Page 39 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Three

“No, Mouse.”

“Do you trust me?”

He grits his teeth, inhales through his nose.

Cal waits halfway to the door.

“Fine.” Bran’s smile is tight. I might catch hell for this later. “Mind your manners, Alpha.”

“I have more than you do, Duval.”

Bran grumbles. “Come find me later, little mouse. That’s an order.”

I give him a nod and then he’s gone.

Leaving me alone with the big bad wolf.

“That was brave,” Cal says and folds his massive arms over his chest.

“I need to know what that favor is.”

It’s not the most important thing going on right now, but that’s exactly why I have to know it. I hate loose threads and I especially hate secrets and mysteries.

“Jessie.” He sighs and uncrosses his arms. “I can’t—”

“Yes, you can.”

The Alpha relented with me earlier, which makes me think he might give me what I want now.

And I’m betting that now that the Duvals are gone, Cal might be more willing to share.

“I have a lot going on in my life, Cal. I don’t want that unknown thing haunting me in the back of my mind. Please.”

He turns away from me, rubs at the back of his head. “It’s about my fated mate.”

“Really?”

Cal’s lack of a mate is gossip fodder for Midnight. The Midnight Sun does annual coverage on it, usually around the blood moon.

Midnight’s Most Eligible Bachelor – Will this be the year the Alpha takes a mate?

I’m sure he must hate it.

There’s a lot about pack politics and fated mates that I don’t know and never gave the time to figuring it out. Most of the mates chosen for pack members are chosen based on politics or convenience. There are several mortal families that have been almost universally bound to the pack.

But fated mates…that’s something else entirely.

That’s magic. There’s nothing political or convenient about it.

“What about him or her?” I ask.

“Her,” he says and then turns back to me. “I know who she is.”

“Okay. And what does that have to do with me?”

His tongue pokes at the inside of his cheek, his nostrils flaring. “We don’t like each other.”

“Oh. Ohhhh.” Okay, I’m really glad I asked about this now because I could stand for some drama that’s not mine.