The Alpha's Cursed Mate

Chapter 7

Tate grumbled angrily as he stood up, brushing dirt off his bare chest. He had been sleeping soundly on the too-small sofa bed but had rolled over in his sleep. For a person of Kelly's size, rolling off the bed wouldn’t have been a problem, but he was twice her size. He glared up at the loft, where he could hear Kelly’s soft breathing. His wolf growled angrily in his chest as he glanced at the spot where the ladder normally was.

He should be up there with her. He needed to be up there, cradling her close to him. He stalked over to the kitchen and took a swig of water from the glass he had left out the night before, grimacing as the tepid water washed over his tongue. He glanced at the clock. The sun would be up soon. He shivered slightly as he ambled back to the living room and headed for the wood-burning stove in the corner to stoke the dying fire and add a log or two.

Wiping his hands on his boxer briefs, he sat back down on his bed and glanced back up at the loft. It was almost painful to not be touching her when his wolf took over. Normally, he was better at keeping his wolf in check, only letting it take control on the full moon, but since Kelly had come back into his life, his control had started slipping more and more each day.

Must mate, his wolf growled desperately in his mind.

Tate sighed. Kelly wasn’t ready. Hell, she hadn’t even been ready for that kiss earlier, but Goddess, she had tasted amazing. He felt his wolf grumble his agreement as it urged him to find a way to get into the loft with Kelly. Tate shook his head to try and clear his wolf out of his head.

Grabbing his clothes, he dressed quickly and headed outside before he did something stupid. He headed for the woodpile at the back of the cabin, an ax lodged into an old stump, waiting for him to split some logs. Yanking the ax out of the stump, he grabbed the closest log and went to work. With each hit of the ax, his mind cleared more and more until he was alone with his mind again, his wolf slumbering in his chest. He stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, as he watched the sun peek over the horizon before grabbing the next log. As the sun got higher, he shed his jacket and then his shirt.

“Breakfast is ready,” a sleepy voice murmured, breaking the silence.

Tate lodged the ax in the stump and turned, his jaw dropping. Kelly was leaning against a nearby tree, watching him, a cup of steaming coffee in her hands. He greedily took in what she was wearing: a pair of pale purple pajama shorts, a white tank, and his flannel. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and draped over her shoulder. Without taking his eyes off of her, he bent down and grabbed his shirt and jacket before walking over to her.

“This is for you,” she said softly, her eyes trailing down his chest.

“Thank you,” he said gruffly, taking the mug before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against him.

Kelly placed her hands on his chest to steady herself on the uneven ground, before going up on tiptoe to gently place a kiss on his lips, surprising him. Perhaps, he thought, that kiss last night had broken whatever resistance she had about having a relationship with him.

“Come on,” she said quietly, as if suddenly shy. “Breakfast is getting cold.”

Exhausted and hungry, Tate let her take his hand and lead him back into the cabin. On the table, a heaping plate of pancakes and sausages waited for them. He grinned as he pulled out a chair for Kelly and then sat across from her. The food looked and smelled amazing.

“What’s on the agenda today?” he asked between mouthfuls of buttery pancake.

“Well,” she said, picking at the food on her plate, “you got what I was planning on doing done for me already. I guess I just need to tidy up in here.”

He frowned as he watched her move the bit of pancake she had on her plate from one side to the other.

“Are you not feeling well?” he asked in concern. “Maybe you should put off cleaning today and just relax with me on the couch.”

“I…” she started, glancing up at Tate briefly before going back to staring at her plate. “I’m not sure. I feel… off. Not sick off, though, just off. Does that make sense?”

She needs me, his wolf growled as he awakened from his slumber in his chest. Let me take care of her. She’ll feel better, I promise.

Tate ground his teeth as his wolf sent an image of him taking care of her to his head. The urge to take Kelly up to her bed and lay her down was very tempting.

Just imagine the sounds she’d make, his wolf urged.

Horny bastard, Tate thought to himself. Some days, he wished he had a way to muzzle his wolf. He could use a break from him every so often.

“Tate, are you okay?” Kelly asked, her face full of concern as she gazed at him from over her plate. “I hope I didn’t give us food poisoning with that chicken.”

“No, it’s not food poisoning,” he said quickly. “It’s probably just the full moon getting closer. I sometimes get a bit anxious right before myself.”

