His Desired Mate

Middle of Nowhere

Asha

“Did you have work today?” Laney asks me, attempting to start a small talk. That, however, only draws everyone’s attention to me. I guess this night is just going to keep getting awkward for me.

“No, I do shift work. I actually don’t work until next Sunday night,” I reply.

“Sunday night? Wow, how long does your workplace stay open?” Jace asks.

Great, are they all just going to gang up on me and ask questions. Why can’t they ask Nat a few? I see Nat sipping away the wine that the waitress had moved to our new table. She flashes me a smile. It’s like she is enjoying the show.

“24/7,” I reply.

“So, are you a waitress or a stripper?” Trevor asks with a glint in his eyes.

I turn and look at him straight in the eye. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nat choking on her wine. Good. Serves Nat right. Laney smacks Trevor’s arm. I can’t help but laugh. Alright, Trevor. I will play your game.

“Which one do you think I am, Trevor?” I respond suggestively.

“Tricky. You are hot enough to be both. I hope you are just a waitress though for my sake. Max looks like he is going to kill me for looking at you,” he says smiling. I look to see Max scowling.

I laugh out loud. I have no idea why Max feels upset over those comments, but I am not done with Trevor yet.

“Trevor, are those the only places that I could possibly work? Do you not know anything else that’s open 24/7?” I ask.

“I am unashamed to say that those are the only places I am aware of that could be open 24/7,” he says truthfully.

Nat and I both have a good laugh at that. Someone is a dirty boy.

“I work in the emergency room,” I say. I notice that Max visibly relaxes.

“So you are a nurse...” Trevor starts.

“That’s very sexist, Trevor!” I interrupt before he can say anything else.

“Well in my defense, s*x is pretty much all I think about,” he explains.

“Oh goodness, this is too good! Trevor, I like how you think, but she’s a doctor. She has never been a stripper, but that girl can dance!” Nat exclaims pointing at me, “we are having our biannual dance off this Friday. You all should come. It will be a blast!”

Agh!! This girl just invited a bunch of hot men and women to my house for a biannual FAMILY only event.

“Woah, we will be there!” Riley answers.

I guess that means Max will be at my house watching me dance. I want to hit my head against the wall. Why was everyone just bringing him closer to me? Why does he have to look so good? I am going to resist. I have to. I am not doing this again.

Max

I finally found her. She is beautiful. Her hair was black, her eyes were dark brown. She was wearing a sexy black dress that showed off so much skin. Makes me want to see more. The restaurant’s light made her brown skin shine. She looks like a goddess.

She is, also, a human, which was the only disappointing part. Not because there was anything wrong with humans, but she probably doesn’t know anything about shifters. She probably doesn’t feel the mate pull. What if I tell her those things and she fears me? I just can’t think about that right now.

Suddenly, I just get the urge to be close to her. I stand up and start walking her direction. I hear that she is celebrating an anniversary. It makes me so jealous. All I want to do is push her against the wall and mark her. She is mine, she will not be celebrating anniversaries with anyone else!

I walk up to her until her back is up against a wall. I hear her heart pounding. Did I already scare her? It hurts to think that my mate is already scared of me. I lean down close to her neck. I see the goosebumps form on her neck. I take a big whiff of her intoxicating tangerine smell.

My wolf, Jason, is going crazy, he just wants to mark her already. I try to resist all my desires, but then smell of her arousal hits me. f**k!

“Max!” I hear Riley. I finally get some common sense back and apologize and walk away. I sit back down and just stare at my feet. I don’t know what to do. I want my mate so so bad. I close my eyes trying to gain full control of myself.

Then, I hear her walk to me. She touches my hair before she, and I have to fight the sensation she creates within me. Her touch sets me off. It goes straight down my body, and this simple contact is all I need to start getting hard. f**k!

She walks away. I don’t want to lose her already, but I am not sure what I can do either. Luckily she sits at a table close by and being wolves, we can hear everything from that table.

She is sitting with a girl. I am a little confused. Are these girls romantically involved? What kind of anniversary are they celebrating? The girl is definitely checking us out. Listening to their conversation is driving my crazy.

Asha says something about the girl being married, that can only mean... they are definitely friends! Or in some weird relationship? I am going with “friend” because that’s all Jason can handle right now.

The more I listen to their conversation the more hilarious her friend sounds but then I hear something about a date. The conversation continues and they both refer to some guy who hurt my mate. My mate had to go see a therapist? That’s it, Jason wants blood.

