Page 10 of Fearful Mate

“Lola...”

“No,” she says cutting me off.“I’ve already been hurt before, and I won’t let your hormones or mine dictate whether we should be a mated couple.Jumping into this in a rush will only hurt both of us.Go home.We can talk in the morning.”

“But...”

“Please, Thomas,” she begs, and I know I will never be able to deny her a single damn thing.

With a heavy heart and a tattered soul, I turn away from her and head home.

****

Lola

He doesn’t stay away even though I know he tried.His beast has other plans.All night, he paces outside Caine’s house.I watch from the window above him as he prowls the area, making sure I am safe.His animal knows he wants to honor my request, but his nature will not allow him to be far from me.Not now that he has found me, and not once we are mated.If we are ever mated.

I wanted to give myself over to him the moment he broke down the door but what I said remains true.I don’t want to simply be his mate because it’s what fate deemed correct or necessary.I want a mate who wants me, not just any mate.Not that I’ll know how to tell the difference, but I believe I will.

So instead of giving myself over to my baser instincts I remain inside, away from my mate.I lie in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, wishing he would go away and leave me in peace while simultaneously praying to the Goddess that he never gives up on me.An hour before sunrise, I slip from beneath the covers and make my way downstairs.

In the past twenty-four hours I have requested to join this pack, attacked a stranger, found my mate, and invaded the home of the pack Alpha.The least I can do is make breakfast.

I spend the next hour acquainting myself with Peyton’s kitchen and cooking up a storm.It has always been one of my coping mechanisms.Whenever I get stressed, I cook and bake.The Thorn Pack always said I was wasteful, not that anyone ever told me they didn’t want my food, so I started to supress the urge.But this is just too stressful for me to keep the urge at bay.

“Fuck, woman.What did you do?”Peyton says, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Shame washes over me.How do I explain this fucking compulsion?“I’m sorry...”

“No, no, no,” she says with a wave of her hand, grabbing a banana-nut muffin and taking a big bite.She moans softly before swallowing.“I don’t care that you cooked, it gives me the morning off, but you are definitely going to spoil everyone and then I’ll have to up my game.”

“What smells so good?”The voice comes from behind and a shriek escapes me before I can stop it.

Everything happens in a blur.One minute I am looking at a younger version of Caine and the next, Thomas has him pinned to the ground, teeth bared.I grab his ear and yank him back with all my strength, trying my best to dislodge him from the other man.

“Thomas, stop!”I demand.“He didn’t do anything.It was just a jump scare.”

Thomas looks at me, never moving his weight.He assesses me, making sure I am not injured before he steps back.His beast sniffs me before rubbing his big head on my thigh.

“Go home,” I say scratching between his eyes.“Shift back, get dressed, and join us for breakfast.”The giant onyx wolf huffs, sitting down beside my feet.“I’m serious.Besides, you know these people, they’ll never hurt me.”

With a grunt of disapproval, he glares at everyone before walking away.

“Seems we may have missed something while we were out hunting last night,” a pixie-like woman says while she helps the other man up from the floor.

“Talon.”Peyton addresses the woman with a chuckle.“That is the understatement of the fucking year.”

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