His Human Mate

One step closer

Max's POV

Every time we get near Vee, Jack is fixated on trying to grab her and mark her. He is tired of waiting. I know his pain because I feel the same way, but I know we still have to be patient about it, no matter how difficult it has been. No matter how much it hurts, she is married and she won’t thank me for claiming her out of nowhere and murdering her bastard husband. It could also start a war if he is an alpha, as I suspect.

Usually, when I know I am going to see her, I can keep control pretty well. I've had plenty of practice. But she isn't usually here in the morning and the shock of seeing her mixed with the remnants of my forbidden fantasy daydream knocks me off balance.

Mate, go to mate!

I find myself losing control of Jack slightly, as he pushes me forwards. I approach her while she stirs her coffee, oblivious to my internal struggle. She looks like she's watching something in the courtyard below. I don't think she even heard the door open and close. My hands are itching to touch her. As I get closer, I notice that her scent is different today. It’s wrong somehow. Jack and I both halt our advance as we realise what the problem is.

Why does she smell like another man?

I am used to her smelling like her dickhead of a husband. I hate it, but both Jack and I know it's unavoidable for now. I shake my head and refocus. This scent is different, it's human, this isn’t her husband’s, but it is male. This brings out our possessive side. Jack is angry, he strains against me even harder to reach out and grab her.

Why the f**k does she smell like another man? He growls possessively.

Calm down, I tell him. There’s probably an explanation.

I’ll f*****g kill him he rages in my mind. I try my best to shut him out as I step closer to her again.

“Morning Mate”, I pointedly say out loud now that I am close enough to feel her body heat. Saying the word gives me a pleasurable feeling. If only she knew how much meaning is in that word, Mate. She jumps and it’s obvious that she hasn’t noticed me until this point. f**k, I wish she could, I wish she could sense me the way I sense her. These past six months have been the hardest of my life.

“You ok?” I ask. I see her eyes shift with indecision before she puts on a smile and tells me she is fine.

I am not buying it, Jack growls in my head. What has that bastard done now? I keep telling you! Why can't we claim her! You said you wanted to know if she was happy. You know she is not happy. You know she is meant for us, we could make her happy.

“What’s wrong”, I ask trying to drown Jack out and push him to the back of my mind. He just doesn’t understand that we could lose her if we try to force her. I don't blame him though. He's an alpha wolf, so his emotions already run heightened and he has spent the last six months controlling his desire to mate with Vee, or at least having his desire controlled. It has been a physical drain on both of us. But we tried keeping away at first and that was even worse. It was not good for us and not good for the pack.

I can sense that she isn’t sure whether to tell me what’s wrong or not and I am so eager to be close to her. I carefully put my hand on her shoulder and feel a wave of pleasurable tingles erupt up my arm and course through my body. Oh Goddess, this woman does things to me. I lower my eyes to level with hers and will her to tell me. She needs to know that I would do anything for her and she can trust me with her life.

It seems to work because she starts talking and leads the way to the awful padded chairs in the corner of this ugly beige room. I watch her as she explains what happened, settled across from her, eyes focused on her beautiful face, listening as she tells me about arriving home to a dark house and climbing the stairs with a metal pole. I chuckle internally imagining the scene as she expects to beat an intruder with a crappy metal pole. I've got to give it to her, she doesn't back away from a challenge. While she is talking, I take the opportunity to subtly sniff the air around her and I realise that the unidentified male’s scent is coming from the shirt she is wearing. She is wearing another man’s shirt. I clench my fists in anger and try to hold on to control as Jack is ready to rip the shirt right off her.

Suddenly it dawns on me that I just missed what she said, but I’m pretty sure she is telling me that her arsehole of a husband cheated on her and that’s what she walked in on! What the f**k!

My blood starts boiling and Jack is ready to march over to her home and beat the s**t out of him for hurting what is ours. I am barely holding on to my sanity. She was never even meant for him! As a wolf, he knows that she is not his destined mate and could be someone else's. He took something that didn't belong to him , ruined her chances of true destined love, and he doesn't even have the decency to treat her with the love and respect she deserves. I have never hated a man more than I do now.