I stand up. “I’m going to kill him,” Jason pushes forward and tells everyone at that table. Laney, the Gamma female, pulls me back down. “Sit down Max, you aren’t going to kill anyone right now. Tell Jason to chill. Does he want to act like an animal and lose his mate? I bet if you scare that little human girl, she is going to run,” she tells me.

That’s enough to get me to sit down. I try to relax but the emotional roller coaster I am in right now is too much! They joke about fake anniversaries and pregnancies. Who jokes about those things? What is wrong with these girls? I look at my Luna, Riley, and mindlink her.

My wolf is about to lose it again. What do I do?

Don’t worry Max. I will handle it.

She slowly gets up and walks over to their table. She introduces herself and asks them to join our table. Our Alpha, Jace, and our Gamma, Trevor, get up with lightening speed and pull up two chairs. Jace tells the waitress to get their drinks since they will be joining us. By the time the girls come to the table, everything is already set up.

I feel a little nervous but she makes conversation easy. Sometimes the conversation gets to me from time to time, but Asha sitting next to me is all I need to calm myself down. She smells like tangerines, and I want to eat her.

Everything concerning her sparks my interest. She is a doctor, she can dance. Did her friend just invite us over to see Asha dance? Yes! I would love to see that woman wiggle around. I would prefer it if she were wiggling around under me, but I will take what I can get.

Asha reaches over and takes Nat’s wine. She chugs it down.

“Just kidding ladies and gentlemen. Asha will probably be dancing on our tabletop tonight,” Nat jokes.

“At least I won’t remember a thing,” Asha responds.

I can’t help but smile at their interaction. “How long have you both known each other?” I ask.

“Her, I just met her. She currently has the title of best friend but she’s about to be replaced,” Asha says glaring at Nat. She isn’t happy with the situation Nat had put her in. I, on the other hand, want to kiss Nat on the cheek. Riley and Nat have brought me closer to my mate, and I owe them big.

“Oh whatever. I have known her my whole life. Our dads were college roommates, our moms were friends, and we were born the same year. She isn’t blood but she is as close as it gets. She is my sister,” Nat tells me.

Their relationship is basically like the ones I have with Trevor and Jace. It’s good to know that there are some humans who stick together like that. Nat orders more wine and starts her drinking. The more she drinks, the more she talks.

We eat dinner while Nat starts spewing out so many crazy things that we can’t help but laugh at her rants. At some point, Nat asks if I am single. When I say yes, she starts setting me up on a date with Asha. I look at Asha, she is wide eyed and looks horrified. It hurts my ego a bit, but I am not going to force her into a situation she doesn’t want to be in.

“It’s okay, Asha. We don’t have to go out on a date,” I say as I put on a fake smile. She turns to me and reaches out to hold my hand as she says, “I would love to go out on a date with you. What’s your number? I can text you mine, and we can set up a time.”

I smell her citrusy goodness and nod. I give her my number and hope she texts me. She was put on the spot and agreed to go out with me under pressure. I don’t want to coerce her to date me, I want her to actually want to date me. At some point Asha excuses herself because she gets a call she needs to take.

I want to ask a very drunk Nat about the other guy they referred to while they were talking. However, that would give away that we were listening in on their conversation. I could probably trick Nat into telling me, but I know this is a conversation for Asha to have with me when she is ready. When Asha finally tells me who this guy is, I will go kill him.

I put that thought away in the back of my mind. My phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out to see a text, “Hello, stranger.” I can’t help but smile. She wants to go out with me!

Asha comes back to the table. “Well it was nice to meet you all! Thank you for dinner. Nat and I have to get going,” she tells us when she gets back to the table. Nat makes a pouty face and says, “but I am not done yet. Why do we have to leave?”

Asha seems a little stressed. I wonder who called her. Is it the other guy? I am going to enjoy killing this other guy for all the distress he is causing my mate.

“Steven's mom is in the hospital. I am going with Puffies to see her tomorrow. We have to go Nat. I want to cook for Abby,” Asha says.

“But Abby lives in Colorado. How are you going there?” Nat asks.

“Jake is going to fly us in the morning,” I tell her.

“Ooo, well his Cessna Skyhawk has four seats. You should take Max with you,” she says visibly winking at me. This girl was something else. I could kiss her.

Asha looks at me and back at Nat. “Nat, Max surely has other things to do. He can’t just drop everything and go on an impromptu trip to the middle of nowhere in Colorado. I don’t even know which hospital Abby is in right now,” she says.

Little does she know that I would always drop everything I am doing to go to the middle of any place with her.

“I would love to go to the middle of nowhere in Colorado with you” I tell her.