Page 4 of The Artsy Girl’s Guide to Mating with a Werewolf (Mate Hunted #2)

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STELLA

Graham seemed more comfortable with the situation by the minute. He tapped his hand on the steering wheel and bobbed his head to my music, rubbing Furball’s head every now and then.

She was absolutely loving the way he touched her, and I couldn’t blame her for that.

I didn’t know if it would translate to our human forms quite as easily, because neither of us wanted a mate.

The guy on the phone hadn’t exactly made it sound like we had a choice in the matter, but surely there would be some way out of the situation. Maybe his wolf would reject me or something.

Granted, rejection had been painful even when I was the rejector. It killed the person being rejected more often than not. If my options were sealing a bond with Teddy Graham or dying, I was obviously going to take the mate bond. I could do worse. And had done worse.

The drive went by fairly quickly, though my wolf didn’t so much as doze for a few minutes. She was wide awake and alert. I’d been told years ago that hunting werewolves didn’t sleep, so I guess that was to be expected.

Graham used the address I had saved as home to find my place, and soon enough, he’d parked in front of the duplex I lived in. It was on the edge of the forest, and the closeness to the trees kept my wolf a little more settled.

Maya lived next door too, which we both appreciated. Being the only unmated female werewolves on this side of the country wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

The loneliness sucked more than anything. Not being alone made life significantly better.

My wolf led Graham to the door of my apartment, and she waited patiently while he found the key and unlocked the door.

“No one locks anything on our pack’s land,” he told her, as he got it open.

Probably because they were all gigantic men with literal predators living inside them.

If I lived on his pack’s land, I would definitely still lock the door.

It was insane to think that was actually a possible outcome for the situation we were in. Living together. It wasn’t even a stretch.

Everything had officially been flipped upside down. Now, I was just doing my best to hold on for dear life.

My wolf went inside first, and Graham stopped abruptly in the doorway. When she looked over her shoulder to see what he was doing, I found him with his eyes closed and his nostrils flared.

He was just smelling me.

My wolf went back and rubbed up against his leg. He scratched her back, finally forcing his eyes open.

The emerald green was darker. The shadows behind it were too.

He didn’t comment on the change, just closing the front door behind him and taking in the living room.

It wasn’t clean, like his house. Or new and modern like his either.

My couch was well-loved, purchased second-hand on an online marketplace. So was the coffee table, and the barstools sitting in front of the island’s built-in table were too.

You could hardly see the furniture, because there were paint supplies, canvases, prints, and shipping materials piled everywhere.

My bedroom was just as bad.

Between my job and my business, I lived art. And didn’t have anywhere near enough space.

Maybe that was part of the reason why Jade and I were out hiking as often as possible. Her place was even smaller than mine.

Then again, my wolf forced me to get outside frequently. So that was her fault.

Graham whistled slowly. “Nico wasn’t kidding about the art thing.”

Though he called it the art thing, there was no judgment behind the words. Some people looked down on artists. I’d been told I needed to pick a real job dozens of times, as if there was no way to make money in the industry.

It wasn’t as simple as just applying for a normal job, but it was possible. I was making it happen, and had been for years.

Graham made his way through the living room with a surprising amount of ease, looking at every piece he passed. He took his time, and there was no denying that he was impressed based on the expression he wore.

“She’s amazing,” he told Furball, when he reached the corner of the room. There was no sarcasm behind the words.

He looked through the two large, stacked plastic boxes that had the materials necessary for my university job. “Are these for her classes? They’re different than everything else.”

My wolf nodded.

He closed the boxes, not as interested in that stuff.

Graham took two steps toward the bathroom before someone knocked loudly on my door.

My wolf hadn’t looked at the clock, but I knew it wasn’t noon yet. Noon was when Jade would meet me at my place for our hike.

Which meant Maya was at my door.

Graham glanced at my wolf. “It’s probably best if I pretend not to be here.”

She didn’t answer.

Furball and I both knew Maya wouldn’t just leave.

She knocked again, just as loudly. “I know you’re in there, I see your truck outside!” Her voice was muffled by the door, but I could definitely still hear her.

Graham looked back at my wolf.

She made her way to his side and stepped in front of him, like she was trying to block his body with hers again.

Maya unlocked the door with her key, and it swung open quickly.

Her eyes landed on Graham. And narrowed.

