Page 16 of The Bookish Girl’s Guide to Mating with a Werewolf (Mate Hunted #1)
thirteen
ABBY
We spent the rest of the weekend at Nico’s place. Most of that time was dedicated to letting our wolves run free. Shifting was getting much less painful, so his coaching was working.
He said the credit belonged to me, and that being willing to accept and respect my wolf was what changed things.
I still thought it was his doing, but I wasn’t going to tell him that I wasn’t as awesome as he insisted.
He hated when I did that, and I was actually feeling kind of awesome.
Another week passed uneventfully, and we made it back to my apartment early Sunday afternoon.
When that night came around, I picked up my phone while we snuggled on the couch to watch a movie together. Nico was locked in, so I turned the brightness on my device down and opened the email I’d gotten on Friday.
The university wanted my final decision, and a signed contract if I was interested in teaching online.
It came with enough of a pay raise to tell me that they really wanted me to take the job… and I couldn’t imagine commuting back and forth between the college town and the pack’s land if there was another choice.
So I bit my lip, peeked up at Nico long enough to decide that his gorgeous face (and personality, of course) was worth it, and signed the contract for the online position.
Tensing slightly, I waited for regret to set in.
It didn’t.
I was having too much fun being a werewolf.
Too much fun being mated to one, too.
I still didn’t know exactly what next semester would look like for us, but we had time to figure it out. And to be honest, I was pretty sure I was going to love it.
…After I got the balls to tell my friends I was moving to Moon Ridge.
That was going to suck.
Putting my phone down, I decided not to tell Nico yet, either. Just in case it changed things.
I’d tell him when the time felt right, or when it came up naturally in a conversation.
We still had two full months until I’d need to move, so there was no rush.
I bit back a smile as I leaned up against Nico’s side a little more. He absentmindedly adjusted his arm to pull me closer, his attention still on the movie.
I’d never felt loved before. It was a strange feeling, but one I definitely liked.
Curiosity played on the edges of my mind while we watched.
Was Nico falling in love with me?
Was I falling in love with him?
I wasn’t sure about the first question, but the second?
Yeah. I was pretty certain that was happening.
That made me nervous, but also happy.
Really happy.
After another week on campus and another drive back to Moon Ridge, we collapsed on the couch at Nico’s place together Friday night.
I groaned, loudly, against Nico’s chest. “My wolf needs to get her shit together and bite you already.”
We had a few days off for Fall Break, so getting the sexy stage of the mate bond over with that weekend would be ideal.
He chuckled. “She’ll bite me when she’s ready, Abbs.”
I propped myself up on my chest and eyed him. “Maybe if you tried to talk her into it…”
He shook his head, though he still looked amused. “I’m not going to try to talk her into making a permanent decision any more than I would with you.”
I made a face.
He hadn’t brought up my online job offer, and I was pretty sure he remembered me talking about it, so he was probably referring to that.
My decisions were my own. Just like my wolf’s were her own.
“What do you think will make her sure enough to do it?”
“More sex.”
I laughed.
He gave me a small, crooked smile as he tangled his fingers in my hair.
It was a mess. I’d skipped brushing it that day.
“If sex was going to convince her, she would’ve done it ages ago,” I said.
We still hooked up most days, so our relationship definitely wasn’t lacking that.
“Do you think she wants you to love me first?” I wondered. “Or vice versa?”
Nico didn’t answer right away, still playing with the tangles in my hair.
“Do you think you could love me, without a completed mate bond?” I added, my voice growing quieter and less certain. I focused my attention on his lips, so I didn’t have to look him in the eyes while he answered.
Nico’s knuckle dipped beneath my chin. He tipped my head back just a little, stopping when our brown-eyed gazes met. “Abby,” he said, his voice soft but steady. “I’ve been falling in love with you since the moment you rammed me with your shopping cart and nicknamed me after a vegetable.”
My cheeks flushed. “Those weren’t my best moments.”
“Like hell they weren’t.” He brushed his thumb lightly over my bottom lip.
“I don’t know what your wolf is waiting for, but I trust her to make sure I’m the best possible mate for both of you before she bites me.
I don’t give a damn how long it takes. My feelings for you have nothing to do with where we’re at in the mating process. ”
“Okay,” I whispered.
My wolf brushed up against whatever separated us as if she was thinking about coming out. I wasn’t even sure if that divider was mental, physical, or something else entirely.
