The Alpha's Unrecognised Mate

Private Tutelage

Somehow I knew Liza would be on about me staying back again that day, and I’d given myself pep talk after pep talk about how to get out of it. No ifs, no buts. Non-negotiable.

I hadn’t given her enough credit. She knew my patience was wearing thin with her- so she sent someone in her place.

I hadn’t expected a thing when Maddi came up to me, and a whole hour before the end of my shift to boot. I hadn’t entered my military-grade mental defences yet, still focusing on pushing through one task at a time as fast as I could.

“Hey Tori,” she said cheerfully.

“Hey Maddi,” I replied, not quite as cheery but still working to stay polite. Nursing was a female-dominated profession, and as much as my feminism hated to admit it, that usually led to a bit.chy subculture. I did my best to stay away from it, and that meant keeping pleasant with everyone. With Maddi, that was easier than with many of the others. She was a sweet girl who’d grown up her whole life in our small town, and it showed. She was a picture of innocence. That’s probably why I hadn’t suspected her.

“Liza said you’ll be staying on late with me in the green court,” she said conversationally, and I spun to face her like she’d cursed at me.

“I’m not staying back today, Maddi,” I said firmly. “I have an appointment straight after work.” Maddi’s face fell. “There… there’s no other nurses on in green court tonight, are there?” I asked slowly. Maddi shook her head, and I swore under my breath. We were meant to have four nurses in the green court because of the number of residents there, and their higher care needs. We could cope with three and scrape by with two, but to leave Maddi alone would make the evening impossible. I would go so far as to say it would endanger the safety of the residents there. I could tell Maddi felt the same.

“And there’s no one else who could-” I started, but Maddi was already shaking her head. Damn it. As much as I hated being called back, it was proper practice to call the others on break if they wanted to pick up extra shifts before asking one working to pull a double. I knew when I was asked, they were desperate. Right now, though, I was desperate too- desperate to spend some time alone with Clint.

I did my best to smile at Maddi even though I was breaking down a little inside.

“I’ve got your back, Mads,” I said, resigned. I could see the stress heavy in her shoulders slowly start to unwind. It was ridiculous that the ‘scraping by’ standard made her so grateful, but we both knew the alternative would be horrible, both for her and the residents.

I only got a short break in between the end of my first and start of my second shift. I grabbed a muesli bar from my backpack in my locker, eating it while I browsed the missed notifications on my phone. We had to keep it locked up during shifts, and while most of the nurses ignored this rule, I didn’t have enough close contacts to bother with the risk of getting caught. I typed out a quick message to Clint before stuffing the rest of the bar in my mouth and pushing my backpack and phone into my locker.

Not going to make it tonight. Work >:(

By the time my second shift finished I was no longer upset about being called back. I wasn’t over it, but I didn’t have the energy in my body for an emotion as tiring as anger.

“Thank you again, Tori,” Maddi called, waving as she clocked out ahead of me. She hadn’t stopped thanking me all evening, even taking on the harder tasks where possible to give me a reprieve. I couldn’t have left her on her own, she was too sweet. I opened up my phone to see a missed message from Clint, sent not long after I had sent mine.

call me when u get home

It was a struggle not to call Clint immediately, or to put him on speaker while I drove, but I needed some time to get comfy when I got home. I didn’t want to overbear him with more complaints about my work, either.

“You could just go over and visit him in person…” Lyra suggested, but I swatted the thought away. Clint asked for a phone call, and that’s what he was going to get.

By the time I’d eaten and showered it was bordering on midnight. I hesitated to call Clint, not knowing what hours he kept.

“Don’t you dare back out!” Lyra barked, and I knew better than to disobey her. She’d not handled skipping our training well. I unlocked my phone and opened up Clint’s contact, now in the ‘favourites’ section for easy access. I was hesitating when Lyra pushed my finger towards ‘call’. I took a deep breath to steady myself as I waited for him to pick up.

