Seducing Serenity

Chapter 6

Gabriel

The weekend at the lake house with family was just what I needed. I felt relaxed and had been able to talk with my mother about the situation with Serenity. She wasn't sure hiring her had been the best idea but conceded it would be harder to get to know her if I hadn't. She was unable to tell me a lot about matches between human and werewolf but was supportive of my decision to pursue what the Moon Goddess had put in motion. The research I did made me feel better about the situation as there were several documented success stories of human/werewolf matches. Most seemed to be successful, but there were examples of negative outcomes, too. Most involved either the pack not accepting the human mate, or the humans not accepting the match. I didn't think anyone in my pack, or at least not my inner circle would have any issues.

As far as Serenity's family, I had no idea. Other than the ex-husband, I hadn't really been able to find any mention of her family. She didn't have any social media, which I thought was strange. Most people seemed to plaster their lives all over the internet, but she seemed to be very private. I have to admit I appreciated that. I had some business accounts on social media, but kept my private life to myself.

Cain was relentless about marking Serenity as soon as possible. We had an in-depth discussion about what it would mean for him to not have a wolf mate. He was insistent it would be fine, that he could spend time with Serenity in wolf form. I pointed out that he wouldn't physically be able to mate with her, and he said since he feels everything I do, he would be fine. I'd just have to let him be in control sometimes without shifting.

Monday morning had come, and I was on my way to work, thinking. The information I'd been able to find on Serenity had been somewhat upsetting. It seemed there had been some police involvement with her ex-husband and it made me want to search him out and make sure his face looked like the ones I had seen of Serenity. She'd been battered and bruised, and it had my blood boiling. I had a feeling I wouldn't be satisfied allowing karma to take care of him. I hoped Serenity would share her story with me. I just had to get her to trust me.

I stopped at a light about a block from the office and was pulled from my thoughts by loud, offkey singing. I looked over at the car next to me and saw Serenity. She was singing like no one was watching and was fully engaged in the performance. I couldn't help but smile and then she looked over, freezing when she saw me. Her face turned about four shades of red and I gave her a salute as the light turned green. I wondered if this would make things easier, or harder between us. I wanted her to know she could be herself and let her guard down around me, but now I'd gotten a glimpse of who she was that she hadn't necessarily been ready to give me.

I sighed and thought how much easier this would be if she weren't human. She'd feel the mate bond and want me. I'd voiced this to my mother, and she just laughed, saying I'd never done things the easy way so why should I start now. She had a point.

As I walked into the building to my office, I was eager to see Serenity and be near her again. I'd always heard about how strong the mate bond was, but experiencing it was new to me. I craved her presence. I needed to be near her. Keeping myself under control was going to be challenging, and Cain even more so.

"Just claim her and get it over with. She'll come around once we mark her." Cain said in my head.

"We don't know that for sure. She just might see it as me assaulting her and run. I don't want to take that risk." I said to him for the tenth time since we met her.

"Fine," he growled, "we'll do it your way for now. If it doesn't work, I'm taking over."

Cain had never threatened to take over before and I had my doubts that he would. Hopefully we could convince Serenity we were mates and things would go smoothly, quickly.

I got to my office and looked for Serenity. My secretary, Lillian, informed me that she hadn't checked in yet. I sighed and asked her to send Serenity in to see me when she arrived. I was surprised to find I was feeling nervous. What if my seeing her singing in her car had embarrassed her into not coming in? I didn't think she was that easy to scare off. She'd looked so damn sexy with her guard let down, singing at the top of her lungs. I shook my head to clear my head. Having thoughts about how sexy she was could be dangerous at work. I heard Cain laugh in my head and knew he had something to do with my thoughts heading for the gutter. Lillian gave me a curious look.

"Everything ok, Mr. Kingston?" She asked.

"Yes, Lillian. Just a lot on my mind. I'll be in my office." I went to my desk and tried to focus on anything but Serenity.

"Good luck!" Cain taunted.

"Sometimes you can be a real pain in the ass." I replied. He just laughed. One thing about having a wolf, he was always there whether I wanted him to be or not. Luckily, we generally got along fine. I was worried the next few weeks would challenge us. Little did I know there were several challenges ahead that I would never have been able to imagine.