the screen, shoving the heel of one hand into his eye.
Gods, my mate was so tired. He was considering appointing one of the staff who’d been with him since the restaurant opened as an assistant manager but was still going over the budget, making sure he could afford it. The guy’s first big test would be when we visited the pack and he managed the Sizzle and Chill for a few days.
“I’m sorry to leave you alone every night, especially when you must have so many questions about our kind, the pack, and what to expect when we visit.”
I was overwhelmed with guilt at him worrying about me along with all his responsibilities.
“Of course I have questions.” True. “But a door has been opened, and I’ve been given a peek into a different universe. With you at my side, love, I’ll navigate it with only a few bumps.” I wasn’t fibbing, though I’d left out that some of the questions produced nightmares.
“Hmmm.” He peered at the screen. “And yet the dark circles under your eyes tell a story. One that worries me.”
I could pretend I was tired from work, but our relationship would last the rest of our lives, and I didn’t want to start by lying.
“Some scary wolves have been in my dreams, but that’s because meeting a bunch of wolf shifters is an unknown.” The closest experience that was similar was presenting my thesis at college when my knees almost gave way and I desperately needed to pee. But there was really nothing to compare it to.
“I would never put you in danger.”
Him saying that was similar to holding my hand, a hug, or a warm blanket being wrapped around my shoulders.
“I know.”
We ended the call by blowing kisses. Home didn’t seem so scary after that conversation, so I grabbed my laptop and left the office.
There were still wolves on the periphery of my dreams, but they were more watchful than warlike. And I woke up in bed, with the bedding on the mattress and not wrapped around me or thrown on the floor in a heap.
It was a one-coffee morning, and I looked forward to this evening when Reg promised he’d be here.
A knock at the door almost sent me skittering back to that dark place where wolves hid in the shadows ready to pounce, but four-legged creatures didn’t knock on apartment doors.
“Reg!” I fell into his arms which he raised because he had coffee in one hand and a bakery packet in the other.
“Thought you might enjoy something sweet for breakfast.”
I slapped his adorable butt. “Are you talking about what’s in your hand or your pants?” I was frisky after not seeing my mate for a few days.
“Both.” He winked and leaped out of my way. “Which do you want first?”
“Can I have both at the same time?”
He gave me a peck on the lips. “That can be arranged.”