“Hey, sexy,” he greeted me, voice deep and sultry, sending me instantly into melt mode. At least I knew he wasn’t mad I’d cancelled.

“Hey,” I replied, doing my best to mimic his tone. I couldn’t think of what to call him in return. I didn’t want to repeat ‘sexy’, but I didn’t think we were in the babe/baby territory yet. Alpha didn’t seem like the right mood…

“Stop overthinking!”

“Work all over now?”

“Yeah, thank the Goddess,” I sighed, leaning back further into my couch. I like chatting with Clint. It made me feel warm, even when we weren’t being inappropriate.

“Where are you?” he asked slowly.

“Home,” I replied, even slower. After a pause, I added, “why? Where are you?”

“I’m in my bedroom, laying on my bed, tucked into my sheets. They still smell like you, you know? It mostly went away when I washed them, but it’s still there, tempting me,” Clint crooned.

“Say something sexy!”

“I can help you get it back,” I replied, doing my best at ‘flirty’ and landing a little closer to ‘unsure’, but the soft groan I heard from the other end of the line told me I’d managed okay. I realised a little later than I should have that this was… not a ‘casual’ phone call. If Lyra hadn’t been there to guide me, I wasn’t sure how long it would have taken me to get the hint.

“Are you in bed?” he asked, voice somehow even deeper than when he’d answered the phone.

“No,” I replied automatically, and I could feel Lyra shaking her head, the closest her wolf form could come to a facepalm. “N-not yet. I’m headed there now.”

“Good,” he drawled as I bounded to my feet and into my bedroom. The night was taking an interesting turn. “What are you wearing?”

Undies with a hole in them because I haven’t done laundry yet and an oversized sweatshirt.

Fortunately I had enough awareness to not blurt out the truth that time.

“Say black underwear,” Lyra suggested.

“I’m taking my shirt off right now, so it’s just my underwear,” I whispered darkly. Somehow, I felt like Clint would be able to tell if I was lying, even though the phone.

“What colour?”

“Hmm?”

“He means, what colour are your underwear.”

“Oh, grey,” I jumped back in before he could repeat his question. Lyra slumped with a groan. As far as she was concerned, ‘grey’ was the absolute least sexy option I could have chosen. I guess, she wasn’t wrong, but I couldn’t lie.

“Wait, what are you wearing?” I asked him, suddenly curious.

“Just my briefs.” Suddenly I could picture it. Clint, laying in his sheets as he stared out at the stars, one hand keeping his phone to his ear and the other tucked under his head. His powerful legs exposed, his growing co.ck held back only by his briefs.

“This is why he asks, Tori. So he can paint a mental picture of his own,” Lyra explained impatiently. I was slow to catch on, but I was a fast learner.

“Where are your hands?” I purred.

“One’s holding the phone…” he started, but paused. I heard him readjusting himself at the end of the line. “The other is tracing along my chest. I’m imagining it’s your fingers exploring me.”

“I do find your abs to be captivating, but I’m not the most patient woman, Clint. It won’t be long at all before I’m playing with the waistband of your briefs.” I heard his sharp intake of breath and I knew I was getting the hang of it.

“Take off your panties,” he demanded down the phone. It was for the best that I did as he said, because they were becoming uncomfortably wet.

“Take off your briefs, then,” I rebutted.

“Oh, they’re already gone,” he growled.

“Where are your hands, then?”

“One is still holding the phone…”

“And?”

“The other is gripping my co.ck.” He said it without a hint of nerves or embarrassment. He wasn’t shy in the slightest. I did my best to let his courage and my own burning need chase away the fear within me.

“What should I do with my spare hand?” I asked innocently.

“It should be circling your pus.sy, making sure you’re nice and wet.”

“Oh, I’m wet.” It was the truth.

“Then I want you to put a finger inside yourself, and picture it as my co.ck entering you, just like you did that night on my sheets.”