Page 6 of Mated to Fenrir (Fated Mates Collection #5)

FENRIR

I didn't often feel nervous. There wasn't really any reason to when I'd already been alive for eight hundred years and knew that my life was pretty set.

But waiting for Delia to arrive at the bowling alley for our date was making me feel that way.

It was similar to how I'd felt when I'd waited for my past fated mates, and how I knew that this had the potential to be something, even beyond the bond that our wolves thought we could have.

Hopefully, my wolf would calm down once he realised that I was taking his information about Delia seriously.

He'd reacted the moment I'd seen her at the masquerade, and my actions since had been in pursuit of her.

Not that I'd continue if she told me she wasn't interested, but she certainly seemed to be.

A taxi pulled up in front of the building, and she climbed out. She looked more casual than the last time I'd seen her, in well-fitted jeans and a cute shirt. But she was no less beautiful.

My wolf sprang into life immediately at the sight of her, only growing stronger in his response when her perfume hit my nose. There was absolutely no denying who she was to me. Now the only question was whether we could actually make it work.

"Hi," she said, flipping her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Good evening," I said. "Would you like to go inside?"

"It would be weird to have our bowling date outside the alley," she pointed out. "And probably too tempting for our wolves."

I chuckled. "And so they keep controlling us."

"They probably will until the moment we seal a mating bond, or choose to walk away." She paused for a moment, seeming as if she wanted to touch me.

I got the desire. It wasn't even a sex thing, though it wasn't that I hadn't been thinking about that.

I just wanted to touch her because I wanted to show her affection.

But I also knew that it was better for us to take things at a slower pace before we got ourselves tangled in a mate bond that doesn't work out.

She smiled and pushed open the door to get inside the building. I followed her inside, wondering what I was getting myself into. This kind of thing was always complicated, and it didn't help that it was hard to think of other things when my wolf was occupying my thoughts so much.

But it would be worth it if this worked. There was nothing like sharing a life with someone who fit with me so perfectly, and it made me hope that this situation with Delia could work.

It didn't take us long to get set up on our lane, though I'd forgotten that when I'd suggested bowling that it would involve having to wear borrowed shoes.

"So, do you want to put Fenrir on the screen, or should I be putting some human name?" she asked, looking at me with a frown. "Maybe Frank?"

I snorted. "You think I look like a Frank?"

"Not at all. But all of the gods I've met have human names that are similar-sounding to their godly names."

"It's not really an issue for the Norse gods. People use our names for pets all the time, so it's not that weird to have someone called by my name. I just use Fenrir."

"Fenrir it is." She tapped the screen, making it appear with her name above it.

I had to admit that they looked good together, even if there was no reason for that to be the case other than my wolf wanting to make a mate bond with her.

"Now, I'm going to warn you, I've not been bowling since I was thirteen, and I wasn't very good at it then. "

I laughed. "I last went bowling in the nineties, so it's been a while."

"Who did you go with?" she asked curiously.

"Some friends," I responded. "No one of interest."

"Ah."

"I did have a potential fated mate around that time, but we quickly knew that it wasn't going to work."

"How?" she asked curiously.

"She thought that the bond was enough and just wanted to jump straight into bed," I said.

She gave me a curious look. "Is that not your thing?"

"Oh, it's my thing," I assured her. "But rushing it is not. Especially when there's a risk of accidentally sealing the mating bond."

Her hand reached to her neck, and I knew exactly what she was thinking about. My wolf responded immediately to my own thoughts of claiming her.

He went even more feral at the thought of her biting me. That wouldn't just be her accepting me, it would be her claiming me, and choosing that she wanted the two of us to be mates.

I cleared my throat. It was better if I didn't think about what that would mean, it would only make it harder to focus on everything else.

Delia grabbed a hair tie from her bag and put her hair up in a ponytail before heading over to the bowling balls and making her selection. There was an adorable expression on her face as she tried out a couple of them, eventually taking an orange one over to the lane.

There was no tearing my gaze away from her as she moved, especially when the way she rolled the ball drew attention to her ass.

She turned around and caught me looking. "Like what you see?"

I chuckled uncomfortably and rubbed the back of my neck. "Sorry."

She shrugged. "It's fine. I mean, I know that your wolf is responding to me. It makes sense that other parts of you are too."

"I don't want you to think that's the only thing I'm interested in," I murmured.

"I don't." She headed over to the balls and picked up another one.

"You wouldn't have suggested a date like this if you were just interested in getting me into bed.

" She smiled, which lit up her face in a delightful way.

She headed back to the bowling lane, swaying her hips in a way that made me think that she was doing it on purpose.

Maybe this was the wrong date after all.

The ball knocked over several pins, and she shrugged. "Could be worse."

"You're doing better than I'm about to," I responded.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Watch me."

"You're not allowed to do badly just because you're trying to prove a point," she teased.

"I promise to try my best." I tried a couple of the bowling balls and selected the one I liked the weight of. Though what did I know about it? I was hardly some kind of bowling expert.

The pins had been reset while we'd been talking, and I took my position in front of them. I let the ball go, and it trundled down the lane without nearly enough speed to actually manage anything.

A thud sounded as it landed in the gutter. I turned around to find Delia covering her laughter.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Laughter is an involuntary reaction."

I grinned. "It's fine, I think I can survive making a fool of myself." I headed over to where the balls were being sent. "Hopefully, I won't do it again."

"I don't mind even if you do," she promised.

I took my ball back to the lane and tried again. This time, the ball actually hit a pin, but that was the best I could say about it.

"We should celebrate that," Delia said with amusement in her voice.

"We should, it's probably going to be my best score all night."

"I'd say I could give you some pointers, but I'm not sure I'm actually much better at bowling than you are. I can offer you some consolatory nachos?"

"Nachos sound great."

"Good, and afterwards, maybe a burger. No one can eat a burger sexily," she said.

I laughed. "Is that your plan?"

"Yes. Our wolves need to behave, and that's the best plan I've got for making that possible. Let's not give them a reason to ignore us. Mine really wants to ignore my rational thoughts."

I leaned against the high table beside me. "Oh, mine too."

"So, burgers. In a well-lit, greasy place," she said. "Should we be worried that this is the kind of thing we're doing while we're dating?"

I shrugged. "Not if we're having fun."

"I'm having a lot of fun," she responded, picking up a ball.

"Me too." I knew this was early in the process of getting to know one another, but it was already clear to me that while our wolves were impatient, they also seemed to be right

We just had to see where this was going, and try not to let our wolves take control.