“That’s all?” she asked skeptically.

“That and my wolf,” he sighed. Might as well be honest with her about how hard he was trying to let her stay in control of this relationship.

“Was he in charge last night?” she asked, watching him closely.

“Yes,” he confirmed, not meeting her eyes, ashamed. She knew how close he’d been to losing control. Why else would she have pulled the ladder up after her?

“I thought so,” she said with a sigh. “What can I do to help?”

Tate’s eyes shot up to meet Kelly’s in shock. He hadn’t expected her to offer to help him. She wouldn’t like the answer, though, not in the least. He grabbed another pancake off the stack in front of him as he debated about telling her what he and his wolf wanted, needed, to function normally. He had waited too long to claim her as his own. His wolf was beyond anxious at this point.

“Well?” she prompted him.

“We… I’ve waited too long,” he finally ground out.

“Too long?” she repeated, realization dawning on her face within seconds. She scooted her chair back, shaking her head, her eyes not leaving his face.

“I haven’t even changed,” she choked.

“I’ll wait until you’re ready,” he soothed, knowing his wolf wouldn’t wait. He’d jump at the first chance he got.

“I know you will,” she whispered. “It’s your wolf I don’t trust.”

“Well,” he said as he took a sip of his coffee. “That makes two of us. But, as long as I can keep control of him, I promise I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“So,” she said, a sly smile creeping over her face, “since you won’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do, does that mean you’ll let me come out here next week for the full moon like I do every full moon?”

He choked on his next sip of coffee, the burning liquid searing his throat.

“Look,” she continued as she stood up to go refill her coffee mug, “we both know that I’m moving out here in the next couple of weeks. Whatever this is, it’s coming to an end.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” he growled, following her into the kitchen. “The mate bond will still be there. You won’t be able to stay away for more than a week once you change. Hell, I have trouble with a few hours and I’ve been trying for eight years.”

“That’s the problem,” she said angrily. “You didn’t really try. If you had wanted to succeed, you would have sent me to another pack. Instead, you kept me close so you could keep an eye on me. If I had been in your place, I would have sent myself away and then done my damnedest to forget that I even existed.”

“You don’t think I wanted to?” Tate hissed, his anger rising as well as he stepped closer to block Kelly from escaping. “Do you really think I wanted you as my mate? When I told my girlfriend that she would never be my mate, I was devastated, as was she. My parents had been grooming her to be luna for years. They had been so sure that the two of us would be mates and then you came along, ruining the whole damn thing. They wanted to know who you were so they could take 'care' of you, but I couldn’t tell them when you were so young, especially after what you had gone through. To ask them to send you away would have given it away and you wouldn’t have lived to see another day. So I did the next best thing. I got someone to adopt you so you could get out of the packhouse."

He stepped closer, pinning her against the counter, his wolf rumbling in approval at the contact. The hate he had kept buried for years was finally coming out.

“I have hated you for years,” he growled. “Everything I had worked for, everything I had planned on, gone. When you turned 18, I had every intention of rejecting you as a mate, of banishing you from the pack, but then you didn’t change like all the other 18-year-olds. It surprised me. And then I ran into you. Goddess, when your scent hit me again after eight years of trying to avoid you, I about fell to my knees. My plans for you crumbled. I gave up. So here I am, begging you to give me another chance, begging you to let me be the mate you deserve. It’s pathetic.”

Tate, chest heaving, forced himself to look at the tears streaming down Kelly’s face. He quickly let go of her arms, horrified at himself, and took a step back. Without him holding her up, she seemed to crumple before hitting the ground.

Take her now, his wolf roared inside his head. She won’t fight you now.

Ignoring his wolf and upset at himself, he knelt down and scooped Kelly into his arms. He could feel her trembling and hear how her breath rattled in her chest as he carried her to the sofa bed. He laid her down and covered her up before lying down next to her, his arm holding her close against his chest.

His wolf howled angrily for the rest of the morning as they watched TV in silence, cuddled up on the couch. He knew Kelly was upset with him. Hell, he was upset with himself. He half expected her to yell at him to get out, but she didn’t. She didn’t even flinch when he wrapped himself around her. The one time he had tried to get up, she had grabbed his arm and yanked him back down as if to say she wasn’t done with him yet. He shifted slightly as he lost feeling in one of his arms.

