Chapter 18
I was glad Dom had taken Marcus into town, but at the same time, I missed having our mate near, being able to make sure he was okay.
Rationally, I understood it was because I’d found him unconscious out in the forest. On top of that, he was still getting over his cold and hadn’t accepted my mating bite yet.
There wasn’t an alpha alive who wouldn’t be troubled by all of that.
But understanding why I felt what I felt didn’t necessarily mean I could change anything about it. While I knew Marcus and Dom had only left ten minutes ago and wouldn’t be back for another hour or so, I still kept my office door open, just in case.
Ell texted the all-clear for Marcus’s blood tests maybe twenty minutes after Dom and Marcus had left, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I didn’t get to enjoy that feeling for long though.
Dom shot me a text about the ex still having keys to Marcus’s place, which was not good but at least gave me something to do, a way to protect our mate.
I called Smith right away. He’d moved shortly after I had, happy to follow me.
“Boss!” The puppy-like excitement lifted his normally gruff voice. “Got something fun for me to do?”
I picked up a pencil from the holder on my desk and started twirling it. “Something personal, and one other thing.”
“Need me to tail one of your guys? They misbehaving? Making pretty eyes at a beta in town?”
I wanted to groan, but Smith, a beta himself, really triggered my alpha nature, so I stayed calm.
“No, they aren’t. However, we found our mate the other day—a human. Before you ask, yes, he’s mate to all three of us, and yes, we are aware that’s on the unusual side of things.”
There was silence on the other end before he asked, “You pulling my leg or something? I can’t tell. You’re always so damn calm.”
“I’m serious. We’re not sure how it’s possible either, but Marcus is ours.
No doubt about it. Anyway, he has an ex, bit of a red flag.
A big red flag, actually. He’s the controlling type, sent revenge porn to Marcus’s email contacts post breakup.
I wouldn’t put violence past him. He has keys to our mate’s apartment in Searsville. ”
“One security lock and sweep for uninvited electronic devices, coming right up. Anything else the ex needs done?”
“Yes to the lock and the swipe, no to the extra.” I put the phone on speaker, opened a chat window on my desktop, and started typing. “I just texted you the address.”
“Yup, got it. I’ll get right on that. Your mate’s okay with me breaking in?”
“He’s okay with us taking care of things right now, so yeah, go right ahead.”
“Will do. Should I put in a security system as well?”
He meant cameras and an alarm system. My immediate reaction was to give him the go-ahead, but I knew I would need to discuss it with our mate first. I also had every hope that it wouldn’t be necessary. If Marcus decided he’d stay here with us, we’d be his security system. And so much more.
“Just the new lock and the swipe for now. Come out here after you’re done with that. We seem to have a hunter problem in the area.”
Another pause. “You’re shitting me. You find yourselves a mate, and there are hunters in your woods?” He paused again as if he wasn’t sure he should go on. “Quite a coincidence.”
“I get what you’re saying, I do. But Marcus isn’t a hunter, and he isn’t bait. He came here by himself and his car died. Sometimes there is such a thing as coincidence, and even if there weren’t, there’s no way to trick our mate instinct.”
“Boss, no shade, but we both know some of the hunters come with science degrees. I’m just saying that because three alphas mating to one human male, that’s…extraordinary. Did you look into him? Just as a precaution?”
I wanted to snap at Smith for that, but after the video, looking into Marcus had come as part of dealing with the fallout for him.
“Not a deep-dive, but some.”
Knowing Smith, he’d take that as an invitation to do more snooping. I considered warning him off, but he was the kind of guy who’d rather beg forgiveness than be underprepared.
“Right. Well, I’ll be there tonight.”
“Got it. Just so you know, I don’t want you staying at the house with us right now.”
“Understandable. Do you—”
“I’ll find you a room.”
Another pause. “But I do get to look at him?”
I rolled my eyes but kept the annoyance from my voice as I said, “Sure, you may look at our mate. No touching though.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, like I’m stupid enough to do that. See you later, boss.”
“Drive safely,” I said, and hung up.
With that taken care of, I went downstairs to collect any stray dishes and mugs and turn on the dishwasher.
I wouldn’t have minded a little run right then, but it smelled of Marcus in the house, and I didn’t want to leave that comfort.
I wondered how Ell was doing. Maybe work made the longing less sharp. I doubted it.
