My Mate

Chapter Four

"Cedrick. What's your name, beautiful?"

I grabbed the beer being offered to me by the man who had been staring at me from across the room. I unscrewed the cap and took a swig. The guy, Cedrick, had an Australian accent that accompanied his beachy waves of gold to make him look like he just left the beach. He was handsome; a little over six feet tall with a body built of muscle. His features were soft and kind-looking.

However, my gaze wasn't on him as he tried to converse with me. I was constantly looking over at Lucas and I hated myself for it.

But I couldn't help it. Lucas was being surrounded by a group of girls fit to be models. I couldn't compare to their beauty. I didn't want to be jealous, but the mate bond was growing faster than I could keep up. It was driving me crazy the whole day as the preparations were made for the party. I had been having a really rough time staying away from Lucas.

I knew it was going to get even harder from now on. My whole body would be aching for him, and most of my mind wanted him too. But I knew it was my wolf instincts and that I honestly didn't want anything more to do with him.

"Uh. . . Sorry," I shook my head, giving Cedrick a smile, "Adria."

Lucas was sitting on one of the couches in the living room. A posse of girls sat all around him. One of them was leaning down from her spot on the couch above him to whisper in his ear. I tried to tune my werewolf hearing on so that I could hear what she said, but the party was too loud for me to hear just her.

"-going to come over here, but you looked so lonely and mysterious," Cedrick was saying. I had to piece his sentence together in my head before replying.

"Well, I'm glad you did. I was getting thirsty. Thanks for this," I nodded to the beer in my hand.

"You're very welcome, Miss Adria. How's your night going?" He asked.

"Pretty normal. Yours?" The guy seemed pretty nice. I decided I would distract myself from Lucas by talking to Cedrick. I'd come to a conclusion that, maybe, I could piss Lucas off to the point when he wouldn't want me around anymore. Sleeping with someone other than him would definitely give me and extra boost.

"Same with mine."

Cedrick and I talked for a while longer. It was mostly small talk about weather and werewolf drama. It wasn't until we ventured to the kitchen for another beer that things started heating up.

I closed the fridge door and found Cedrick leaning against the cabinet beside it. He smirked at me.

"What? Why are you smiling like that?"

He bit his lip. Suddenly I wanted to kiss him. His lips looked so soft and kissable.

He must have seen the look in my eye because he grabbed my waist and pulled me to him so that he could talk directly into my ear, "I think you're very sexy. Did you know that?"

I smirked. This was exactly the kind of attention I needed to get my mind off Lucas. Plus, it would piss him off.

I pulled away a little so that I could reposition my face and kiss him.

Cedrick kissed back eagerly. His tongue venturing into my mouth and spreading the taste of peppermint and beer to my tongue.

He hoisted me up onto the counter so that I was sitting on it and he was leaning into me.

My fingers ran through his hair, tugging at his soft locks.

I heard a growl from behind Cedrick. I broke the kiss to look up at the person. Cedrick turned halfway around, eyeing Lucas as I did.