Page 30 of Mate

The covenant was never a big part of his life. He would forget about it for months, even years. It never felt like a sacrifice, just a simple trade-off, an integral feature of who he was: the Alpha of the Northwest.

Then she arrived, assumed total control of him, and left no room for anything but her.

D ON’T BE NERVOUS.”

“I’m not.”

“Koen. I know it’s been a while for you.”

“Just fucking get it over with.”

“What? No, that’s not how you do it. This is an experience .”

“Then make it a quick experience.”

“Why are you being like this? I’ll be gentle. Am I not gentle?”

“You mispronounced ‘annoying.’?”

“Oh, come on. I’m having fun.”

“I wish I could say the feeling is mutual.”

“Should we put down a sheet or something? You’re making way more of a mess than I thought you would. Though I guess it’s normal, since it’s been so long.”

“If anyone’s making a mess, it’s you.”

“Hush. I’m doing this for you. The entire pack thinks you’re hopeless, but I’ll help you show them that— ”

The door bursts open, and Koen and I fall silent mid-haircut.

It’s very poor timing. I’m almost done with what will surely be known, postmortem, as Serena Paris’s most challenging and powerful artistic endeavor , but two women and a man are rudely letting themselves inside and interrupting my creative process.

“Does anyone ever knock?” I whisper.

“No, clearly. And I’m not sure what it is about me that says ‘make yourself at home.’?” Koen glances down at the uncompromising bend of his own arms, folded on his bare chest. Then asks, louder, “Did someone install a fucking red carpet over my porch steps?”

“I must have missed it,” the man says. He is bald, with a long blond beard, thick-rimmed glasses, and a someone just dented my paint job frown.

“I’m not sure I feel comfortable knowing that my Alpha let some girl with scissors play around his throat,” the taller of the two women says, sounding just as irritated.

Koen shrugs. “Feel free to mull it over and never let me know, Anneke.”

“I think he looks good,” the other woman says, which I take as a much-needed compliment.

“Why, thank you.” I press one hand against my chest. “I do believe my muse is speaking to me.”

The woman’s laughter is low and musical.

She’s much smaller than Anneke, and she looks a couple of years older than Koen.

Unlike the other two newcomers, her stance is laid-back.

She did not come here for a fight. “It was time for a change. Not that the depressed Viking cosplay wasn’t hot,” she tells Koen, who winces and massages his forehead.

“Is there a single fucking person in this godforsaken pack who does not have an opinion about my grooming habits?”

“No,” the three reply in unison, which gives me the boost I needed to continue shaving Koen’s beard.

“The reason we are here, Alpha,” the man starts, “is that— ”

“The pack newsletter let you know that I have a woman— my mate, no less— staying in my cabin as we wait for this new tide of murderous psychos to ebb, and you’re afraid I’m fucking her. Sound about right?”

Anneke and the man exchange surprised looks, but the older woman just smiles. I run my hand through Koen’s hair and tilt back his head until his neck is exposed. He follows my directions, pliant in my hands. “He’s not,” I say distractedly.

“He’s not . . . ?” Anneke asks.

“Breaking the covenant. I remain tragically unfucked.”

There’s sudden tension in his bare back, the trip of a heartbeat that I can detect only because I’m in his space, touching him. A tic of his jaw.

Ah. So you were hoping I wouldn’t find out.

“Tip your chin up, Koen— perfect.” I swipe the razor down the column of his throat and run my fingers over his skin, pleased with the smooth slip.

Koen didn’t have any shaving cream, so I’m using a blend of soap and conditioner.

I take a short moment to admire my handiwork, and then smile at Anneke.

“He’s not madly in love with me, either. Honestly, he barely even talks to me.”

“And yet he lets you brandish a weapon around his neck.”

“It’s more like community service, Anneke,” the older woman murmurs, and we exchange an amused look. I wonder what her name is—

“Karolina,” she tells me, lips curling. “And this is Xabier. We are three-fifths of the Assembly.”

“Serena. I’d shake your hand, but . . .”

“Understood.”

“Now that we’ve exchanged friendship bracelets,” Koen says, “can we move on with our day?” He makes to stand, but I push him back down with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Not until I’m done, buddy.” I step around to work on the other half of his face but stop when I notice the way they’re all regarding me.