When I got back to my office, Naja had sent an email with her response to Marcus’s address book. Apart from that, there were several other things at the company that needed taking care of. I got started, but my mind was only half in it, and not only because I was missing Marcus.
The nagging fear that hunters were in town had a hold of me. There were pack children, older wolves, people just going about their lives, and hunters could destroy that. They’d already done that to the real wolves out there.
I booked Smith a room in a hotel in town, picking one more central than Corpsewood. I went with a week, pretty sure Smith would want to stick around while we dealt with the hunters.
While I was still elbow deep in work reports, I got a call from Naja.
I hit the speaker button. “Hey, Naja.”
“I have a few more questions about Marcus,” she said.
I frowned at her directness, which was much more fun when it was directed at someone else. “Such as?”
“Is he a werewolf?”
“No, Naj. Regular human.”
She clicked her tongue. “I watched you watch him during the video call.”
“Did Smith call you?”
“Yes.”
I sighed. “Naj, he’s our mate. Did you just want a confirmation or is there something else?”
“Something else. I did some research during and after drafting his response. Personally, I’m not sure what to make of this general mating idea—and don’t bite my throat for that—but have you looked beyond that? The guy’s not too bad a copywriter, and I think I’d like him.”
The growl escaped me before I had time to adjust and manage my response.
“Like, not in that way. Jeez, boss.” She tutted.
“Fuck, Naj. Sorry, but this is all very new, and we’re still adjusting. You want to hire him? You want me to offer my mate a job?”
“That’s your personal life, and I actively do not care, but yes, I would like your mate to offer his copywriting skills. I’d headhunt him personally, but I get the feeling you really would bite me if I did anything like that, so please, boss, hire me a new copywriter, hmm?”
I hadn’t even considered that, but I could see how this would be a perfect solution.
Marcus could work for me. He could move in.
Three sides of my office were covered by desk space because I tinkered with surveillance tech a lot, but I could clear a space for him, have him work in here.
I’d make it nice, get him a few plants maybe, something soft…
I’d get him a selection of teas and one of those water kettles with variable temperature settings. Matching work mugs maybe.
It was perfect in my head. I wanted it to be reality, but that meant convincing Marcus without making it seem as if I was trying to buy his affection.
That would be an issue, from a human standpoint.
If Marcus had been a wolf, it would’ve been easy.
A beta would’ve readily accepted his alpha taking care of him, and most would demand it.
My head and my heart wanted to go about this relationship—and I dearly hoped it was a relationship—in two very different ways.
“I’ll…try, Naj. Promise.”
“When I say that, you always quote that old science fiction movie at me. There is no try, boss.”
I smiled at my phone. “You’re some taskmaster, Naj.”
“Tell him he’d work for me, and that I have learned to handle you.”
“Is that so?” Naja was about five years my junior, just a bit older than Marcus, but I’d seen her stand up to wolves twice her age and win.
She huffed. “I have work to do. My boss always gets mad when I take personal calls at the office, so I gotta go.”
I chuckled. “Thanks, Naj.”
“Don’t thank me. Give me a holiday bonus.”
Well, she was sharp where it mattered. I made a note about that bonus and a second one about sending her a bottle of her favorite Pinot.
After, I couldn’t quite get back into the report, so instead I researched my mate. I knew it was wrong, but I told myself I had a legitimate reason if I wanted to get him to take a job offer, which I did. But the important thing was for him to…fall for us first, all three of us.
My mind was still tangled up with all of that when I heard the familiar sound of Dom’s jeep up the driveway. I jumped to my feet and took the stairs two at a time. What I wanted to do was barrel out to the porch to meet them, but instead, I went about making Marcus some oolong.
When I heard them on the front steps, I couldn’t keep calm anymore and didn’t really want to. I headed into the hallway just as Dom opened the door for our mate, a bag and a shoebox in his hands.
Marcus looked tired, and paler than he had when the two of them had left. I crossed the distance between us on autopilot and put my arms around him. I loved that Dom had put Marcus in my jacket, but holding our mate satisfied a need inside me.
Marcus’s eyes went wide when I gently ran my knuckles over his forehead. He looked up at me.
Dom chuckled. “Did you really think I wouldn’t manage to bring him back here in one piece?”
I frowned. “I think you tired him out.”
Marcus pursed his lips. “I think he’s standing right here, and he can speak for himself.”
