Chapter 3
Jared became aware first of the fact that his eyes were closed.
The second thing that registered was that he no longer seemed to be propped up against the sofa.
He could feel the firm yield of a body behind him and strong arms and legs holding him securely.
Heart hammering, cracked open an eye, trying to assess the change of situation surreptitiously.
As his vision came into focus, he discovered he was back in the bedroom, propped up against someone who sat with their back leaning against the headboard.
“Easy now,” the voice rumbled. “You're all right.”
Jared recognized the unexpected baritone of Steve's voice.
Is that supposed to be soothing? You turn turn into a freaking wolf and back again, hold me down in your bedroom while an entire pack of werewolves is sat outside the door, and I'm supposed to be just hunky dory?
Why yes, it's all peachy keen! First some guys mouth rape me in an alley, then I'm picked up by a bunch of werewolves.
Now all I need is to get butt probed by aliens and carted away by members of the Illuminati and my shit day will be complete. Somebody just pass me the tinfoil...
He felt the arms around him tighten and Steve dropped his chin onto Jared's shoulder.
“I can smell your fear and feel your heart racing, you know.
I know you're terrified and that this is something so outside of everything you knew about reality that you have every right to freak out.
But I want you to know, I won't hurt you, and neither will anyone else in the pack.
I'm not going to let you go though until I'm sure you've calmed down and won't dash off and do something crazy.”
Jared opened his eyes all the way and twisted about to look Steve full in the face.
“Crazy? Crazy is having a normal every day sort of day, only everything is going super for once.
Then it all goes to shit, with every nightmare scenario you can imagine.
Go to a club and get attacked? Check. Get taken by werewolves, oh yeah, baby, check.
Crazy is watching a guy turn into a big gray wolf right there in front of you, in the guy's living room, in the middle of New York City.
'Cause you know, it's New York and it turns out that yeah, New Yorkers really can have anything happen. Woo! Go, me!” His voice rose in pitch and he gave an inner wince as he heard the hysteria in his own voice.
Is that me? Damn, now I sound whacked.
He felt Steve shift behind him, Steve's legs releasing him, Steve's hands tugging and turning about so that he now sat cradled against Steve's chest while facing him.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean for us to frighten you like this. I couldn't just not tell you however. You're my mate, and I couldn't simply hide this from you. Just breathe, okay?” “
“How, how do you know we're mates?” There, that is a sensible question, right? We only just met, so how does he know we're mates? And what does that mean exactly, anyway? Not like I can have puppies, eh?
“Your scent. See, like pure humans, we can form lasting relationships with people we find compatible.
But we also have one person somewhere out in the world who can form a soul bond with us.
We call those people True Mates, and the bond literally intertwines our very being with that person.
You've heard of marriage making two people one?” Jared nodded, listening closely.
“This is very much like that. Once bonded, True Mates can speak to each other mind to mind, feel what the other is feeling, and cannot bear to be parted for any long length of time.
To aid us in finding that one in a billion fated match, nature gifted us with a special hint.
All other persons carry their normal personal scent, but our Fated Mate will have a special additional scent that makes them irresistible to us.
Only one's True Mate carries that scent, and only the other True Mate can smell it.”
“So, I have a scent that's just me, and everyone can smell that, but I also have a special magical scent only you can smell. Shouldn't you have one as well?”
“Yes, but you only have a human's senses and you probably can't scent my normal scent anyway. It's not like a cologne or anything. It's an underlying scent.”
“I see. That sounds reasonable- the bit about me not scenting you as I'm not a werewolf.
The rest sounds like a fairy tale, but then before today, werewolves were a myth too, so I guess I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt.
But I'm not just some prize fate has handed you on a silver platter.
I'm not going to marry you just because you saved me back there and carried me home as a trophy.
I mean, I know I'm an ordinary guy living an unremarkable life, well up until now anyway, but it's my life and I should get to choose how I live it. You had a life before me, too, right? You might not even like me, and just be tricked into thinking you do because I smell delicious to you because of some genetic weirdness or something.”
Jared pulled away and Steve let him go. Standing up, Jared began to pace.
“I'm going to be one hundred percent honest here.
Yesterday seems like a bad dream, almost like it happened to someone else.
One moment I was laughing with people I thought were friends and walking to go grab a meal, and the next thing I know, wham!
