So when some random time-travelling, maybe-Viking werewolf showed up out of the blue all but saying out loud that she was his fated mate, it felt like nothing short of getting stabbed.
“No,” she said, finally meeting his eyes. “We are not...
we are not
fated mates.”
The maybe Viking stilled in his thrashing and stared back at her, his own eyes softening as if the sound of her voice alone was enough to calm him down.
“Did you lie to me?” Rafe asked, dropping his hands from her arms.
“No!” she said again, turning back to him. “I would never do that.”
The Rafe she knew, the laidback and reasonable one with a great sense of humor, was gone now and in his place was a stranger, with a voice so distinctly hard, it felt like the only thing in the room. “Did you know who he was from the beginning?”
She reached for him, catching his rigid arms beneath her trembling hands, “No, Rafe, I had no idea he thought he was here for me.”
He glared at her. “Do you want to mate with him? Do you want to start kissing him in public?”
“No, no, no!” She shook her head with frantic denial. “I swear I don’t. I swear I had no idea. I would never lie to you. You’re my best friend, and I love you more than anyone else in this world. Please believe me. I feel nothing for him. Nothing.”
Rafe’s face remained impassive as he sniffed the air around her, his nostrils flaring wide.
“She’s not aroused,” he said to Doc Fischer. “Wouldn’t she be aroused if he were her fated mate?”
Relief coursed through Chloe like a river through the desert. The cold stranger had gone and her Rafe was back, once again defending her, just as he had when they were kids and the wolves in their class made fun of her for being a foster pup.
Doc Fischer gave them a long, considering look before saying, “In rare cases, a fated mate can catch the scent of someone who doesn’t return his feelings. Those situations usually get messy and end up with the two males fighting for dominance.”
Rafe set his jaw. “I will be more than happy to put his ass down if that’s what it comes to.”
“Now, now, calm down, young wolf,” the doctor said. He pulled out his smart phone. “I’m going to call back my friend at UC Denver. Maybe if get him up here, he can help us out with this language barrier and we can figure this out without any wolves having to lose their lives.”
“Call your friend,” Rafe said, alpha prince to his very core. “But I’m letting you know right now, if he tries to lay one hand on Chloe, it’s not going to end peacefully.”
The doctor gave Chloe a sullen look, as if this entire situation were all her fault as opposed to some unfair trick of fate. But he eventually answered Rafe. “Noted. Now get out of here, I’ve got some calls to make if we want to get this situation resolved before tomorrow’s full moon.”
SHE WASN’T AROUSED BY THE VIKING, and she hadn’t lied to Rafe about not feeling anything sexual whatsoever for the strange visitor. If anything, the whole situation had turned her nether regions even more numb. Before, there had been the loud absence of any kind of sexual feeling on her part. But now she was feeling the opposite of aroused, like she’d rather hike up a thousand King’s Trails than have sex with anyone, ever. That’s how horrible the scene back in the clinic had been.
But still, guilt clawed at her insides as Rafe walked her home from the clinic. People kept stopping him to ask who had come through the portal this time.
“Is it true it was a man?” their high school Social Studies teacher asked. “Mercedes Griswold said she saw you two carrying a man’s body into the clinic. Is he dead? Did you have to kill him like your dad had to kill that rabid wolf back in the day?”
Rafe handled all the questions diplomatically, with various versions of, “We’re not allowed to talk about it just yet, but we’ll be making an announcement soon.” The answer sounded neutral enough, but Chloe knew him too well not to recognize the edge in his voice as he answered question after question about their mysterious visitor.
“You don’t have to walk me home,” she told him. “It’s been a long day and I know you probably want to catch up at your office.”
Along with his duties as the alpha prince of Colorado, Rafe was also the vice president of Wolf Springs Timber, one of the largest privately owned logging companies in the world. It was rare for him to take lunch, much less a whole half-day off work.
“You said you were going to do a chicken recipe for your next show. Doesn’t that mean you need me to kill the chicken?” he asked.
She wrung her hands together. “You know what, I’m going to try to kill the chicken myself this time. It’s so ridiculous that I always have to call you to do it for me.”
