Mated to the Alpha

9

The f*****g door opens and my sexy little mate scurries out of the room before I can grab her.

“Wait—” I say as I go to chase after her.

But four huge bodies block the exit as they make their way into the room.

“Look at you,” Carter says with a laugh as he looks at my hospital gown. “I always knew you’d look good in a dress.”

I’m forced backward as Blake, Ethan, Carter, and Westin fill up the small space. Mila is gone. I want to chase after her but I think she needs some time to process everything, so I let her go.

“What the f**k happened to your face?” Westin asks with a gasp. “It’s hideous.”

“Oh s**t,” I mumble as I push past them to the bathroom. “Is it?”

I’m expecting to see purple bruises, swelling, and long gashes as I look in the mirror, but there’s nothing. I look perfectly normal.

“Ha ha, asshole,” I say as I come back out. “Really f*****g funny.”

“Your face looked much better when it was all banged up,” Westin says with a shake of his head. “The swelling hid all of your ugly features.”

“How are you feeling?” Blake asks. “Almost ready to get out of here?”

I suck in a breath. I feel well enough to go home but I don’t want to leave my girl. It’s going to kill me to walk away from Mila, even if it’s only for a couple of hours.

And I’m afraid to find out how my bear is going to react… He’s going to be mighty pissed.

“My body feels like it’s a hundred years old, but I can move around well enough and it’s going to heal faster now that my bones are finished healing.”

“So, you want to come home?” Blake asks with his eyebrows raised.

I hesitate and he sees it.

“What is it?”

“I found her.”

Saying it out loud brings a huge smile to my face. She’s not here to distract me so the full weight of it hits me hard. I found her. I found my mate.

“You found who?” Ethan asks carefully. “Not her her…”

I nod as my smile widens. “I found my mate. And guys, she’s so f*****g perfect. I can’t get over it.”

“And you never will,” Ethan says as he slaps my shoulder with his big heavy hand. I wince and he quickly apologizes. “s**t, sorry! I forgot you’re still healing.”

They all gather around, wanting to hear all about it.

I tell them all about Mila, but in the back of my mind, I’m only thinking one thing…

I have a date. With my mate. Tonight.

Mila

Just as Rylan promised, he’s waiting outside at 11:05. It’s dark with a crisp fall air and he looks sexier than ever as he leans on a light post, watching me with his intense blue-gray eyes.

I thought he couldn’t look any better than he did in an old faded hospital gown, but he looks absolutely drool-worthy in black jeans, a tight white shirt, and a brown suede jacket. His dark hair is styled and his beard is trimmed.

He spots me immediately and doesn’t take his eyes off mine, which is really annoying because I’d like at least a solid minute to stare at and study every inch of him.

“You look… incredible,” he says as he walks over. His eyes leave me warm everywhere he looks, which is everywhere.

I’m starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, we are mates.

I’ve heard about the intense love affairs of the lucky few women who get to be mated to a shifter. No one I know has experienced it before, but I’ve seen it on the cheesy talkshows. Topics like, I never knew love until a shifter marked me, or My bear shifter husband jumped off a building for me and survived!

I always thought they were so ridiculous and laughed through the episodes, but now I can see how wrong I was. These women weren’t living a pretend fairy tale like I thought. They were living the real thing.

I haven’t been able to get that kiss out of my mind. It rocked me, staggered me, made me believe in true love. I don’t know what would have happened if his friends hadn’t come in when they had. I’m not sure how far I was willing to go.

I’ve never been the slutty type. Alicia calls me Dr. Prude. I guess that’s deserving when you’re a twenty-seven-year-old virgin who’s not even trying to get laid.

But with Rylan… geez… I haven’t been able to turn off the dirty thoughts that keep pouring into my head. It’s like a pipe in my mind broke and I can’t turn the escaping stream of filth off. A guy came in with a rusty nail through his hand and I was thinking about undressing Rylan as I pulled it out, puss and all.

All this must mean something. This is not just a crush. I’ve had crushes before but when it came time to act on them, I got instantly turned off. It’s the opposite with Rylan. I’ve never been more turned on in my life.

He steps up to me and takes his time looking me up and down. Why doesn’t that bother me like it normally does with every other guy? Why do I like his eyes on me?

This is all so confusing…

“You really are stunning, Mila,” he says without a hint of sarcasm in his deep voice.

“Please,” I say with a nervous chuckle. “I’ve been working for twelve hours and I have a guy’s blood on my shirt. You don’t have to compliment me.”

“You are gorgeous,” he says, shutting me up. “I have more words if you’d like. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Dazzling. Lovely. Magnificent. Superb.”

“We haven’t even gotten in the car,” I say as I hold my hand up. “It’s a little early in the date for sucking up.”

“It’s a little early for falling in love too, but that’s already happened.”

I turn away because I don’t want him to see my blushing cheeks. “There’s an Irish pub around the corner. We can get a drink there. I’d kill for a beer.”

“Lead the way.”