Chapter 2

MARKUS

My brother was shaking. I had no idea why, but it had something to do with that girl.

The one who was currently running away from us down the street. Her big ass and huge boobs shook as she ran. Not my usual type, but damn, did I enjoy watching her hurry away.

I couldn’t seem to drag my eyes away from her, and my wolf was prowling uncomfortably inside my chest, wanting to shift. Wanting to run after her.

But why?

I forced myself to focus back on my brother, mentally shaking myself. I’d never wanted to run after a woman before in my life. They chased me, not the other way around.

“Hey. Are you okay?” I reach for Ollie’s arm, not liking how pale his face was.

He pushed up to standing, though he still swayed like he was intoxicated. “Yeah. Fine. I just... where’d she go?”

He was looking around as though he expected the hot chick to reappear.

I shrugged. “She ran off.”

“Did you see which way she went?” a guy asked, stepping toward us.

He had a terrible vibe about him. Almost like he was a bear shifter, but darker than they usually were.

I turned toward the red-bearded giant. “What do you want with her?”

“Fucking bitch punched me in the jaw,” he said, leaning forward to spit blood on the sidewalk. “Knocked a tooth loose.”

She’s tough, then. Good. I wasn’t sure why that would matter, but pleasure ran through me at the thought of her standing up for herself—as I’m sure she’d just had to, judging by this guy’s angry demeanor.

I couldn’t help but ask, “Whatcha do to deserve that?”

He glared at me, and I just grinned back. Let him make a move. I wouldn’t mind a fight tonight. But the coward just turned and marched back inside the diner.

Ollie was slowly but surely moving his way forward, dragging his legs.

“Ollie! Wait up.” I jogged to catch up to him. “What happened to you back there?”

He was getting stronger, straightening his spine and walking more upright now. “That girl you let go. She’s our mate.”

I put my hand out to stop him, grabbing on tighter when he wanted to keep moving. “Wait. Say that again?”

Ollie turned to me, his cheeks slashed with heat. “She’s our mate, Markus. I’ve never felt anything like it. One touch of her skin against mine, and she took my legs out from under me.”

“But—”

“But what?” he asked, twisting his body and tugging his arm out of my grip.

How could I tell my brother the truth? That I didn’t want a mate, period, let alone one I had to share. What was the point of having one woman who was everything I could ever want in a wife, only to have to share her with my brother?

When I didn’t respond, Ollie kept moving. “I’m going to look for her.” He sniffed the air, turned left, then took off running up the street.

I groaned and ran a frazzled hand through my hair. “Ollie... shit...” I turned back the way I’d come. I’d been at the bar, about to buy a drink for a woman dripping with lust, but I’d had an urge to leave her and go find my brother.

Stupid move. Stupid, stupid move.

But even now, with the knowledge that if I bolted back to the bar, the same woman would be there waiting for me with a hot smile and an even hotter body, I couldn’t do it.

I had to stay with Ollie. Every instinct in my gut told me not to abandon my brother at this moment.

I took off at a run, catching up with him a block down. “Wait up!”

Ollie didn’t slow down, but I could tell he heard me. He was sniffing the air, following a scent.

“Can you sense her?” I asked, getting ready to shift and run despite the city environment. We would hunt her down and demand to know who she was. Surely, she’d be a shifter too. Maybe a woman from a pack outside the city?

I’d never seen her before. Not at a city pack gathering, nor any of the full moon parties we’d attended. We would have definitely noticed her. She was seriously hot.

Ollie dropped his chin and stared straight at me. “No. I think she’s gone.”

“Gone?” I repeated. “She can’t just disappear.”

My brother’s eyebrows drew together. “She was running away from that guy at the diner. She was scared.”

“So, she’s hiding?” I scoffed. “Not likely. That chick was tough! And probably a shifter too, if you think she’s your mate. What human would punch a guy that big?”

Ollie stared at me like I’d gone crazy, his eyes as round as the moon.

“What?” I demanded, unable to ignore the way his expression flared with anger.