“That’s what mates are for,” Rafe said, his voice flat. “We help each other out when we need it.”
“Sure, sure,” Chloe answered. “But what kind of werewolf can’t bear to kill a chicken? It’s so embarrassing.”
“Not as embarrassing as what just happened in the clinic,” he answered.
And there it was. Rafe never had been the sort to dance around the elephant in the room.
“I’m sorry that happened,” she said. “I have no idea why the fated mates spell would send that guy forward in time for me, especially since I feel no connection to him whatsoever. You believe me, right?”
He stopped and studied her face for a few moments before deciding out loud, “I do.”
“And if it comes down to a choice between you and him, I pick you, Rafe.”
“I know.”
“You’re my best friend.”
Now something unreadable passed over his face. “You keep on saying that.”
“What?”
“That I’m your best friend. You’ve said it like five times today. But you know what I call you when I talk about you? My mate.”
And just when she thought things couldn’t get any more awkward. “I call you that, too,” she insisted. “And what does it matter what I call you anyway? The most important thing is I love you. I love you so much, more than anybody else in this entire world.”
“I believe you. But this Viking thing...”
She grabbed his hand. “Look, Rafe, if you want to have sex before I go into heat, that’s fine with me. I don’t care what Council law says. I’m twenty-five, old enough to make my own decisions.” Including the decision to ignore the wrenching of her own stomach as she made this offer.
Rafe rubbed the side of his face with his knuckles, considering. But then he said, “No, I’m an alpha prince. I can’t ignore the law.”
A wave of relief swept over her. She could have forced herself to hold still for sex with Rafe, just like she forced herself to accept his kisses, but it wouldn’t have been pleasant at all. For what felt like the millionth time, she sent up a tiny prayer that going into heat would solve everything between them and finally help her body catch up with her heart. She-wolves were actually known for their lusty nature, and she’d seen nerdy and mousy girls from her high school honors classes transform into black leather-wearing, unapologetic sexpots with just one moon cycle and mating. She hoped to God it would be the same for her.
But out loud to Rafe, she said, “Okay, if that’s the way you feel, we won’t break Council law. I just want you to know how committed I am to you, to us, to our being together and starting a family.”
“I know you are.” Rafe took her hand in his and began walking again. “But you know how the wolves gossip. We’re not going to be able to keep this a secret for long.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing to hide. He thinks I’m his fated mate, but I’m with you. Tomorrow, we’ll have Doc Fischer’s professor friend explain that to him, and he’ll go back to whatever time period he came from. The end.”
“How about if he challenges me?” Rafe asks.
“There’s nothing to challenge if I say no-go. This isn’t the dark ages when she-wolves didn’t have any say over who claimed them.”
“We could move in together.”
This time she was the one who stopped walking. “Wait, what?”
Rafe ran a hand through his dark locks. “Listen, I didn’t tell you this…because it’s bullshit. You know how much my dad likes you, but he kind of thinks you haven’t gone into heat because you’re not really in love with me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What? That’s not even how it works. It’s purely physiological. Like getting your period. It happens when it happens. Doc Fischer says she-wolves can go into heat as late as their thirties.”
“I know what Doc Fischer says,” Rafe said. “But Dad’s old-school. He’s not buying it. And he’s the Colorado alpha. So if this guy steps up, claiming you as his fated mate, and you’re not even physically living with me, he might pull the king card and say we can’t get married.”
Chloe studied his face and knew this wasn’t really a hypothetical they were discussing. Rafe was telling her the king was so upset about how long they’d been engaged, he would pull rank in order to end it if he had the right opportunity.
“I wouldn’t let him get away with it,” Rafe assured her, reading her mind as best friends did. “If he tries to pull that shit, I’ll run away with you before I let him tear us apart. But I don’t want it to come to that.”
She clamped her lips together. “I don’t want it to come to that either. And you know, even if your dad said we couldn’t get married, that doesn’t mean I’m going to marry some weird, blood-thirsty Viking who came through the portal. It’s either you or nobody for me.”
“Look at you, getting all angry and defending our love.” Rafe smiled down at her. “I like this side of you. There might be a little wolf in you yet.”
