Page 31 of Claimed by the Pack

“Shut the fuck up. Tell me why you were with my mate.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Your mate, huh? Are you sure she's your mate Ridge? I mean, you've been with a lot of women, human women...you sure you're not just bored with the easy ones and looking to go after a challenge?”

“Screw you, Chase. Of course I'm sure. I'm so sure that I went to Will tonight and told him, I have to have her.” Chase's eyes widened at that. I was beginning to worry that Grayson was right and maybe Chase was interested in Cheyenne the same way I was.

“What did he say?”

“He's going to get back to me. Now tell me what you and Cheyenne talked about.”

“Got another beer?” he asked, as he strolled over to my refrigerator. He was suddenly so confident. Where did this version of my friend come from? He got his beer and sat down at my table and twisted off the top. I was trying to keep myself in check, but I was growing more annoyed by the minute. Finally, after taking a long swig of his beer he said, “We talked about us.”

“Us? You and her?” That anger was beginning to sizzle in my blood again.

“No. Us...wolves.”

My pulse quickened. “You spoke to her about us?”

“Come on man, she saw you and me and Chelsea shift...hell, she's seen me naked.” I clenched my fists at my sides. He looked at my hands but ignored them as he went on. “She wanted to know more about us, how we lived.”

“What did you tell her?”

“The truth. I told her we basically lived as humans, but that sometimes we got the itch and had to run in the woods, or mountains, or along the ocean, or whatever. She kind of got that. She told me that she likes to walk on the beach when she's feeling stressed.”

“So,” I said, sitting down in another chair at the table, “It seemed like she would be agreeable to that lifestyle? Our lifestyle?”

“She did, actually...for the most part.”

“What do you mean...for the most part?”

“She's human, Ridge. She doesn't want to be claimed. She doesn't want to be marked, or in her words, “owned.” She's not going to be the submissive that you want or imagine her to be.”

“I don't see her as submissive. All those times we talked at the club, she told me about coming 3000 miles from her home and her family to take this job and make it on her own. I saw the pride in her eyes, and it made her even more beautiful. I'd never want to take her independence from her, Chase. I just want her...worse than I've ever wanted anything.”

Chase's features softened and the smug look he'd had since he came in the door faded. “You really think she's your mate, don't you?”

“I know she is, Chase. I need her. She's the other half of me.”

“Ridge...there's something I need to tell you...” he was interrupted by a knock on the door, and something told me, it was probably a good thing.

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