Page 10 of The Bookish Girl’s Guide to Mating with a Werewolf (Mate Hunted #1)
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NICO
We were both significantly less awkward around each other after fucking in the bathroom. She told me more about her job while she let me wash her hair, and asked me more about my pack. I answered all of her questions without hesitation.
They were my family.
They’d have a rough time accepting that I was taking a mate, if history was anything to go off of. We’d had discussions about the necessity of better reactions in the years since Kai met his mate, so I was pretty sure most of them would handle it just fine.
Minus Finn, possibly.
I’d deal with him, though.
Abby told me about her parents and younger sister on the drive home.
Her younger sister was the golden child and had always been treated much better, so Abby had distanced herself from her family when she went to college.
More, after she became a professor. She loved them, but she didn’t ever plan to be close with any of them.
I could understand that. I was the same way with my dad, though I did still visit my grandparents a few times a month.
When we turned down the dirt road that would eventually reach my pack’s land, I couldn’t help but tense a little.
This was where she might change her mind about staying with me.
My life was far from her ideal, even if I thought it was fucking perfect.
I’d never considered how a woman could fit into it. Or how I could fit into a woman’s life. Some things were going to have to change for both of us, because I wasn’t going to let her go.
“There’s a lot of dirt out here,” Abby said, grimacing as she peered back at the cloud following her little car.
We’d never bothered to pave the road out to the pack’s land.
Everyone voted on it and decided to put the money toward something else. According to Finn, the long, dusty drive added to the pack’s immersive wild vibes .
Silently, I tried to recall the price on the quote we’d been given a few years back.
If paving the road would make my mate more comfortable living at my place half the time—or more—I’d find the money.
“My house is dirt-free,” I said, hoping that would ease her nerves.
The look on her face said it didn’t.
Maybe she would feel differently when she saw it. Not the dirt, but the cabin. It was fairly new and had a killer view. It was also far enough away from my packmates’ houses that we would have privacy.
Then again, she was still worried I might murder her. Which didn’t exactly bode well for my chance of winning her over.
Not knowing anything about romance, relationships, or love didn’t help that either.
“Are your friends—err, packmates—going to hate me?” she asked, still staring out the window. “If most of them were rejected by women, I’d imagine they’re at least a little wounded. If not sexist.”
“Some of them used to hate women, but it’s been more than five years since the last one of us was rejected, and much longer for most. The wounds still sting, but they’ve faded.
Coaching mated women to find peace with their wolves forced most of them to deal with their inner demons, except Finn. And kind of Wyatt.”
“So Finn and Wyatt are going to hate me?”
“Hate is a strong word.”
She flashed me a look. “Tell me the truth, Nico.”
“They’ll probably avoid you, to be honest. Their mates did a number on them. Finn’s in particular.”
“Was she the one who was engaged?”
“No, that was Connor’s.”
“There are so many of them. It’s going to be hard to remember who’s who until I meet them all.”
“You’ll get it down.” After a moment of hesitation, I set my hand on her thigh and squeezed lightly.
Her hand landed on top of mine, small and warm.
She was fucking perfect.
“What happened to Finn?”
“If I tell you, I have to swear you to secrecy. The guys would kill me otherwise.”
Abby snorted. “I can’t imagine anyone being big enough to actually kill you.”
My lips curved slightly. “Male werewolves are all around the same size. If a couple of them teamed up, they could handle me.”
“I guess I have to believe you.” Her voice was soft, and playful. “I swear to pretend I know nothing. So, Finn?”
“Finn was barely eighteen when he met his mate. Jo. Don’t ever mention her name on the pack’s land. He still spirals.”
“Oof. Okay. I wouldn’t want to make anyone spiral.”
“Jo was… cruel. Controlling. Uninterested. She was twenty-four, and the age gap didn’t help. He was young and eager. She was bitter and hated desperation. They spent a few months together before her wolf finally rejected him.”
“Geez, that sucks.” I looked over, and found Abby grimacing. “What about Wyatt?”
I lifted a shoulder. “He hasn’t shared many details. From what we’ve gathered, they grew up together. Human women being raised in werewolf towns aren’t common, but they do exist. His mate was one of them. Corrine. He won’t spiral if you bring her up, but I still wouldn’t do it.”
“Noted.”
“Wyatt and Corrine were close friends through their childhood and teenage years. No one was surprised when they learned they were mates, but they had never been attracted to each other. They tried to make it work for almost a year before her wolf rejected him. Her wolf picked a second mate that night—his best friend. He packed a bag and was gone twenty minutes later.”
“Fuck.” Abby dragged a hand through her hair, mussing the smooth, damp strands. “I can’t even imagine how much that had to have sucked. For both of them.”
I made a noise of agreement. “Which is why I decided being unmated for the rest of my life was great.”
“No kidding.”
I squeezed her thigh again, then lifted my hand back to the steering wheel. “I wouldn’t change this, though.”
“I think it’s too early to say that. My wolf could do the same thing theirs did.”
“She could, and we would both survive it,” I agreed. “But she won’t.”
I hoped like hell that she wouldn’t, at least.
“What usually happens to women who reject their mates?”
“They typically move to a different city and lay low until their wolf picks someone else. Most of them aren’t single for more than a few years.”
“There aren’t any rejected women in your pack?” she checked.
“No. I’ve heard someone met one in Moon Ridge, but she’s never come out to our pack’s land. We wouldn’t turn her away, but I can’t imagine she would want to live with a bunch of rejected guys.”
“I guess not. Especially since people call you Feral .”
“Right.”
She dragged her hand through her hair again. “Assuming my wolf decides to bite you, and we have to figure out how to do life together for the rest of… well, our lives… what are we going to do?”
“That’s a good question.”
“But that’s not a good answer, Cucumber.”
I snorted. “Are you ever going to let that go?”
“Probably not. I read too many sex books for that.”
“What do sex books have to do with cucumbers?”
She shot me an incredulous look. “Tell me you didn’t just ask me that.”
“I can’t.”
“Dear Lord, Nico.” She shook her head, looking back at the window. “Do you know nothing about sexting?”
“Less than nothing.”
“How?”
“I live with a bunch of rejected guys, remember?”
“Still! You’ve obviously hooked up with plenty of women before, so?—”
“No, I haven’t.”
She flashed me a look. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not. My wolf wouldn’t let me sleep with anyone but my mate. No one’s will. Male werewolves are territorial of and loyal to their women long before we meet them.”
“That can’t be true.” Her look was now incredulous.
“I got off in a towel, Abby.”
The incredulousness faded slightly. “I thought you just found me sexy or something.”
“I do.”
“Only because you’ve never been with anyone else.”
My grip on the wheel tightened. “That’s not why.”
“You don’t really know that, though.”
My wolf’s growl rattled my chest. “Like hell I don’t.”
She didn’t reply, but her disagreement was pretty damn clear.
I turned down the road that led to my house, wrestling my wolf for the first time in nearly a decade as I tried to keep him quiet.
We passed Graham’s place, and Wyatt’s too, before I finally pulled up outside mine.
Taking a slow, steadying breath, I tried to calm the wolf.
And failed.
It was going to be a long fucking day if I couldn’t find peace with the beast again.