He pulled her into his arms and Chloe nuzzled her face into his chest, her she-wolf loving the way it felt to be packed in close to another body.
It was a very sweet moment until Rafe said, “But think about moving in with me, okay? I mean, we’re going to do it after your heat night anyway, so why wait?”
Her face fell. “Actually, I was hoping you’d move in with me.”
“My place is bigger, “ he pointed out. “Four bedrooms. You’ve only got two. Plus, I didn’t buy the house for you to stay there. The plan was to move you out and move somebody else in, so we can start receiving rent on it.”
“Yeah, but…” She tried to figure out a nice way to tell him she’d rather live in the small, cozy cabin which was set up just the way she liked it for her
Black Mountain Woman
videos, than his man cave of a house with flat screens in every room, including the bathroom and kitchen.
But she already knew what he’d say. This was Rafe. He’d offer to remodel the kitchen and get rid of its small flat screen if it really bothered her that much. But he’d resent her for it. He’d never understood why she preferred to live like a homesteader as opposed to a modern woman in the modern ages, and it was hard to explain the draw of the lifestyle to someone who liked his electronic toys as much as Rafe did.
But ever since Myrna had first taught her to sew on her ancient Singer, she had felt drawn to the idea of doing everything herself. Making her own clothes, her own food, her own just-about-everything and never having to depend on others to provide for her again. Still as passionate as she was about how she chose to live, she didn’t like the idea of getting into a lifestyle battle with Rafe any sooner than she had to.
“Can I think about it?” she asked, when what she really meant was. “Can you give me some time to figure out how to save our engagement, keep you from falling out with your father, and get rid of the Viking who thinks I’m his fated mate without having to move in with you before my heat night?”
“Sure,” he said. An apologetic smile settled on his face. “Listen, I’m sorry we’re having to deal with this bullshit. I wish we hadn’t been the ones to go up there. Sometimes, I wish I weren’t the alpha prince of Colorado. It would be nice to be a normal wolf with normal problems that my dad would judge on a fair basis, not because I’m his son. If this were happening to any other couple, it wouldn’t even be a question of who he’d side with.”
When they reached his house they parted with another hug. As she watched Rafe walk away, she remembered his proposal in the high school gymnasium, just two weeks after Myrna died as if he couldn’t bear the thought of her being alone in this world again like she was when they first met. He really was her best friend, and she couldn’t lose him, which meant she had to get rid of the maybe-Viking, whatever it took. The consequences of not doing so were just too scary to even think about. She didn’t know if she could mentally survive being a lone wolf again.
CHAPTER FIVE
“YOU’VE
got to kidding me,” Chloe all but yelled into her cell phone the next day.
“Listen, kid, my nurse is off on full moon days and the guy smells like animal blood. He’s stinking up the entire clinic, and he needs a sponge bath.”
“Then why can’t you do it?” Chloe asked.
“Because I’m on the road to Denver to pick up my professor friend, who doesn’t drive. And also, because he’s
your
fated mate.”
Chloe gritted her teeth. “He’s not my anything. I am one hundred percent with Rafe.”
“Okay, well then because he’s the werewolf who came over one thousand years into the future just to find you. Is that any better?”
“No,” she grumbled.
“Well, here’s the deal, kid. You and Rafe asked me to keep this situation under wraps, so unless you want me to ask your fiancé to do it, I suggest you get down here and clean this guy up. And get him some new clothes while you’re at it.”
And that was how Chloe ended up abandoning her preparations for her chicken and fennel episode of
Black Mountain Woman
, and running to the local general store to pick up a pair of extra-large basketball shorts, men’s underwear, and a Wolf Springs T-shirt for the man who had turned her life upside down in less than twelve hours.
Doc Fischer was right about being able to smell him as soon as you walked in the door, but it was Chloe’s opinion he had exaggerated how bad it was. He did smell of some animal whose scent she didn’t recognize off the top of her head, but it didn’t overwhelm his real smell, which she actually found quite pleasant. It was a mixture of smoke, evergreens, ocean, wind, and mountain that made her think of outdoor barbecues and ski vacations.