“Am I forgiven?” he asked finally, confused but relieved by her behavior.

“Maybe,” she said simply as she turned and laid her head on his chest.

His stomach grumbled as Kelly traced the contours of his abs with the tips of her fingers.

“Are you hungry?” he whispered in her ear.

“Mm-hmm,” she sighed contentedly, snuggling in closer.

“What are you hungry for?” he asked, holding in the shivers of ecstasy her touch seemed to bring out.

“Comfort food,” she murmured.

“‘Kay,” he said softly, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head as he untangled himself from her arms. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Half an hour later, Kelly met him outside the cabin as he pulled up with hamburgers. Eagerly, Kelly led him into the cabin, holding the soft drinks and ice cream he had also bought. As he entered the cabin, he noticed that the bed and the remnants of breakfast had been put away while he had been grabbing lunch. Kelly must have been feeling a bit better if she had cleaned up. He handed her a cheeseburger as he settled onto the couch next to her, noticing her cheeks had pinked back up since that morning.

“What are you thinking?” Kelly asked curiously as she munched on a fry.

“You,” he said truthfully.

Kelly raised an eyebrow at him.

“Look,” he said, shooting his shot. “I'm trying to be patient and take this slow, to show you that I care, but you aren't making that easy. Can we, I don't know, compromise, please?”

“Compromise about what?”

“You already know that I’m not comfortable with you being out here all the time,” he confessed. “But I’m not ready to give up on what we’ve got going on right now. So, could we maybe split time between the packhouse and here? Ideally, you’d spend the week with me at the packhouse while I worked, then, on the weekends and the holidays, we could come out here.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said slowly. “I mean, it could work. It would make Colleen and Mark happy. Sarah would be ecstatic. And you could keep an eye on me, which means you might not be so stressed and overbearing. I might even like you more if you weren’t such an overprotective grump. When would this compromise start?”

“Monday?” he offered. The full moon would be the following Tuesday, so if he could get Kelly moved into the packhouse this week, then next week, she would already be settled in and he could keep an eye on her, maybe even help her if she finally went through the change.

“Fine,” she said, pursing her lips as if she knew what was going through his head. “As soon as you get off work on Friday, we’re coming up here.”

He chuckled as he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“Anything for you.”

The rest of the afternoon passed in the same manner the morning had.

After dinner, Kelly cleaned up while Tate went outside and gathered the wood he had chopped that morning. He had checked the weather on his phone just minutes before and knew they were in for a cold one. He would need to ask her for another blanket before they went to bed. That little green one, as nice as it smelled, didn’t cover him very well at all. After he stacked the wood nicely next to the stove, he turned to move the coffee table out of the way so he could get his bed ready for the night.

“What are you doing?” Kelly asked, watching him as she leaned against the counter next to the sink.

“Getting ready for bed,” he replied, confused.

“Why don’t you go take a shower?” she suggested, nodding towards the bathroom. “I’ll get things set up.”

Tate didn’t need telling twice. He stank after this morning's chore. He was surprised Kelly hadn’t told him to go shower earlier. When he came out feeling clean and refreshed, a pair of sweats on thirty minutes later, he paused. Nothing had changed. He looked around for Kelly but couldn’t see her. She was probably upstairs.

“Kelly?” he called.

“Yes?” she answered, climbing down the ladder.

He looked pointedly at the bed.

“What?” she asked innocently. “You said it was going to be cold, so I figured you could sleep, and I mean just sleep, in bed with me. I don’t think I have a blanket large enough to cover you out here yet, but you should fit in my bed just fine.”

Grinning, excited, Tate threw her over his shoulder and climbed up the ladder. He gently tossed her on her bed and looked around briefly, studying Kelly's room of sorts. Still grinning, he glanced down at Kelly, who had scooted back to lean against the headboard. His grin turning mischievous, he crawled over to her, pulled her down so that she was lying underneath him, and kissed her gently. Not expecting her to kiss him back, he was surprised when she wound her fingers through his hair and brought him closer.

“Kelly,” he groaned, pulling back, his mind a jumbled mess, “you’re making this really hard.”

“I know,” she grinned wickedly. “Good night.”

She pecked him on the cheek, turned, and shut her eyes, feigning sleep. Groaning again, he laid down beside her and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore his wolf yelling at him to make his move.