Page 82 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“How nice,” I said and looked at her neck, puzzled.

She noticed and laughed.

“Yeah, we’re unmarked. Noah really wanted to study and do his residency here, and I didn’t want to leave my life in Cali, so we decided to stay unmarked until we could live in the same place. Otherwise, our wolves would go crazy.”

It really was crazy. It was the craziest thing I’d ever heard. But then I remembered what Dominic had told me about their pack, and I was no longer surprised.

“Well, it was great meeting you both. We have to get going now. Enjoy your stay, Jennifer.”

As soon as we were out of earshot, all strength leached from Charlotte’s body, and she collapsed in a sobbing heap. Most of what she was saying was unintelligible, but the two most repeated words were “believe” and “stupid”. Hank drove us to Lynn’s house, where I explained the situation and had a cup of tea before heading back home to Gabriel.

I was more shaken by the meeting than I could let on in front of Charlotte. The bizarre way in which these wolves approached mating, together with my mate’s personal history and that lying dirtbag Noah’s calm face that betrayed nothing, had truly rattled me.

When I got home, I still had about an hour left before I had to go get Gabriel. Before I could talk myself out of it, I went into the nursery and took Dominic’s letters out from their drawer. Iinitially wanted to read only the first one, but once I started, I couldn’t stop.

His handwriting was exactly like him – the lines were decisive and stern, they stopped abruptly, and had no unnecessary additions or flourishes. In some places, he’d pressed the pen so hard against the paper that he had almost torn through it.

As soon as I was done reading, I knew I’d be re-reading them all before the day was over. There was so much about my mate and our first year together that I had completely misjudged, but I had to go and get my pup.

“He just fell asleep,” Florence informed me when she opened the door, then frowned slightly. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. Could you please make me a cup of tea?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll just go check on something in your spare room, okay?”

“Go ahead, you're the one who brought all of that stuff over anyway.”

I entered the room where I’d moved Cassie’s stuff. It took me a while, but I finally found the box that I remembered was full of papers. With shaky hands, I found the letters Dominic had written as a hopeful young pup to a female who he hadn’t met yet. And as I read them, I cried my heart out for my poor mate.

19 - The Letters

April 20, 2021

D?e?a?r?

M?a?t?e?,

Penelope,

My head is still reeling from everything that happened today. Being blessed with a second chance mate is a rare gift, one that I know I should be happy about.

Were you even aware how strongly your claws had gripped my shirt? I can’t get the image of you out of my mind – your huge, dark eyes, your thick, long hair... I? w?o?n?d?e?r?

When your father shook you, I almost killed him. Why didn’t you tell him we were mates? Why were you just staring at me even as he was yelling at you?

Never mind all that.

A simple truth about me is that, ever since I was a young pup, my life has been marked by so much loss that my heart is now a barren field. You look like the kind of female who’d try to plant something in it, and your disappointment will be hard to bear, but it’s better for both of us to make peace with it now.

As I was anxiously pacing my room earlier this evening, my wolf (who was still drunk on your smell) was urging me to go to you,to touch you, to do something about our mate, so I sat down to write this.

I don’t know if I’ll ever let you read this. It’s the mating custom of my pack to write your mate letters from the age of 15 all the way up to meeting them. As you can guess, my letters have already been given to another female. Another thing you’ll be deprived of through no fault of your own, simply due to being mated with me.

What I said to you in the garden, it didn’t come out right. What I meant to say was,SORRY. You don’t deserve this. Any of this. I’m so sorry. You seem so young and so quiet and so nice.

Although, looks can be deceiving. I don’t know what to make of you. You just look at me with those eyes, and I – and it’s even worse when youdon’tlook at me.

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