Hunter's Mate Read online

I still can’t believe we made it back in the house and Mom and Dad were never the wiser. I miss those times. We were so close. I never would have let you go to that party on your own. Why can’t you remember how much fun we used to have?

  Missing you as usual.

  * * *

  Love, Marge

  * * *

  The lasagna was delicious. The company was even better. By the time Hunter had the last of the plates and silverware in the dishwasher, the sun was going down.

  Layla had been mostly quiet while they ate, watching him. It had seemed like she was inside her head. He’d wanted to touch her a dozen times but had refrained, giving her space to think. She needed it, and it wouldn’t change anything.

  Nothing would change anything. They could take this as slow as she needed. His cock would just have to simmer down and wait. The end result would be the same and just as sweet. Perhaps sweeter. No way was Hunter going to pressure Layla to sleep with him, nor was he going to let her demand it during one of her lust-filled moments of contact.

  “You keep staring at me,” she murmured as she put the last pan back in the cabinet.

  He leaned against the counter. “I could say the same about you.” He reached out a hand, hoping she would come to him. Let him touch her. He craved the contact like his next breath. Staring at her was fantastic too, but nothing came close to touching her. Not yet anyway. Not until he’d touched every inch of her with his lips and his tongue.

  Her long curls were still pulled up in a messy bun, and he longed to let it down, run his fingers through her hair, bury his face in it. “Please.”

  At that one pleading word, she finally shuffled forward, her bare feet making no sound against the old tile floor. The moment she reached him, he pulled her into his embrace. Again. He released a breath as she relaxed into his arms. Her heartbeat fell into sync with his. A whimper escaped her lips. And she wrapped her arms around his middle.

  Heaven—or as close as he was going to get for the time being.

  Hunter ran his hands up and down her back, wishing the yellow tank top would disappear. Maybe he could risk lifting it over her head tonight, at least granting him the view of her chest without tempting himself too much.

  She tipped her head back. “You said you’d shift for me.”

  “Yep.” He brushed a loose curl from her forehead. “Let’s go someplace more private in case your sister comes home.”

  She flinched. “Why can’t Elena see you shift?”

  “Elena can see me shift. But I don’t think you want Elena to see me naked.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Naked… Didn’t think of that. You have to take your clothes off…”

  “Or shred them to pieces, yes.” He smiled at her as he ran his nose along her cheek, inhaling her sweet scent. “Shifters aren’t quite as prudish as regular humans. We see each other naked every time we shift. Men and women. It’s just part of life. We don’t think that much about it. At least until two of us mate. In that case, sometimes a mated couple prefers not to flash themselves to other shifters anymore.”

  “I guess that’s not much different from skinny dipping. Young people do that all the time. Strip and jump in the water.”

  “Kinda like that. Yes.”

  “So, Caleb sees you naked.”

  “Thousands of times. Remember, we’ve been friends since birth.”

  “Speaking of which, do your parents live here in town?”

  “Yes. But they’re in Minnesota for a few weeks, visiting my younger brother and Caleb’s younger sister. They just had their third baby.”

  Her eyes widened. “Third?”

  He nodded. “I guess they haven’t reached a point when they’re willing to stop touching each other constantly,” he teased.

  She rolled her eyes. “So it does let up? This crazed infatuation?”

  “Eventually. Or so they say. I mean not everyone in town is wandering around horny and dazed, so I assume what I’ve heard is correct. It must lighten over time. It’s sometimes a running joke that a mated couple can’t keep their hands off each other. And, as you can imagine, they tend to procreate rapidly.”

  She flinched. “Can’t they use protection?”

  “Of course. And many do. They can also take birth control. In the case of my brother, Cory, and Michelle, they wanted to have kids. They apparently want a lot of them.”

  “So, your mom and dad are there helping with the baby and two other small kids.”