Everything turned topsy turvy and I was in bizarro land.
Nice people became villains and my hero and his friends and even his Mom and Dad all turn out to be werewolves, and for all I know, next I'll have to clap my hands and shout that I believe in fairies. I just want to be normal again, for the world to be normal and makes sense.”
Jared stopped and stared blankly out the window.
Steve felt his heart sink. I hadn't expected him to just take it in stride or jump up and down and shout, “Yippee!
I'm a wolf's True Mate, let's plan a wedding tomorrow!” or anything like that.
This isn't what I was hoping for either, though.
This sounds like rejection. Can't he just give us a chance?
and as for the fairies... Steve mentally winced. One thing at a time. Just one thing.
“So, you want to be able to just go home and never see me or anyone else from the pack ever again?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yes-no, I don't know.” Jared raised his eyes to meet Steve's in the reflective surface of the window.
“I don't just think I like you and haven't fallen into insta-love because you smell like candy to me. I'm attracted to you, yes, but I helped you because it was the right thing to do for anybody. Your scent just makes my attraction to you stronger and if you'd let me, I'd like to get to know you.”
Jared turned around to face him. “You mean like, go on normal, human dates? Meet up for coffee? Go to the movies? That sort of thing?”
Steve smiled. “Well, yeah. Us wolves like a good latte as much as the next person, but it's hard to order one and get to drink it in our wolf form,” he teased.
Jared gave a snort. “Heh. True.”
“I'm serious. I'm a civilized man. I don't expect you to simply drop trou and mate me with me under a full moon just because you're my True Mate. If dating you is what it takes, then dating it is.”
“We have to have sex under a full moon?” Jared's eyes were large and round. Steve snickered. “Traditionally, when an alpha takes his True Mate? Yeah. We can talk about that later.”
“That'll be a no fucking way!”
“Do you always follow traditions?”
“What?”
“I said it was tradition, not that it had to be done that way. How about food and a movie?”
“Uh, yeah, I can do food and a movie. When? I'll have to check my work schedule.”
“You never ate the meal I sat out for you and you never got to go get dinner before. How about I warm it up and watch a film?”
“Now? Umm, sure, okay. Is everyone going to-” Jared's stomach let out a loud gurgle and he blushed.
“I best go get to it before you digest yourself,” Steve teased. “And everyone has gone home. It's just us. You can either stay or I can take you home after. It's no problem. “
“I, uh, can't take your bed,” Jared protested.
“It's okay,” Steve reassured him. “My wolf likes the idea of you sleeping there and besides, I can sleep on the sofa bed in my study. It's late as it is.”
Jared nodded. “Okay, I'll trust you on this. I mean, you wouldn't hurt your True Mate, right?”
“Never,” Steve whispered and turned to go warm Jared's meal.
Steve wondered just how he was going to pull this off. On the one hand, he rationally understood the need to approach his human mate softly, especially after everything he'd recently been through.
On the other paw, he thought to himself wryly, my wolf is not feeling quite so patient.
The circumstances o our meeting has him wanting to mate him and mark him as ours as soon as possible, to warn off others.
Not that other humans would get that, so guys like the those assholes would still remain clueless.
Besides, it's not as if they were thinking about anything other than satisfying their own base urges.
I doubt him being taken by another would have mattered one whit.
He sat back up, fluffing his pillow once more before lying back down and adjusting the covers.
I think tonight went rather well. He didn't seem to want to talk about the pack or my wolf any further, but he said he'd enjoyed the food and we had fun watching the movie.
He actually did as he agreed, too, staying the night and not going home until morning.Baby steps, Steve, baby steps.
I probably should tell him sometime soon that the whole mate during the full moon thing was definitely a joke though.
He seemed to honestly believe him when I told him it was an old tradition.
Steve quirked his lips into a soft smile.
Still, he didn't run screaming at that point, or faint again. That's got to be progress, right?
He closed his eyes and allowed his senses to reach out.
He could scent the lingering smells left behind by his pack mates as well as the tantalizing tease of his mate's unique scent mingling with his own.
His wolf gave a soft huff of satisfaction, temporarily placated by the fact that their mate was safe and ensconced in Steve's bed.
Hopefully, it won't be too long before that bed will see the both of us sharing it, as mates.
His wolf yipped in agreement.