Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Alfie could have stayed on the comfy couch with Myla for the rest of his life and been the happiest male on the planet.
They’d been talking off and on since they’d made love, and his wolf had been incessantly suggesting another round in the bedroom.
But despite how much he was digging just holding her, he couldn’t stay.
If he didn’t walk out of the apartment soon, the text messages and calls from Nathan and Hyde would start, and if he didn’t answer, they’d knock. The alphas were serious: no overnights, period. Which freaking sucked out loud.
Because Myla seemed perfectly content in his arms.
“Hey,” he said, whispering.
“Why are you whispering?”
“I…don’t know,” he said with a chuckle. “I absolutely hate myself, but I have to get going. I’ve got an early day tomorrow.”
He could feel the subtle tension in her body as she lay against him, and he thought she might ask him to stay.
“Yeah, of course.” She sat up and pulled her dress down, standing and wiggling the material over her hips. Neither of them had gotten fully undressed, a testament to the need that had taken over once he’d stepped inside the apartment.
He stood, his wolf howling indignantly in his head, and righted his clothes.
She walked him the short distance to the door and he stared down at her, memorizing the way she looked deliciously disheveled and utterly beautiful.
He cupped her face and kissed her. “I’ll text in the morning, sweetheart.”
“Okay, drive safe.”
She smiled at him and then stood at the open door for a moment before shutting it as he walked away. He reached the SUV and scanned the parking lot, waved at his friends, and got into the vehicle. He stared at the apartment complex, and regrets hit.
He had no regrets for sleeping with her. It was the singular best experience of his life. But he was suddenly worried about how it looked that he didn’t stick around.
Would she think it was a one-nighter? That he was the sort of male who was just looking for sex?
Shit.
He’d never cared what someone thought about him before, but he sure as hell cared now.
Indecision chewed at him like a dog with a bone.
And he knew what he needed to do.
He practically tore the car door off getting out, then held up his hand to his friends and ran down the sidewalk and through the small courtyard to her door. Knocking before he could consider he might seem like a lunatic, he said loud enough for her to hear, “Myla, it’s me.”
She pulled the door open like she had been waiting for him.
“Hey,” she said.
He braced his hands on the doorjamb and stared at her. So fucking gorgeous. But she wasn’t his yet.
Not entirely.
There was the thing about the giant secret of shifters that was a barbwire-wrapped wall between them.
“Hey, I feel like an asshole, and I wanted to apologize. It’s not that I don’t want to stay with you, if you even wanted me to, because I absolutely do.
But I do have to work in the morning, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to pressure you in any way.
And also, I don’t want you to think that I was only after one thing. I’m not that kind of guy.”
Her brows went high. “You walked back here to tell me that?”
“Ran.”
She smiled. “You’re so sweet.”
“I don’t want you to wonder about what I’m thinking or what my intentions are. I like you and I want to spend time with you. Getting to be with you tonight was…incredible.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” she said. “I didn’t think you were just trying to get in my pants. I didn’t take you leaving as anything other than you needing to go.”
“Good.” He leaned down and kissed her.
He had planned for it to be a quick kiss, but she put her arms around his neck and he drew her close, loving how the soft curves of her fit perfectly against him.
“Goodnight, Myla,” he said, brushing his lips against hers. “Sweet dreams.”
“Night, Alfie.”
This time as he walked back to the SUV, he didn’t have regrets for how he’d left things between them. The only thing he regretted now was the secret he couldn’t share until she loved him and he was certain she could be trusted with the truth.
She didn’t know it, but his wolf was already falling hard for her, and judging by the way she’d melted in his arms, she was falling for him too.
Hopefully fast and hard.
So he could share his wolf with her.
After finishing his morning patrol, Alfie turned in his walkie at the security office and yawned.
“Stay up late?” Justus, one of the bears on the security team, asked from behind the counter.
“Not really, just didn’t sleep well.”