Well, not all . Koen is just his habitual, long-suffering self. The others, though, watch us open-mouthed. I smell a surge of panic. Sudden alert. Sphincters clenched tight enough to make diamonds.

“Are we . . . are we being attacked by the Vampyres?” I switch my hold on the razor to use it as a weapon, ready for an invasion. So ready. They don’t need to know that earlier I pulled a muscle while combing my hair.

“It’s hardly evidence that you two are not in a relationship,” Xabier points out, “the way she takes liberties. Gives you orders.”

“Is it?” Koen sounds bored. “You three just showed up to my house to tell me what to do, and last I checked, I’m not fucking any of you.”

“Stop moving,” I murmur, going back to shaving him. “Or I’m going to nick you, and they’re going to think I’m pregnant with your triplets.”

Koen stills, but the corners of his lips twitch. “She’s not taking liberties, she is given them. If anyone here is questioning my authority, it’s you.”

“We are not,” Anneke says. “But we are concerned. Must we remind you— ”

“No. I don’t need to be reminded of shit. But if you want to anyway, go ahead. I know it’s a cherished hobby of yours.”

“Koen knows why the rules are there,” Karolina says, diplomatic. “Better than anyone. He has never given us reason to doubt him.”

“He hasn’t,” Xabier agrees. “But he did not have a mate before.”

Koen grunts. “When the pack reunited, I promised that if I found her, I’d immediately inform you, and I did.

The day I met her. I am the reason you can be on me like stink on shit.

Unfortunately, she’s also a hybrid in need of protection, which I won’t withhold just to convince the Assembly that nothing is happening. ”

“Plus,” I ask, “wouldn’t you be able to smell it?”

Karolina quirks her head. “What do you mean, Serena?”

“Well, two of the seconds are together, and last night I could easily tell that they regularly exchange bodily fluids.” I finish running a warm cloth against Koen’s cheeks and step back, searching for missing spots.

I’ll be sad, if he ever holds me again, without the scratch of his beard against my skin. I was . . . yeah. Into it.

This was a fun activity, though. My favorite in a while. There’s something nice about being close to my Alpha. Taking care of him, as he does of me. Breathing in his soothing scent, preparing for what’s to come, comfort for—

Whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa .

Where did my brain go just now? How long was I silent?

“I guess my point is”— I clear my throat— “that your nose would tell you if something was happening between us.”

“Maybe they have a cold,” Koen drawls. “Maybe that cold made their brains leak out of their ears.”

“Koen, given your history— ”

“My history ?” He stands, suddenly towering over all of us. The little strands of chopped hair still clinging to his shoulders silently slip to the floor. Xabier, who spoke last, takes a step back. “Do tell me more about my history. What have I done to warrant these doubts?”

“Your— ”

“Think very carefully before you finish that sentence.”

“Hey.” My hand meets the hard heat of Koen’s stomach, and I quietly slip in front of him, ignoring the additional helping of befuddled looks it earns me. “Listen, you may not know me, but Koen has been your Alpha for years. There’s no need to treat him like a fuckboy.”

Three pairs of eyes blink at me. From behind me, Koen asks, “A what?”

“A fuckboy. Just, you know. A boy. Who fucks.” God, Misery’s right.

Some things simply do not translate to the Weres.

“What I’m trying to say is, he told me that nothing would happen between us on the day we first met.

And I’m not about to try to disintegrate his free will with my magic cunt.

Okay?” I hold Xabier’s eyes until he nods his agreement, and while he doesn’t look happy as he storms out, he’s at least gone.

Anneke makes to leave afterward, marginally more reassured.

“I trust you, Koen,” she says. “I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t.

But I want to remind you that no other Were is strong enough to hold the Northwest together, and if your worries about Constantine turn out to be true .

. . We are in your hands, Alpha. Keep that in mind.

” She slips outside with considerably less stomping, leaving us to stand in a long silence, and me to wonder, who the hell is—

“Who told you about the covenant?” Koen asks me.

Hands on my hips, I turn around. “I find it interesting that you didn’t tell me yourself, since you’re so big on the truth.”

“Didn’t come up.” I see forced indifference in the tension of every single muscle in his body. “Who told you?”

“I have my sources.” I give him my best cryptic, superspy smile, refusing to throw Amanda under the bus.

“Isn’t she lovely to have around,” he tells Karolina, wrapping a hand around my shoulder.

His touch hits me like a small supernova, lighting up a million nerve endings.