“She’s not a shifter, Mark. She’s a human, and she’s afraid. And she’s our mate, not just mine. How many times can you be fucking wrong in the same sentence?”

The fury I kept a lid on most of the time began to boil inside me. “Hey. Back off. I followed you because I felt bad you left and wanted to keep you company. I could be on my way home with some woman, but instead I’m here listening to you bitch and moan.”

Ollie stepped closer until we were practically nose to nose. He was a few inches shorter than me, but it didn’t stop him from glaring straight into my eyes.

“Fuck off, Markus. I mean it. Go! You wanna be balls deep in some stranger’s pussy every night of the week, then do it. I don’t give a shit anymore.”

Then he walked away.

I gaped as I watched him go, then yelled out, “You say that like it’s a bad thing!”

Dickhead.

I turned in the opposite direction to Ollie and marched back toward the bar. Who the hell was he to judge me? Men didn’t do that to each other.

My friends honestly didn’t give a shit if I was married or single. Fucking my way through the entire town or celibate. That wasn’t what we judged each other on.

But Ollie and this stupid fucking perfect pairs bullshit...

A growl rolled through my chest and my hands clenched into tight fists. “Damn it... grr...” I forced my legs to walk faster.

I didn’t want to settle down. I didn’t want a mate. Hell, I wasn’t sure I even wanted kids. Every time I heard one of them cry or saw a pregnant woman, I shuddered.

That just wasn’t the life for me. I was sure of it.

I froze mid-stride, the sweetest scent I’d ever smelled filling my nose and teasing my senses. “What the...”

I looked around, searching for the source of the deliciousness. A couple walked by, and I sniffed loudly.

The guy shot me a look, and I shook my head and moved in the opposite direction. It wasn’t them.

There was an alleyway between the two shops on the street, and I put my nose up and scented the air once more.

An involuntary groan rose from my chest when another erotic cloud of need hit me. “What the hell is that?”

I stalked down the dark alleyway, looking for the thing that was making all my senses go haywire. My wolf was on full alert, and it was only because of years of training that my human self was strong enough to subdue him.

I took another step, then another, part of me expecting to find some secret bakery hidden down here among the trash cans and piss puddles.

I sniffed again and managed to stifle the groan this time. It was stronger suddenly. Why could I sense... “You!”

To my left was the woman we’d seen running out of the diner. She was standing totally still, her back pressed against the concrete wall. If I didn’t have wolf senses, which included night vision, I would never have seen her.

Her hands curled into fists and her huge breasts rose and fell as she began to pant, obviously readying for a fight.

And yet the words that came out of her pretty mouth were, “Please don’t hurt me.”

I turned to look right at her. What a contradiction this woman was. She seemed as tough as nails, and yet there was an insanely intoxicating amount of sweetness about her too.

I leaned forward a little and sniffed the air. “Why do you smell like cookies? Is it your perfume?”

It was a long shot, but I had to ask. My cock was thickening by the second, and if I didn’t pride myself on always waiting for the woman to make the first move, I would have pushed her up against that wall and kissed her.

Her lips parted on a soft gasp. “Cookies? I...”

My question must have caught her off guard because her fingers unclenched from their fisted position, then she did something so strangely innocent and weird. She lifted her arm and sniffed at her armpit.

O... kay.

Then she dropped her arm again, a wince on her face. “Oh, I definitely don’t smell of cookies. I’ve been working since six a.m., so all I can smell is sweat.”

I leaned even closer. “I don’t understand.”

“Hey,” she said, pointing her finger at me. “Didn’t I see you before with that guy that kinda keeled over sideways? Is he okay?”

I chuckled for a moment then could almost hear Ollie in my head whispering, “Touch her. Then you’ll know.”

I didn’t want to know whether she was my supposed mate or not. I chose my fate, not anyone else. But my wolf was howling at me to get closer, and I didn’t like to see such a beautiful woman pressed into the dirt of the alley.