  He nodded. “Caleb’s parents are there too. The four of them are competitive. No way could any one of them have seen that baby first. In fact, they went in the same car so neither couple could beat the other.”

  Layla laughed, the vibration making his heart swell. He loved that sound. He loved the way she smiled and how she could let go and enjoy life. If she smiled like that at him once a day for the rest of his life, he’d be over the moon. If he could make her smile that way all day every day, even better. He’d spend his life trying. “I think I like your parents already.”

  He cupped her neck. “What about yours? You haven’t told me anything about your parents, just that your grandmother raised you.” He hated to bring up this subject, but it would be weird no to.

  She sighed. “I never knew either of them. Apparently my mother showed up at my grandparents’ house pregnant and alone. According to my grandmother, she never told them who the father was.” Layla’s shoulders sagged and her voice dipped. “And she died giving birth to us. She lost too much blood. Preeclampsia.”

  His heart ached for both Layla and Elena. They’d grown up without either parent. He stroked her neck with his thumb. “I’m so sorry.”

  She shrugged, trying to make it seem like it didn’t matter to her as much as he knew it did. “Elena and I never knew any different. My grandparents were amazing. They loved us to pieces. I hate that they’re both gone.”

  “That must be hard. And then coming here to a home you’ve never known that belonged to an aunt you never met. That’s rough.” And very sad. Why did grown adults have to make such poor decisions sometimes? There was no reason for Layla and her sister to have spent their lives without knowing their aunt, or their father for that matter. The world could be a very fucked up place.

  “It’s strange being here. At first, I thought everything was foreign. But the more I’ve snooped around, the more I like my Aunt Marge. It’s kind of eerie because every time I see a picture of her somewhere in the house, I pause. She looked exactly like my grandma.”

  He smiled. “That shouldn’t seem very weird to you of all people.”

  She returned the smile. “Yeah. You would think so, but since I never met her, it’s still strange. Even the pictures from later in their lives, fifty years after they last saw each other, they still looked so much alike.”

  “I guess that would make you miss your grandmother.”

  “Yeah. But also I feel kind of angry with her. She kept this aunt from me and Elena for no good reason. She was so stubborn. And now we have no family at all. I actually feel bad that Elena and I never came here to meet Marge while she was alive. Why didn’t we? We never even considered it.”

  The repercussions of such a visit raced through Hunter’s mind. Too many to count. He had to believe Fate had a hand in that. She had a plan, and it hadn’t included Layla and Elena passing through Canyon Springs one minute sooner than they did.

  “I can almost see your mind working,” she teased.

  He snickered. “I was just thinking about what would have happened if you had crossed my path before yesterday.” Among other things.

  “Hmm. So you think if I’d come to visit when I was sixteen, I would have met you and it would have altered the course of my life?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “And Elena too.”

  “Correct. I don’t mean to imply that if you’d visited all your life, six-year-old Layla would have fallen in love with twelve-year-old Hunter. It doesn’t work like that. But we might have run into
each other, had a connection, changed the future.”

  “I might not have gone to college or moved to Los Angeles or experienced everything I did in life up to this point,” she mused. He liked how she was able to ponder what he was suggesting with far less apprehension than earlier. She was starting to come around.

  “Exactly,” he whispered. “You’re young. Even though I’ve waited what seems like an eternity to find you, now that I have you in my arms, I’m glad I didn’t disrupt your life earlier. It gives me peace.”

  She tipped her head to one side, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “What about now? You don’t think you’re disrupting my life now? A starving actress with no job, no home, and no prospects?”

  He tipped his head down closer to hers. “I would never ask you to give up something you loved. Is it easier for me that you stay here where I have a job and live in a community that accepts me? Yes. But would I quit and leave Canyon Springs in a heartbeat if you needed me to? Yes.”

  She sighed. “You make extremely compelling arguments. Why do you have to be so damn nice?”

  “Would you rather have found out you were destined to spend your life with an asshole?”

  She shivered in his arms. “No. Been there done that.”