Heat licks down my arm, up my spine, pools in my belly.

“She’s high maintenance. Talks too much.

Can’t mind her business. The very opposite of how I like my pack members— seen but not heard. ”

I snort. “He doesn’t like to see them, either.”

“Yeah. True enough.”

“Fascinating.” Karolina’s gaze alternates between us. “You said it’s not mutual? You’re not her mate even though she’s yours?”

Koen’s nod is detached, like he’s confirming something inconsequential. Yes, leeks are indeed my favorite seasonal vegetable .

“And yet she doesn’t feel the pull to obey you.”

“Should I?” I ask brightly.

“Not quite. The rumor that an Alpha can brainwash other Weres into doing his bidding is vastly exaggerated— there is no magic compulsion. But our instinct is to avoid defying them. I definitely cannot remember the last time I saw a Were give Koen orders, even one as simple as ‘sit down.’?”

“She’s not fully Were,” Koen reminds her.

“And I’m not the only one. You three came over just to yell at him.”

“We are the Assembly. It’s our job to hold the Alpha accountable— we are trained to go against our nature.” She rolls her eyes. “Though this was an unnecessary execution of our duties.”

“Let me guess,” Koen drawls, “Xabier and the giant pole that lives up his rectum had a bad dream and convinced Anneke that I was a step away from eloping with Serena and becoming a deadbeat Alpha, so you followed them here to make sure I didn’t dissolve them in battery acid.”

Karolina tries not to smile, but her relationship with Koen seems to run deep. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“Is the rest of the Assembly going to be balls deep up my ass?”

“Not Conan— you know how little he likes the covenant. Jerzy, maybe. He’s busy dealing with the Canada pack, though.”

“He knows my offer for help stands, right?”

“Of course.” Karolina turns to me. “Serena, let me introduce myself properly. I am the leader of the Moon Craters huddle. Saul, whom I believe you know, is my younger brother.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say.

“After all of this is over,” she asks, “where do you plan to go?”

Rotting down a dark hole, preferably inside a mushroom death suit is not an acceptable answer, is it? “My sister lives in the Southwest.”

“Ah, yes. The Vampyre? Well, should you change your mind, you are welcome in our huddle. You were a financial reporter, right?”

“Before. Yes.”

“We’ve been doing more and more business with the Humans. We could use someone with your background.”

“Oh. That’s really cool. I . . . I’ll give it a think,” I say, somewhat sad that it’s a lie. I try to camouflage it with a smile. “I’m sure I’d thrive there. I mean, I get along with you and Saul. It’s gotta be a sign.”

“It’s not a sign,” Koen declares flatly. “It’s fucking poaching.”

Karolina laughs, reaches forward to exchange a long hug with Koen, and then leaves as I yell after her, “Please, do share with the pack newsletter about my excellent work as Koen’s personal groomer.

” I turn around to receive what should be Koen’s undying gratitude but will likely be a giant load of crabbiness, and—

Suddenly, I cannot breathe.

Because I didn’t expect him to be standing so close to me.

But also, clean shaven and without his hair hiding his features, he seems younger.

Less moody. His face feels so . . . open.

Direct. Available. Like maybe, if I applied myself, I could tell what he’s thinking half of the time.

There could be room for me, in the life of a man with that face.

“Hey,” I say.

His nostrils work. “Hey, killer.”

I clear my throat. “You look so much more dignified, now that I’ve de- shed you. Cuter, too. Just like that hot guy. From that movie.”

“What movie?”

“All of them.” I wet my lips. Look down at my toes.

“Serena.” There is something in his tone, something that I refuse to contemplate, something I need to cover up quickly.

“By the way.” It comes out shrill. I don’t care. “I know you have a job and everything. You don’t have to stick around with me all day, if there’s something else you need to be doing.”

“The bowling league will wait. We’re going out.”

“Where?”

“I had an idea.” He dusts hairs off his pecs. I really wouldn’t mind it if he put on some clothes. “Well, Brenna had an idea, but if it works, I’ll pass it off as mine.”

“An idea for . . . ?”

“Figuring you out.”

“I love it when you talk about me like I’m the ultimate escape room. Tell me more.”

“You’ll see when we get there. Give me five to shower.” He heads for his room. Stops. “And, killer?”

“What?”

“Tuck that T- shirt in your pants. It’ll look less like it’s mine.”