“That happens when we find our soulmates,” he said, with an understanding nod. “Congrats, by the way.”
“Thanks. How long did it take you and Trina to get to the place where she knew the truth?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“What?”
“I shifted for her the same day I met her.”
Alfie stared at the big male. “What? I thought…don’t all shifters wait for their soulmate to be in love with them before they tell them?”
“You have to remember that when I met Trina, her bestie Lexy already knew the truth because she was mated to Win. Who also, I’ll remind you, shifted while he was sleeping with her, like Lucius.
” He chuckled. “But anyway, when I talked to Marcus about it, he said I could either date her and win her heart, or I could shift for her, and she could have Lexy with her for support. I didn’t want to wait. ”
Justus explained how he took a blindfolded Trina down to one of the big meeting rooms, where Lexy and several others waited.
Then he told her it was a secret before he shifted for her, and the others talked to her while he was stuck in his shift.
When he shifted back, she agreed to be his mate, and he marked her. “That’s how our love story went.”
“Damn.”
“Extenuating circumstances aside, like idiots shifting in their sleep,” he said with a laugh, “I don’t think the alphas would agree to it anymore. Because they wouldn’t let her leave if she freaked out, and if she’s close to her family, it could cause a big issue.”
“Yeah.” Alfie rested his hands on the counter and blew out a breath. “So I guess I can’t use you as a guide when it comes to getting your soulmate to fall in love with you before you tell her the truth, huh?”
“Nah, sorry. But it’ll work out in the timing it’s supposed to.
Humans know there’s a connection to their soulmates, even if they don’t know how to put it into words.
Some fight it, worrying over it being too soon, but I’ve always thought that as long as they know the feeling is mutual, then the timing doesn’t matter. We fall how and when we fall, period.”
“Thanks, man.”
“You bet. Good luck.”
Alfie left the security office and headed down to the employee cafeteria. It was after the lunch rush, so there weren’t many people, but he did see Joss sitting at a table with his phone and a half-eaten sandwich.
“Hey, what can I get you?” Jeanie asked. Joss’s soulmate was in charge of the food in the market.
He looked at the day’s specials and said, “Do you still have any of the breakfast casserole left?”
“You bet. I’ll run it over to you.”
“Thanks.”
He grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and stopped next to Joss. “Can I join you?”
“Sure.” Joss swiped up and closed out the page he was reading, then turned his phone over. “How’s it going?”
“I just talked to Justus about having a human soulmate.”
Joss’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and then he shook his head with a chuckle. “Hell no.”
Alfie laughed. “I knew you’d say that. Justus also said you guys wouldn’t go for it anymore.”
“Human soulmates were still pretty new to us when he and Trina found each other. It worked out, but it could have been a disaster. Look how things went with Lucius and Sidney. Keeping the secret is not easy, but it’s the best thing to keep our people safe.”
Jeanie set down the plate with a large piece of breakfast casserole—potatoes, eggs, sausage gravy, and cheese—along with a bowl of biscuits in front of him, then put her hand on her mate’s shoulder. “What’s keeping our people safe? Is this about your soulmate?”
“Yeah,” Alfie said. “I was just pondering how long it will take for me to win her heart, especially when I can’t stay with her overnight at her place, or for her to stay over at the apartment here.”
“It’s easy for us humans to think that others will view how fast the relationship develops as something that’s wrong,” Jeanie said.
“I felt so connected to Joss so fast, but part of me wanted to put the brakes on just because it was quick. What helped me was knowing that he was falling just as fast as I was, so I wasn’t alone in thinking he was the bee’s knees, as my grandma would say. ”
“Buzz buzz,” Joss said, wiggling his brows at her.
Alfie shook his head and chuckled. “So I need to make sure she knows that I’m falling for her.”
“Be all in and be real with her,” Jeanie said.
Alfie nodded. He’d show up for her, however she wanted and needed. He’d be real.
And hopefully before too long, he’d win her heart.