The Reluctant Mate

30 Porter

A busy couple of months passed with the pack. Randy ditched us to go off to Lightwood to try to convince his stubborn mate to accept him. I would have sympathized except helping cover the delta's work on top of my own cut into my already limited time to spend with my own mate, and I needed all the time I could get.

I still saw Amanda as much as I possibly could. We went out on dates like any regular couple and it was nice. We were taking things slow and sometimes we seemed to be getting closer by slow degrees, even though she could still be skittish and jumpy much of the time. Other times I believed I was just spinning my wheels and getting nowhere with her.

My wolf was going mental at the slow pace. I let him loose for runs before we saw her so he'd wear himself out. I couldn't afford to have him acting up and startling her.

Besides that, I ignored my instinctual side as much as possible. Tonight, she was coming out to visit my place for the first time since Carrie had released her, and I was nervous. It felt like a lot more was riding on my cooking performance than just this one night. Maybe it was just my imagination.

I read through the recipe for the fifth time to make sure I hadn't missed any critical steps. It felt risky, and I didn't mean my cooking.

Kain was hanging out in the kitchen and watching over my shoulder while being a general pain in the ass. Getting under my skin was his specialty, so I wasn't surprised, but I already had enough on my plate tonight without his less than helpful brand of  snark.

"Sure you should do that?" he asked as I tossed seasoning into the sauce.

"Yes. And go clean up your mess. Amanda will be here soon."

"Why? If I clean up, she won't have anything to throw at you when you piss her off again, Porter," the cocky little punk responded with transparently fake innocence. He was exactly like the younger brother I had never asked for.

"She's not going to be pissed off." I hoped.

Kain smirked.

I kept my eyes trained on my task. "You're doing extra laps at training tomorrow if you don't knock it off, Kid."

Kain leaned against the fridge. "Fine. And I'll tell Jason you're abusing your position to pick on me."

"Sure, run to the alpha. I'll go with you and tell him that you're being a little—"

I was interrupted by a knock on the door and I panicked as I realized how much I had left to do.

"Ooh, is she early?" Kain asked, finding obvious humour in my precarious situation. He sauntered over into the living room.

I wasn't ready, and I rushed to the door and pulled it open. I knew it was her even before I opened it because I could smell her intriguing scent. "Amanda."

"Hey, Porter, smells good in here."

I could say the same about her.

"Hi Amanda!" Kain said. He looked up from where he was stuffing all his things into his backpack, being way too friendly to my mate, probably only to annoy me more.

"Hey Kain," she said, smiling at him sweetly.

I frowned. It almost seemed she liked him better than me. What had the kid done to get in her good books? "I'm just finishing up here, if you want to get comfortable."

She nodded and leaned against the back of the couch to watched me.

"Want something to drink? I'll grab you something before I go," Kain offered. He was never so friendly to anyone. It was suspicious.