Chapter Eight
The next day, Tavish approached the coffee shop a few minutes before they opened. An older lady tapped her foot, clearly impatient. When she became aware of his presence, she paused and squinted up at him.
“I remember you,” she said.
Her antsy energy amused him. “I remember you, as well. Hard to forget such a beautiful lass.”
She preened, like a peahen spreading her feathers to show just how pretty she was. “Are you new to the pack?”
“Visiting. I’m here for my mate.”
“Who’s your mate?”
Tavish pointed to the coffee shop. “Mairi Monroy.”
“At least it’s not Keegan.”
“What’s wrong with Keegan?”
“Nothing,” she sniffed. “I just don’t want you to take my barista. She’s the only one who knows how to make my butterscotch coffee exactly how I like it.”
“Ah,” he said. “I completely understand. You had me at butterscotch.”
The door unlocked and Keegan smiled at them as she flipped the CLOSED sign to OPEN.
“Good morning,” she greeted.
“About time you opened,” Mrs. Smyth said with a jut of her chin.
Keegan winked at him and stepped back to allow the older woman inside. He followed, waiting patiently until she got her butterscotch latte and marched out the door.
“Well, she’s a character,” he mused.
“I think you mispronounced menace,” Mairi said dryly.
“She’s not so bad,” Keegan murmured as she looked back and forth between them. “I sense a lot of repressed sexual tension.”
Mairi’s eyes went comedically wide and her mouth gaped like a fish.
“I can’t speak for Mairi, obviously,” he stated, unable to help tease his mate. “But let me reassure you, I desire her very much. She’s beautiful. Tenacious. She obviously loves her family. I’m starting to see all the characteristics that make her special.”
Keegan beamed. “She’s one of the best people I know.”
“Okay!” Mairi clapped her hands. “I think that’s enough about me.”
“Go ahead and take a break, Mairi.”
“What?” she asked, startled. “We just opened.”
Keegan waved her hand. “Yeah, but the rush will be in about half an hour. Plenty of time for talking or ... other stuff.”
“There will not be other stuff going on,” Mairi grumbled, giving her cousin the stink eye. Despite that, a blush warmed her cheeks.
“Thank you, Keegan,” he said. “We can talk in the back again, Mairi, if you’d like.”
Slowly, she marched in front of him, as if she was walking toward the gallows.
The glances she took over her shoulder were filled with equal parts shyness and desire.
Her words were one thing, her body language something else entirely.
Once they got to the break room, he reached for her hand and turned her around to face him.
Holding tight even as she tied to yank it back. After a moment, she gave up.
“You don’t need to hold my hand,” she muttered.
“How else am I to win you over and get you to fall in love with me?”
She blinked up at him, jaw dropping slightly. “That’s not funny.”
“Who’s laughing?”
She sighed. “I’m not sure if you’re just cruel or oblivious.”
“We’ll get back to that in a moment, but first there are a few things I’d like to clarify,” he said. “Not to justify my actions, but to explain about my wolf. You see, he laid dormant all my life, and the moment I caught your scent, he woke up.”
Mairi looked at him, brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Let me ask you a question. Who helped you during your first transition?”
“My parents and Gran.”
“I had no one,” he murmured.
She frowned in confusion. “What about your da?”
“Nae. He was an asshole, if you remember. Only told me I would shift, but not how. Or what to do. What to think. Not even to warn me there would be pain and terror. That first time, all I remember is the tremendous agony as my bones broke and my skin split. I had no idea what it meant to be a wolf.”
Her brow furrowed as she listened.
“I hated who I was,” he continued. “I hated this thing I became once a month. A slave to a beast I didn’t know or even care to understand.
My gran tried many times to get my da to turn over my raising to her, but he refused.
Eventually, I just didn’t care anymore, and I buried all of it in the deepest, darkest region of my mind and soul. ”
“Is that why you didn’t know who I was?”
“That you were my mate?”
She nodded.
“My wolf surged to life,” he said. “For the first time, I heard him. Felt him. We ran that night, and I remember all of it. How amazing it felt.” He moved a piece of her hair behind her ear.
“I thought it was all bullshit, you know? I had this friend in university who kept telling me how great it was to shift, and I couldn’t figure out why he’d lie.
But the moment that mate bond snapped into place, my world opened up.
My thoughts. My emotions. Everything I thought was a lie turned into truth. Because of you.”
Her mouth opened in silent surprise. “I-I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“I’m going to learn how to be a wolf,” he said softly. “Alpha Jericho has agreed to teach me, and I would love to prove myself to you. To prove this between us is more than wolf hormones.”
Indecision darkened her gaze.
“I don’t know,” she hedged. “There’s still the fact you think I married you for your money and your title.”
Shock poured through him. “How did you... Never mind. I was obviously a damn bloody fool talking out of my arse, and I am sorry my own inadequacies hurt you.” He had no idea how she knew he once thought that was the truth.
It certainly wasn’t the case, since she moved an entire continent away from him.
Seems he had a lot more to make up for than he first thought.
“I was bitter and resentful, and I thoughtlessly lashed out. That is my shortsightedness, and I’m sorry I painted you in such an ugly light.
I only ask that you give me a chance to make it up to you. ”
“I’m not sure...”
“Please, Mairi,” he urged. “Let us start over. I’ll be better. Let me prove I’m more than my bluster.”
He had to be better because his entire future lay in her hands.
“Please don’t break my heart,” she whispered.
He cupped her face and stared her in the eyes. “I promise. We may not know each other just yet, but I will never hurt you again. That is my solemn vow to you.”
Then he bent his head to press his lips against hers, and once more, he was shaken down to his core.
How could one chaste like kiss rip apart a foundation he thought had been rock solid?
Her silken lips pillowed his, and a moan filled the air.
Not sure if it was from him or her, all he knew was he wanted more.
Wanted her with a hunger than bordered on desperation.
When her lips parted under the pressure of his, he swept his tongue inside to deepen the soul-shattering kiss, and wrapped an arm around her waist to bring her body flush against his own.
Eventually, they came up for air, and he leaned his forehead against her own.
Each other’s hot breath fanned across one another, and their harsh breathing filled the small break room.
When they pulled apart, they stared at one another, and he understood the wonderment in her beautiful eyes, because he felt it too.
His entire world shifted on its axis, and he couldn’t even say he was disappointed or scared.
Even if it was simple wolf hormones throwing them together, it seemed like the High Luna knew exactly what she was doing when she paired couples up.
Weren’t all biological hormones a simple way to bring two people together?
“I, uh, I should get back to work,” she whispered.
“Aye,” he agreed, but he didn’t let her go.
She smiled. “You have to let me go.”
“Never,” he said and gave her a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose. “But I understand you need to get back to work.”
He threaded his fingers through hers, and with one last lingering kiss, led her from the break room back to the coffee shop.
Two people were in line, so Mairi jumped in right away to help.
Since he didn’t want to bother her, he slipped around the counter to the door.
He glanced back one last time, and she gave him a small, tentative smile and waved.
His heart soared.