Page 5 of Mated to Fenrir (Fated Mates Collection #5)

DELIA

Fenrir was right about the diner. In fact, it was even less romantic than he'd sold it as, which was reassuring on several fronts. I wasn't sure it was going to be quite enough to keep my wolf in check, but at least it was a start.

Cheesy music played over the speakers, and a tired-looking waitress in a yellow dress set our milkshakes down in front of us.

"Do you want some fries?" Fenrir asked.

"Sure."

He nodded to the waitress, who disappeared, only to return a few minutes later with a basket of fries. They must have some of them ready.

"It feels a bit weird to eat fries while wearing a fancy dress," I admitted as I crunched into one. "They taste better."

He chuckled. "I think it's because they feel like an extra treat."

"Ah, something we agree on."

"I would hope we'd find a few things like that," he said.

"Mmm." I mixed my shake with my straw. "Though I wouldn't expect us to be exactly the same."

"Fate thinks we're a good match, not that we're exactly alike," he responded. "So, what brought you to the Jinx Masquerade?"

"My friend got me a ticket," I responded. "She's dating Horus. It's why I was here tonight. What about you?"

"My father got me one for the masquerade. Aphrodite invited me to the Horus Sanctuary tonight."

I paused for a moment. "Aphrodite?" Did I have to compete with a literal love goddess for him? I pushed the thought aside. I didn't even know if I wanted that, it hardly mattered who I might be competing against.

"She's an event planner," he said. "Horus can be a little bit reclusive, so most of the invitations for the event come from Aphrodite and not Horus."

"So I'm in the minority being invited by someone who works at the Sanctuary, then," I joked.

"Something like that." He picked up one of the fries and ate it. "I go to the events because I know a lot of the people there. My sister and my uncle often attend events like this too. And my father, but you want to avoid those situations."

"Why?"

"Haven't you heard the stories of Loki?" A smile twisted at the corner of his lips.

"Your father is Loki?"

"Yes. I'm guessing you don't know much about Norse mythology?"

"I can't say that I do, beyond the names," I admitted. "Though now I've got some bedtime reading to do when I get home."

He raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps I should send you some of the better stories about me for that."

"Stories of your prowess?" I put the straw between my lips, not thinking about how it might look, given the subject of the conversation.

Fenrir cleared his throat. "I can't say there are many of those. Most of the stories about me are about the threat I posed to the other gods in causing Ragnarok."

"Which I imagine would be kind of difficult to do, given that you're a wolf shifter with a few extra powers."

Surprise flitted over his face. "You know more about the gods than I'd have expected."

"My friends are dating gods. They've told me a lot of what they've learned."

"Which is how you know that immortality is an option," he said.

"Yes. I see we still got onto that fairly fast," I joked. "But yes, that's how I know."

"Can I ask your thoughts on it?" He picked up another fry.

"You can. But the answer is that I don't know how I feel about it.

I think I've always seen it as depending on the person I built my life with.

If they were immortal, then it wouldn't sit well with me if I wasn't, but if they were mortal, then I wouldn't want to outlive them for the rest of my life. And now you know my non-answer."

"It's a good answer," he promised.

"I'm glad you think so." I looked over at him, wondering about what all of this meant. Could my wolf be right and this be the relationship?

I could feel her within me, anxious to get me to act on her desires. It was hard to think straight when she was trying to control me.

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked. "We've come for a milkshake, but what next?"

"Another date," he said. "And then another, and go from there."

"Ones with low romance?"

"Anything can be romantic," he pointed out. "But for the first few dates, I think it's probably wise for us to be in public spaces. It's easier to keep the wolves at bay that way."

"True. We don't want to rush into a mate bond."

He nodded. "It's a commitment, and one I want to make sure we're ready to make when we do."

"I get it. I've been burned by the mate bond before." I sat back in my seat and drank the rest of my milkshake. It was good, but if I was honest, I barely cared. It wasn't just my wolf who was captivated by the man opposite.

"What happened?" Fenrir asked.

I took a deep breath. I knew I'd need to talk about my past if I wanted this relationship to work, but it still felt like it revealed a lot about me, and came with an amount of vulnerability that I wasn't necessarily used to.

I supposed he'd already told me about what had happened when he'd found his fated mates, so it was only fair that I told him the same.

"I imagine the normal things that go wrong with mate bonds.

When my wolf responded to them, something about them fit and matched me, but by the time the relationship was over, things had stopped working. "

He nodded but waited for me to continue rather than saying anything else.

"For my first couple of relationships, I would say that it was definitely my fault that they didn't work.

I knew in theory that having a fated mate bond wasn't enough, but I didn't realise what that meant.

I was young and unaware that it wasn't as straightforward as having a bond. I really thought that was it."

"I was the same when I was a young wolf."

"Though I imagine that was a lot longer ago."

"A little bit," he admitted. "But I think it's just something that all wolf shifters go through at one point or another."

I shrugged. "Maybe so. I think we get lulled into a false sense of security that fated mates means that we don't have to put any work in." I set my empty glass down, but still toyed with the stem while I thought about the conversation.

"It does sound like the kind of thing that should just be perfect as soon as it happens," he agreed.

"And yet it isn't."

"It makes sense. People change and grow as they get older. Our wolves think we're perfect for one another now, but if only one of us grows over the next decade, it won't be a good match any more."

I nodded. "That was the situation with me and Todd. He was the last person my wolf thought was my fated mate. I felt like he didn't want to grow. Every time we talked about it, he'd say that we were fated, so what did it matter."

Fenrir grimaced. "It always matters."

I sighed. "I know. But I stayed for longer than I should."

"I've done that before."

"I thought you said your wolf was only right twice?"

"He's been wrong many other times," he responded.

"I'm sure we'll have many horror stories of dating we can share."

He chuckled. "I'm sure we can. And if you ever meet my sister, she'll likely tell you more of my mating mishaps."

I laughed. "Now I want to know."

"There was a time when I was younger that I might have followed around a ship's captain with puppy eyes."

I raised an eyebrow. "A ship's captain?"

Fenrir shrugged. "I liked his arms. My wolf did too. I'm sure you know what it's like when they try to take control."

"Mine's trying to do it now. I'm not sure how you're so calm right now."

"You seem calm too," he promised. "But mostly just practice. And knowing that the best way to make sure I get to know someone without my wolf being the one in charge, is to give us space and time to work through it all."

"Okay, so what's our next date?" I asked curiously.

"Bowling."

"Bowling?" There was no keeping the surprise out of my voice.

"Trust me?"

I met his gaze, realising as I did that the answer to that was yes. "All right, bowling." It was years since I'd been bowling, but it sounded kind of fun. And not like the kind of date I'd expect to go on with my fated mate.