He has never deserved her! Jack agrees.

I have to force myself to stop raging, jaw clenched and knuckles white again. I manage to gain control long enough to listen to her explain that she thinks that her marriage is over now.

Just like that, my anger floats away and I no longer have to tense my entire body. It's like music to my ears. I feel so elated, I can't stop my lips from stretching into a ridiculous smile as I let my guard down in a momentary lapse, finally able to picture a future with my mate. We are one step closer!

Shit, I am swiftly brought back to the present as Jack almost manages to gain control.

She looks at me strangely and I worry that she noticed the flash of gold of Jack's eyes. She could also be wondering why the hell we are smiling... Buggar, Jack has a point. She has just shared some life-shattering serious news with us. And as much as I hate the idea of her being hung up on another man, it is probably really painful for her right now. Yet here we are smiling like a bloody i***t.

"I'm sorry", I try to make myself sound sincere, but as much as I am trying to straighten out my face, the corners of my mouth are still curved into a smile. I try putting a comforting hand on her leg to demonstrate my sincerity, but she crosses her legs so I have to move it. I inhale thinking that I've massively messed this up when I smell it. Oh my goddess, is she turned on by me? This is amazing. I feel elated. There's finally a chance!

Shit! Jack nearly bursts through my barricade. I am sure she saw it this time. I stand quickly and move away to gain back my composure . I rub my forehead and scrunch my eyes to calm myself down and try to push Jack back, yet again. I am so tired from having to do this all the time. It's painful and exhausting, but there is finally hope.

She looks surprised by my outburst but she gathers herself quickly and you would hardly notice. She will make the perfect Luna, able to compose herself at all times.

“You don’t look very sorry”, she chuckles slightly. It's a musical sound. I would love to always be the person who makes her laugh. The circumstances right now aren't ideal. I really don't think that I have handled this well at all. Crap.

“Yeh, you noticed, huh?” I say with my own chuckle, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. How can I tell her that this makes me so ridiculously happy and I have been waiting to hear those words for six months!

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude”. I need her to know that I am sorry that she is hurting. I only want her to be happy. I sit back down opposite her. I want to make her see that I care. But I can't risk her reacting to me that way again. Not while my hold on Jack is tenuous at best. I notice that she is scratching her nail beds which she does when she is nervous. I don't want to make her nervous. How can I fix this?

“I am sorry that he hurt you”, I say genuinely. She offers me a soft smile but I can tell that her walls have gone back up and I might have lost for today.

“Anyway, I have a load of marking to do, I guess I’ll see you later”, she gets up to leave. It's OK, I placate myself and Jack. We made progress today. We're one step closer. We know she has a reaction to our touch. She feels something.

There is something that I have to know before she leaves though, and I don't see there being another easy chance today.

"Can I just ask?” She turns back around to face me and I study her gorgeous dark eyes while I steel myself to ask the question. A part of me doesn't want to know the answer though. Should I actually ask? Will she think it's weird? But if I don't ask, it will bother me for the rest of the day and I won't be able to concentrate. Plus, Jack will be a pain and I'm already too tired from having to control him so much. I won't really have a reasonable chance to ask again...

“Yeh”, she prompts, interrupting my internal monologue. We have to say something! Or she's going to think we're a complete moron.

“Whose shirt are you wearing?” I eventually ask. She flushes a little, looking slightly embarrassed, then confused at my question. I wonder if she will even answer me. Having said it out loud, it does sound a bit creepy.

“It’s my friend’s brothers. I’m staying with her for now and she doesn’t have anything appropriate for work”. I immediately relax and my smile returns, I breathe a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

"Ah". I don't really have anything more to say for the time being. She obviously decides that the conversation is done as well so she leaves to get on with work. It is now nearly 9am and other people will be popping into the staff room soon for their morning caffeine fix.

I will be supporting in my first lecture in half an hour so I decide to sit for a little longer. My emotions are running high today.

A friend's brothers' I think. That's OK. She is obviously not living at home at the moment and she needs something to wear. I hope she collects or buys some of her own clothes soon though. I do not like her scent mixed with a different male's.