Dom whistled. “Getting feisty there, Little Red. I like it. We ran into the ex when we went to the diner.”
“He’s still in town?” I unzipped the jacket for Marcus. Our mate rolled his eyes, but he let me.
Dom nodded. “Him and some friends. They smelled sort of oily. Like you do when you clean those handguns you keep in the safe.”
Marcus jerked. “You keep fucking guns in the house?”
“Yes, although with no intention of using them outside of keeping my aim up at the range. I worked in personal protection, Marcus. I know how to handle a gun and not to leave it lying around.”
“Oh.”
Our mate deflated as I pushed the jacket off his shoulders.
He smelled slightly of sweat and something sweet, with the lingering undertones of sickness.
All I wanted to do was get him out of his clothes and drag him into my bed, keep him warm against my body, and watch him sleep.
The way Dom was smiling, he probably wouldn’t have minded joining.
I looked at Dom. “I have Smith coming into town.”
I put an arm around Marcus, very carefully so as not to spook him. Either because Dom had exhausted him or because he felt comfortable, he didn’t pull back at all.
Dom looked unimpressed. “Your creepy PI slash special forces buddy slash stalkery type?”
Marcus jerked again. “What now?”
I narrowed my eyes at Dom. “Dom, for the sake of fuck.”
“Ouchie, Linc. You should go chase that f-bomb with a kale smoothie or something. Speaking of, is that tea I smell?” Dom gave me the kind of grin that had first hooked me on the man—the kind of grin that generally made it impossible to get or stay mad at him for any amount of time.
He walked past our mate and me, rubbing my shoulder as he did.
“Yes. Marcus, think you want to lie down a bit?” I asked.
He looked about ready to collapse where he stood, clearly not fully back on his feet yet.
Marcus crossed his arms. “Only if I don’t have to listen to you talk about stalkers or my ex, thank you very much. Also, I want that tea. Please.”
Dom whistled from the kitchen. “Cool, cool. I’ll get you guys some tea and food, and you can show our mate why our cuddle puddle is the best.”
“I’m keeping my clothes on,” Marcus said, sounding firm.
“Not the shoes though.” I bent to help him out of them while Dom got busy in the kitchen.
“You guys really don’t see how weird that is, do you?”
“Weird? What’s weird?”
Dom chuckled from the kitchen. “He was talking about a shoe fetish killer when I fitted his hiking boots. Brutus?”
“Brudos,” Marcus and I said in unison, and I grinned at him. His moonstone eyes were fever bright, and Ell would be so mad we hadn’t made him rest.
“Dom paraded me around in front of his family and the hardware store beta,” Marcus added in a low whisper.
Which, of course, Dom heard. He burst out laughing. I got done with Marcus’s shoes and forced myself to let him walk with my arm around his back, rather than carrying him.
“Did he?” I exhaled, relieved to have Marcus this close. “The hardware store beta?”
Marcus shrugged. “I’m sometimes better with names, but I had a fall the other day.”
We walked past the kitchen where Dom was busy warming up some cinnamon buns in the oven and pouring Marcus his tea.
I shrugged. “They should know who you are, and who you’re with.”
“I’m just—look, I’m really grateful you didn’t leave me out there to die, but I can’t really handle any more of…well, whatever this thing is you’re doing. Today, at least. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I stepped onto the soft pillows of the cuddle puddle. “Thanks for letting us know.”
He stood at the edge, right where the floor dipped into the sunken and padded area, and he was tearing up just a little.
From his scent, I got confusion, uncertainty, vulnerability.
On instinct, I took him by the hips and lifted him down toward me.
Rather than standing him up again, I lowered him to the pillows carefully, curled in next to him, and pressed his face against my chest so he wouldn’t feel quite as embarrassed.
“Get some rest, Marcus,” I said, stroking over the side of his head, mindful not to disturb the stitches.
I sensed Dom was waiting just around the corner with the mug of tea. He gave Marcus about two minutes before joining us and handing our mate the cup. Marcus took a few sips, but after he sank back against my chest, he fell asleep in about five minutes.
Dom went to get two of the buns out of the oven and snuck back with them. We shared them with our mate sleeping between us. I decided then and there that we would have to do that at least once a week in the future.
Marcus nuzzled into my chest in his sleep as if he’d read my thoughts, as if he agreed. I dared to hope.