Page 10

10

WES

I slid out of bed at dawn before Remy was up and stared down at the sleeping beauty in my bed. Joy’s long blonde hair spilled across my pillow. It, indeed, was like the spun gold of Remy’s fairytales. The color of summer sun. Of chaos and happiness.

She was such a bright presence in my bed. Even asleep, she exuded sunshine.

A contrast to my dark storm clouds. The mechanical functioning of putting one foot in front of the other day after day to get through the days. To keep things stable for my pup.

But last night, Joy had needed me. Our interlude had been…unexpected.

Obviously unplanned.

But fate, it had felt good.

It had felt right.

She was an insatiable lover. Passionate. Inventive. Wild. From the first kiss, I felt like I knew her instinctively. What she needed. What got her hot. What got her off.

Everything she wanted, I craved, too.

Her scent covered my skin now. It was on my sheets. It filled the room.

And, like last night when I first picked her up in her mangled bedroom, I had the strong sense that she smelled… perfect .

I stared at her, but now a little differently.

Wait… fuck!

Was Joy–

Was she my mate ?

I ran a hand over my beard. Her?

That couldn’t be. She was human! And everything I wasn’t. We didn’t fit together–at all. I couldn’t have a fated mate who was so… happy.

In my home pack, no one had heard of a fated mate being human. But almost all the guys at Wolf Ranch, except for Rob, had human mates.

Human fated mates.

Not just love matches. But biological mates. The human females had ignited the urge in their wolf mate to mark. Which meant nature intended them to be together.

I was raised to trust my wolf. Trust his instincts. Animals sensed things humans couldn’t.

I taught this to Remy as well.

Was my wolf telling me Joy was my true mate? The one female put on this earth for me?

Was that why we were so in sync last night? How I knew her body?

The hairs on my arms stood up with recognition. A lump formed in my throat at the idea of all that brightness belonging to me.

To Remy, too.

But that thought made me pull back on the reins.

Fuck. Fate had dealt us a tough blow with Remy’s mom being a deadbeat. My little girl’s mother had abandoned her. Every time Remy asked after her, I had to explain that it wasn’t because there was anything wrong with her. It wasn’t that she wasn’t perfect and loveable. No one should have those kinds of doubts and especially not a child. Not my Remy.

This thing with Joy could hurt Remy again. Hurt her even more. If I thought an absent mom was painful for Remy, I imagined her confusion and pain if she thought she was getting a new mommy, and then it didn’t work out.

Joy wasn’t a shifter. She didn’t understand what a mate was. How fate supposedly put us together. That I was to mark her and embed my scent in her to make her mine forever.

She knew none of that.

Fate may have picked Joy for me, but there was no guarantee at all that Joy would pick me– us –back. Especially because I was a package deal.

The light sound of little feet hitting the floor saved me from doing anything stupid like making this into something, like forever. I quickly stepped out of the bedroom and shut the door.

“Hi, Daddy.” Remy emerged from her bedroom with her face slack from sleep and her hair in a massive bird nest.

“Shh.” I held my finger to my lips, speaking in a soft tone I knew my daughter’s sharp ears would still hear. “Joy is sleeping in there.” I pointed at the closed door.

The pleasure on Remy’s face seemed to summarize my feelings about having Joy here. Her eyes lit up, and a giant smile bloomed. “She is?” she whispered back. “She had a sleepover?”

I swooped her up in my arms and carried her to the kitchen, so we could make more noise. “Yep. There was a storm last night, and a tree fell on her roof. See?” I held Remy up to the kitchen window to look out. The storm was long gone; the early morning sky was clear and bright. It still was surprising that Remy had slept through the whole thing.

Remy gasped.

A rock rolled over in my stomach, seeing the damage in the light of day. It looked apocalyptic. There was a tree branch in Joy’s house, having ripped a hole in the roof and the side wall. I could see framing and sodden insulation.

Joy could have died! If she were a shifter, she’d have been hurt but would have healed quickly. But no. If the tree or any large beams from the house had struck her, I would’ve lost my fated mate.

The thought made me ice cold. What if I’d found out my fated mate lived next door, only for it to be too late?

No. It wasn’t that. I was worried for anyone getting hurt like that. Any neighbor.

“Is she okay?” Remy asked, her little chin wobbling.

I stopped the doomsday thoughts before they got any more traction. Joy was safe in my bed. I’d carried her home and fucked the fear and trauma right out of her. I’d taken care of my mate’s safety and needs, not even realizing she was mine.

“Easy, she’s fine. You make big messes sometimes, just like that storm.”

“Can she keep staying here?”

I shook my head. “She’s got her own place. I’m sure someone’s going to cover the hole in the roof and the window today, so she can sleep there tonight.”

She thought about that for a moment, seemingly appeased because she asked, “Can I go see the storm’s mess?”

“ No. ” I answered too sharply–probably infusing alpha command in my voice, which froze Remy’s little body.

She might be a wolf with superior healing abilities, but it was still dangerous over there.