He lifted his hands in surrender, like he had when he met my wolf.

She didn’t waste any time. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Graham. I assume you’re Maya.”

“What are you doing here, and how did you get Stella’s truck?” She ignored his question, which didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

“That’s a good question.” Graham lifted one of his hands to rub the back of his neck.

He couldn’t have realized that she was like me. An unmated female werewolf.

Which put him in the awkward position of trying to come up with a reasonable explanation to have taken a stranger’s vehicle to their apartment.

Abby had been able to make up somewhat plausible shit when Nico was stuck in his wolf form, but that situation was completely different.

Thankfully, my wolf chose that moment to growl at Maya.

My friend’s attention snapped downward.

Her eyes went wide. “Why is Stella in wolf form?”

The question made it pretty clear that she wasn’t a stranger to the world of werewolves.

Graham picked up on that, too.

“Her wolf is hunting me.”

Maya blinked once.

Then again.

She finally let out a harsh breath and closed the front door behind her.

My wolf growled again, more threateningly.

Maya leaned against the door, her hands at her sides as she tried to shrink a little.

“I’m not a threat to your mate,” she told my wolf.

“Easy, Furball.” Graham started scratching her head again. My wolf didn’t relax, but she did stop growling. “I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way I can run Stella’s business for her. It doesn’t seem like her wolf’s interested in a short hunt.”

“How did this even happen?” Maya asked.

Graham shrugged. “Same way it always does. Our eyes met, her wolf called me mate, and she shifted.”

“But you should be hunting her.”

“I was rejected. My wolf already made it through his hunt.”

“So her wolf is the one who picked you?”

“Guess so.”

Maya shoved a hand through her hair, her expression somewhere between shocked and horrified. “Fuck.”

I was pretty sure she was more worried about herself than she was about me. We knew we were technically in danger of ending up mated again, but we had kept to ourselves enough that we thought we could avoid it.

And Maya’s experience with mating was much, much worse than mine.

I expected Graham to ask her how she knew about werewolves or if she was one herself, but he didn’t.

I liked that.

Respected the hell out of it, even.

“Do you have any idea how I could keep up with this?” He gestured to the stuff for my business. It was definitely a mess, but I knew where every single thing was, and had perfected the process.

Yeah, it could probably be more perfect without being as much of a wreck as it was. But why fix what wasn’t broken?

“I’ve helped her fill orders a couple of times,” Maya admitted. “I can show you how it works. She ran a big sale a few days ago, so there’s a shit ton to do right now.”

“Thanks.”

“I don’t know how you’re going to get her out of work at the university without it costing her job,” Maya warned, taking a step toward Graham.

My wolf snarled, and my friend stopped abruptly. Her hands were still up, but she lifted them higher.

“My uncle is one of Moon Ridge’s top doctors. I should be able to get her a note,” Graham said.

Maya opened her mouth to argue—then closed it.

That was my best chance at keeping the job, and she knew it.

“I think you’re going to have to give me a rundown of the process from over there,” Graham said. “Furball is pretty possessive.”

Maya grimaced at the nickname, but started walking him through the steps.

It took a lot longer than it would’ve if she could move closer, but she couldn’t.

It was lunch time when Graham finally had his first order packaged, and Maya let out a relieved breath. “You’ve got it?”

“Sure.” Graham was still being too laid-back. I didn’t think there was any way he’d figured it all out.

“Great. I’m going to go.” Maya pointed to the door.

“Thanks for the help.”

“Sure. Text me from Stella’s phone if you need anything. I live nearby.”

She didn’t want him to know she lived next door, which I understood.

Maya reached for the door just as it opened behind her.

Jade was in the entryway.

Crap.

Jade didn’t notice Graham at first and greeted our friend. “Hey, Maya.”

“Hey!” Maya threw way too much enthusiasm into her voice as she spun toward Jade. She made a frantic gesture behind her back, clearly telling Graham to hide.

He didn’t move.

Maybe he didn’t understand what she was trying to say.

Jade tried to step past Maya, but Maya stepped with her, blocking her out.

“Stella’s in the bathroom. She’s sick,” Maya said quickly.

“Is that why she’s not answering my messages?”

“Yeah. If she’s not feeling better soon, I’ll have to take her to the hospital. The one out in Moon Ridge.”

Jade’s forehead creased. “Why would you need to go that far?”