Page 55 of Tolerated By the Sigma (Mate Hunt 7)

He laughed. “Sure you didn’t.”

There was a pause, followed by a snarl. “Who the fuck is Austin?”

I frowned. “Last name?”

“There’s a fucking heart next to it,” Ryder snarled again.

Ohhh.

“He’s just a guy from one of my old packs. In high school, everyone used to say we’d end up as mates. We believed them—it was a thing. Got awkward when we weren’t, and he hasn’t messaged me since then. Weird that he did. What does it say?”

“That he’s bringing you food in an hour, and the message is from an hour ago.” Ryder said, his voice still growly. “I’ll answer the door.”

“Not with that attitude.” I eased myself up to a bit of a sitting position, wincing at the soreness in my vagina. Apparently, even werewolf healing hadn’t cured the after effects of a good dicking right away. In an hour or two though, I was sure I’d be golden.

“Did he touch you?” Ryder asked, staring at me with red, wolfy eyes. “Kiss you? What was the extent of your belief that you were mates?”

I slid off the counter, and Ryder practically dove forward to catch me. He apparently realized even before I landed on my feet that those suckers were not ready to hold my jelly legs upright. “Oof,” I grumbled against his shoulder.

“I’m going to need you to answer me, Kelley.”

“Do you have to call me that? I feel like you’re my sexy football coach or something. ‘Get your ass over to that goal box, Kelley,’,” I mimicked.

Ryder lifted an eyebrow. “Did you play football?”

“Of course not.” I blew a puff of air out of my eyes. “It’s kind of a long story. And let’s not act like you’ve told me your every life detail—I know about the house you signed over to Lisa. Del accidentally let that one slip.”

He frowned. “Of course I signed the house over to Lisa; I was doing everything I could to get as far the fuck away from her as I could while still staying in this damned town so I didn’t break my parents’ hearts. I fought her on it at first because she had been such a bitch to me, but when I decided I wanted a clear break I gave her everything so she’d leave me the fuck alone. That’s nothing like not telling me about an emotional attachment you shared with someone you thought you’d spend your life with.”

Fuck me backward.

TWENTY-TWO

There wasa knock on the door, and we were both still naked.

“I’ll tell you everything after we get rid of him,” I told Ryder, completely serious. “But you’re going to have to let me see him, because he’ll bring word to the whole pack after this, and the main alpha’s son is the alpha of that pack so shit could go down if I don’t.” The sentence didn’t make much sense to my own ears, but Ryder didn’t look confused.

His eyes did narrow a bit, though. “You haven’t communicated with him since you were eighteen?”

“I haven’t. And believe me, there are no lingering feelings on my end.”

“What about his?”

I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t think he’s met his mate yet, because of what he’s posted on social media, but I can’t imagine he still holds a torch for me. We tried not to fall in love or anything.”

Ryder’s eyes narrowed further. “You follow him on social media?”

I stepped forward and grabbed Ryder’s face between my hands. “You’re going to have to trust me on this one, okay? I will explain everything, but right now, I need you to play nice. People in town already think you’re more animal than human, and we don’t want them coming to our door with pitchforks. Touch me as much as you want in the five seconds they’re here, give me a damned hickey if you want—but play nice.”

His eyes relaxed a bit. “I’ll grab our clothes.”

I nodded, eyeing the door as someone knocked again.

Another text from Austin came through.

Austin: Are you home?

I quickly went into his contact info and removed the heart from beside his name, adding in a last name too.

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