  He lifted a brow, his spine straightening. “You dated assholes?”

  “A few. Don’t worry. No one pushed me around. One wrong glance and I kicked them to the curb.”

  “I hope so. Please tell me you don’t have a list of dudes I need to hunt down.”

  She giggled. “No. Are you going to shift for me? Or did you want to keep stalling? Now that you’ve pointed out that you’re going to strip out of your clothes to do so, I’m starting to think you’re worried about me seeing you naked.”

  The deep chuckle that came up out of him surprised even him. His body shook. “Hardly.” He slid his hands to hers and gave a tug. “Let’s go upstairs, smart aleck.”

  Hunter led the way up the creaky stairs to the second floor. He knew instantly which room Layla was staying in because her scent filled the space. When he arrived at the landing, there was a box haphazardly sitting on the floor.

  A glance upward indicated the attic space was right above their heads. Caleb and Elena must have gotten this box from up there.

  Hunter nudged it to one side, surprised to find that it weighed almost nothing. The top flap flipped open when he hit it with his toe too. Colorful fabric caught his eye.

  “What’s that?” Layla asked.

  Hunter bent at the waist and opened the rest of the box. He was already smiling. “Scarves.”

  “Scarves? Why?”

  He lifted several of the colorful strips of silk and held them up as he stood. “Your aunt loved scarves. She wore them all the time. It seemed like she had hundreds of them. Elena and Caleb must have found these in the attic.”

  Layla took one from his hand. “It’s beautiful.” The orange and yellow floral pattern was sunny and bright. “I might like to have some of them.”

  “I might like to use them to blindfold you and tie you to the bed.” He watched her face as he made the suggestion.

  He half expected her to laugh him off and roll her eyes. She did neither. Instead, she surprised him. A coy smile spread across her face, and fuck him but the scent of her arousal filled the hallway. “I might like that plan.”

  He grabbed her hand, tugged hard, and yanked her into the bedroom. After kicking the door closed, Hunter hauled her over to the unmade bed and shoved her down on it. He dropped the pile of scarves at her side, and she did the same with the floral one.

  She giggled as he positioned himself over her body, clasping her wrists and pinning them above her head. He slid a knee between her legs.

  Layla’s breath hitched, and her demeanor changed from fun to serious, arousal filling the room. The little imp even lifted her pussy and ground it against his thigh.

  Hunter groaned as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed the sense out of her. He wasted no time tipping his head to one side so he could line up better. He demanded entrance with his tongue against the seam of her lips, and she granted it without hesitation.

  Their tongues dueled. Soft purring came from her lips, making his dick harder by the second. His mind centered on the only thing he really wanted to do—strip her clothes off and bury himself inside her. Bind them together in a way that she would never consider leaving Canyon Springs.

  That last thought made him tear his lips from hers, backing up a few inches. He still held her to the bed, but he released her lips, forcing himself to shake his head and clear his brain a bit.

  She was panting, squirming against him, her sweet pussy grinding against his thigh. “Hunter,” she moaned.

  That voice. Sweet music. She would lure him into her own damn den for the rest of their lives with that voice. But not today. Not yet. Not before they had established several things, namely that she recognized their bond. Fully.

  He shoved off her, rising to stand on the floor, running a hand through his hair. She’d wanted him to shift. He would do that, and use a few minutes in his wolf form to center himself with the universe.

  She rose onto her elbows, taking deep breaths. “What’s wrong?”

  “You are the most tempting creature on earth. I’m pretty sure you’re actually a witch, and you keep telling me that I’m the one with some sort of powers that lure you in, when really, it’s you. You’ve cast a spell on me so that every time I kiss you, I get so carried away I can’t stop myself.”

  She giggled. That didn’t help his cock at all. “A witch, huh? I’m gonna need a broom then. And a pointy hat.”

  “I’m surprised I didn’t find your caldron in the basement.”