“He’s fine. Gone home,” I said with a shrug, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Come on, I’ll give you a lift.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m fine.”

I gestured for her to follow me. “Well, I’m not leaving you in this alley. So, either tell me where you’re staying, and I’ll get you there or...”

She stared down at her hands, inspecting her unpolished nails. “Or what?”

I knew I should walk away. That this—whatever I was doing right now—was crazy.

I’d followed my wolf instincts into this alley and was now about to do the most stupid thing I’d done in a long time. “Or I’ll take you home with me.”

Her head shot up and her eyes were as round and wide as a startled deer.

I held both hands up. “Hey, this isn’t a line. We have a spare bedroom. You can take Kaity’s room.”

“Who’s Kaity?”

“Our baby sister. She visits on occasion.” I stared at her long and hard, assessing her defeated posture and adding it to the list of questions I had. “You don’t have anywhere to go, do you?”

She bit her lip in the most innocently seductive way, and I almost threw my head back and howled.

I forced myself to stumble further away from her, pushing down my wolf with all my might. “What is it about you?” I grumbled, putting a hand against the opposite wall to where she leaned, and breathing hard.

“What do you mean?”

I couldn’t explain it, so I shook my head. She was already freaked out enough. I didn’t need to tell her that every look made my senses overload.

When I could finally get myself under control, I stood straight and tugged at my shirt to straighten everything once more.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t help but notice the way her gaze slid over me, and she didn’t look repulsed. Quite the opposite. Even in the dim light I could see her pupils dilate.

“Come on... ah, I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Alexandria,” she said. “But everyone calls me Lexi.”

I crossed my arms over my chest to stop from reaching out for her. “What do you prefer?”

She tilted her head and frowned at me like no one had ever asked her that before. “Lexi.”

“Done.” Sexy Lexy. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. Do you have a bag, or anywhere you’ve got some stuff stored?”

She nodded. “Sort of. I’ve been renting a loft over a Chinese restaurant on Castle Street, but my landlord is expecting my rent, and since I just lost my job and my boss didn’t give me the last two weeks’ pay he owed me, I’m kinda stuck.”

She certainly was.

I held up a hand. “Hang on a second. Are you telling me that your old boss is holding your money?” My anger began to build. I hated men like that. Using their power and influence to keep those under them captive. How was she supposed to eat? Live? “How often is he supposed to pay you?”

“Weekly. But he’s been a bit less forthcoming in recent weeks.” She bit her lip again. I had to turn and walk away, toward the entrance of the alley, to stop from pulling her into my arms and drowning her in kisses.

What was wrong with me? This chick was not my usual type at all. She wasn’t skinny and overtly sexual, and she damn sure wouldn’t be an easy to forget one-night stand.

So why did I want to take her home, put her to bed, and devour her whole?

When I noticed she wasn’t following me, I turned around and saw that she was still hanging around the trash cans.

I sighed. “Come on, Lexi. It’s late. You’re exhausted, and I’m frustrated as fuck. Let’s just go home and get some sleep, and tomorrow, we can sort out your boss and your money.”

She hurried up to me. “No. I don’t want you doing anything to him.”

I bit back my reply and instead just forced a smile to my face. “My truck’s parked a few blocks over. You can take the spare bedroom tonight, okay?”

She narrowed her eyes at me as though assessing my intent.

I put both hands up in surrender. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I don’t do unwilling women. And Ollie wouldn’t harm a fly.”

Her eyebrows flickered up. “Ollie... that’s the guy from before?”

Jealousy like nothing else I’ve ever felt shot through me, hot and angry and uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” I managed to get out through clenched teeth. “He’s my brother.”

It was almost strange to explain to someone who Ollie was. Everyone knew us. We’d lived here our whole lives.

She inhaled sharply, then nodded once. “Thank you. I accept your offer, and I hope I’ll be able to pay you back sometime in the future.”

I shrugged and shoved my hands in my pockets so I didn’t reach for her. “Don’t sweat it. You don’t owe us anything.”