Page 290 of Labor of Love

“I’m glad you have friends like them. It’s important to surround yourself with a strong team.”

“Of course,” I said. I shrugged away his comments. I was only doing what was necessary for the pack.

“All right, I need to get ready for my day. Thanks for the rundown.”

These early-morning meetings were a daily occurrence now that the pack had grown so large.

“Yeah, what’s up with the getup?” I said, indicating the suit he had only half on. He wore a pair of dark blue slacks and a stark white button-up. His tie rested on the back of his chair.

“Court date at the county for the chunk of land.”

“That’s today? How did I miss that? Do you have everything you need?” I flipped through the pages of my planner. I had notes on this. We’d been working on this for months, and if the court date was today— “Oh, crap.” Dread pooled in my stomach. What if I forgot something that Tyler needed?

Tyler reached out like he was going to put a hand on my shoulder, but I knew he would not. One of the unspoken rules between us was we did not touch. But I wanted. And that want had started to grow more recently, to the point where I almost couldn’t fight it anymore.

But did I really have to? Maybe it was time for the two of us to finally be mates for real. No.

I mean, maybe?

But also, no.

Fuck, why were relationships so complicated?

“It’s fine, Theo. If I had needed anything, I would have asked. With any luck, I’ll come home and we’ll own a hundred extra acres.”

“That would be nice.” Our pack had grown considerably, and we needed the extra space.

He stood up, grabbed his tie, and put it around his neck. He started fumbling with it. “I hate these damn things,” he said.

Without thinking, I stood also, stepped closer to him, and pushed his hands away. “Let me,” I said.

It didn’t take long, and I had a perfect Windsor knot that I tightened and pushed against his collar, making sure not to choke him—though it was a little tempting to push it a little too tight just to tease him. But we were on a tight schedule, and playing around wasn’t on the agenda.

“There,” I said.

I patted his chest, smoothed down the tie, and then brushed my hands over his broad shoulders, the heat of him warming my palms. His chest was mere inches from my face. Had I ever been this close to him? Of course I had. Hadn’t I?

He let out a strangled moan and stepped back. I looked up into his eyes.

He cleared his throat. “Theo, maybe we should?—”

His phone went off, a loud, shrill sound—an alarm he had set to know when to leave the house. My alpha was ever the punctual sort.

If anyone found out that he was mated to Theo the basket case, they would probably lose their damn minds. I worked hard to be the mate he deserved, and I hoped that I was at least making progress to build a strong reputation with the pack.

“I better get going,” I said.

“Theo—”

“We’ll talk later,” I said, waving over my shoulder.

Tyler was the very best alpha we had. The pack was strong. The den was strong.

Mating with me would be seen as a weakness. The Alpha picking someone as silly as me wouldn’t go over well. I was no Alpha Mate, even if I wanted to be. Even if I knew that was exactly who I was supposed to be.

Ever since I turned eighteen and realized that Tyler was my fated mate.

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