Remy was used to my grouchiness, but the alpha command brought out a hurt boo-boo lip. Tears swam in her big brown eyes.

Instant regret washed over me. “I’m sorry, baby. Daddy doesn’t want you over there because more of the roof might cave in. That storm’s messes are dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt. Ever.”

She continued with the hurt puppy eyes, and I gave her a squeeze. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Did I?”

She nodded with that lower lip still pushed forward adorably. This kid had me wrapped around every finger and toe.

I set her on the counter to kiss her head.

“What’s this?” she brightened, finding Joy’s now-cold, untouched cocoa on the counter beside the stove.

“Oh. I made that for Joy, but it’s no good now.” I took the mug from her before she could taste it and dumped it in the sink.

“Wait! Daddy!” she cried.

“I’ll tell you what. If you eat two eggs and two strips of bacon for breakfast, I will make you hot cocoa. Deal?”

I didn’t usually let her have that much sugar or caffeine in the morning, but taking a full mug of cocoa right out of her hand and dumping it was pretty insulting, even if the milk had probably spoiled.

She instantly cheered. “Okay.”

I let her stay up on the counter as I reached for a frying pan in the cupboard below.

“Good morning.”

My wolf growled with approval when a sleep-tousled Joy stepped into the kitchen, still wearing my flannel shirt–buttoned this time–that hung to her thighs. Fuck, she looked good enough to eat.

“Joy!” Remy hopped off the counter and ran to Joy who gave a surprised little oof as her legs got tackle-hugged.

Now that I knew Joy was my mate, every word she spoke to my kid was significant.

Her quick, easy smile, the brightness in her face, and the way she hugged Remy and tousled her hair meant everything.

I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to bed for another round.

My dick stirred at the thought of doing it again.

But no. I needed to push her out the door before Remy got attached.

Hell, I didn’t know if Joy even wanted another round with me. She’d been releasing steam last night. Trying to get the adrenaline of the accident out of her system.

Maybe I’d just been a vehicle to an end for that.

It certainly didn’t mean she was ready to move in and for me to mark her. To marry me if that was what she needed. It didn’t mean she was ready to commit to my kid.

And that mattered. I couldn’t let Remy get attached to her and have her heart broken if Joy wasn’t interested in us.

I needed to play this right. Joy was human and didn’t recognize me as her mate. Johnny, one of the guys who worked at the ranch with me, had told me he’d had to make his new human mate Emma fall in love with him. He’d knocked on her door to kill her boss and discovered she was his fated mate. He’d had to pivot, quickly.

“Making” a human female fall in love was hard enough, but doing it when a four-year-old kid was part of the package was a whole different level.

Especially when I wasn’t exactly Romeo. Hell, I was the farthest thing from it. I had the absolute worst track record with females. I’d become the grumpy single dad who didn’t know how to plan a date. Hell, shifters didn’t date.

Looking back, I hadn’t been able to satisfy Remy’s mom, Soraya, with anything. Fine, I satisfied her with an orgasm the one time we’d fucked on the moon run.

After that, nothing. She’d been needy. Consistently unhappy. She’d bolted the first chance she got. I wasn’t enough for her. I had no confidence that I would know how to meet every emotional, physical, and sexual need of my fated mate.

And a human one? With all that fucking sunshine? I’d block it out with all my clouds.

I’d ruin her.

So far, all I’d done was tell Joy how I was going to fuck her and that she was a bad girl for not obeying. Oh yeah, and I’d spanked her gorgeous ass. That might have been hot as fuck, but that wasn’t a date. That wasn’t forever.

She wanted a night of sex? She got it. Oh, she got it good.

But I didn’t have the slightest clue how to make her fall in love.

Nor–far more importantly– stay.

But then Joy’s gaze met mine, and the warmth of it blasted everything else out.

The sense of rightness settled around me, driving out my objections.

“How do you feel about scrambled eggs and bacon?” I asked, opening the refrigerator to take out the supplies.

She glanced out the window at her house, the pleasant look on her face fading. “I need to make some calls about the damage.”

“The house can wait,” I said firmly, even though it would probably be better for Remy if I sent Joy scooting out the door. Still, my wolf couldn’t stand her not being fed. The need to provide and care for her was too strong. “You need a good meal before you tackle calling your insurance and all that mess.”

Remy had her by the hand and led her to the kitchen table.

Still, Joy hesitated.

“Sit down and eat.” I sounded grouchy. Formidable. Maybe even intimidating. I needed to work on that. Fuck.

Remy pulled out a chair and patted it. “If you eat two eggs, you get hot cocoa.”

To my wolf’s relief, my beautiful neighbor sank into the chair. “Your daddy is bossy, isn’t he?” Her voice was light, but when I looked over my shoulder, I caught heat and innuendo in her look my way.

Like she wanted it bossy.

Wanted me to be the guy who gave it to her hard and told her what to do.

Even liked being my bad girl sometimes.

Fuck, I was in trouble.