“Okay.” He dragged his thumb over my bottom lip again. “There was a horny bastard in the front row of your last class. I still want to kill him. He couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
“I’m sure he was just paying attention to the lecture like he was supposed to.”
“I’m sure he would be more respectful about it with my claws to his throat.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you jealous?”
“Jealous? No. Possessive? Extremely.” Nico leaned in and kissed me. The brush of his lips against mine was light but lingering. “All I could think about was getting you here and making sure you smelled like me.”
Nico’s scent wouldn’t scare off any human man, but he didn’t need me to tell him that.
I knew exactly what he wanted when his possessiveness struck.
“Just rip my pants off already, Cucumber.”
His eyes flashed with challenge. “Is that an order, Abbs?”
“Yeah. I’ll be the alpha today.”
“Good. You want me on my knees for you?” He kneeled at the foot of the couch and hooked his fingers in the waistband of my pants.
“Hell yeah,” I breathed, watching him tug the fabric slowly down my thighs.
My wolf brushed up against the border between us one more time—and I shuddered as she suddenly forced her way through.
Rather than fight her the way I wanted to, I fought my own instinct to try to keep her out.
My body arched with the shift.
The pain was lighter, this time. Shallower, and more distant.
The shift ended almost immediately, and Nico tugged the rest of my clothes free from her fur as he flashed her a playful look.
“Couldn’t let your human have all the fun, huh?”
She licked his face—then chomped down on his shoulder.
I winced at the violence of it. I’d fought like hell not to pay attention when she hunted a small critter on two different occasions. Biting him was almost as bad.
Nico scratched her behind her ears and thanked her for accepting him while she pulled away and licked his wound clean.
There was only one word I could think of to describe the look in his eyes:
Devotion.
My wolf receded quickly, and the shift back was completely painless as a wave of heat rolled through my body.
I shuddered with it, and watched Nico’s eyes dilate as I sat down on the couch.
“Guess this is the climax,” I breathed, my legs falling open.
“Thank fuck.”
I opened my mouth to agree—but ended up crying out as his tongue found my clit.
Thank fuck indeed.
We screwed on the couch.
On the table.
In the shower.
Against the laundry machine, while it ran.
On a chair.
On the wood floor.
When we weren’t lost in each other’s bodies, we were doing the same things we usually did—but just for a little while, before need whisked us away again.
Five days later, we were sprawled out on the couch on the porch, watching the sun rise over the lake with hooded eyes. We’d stumbled outside after our last round of sex, exhausted and fairly confident that the climax was finally over.
If it was finally over, we were now fully and completely mated.
Birds chirped around us at random intervals while we spooned each other on the cushions, naked beneath the blanket that needed a good washing.
Like everything else in the house.
We’d get to that. Eventually.
The lake’s surface looked like glass, and the way the leaves blew lightly in the wind was absolutely idyllic.
“I still hate dirt,” I murmured to Nico.
He chuckled, low and rumbly. “I didn’t expect you not to.”
“I like you more than I hate dirt, though,” I admitted. “I’m falling in love with you too.”
“Good.” He kissed my forehead, then my cheek. “I?—”
“Abby?” A loud, female voice called. It was on the other side of the house, but far enough that I couldn’t make it out right away.
“I think that’s one of my friends,” I whispered.
“How do they know where we live?”
“We track each other’s phones.”
“Abby!” she called again.
“I think it’s Stella,” I said.
“I haven’t been around them enough to know.”
“Why do you think she’s here?”
“Have you checked your phone recently?”
“I…” I trailed off. “No. It died a few days ago and I didn’t plug it in.”
Nico kissed my shoulder. “She probably thinks I murdered you, or that your dog finally attacked you.”
“He kind of did.” I swatted him lightly, and he nipped at my fingers, making me laugh.
“ABBY!” Stella shouted.
It was definitely her.
I eased myself off the couch, wincing at the slight aches and pains. They’d be gone pretty quickly, but neither of us had been careful. Or gentle. “I’ll grab some clothes and talk to her before she wakes up the rest of the pack.”
“I’m coming.” Nico followed me inside, opening the door for me before I got to it myself.
One of his t-shirts had been ditched on the floor a few days later, so I tugged it over my head while he stepped into a pair of shorts.
Stella was still calling my name outside.
I grimaced as I hurriedly wiped the mess of Nico’s release off my inner thighs and stumbled out to the front porch. He grabbed the door for me again, close at my heels.