The Reluctant Mate

1 Porter

The Reluctant Mate is stand alone but it's basically a wholehearted spoiler for The Alpha's Other Woman. But if you didn't read it and don't care, then I don't care. ;)

Warning: This story has mature content. Swearing, sexual content, mentions of partner abuse, other possible adult themes and quite frankly, alcohol consumption and promiscuity as a less than healthy coping mechanism. These characters get a little messy.

Thanks for checking out the story!

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Porter

Angie's was a human bar in a town nearby our pack, a place where mundane humans could socialize and have a good time. More importantly for me, it meant a night off from my responsibilities, as long as nothing went wrong while we were out. When our luna, Carrie, had suggested a night out, I had agreed at once. Being beta of a growing pack was thirsty work, and I'd wanted a break. To help improve the mood, I'd smuggled a flask of FJ—the magically enhanced alcohol that hit shifters harder than the regular stuff—along to spike the human booze, because I was planning on having fun while it lasted. It would be back to patrols, paperwork, and pack the next day, like usual.

A waitress came around and took our order, and we claimed a table to wait for our luna's human friends to arrive. The waitress brought us our drinks and some shots, and we tossed them back. Jason glowered at a human who looked at his mate too long and barely took his hands off of her.

Mates. I scoffed inwardly. I still respected Jason because he was a damn good fighter and leader besides just being my friend, but he'd been completely pussy whipped since about ten seconds after finding his mate. Don't get me wrong, I respected mate bonds having seen how great they were from an outside perspective, and I also respected my luna because she was pretty badass herself, but whenever the two of them got within sniffing distance of each other they could barely stop flirting.

I didn't get too hard on them about it though, because most couples calmed down after a while so we just had to endure through this excruciating touchy-feely period. I firmly believed that my entire career as a beta wouldn't be loudly coughing or intentionally slamming into things as I approached the alpha's office so I wouldn't catch them making out—or worse. My poor not-so-virgin eyes. I'd also become a master of breathing through my mouth to avoid too much sensory information, just in case.

It had been a stark change. While we had been on the run after Stonemason killed our original pack, other than Max, we really hadn't talked much about mates. Both Jason and I had known life as reluctant rogues wasn't the life we wanted for someone we cared about, although we did okay for ourselves once we managed to blend into the human world. Not every wolf could pull it off, but camouflaging among the humans was actually pretty safe. Then, when we decided to start a new pack, neither of us had been interested in dragging our mates into that uncomfortable life, so neither of us tried looking for them.

Of course, it didn't matter that Jason hadn't been looking, because Luna Carrie had practically fallen straight into his lap.

Max was a different story, he had desperately wanted to find his mate, but that was because they were already marked and mated. He and Lillian were both from Glenhaven, and they had realized they were mates when they were both almost sixteen, a true tale of childhood sweethearts. They'd been inseparable until tragedy had forced them apart. Max swore up and down that she was still alive somewhere because he could feel her, and who was I to argue? I didn't know what that bond felt like.

Through the dim haze of the bar's atmosphere, I watched my alpha possessively put his hand around his mate's shoulders and pull her closer to him. I could see where his possessiveness was coming from. She was pretty hot, although I wasn't stupid enough to voice that observation out loud. Jason had a lot of restraint but it would be stupid for me to make it harder on him. Plus, I would never come between a mated pair, and doubly so when it came to my friends.