  She rose farther, leaning back on her palms. “Kinda freaky when you think about it, isn’t it? Now you know how I feel.” She tipped her head to one side. “If you’re not going to have sex with me, at least shift for me. Maybe my ardor will die down a bit if you scare the daylight out of me.”

  He snickered. She was so fucking cute. “Okay, but you stay on the damn bed while I get undressed. I’m hanging on to my self-control by a thread. If you touch me while I’m naked, I can’t be held responsible.”

  Now she shoved all the way to sitting, crossing her legs and propping her elbows on her knees. “I promise your chastity is safe from me. I’ll stay right here.”

  He rolled his eyes as he jerked his T-shirt over his head. “Layla…” he warned. Her banter was fucking adorable. His willpower was waning.

  Her gaze was on his chest, and he’d never been so glad that he enjoyed jogging. Between that and the gym, he was fit, and she clearly approved. He bent down to remove his boots and socks, taking the opportunity to break eye contact with her and draw in a few breaths. That didn’t help much since all he could smell was her scent.

  When he rose to face her again, he popped the button on his jeans. She stared, eyes wide, lips parted, not breathing.

  He continued to strip for her, lowering the zipper before shrugging out of his jeans until they fell to the floor.

  His cock was harder than a rock, bobbing in front of him. It wasn’t going to get what it wanted right now though, so even though his instinct was to wrap his hand around the length and stroke himself, he refrained.

  “Jesus,” she murmured. “You’re like a Greek god. Do you have a flaw anywhere?” Her voice was serious, and he didn’t think she blinked a single time while she took him in from head to toe.

  If she were any other person on earth, he would feel self-conscious, but this was Layla. His mate. His life partner. The woman he would spend the rest of his life with. She was welcome to look her fill anytime she wanted. If she did so with the same admiration he felt for her, he would forever have his chest pumped out, believing himself to be the god she thought he was.

  He couldn’t wait to soak in every inch of her body too, but right now he had a mission. Shift. Let her see him in his lupine form. “I’m going to transform now. It takes
about ten seconds. It will look like a shimmer to you. I’ll land on all fours. I’m larger than the average wolf, but don’t be afraid. My brain will be the same. I would never hurt you in this lifetime. In fact, my instinct will always be to protect you.”

  “Okay,” she whispered. At least she was breathing.

  “I’ll come to you when your heartbeat settles so you can touch me if you want.”

  She nodded, and repeated the same word, “Okay.”

  Hunter closed his eyes, lowered his head, and took several seconds to go inside his mind.

  Chapter 13

  Layla’s eyes seemed to be permanently wide, unblinking. She didn’t want to miss a single moment of this. Maybe to some people, shifting was an everyday occurrence, but this was her first time witnessing something so spectacular. It was surreal.

  The silent pause seemed to last a long time. It was probably only a few seconds, but she didn’t move an inch, not wanting to disrupt whatever he was doing. It looked like he was in a trance. Considering how heavy things were between them, she imagined he needed to concentrate.

  Finally, he took a deep breath and everything changed. It was like the air in the room shimmered as he transformed right before her eyes. It was impossible to focus on any one given thing. Fur appeared. Bones popped and changed. His face elongated. A few seconds later, he dropped onto all fours on the floor, his head jerked upward, his eyes searching hers.

  There was no way for her to feel completely calm. The experience was out of this world. No matter what she’d heard growing up, no one could be fully prepared to witness something like that.

  She forced herself to remain still and kept her gaze on his. Dark eyes stared at her. His head was tipped downward just enough to remind her he meant her no harm. His fur was a mixture of grays and blacks. Gorgeous. He was also larger than what she’d imagined a wolf might be. Luckily, he’d warned her about that.

  Finally, she found her voice. “You’re so…majestic. Also frightening.”

  When he took a step back, she shook her head. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I was thinking more along the lines that you’d make a good guard…dog.”