10. Zeke

Chapter ten

Zeke

I couldn't believe what Sacha had just said, and so offhandedly, too. I backed out of his arms so I could see his face more easily. "Are you saying I'm your mate? Like that's a thing? Fated mates is a real…thing?"

He swallowed so forcefully that I could hear his throat click. His cheeks were flushed and eyes wide as he said, "It's… Yeah, fated mates are real. I knew who you were the moment I…saw you."

"Smelled me, you mean?" My temper flared. "That fucking love potion."

I got up from the bed and winced for a second as my ass complained. Clearly, I hadn't paid much attention to the aftereffects of getting knotted by a were—er, a lycan. Not only did Sacha have a bigger dick in his wolf-man form, but that knot was a beast all on its own.

"Love potion?" he asked.

I nodded on my way into the bathroom to freshen up because guess who'd forgotten all about condoms in the face of getting fucked by a supernatural creature. "Tell me it's okay that we didn't use a condom."

"Oh, it's fine. I'm not human. We have our own diseases."

I poked my head out to glare at him.

"That you can't catch," he amended quickly. "I can't get yours, and you can't get mine. We're good."

I returned to cleaning myself, glad at least that part of the fiction was accurate. And now I had to wonder if anyone writing those books I loved reading knew the truth. Who was just writing the fun smutty books and who actually knew? It couldn't possibly be all of them. Could it?

"Uh, Zeke?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean by love potion?"

I rolled my eyes at myself in the mirror as I washed my hands. "That magic shop owner guy—the one who looks like Johnny Depp on a goth bender—he gave it to me as a gift. I think I left it on the desk by the windows."

I came out of the bathroom to find Sacha holding the vial with his finger on the pump. "Don't!" I hollered with a hand out to stop him as I rushed across the room.

"I think it's empty," he said and angled the bottle toward me. "I can't smell anything."

"What?" I took the bottle and twisted the top off. It was entirely gone. "It was full. And it stunk."

"Maybe it wasn't full?"

"No, it was. Everyone wanted to try some after—" I set the bottle down and put my hands on my hips. "That's the whole reason you kissed the hell out of me in the lobby. We're not fated mates. It was just a trick of this love potion."

Sacha frowned hard and picked up the bottle. He pressed the opening directly to one nostril and inhaled a deep breath. Shaking his head, he shifted into his wolf-man form and sniffed again. "Nothing," he said in his growly lycan voice. "I smell absolutely nothing."

"No." I cleared my throat because that came out whiny. "It was like sweaty man, dirt, and pine needles. Everyone could—" I stopped myself, just now remembering that Fabian had insisted he couldn't smell anything.

"Maybe it evaporated?" Sacha shifted back to his human form and examined the pump top. "No, it should still leave a scent behind."

"So you didn't smell it that day? That's not why you kissed me?"

He gave me a soft little smile. "I smelled you . And then all I could think about was claiming you."

"Do I smell like dirt and pine?"

I let him get close and sniff against my jaw. "You smell like rum, sunblock, and salty air. A day at the beach with a good cocktail."

What the… To me, I smelled like my hair product and deodorant, which were both woodsy scents. How could he scent something completely different?

And then it occurred to me to sniff him. When I did— "Oh, fuck me," I said on a moan.

"What?"

"You smell like fresh dirt, pine, and a sort of male musk." I leaned my elbow on his shoulder and covered my face. "The love potion smelled like you . To me. And only to me."

Sacha pulled me closer, chest to chest, and looped his arms around my waist. "It sounds to me like maybe the shop owner was trying to make sure you were as primed for me as I was for you." He kissed my cheek. "Or do you always tongue-fuck a guy with your first kiss?"

I snorted a laugh and rested my forehead on his shoulder. "Oh, shut up. You would've banged me right there if I hadn't stopped you."

"Yep," he said without a lick of remorse.

I pulled away just enough to look in his eyes. "So the love potion just got us together faster? We're still…fated?"

He petted up and down my back. "Yeah, we are. I can feel the bond between us growing stronger every time we're together." He dipped his head and sighed. "I should've told you before knotting you because that was a big deal. You're… Zeke, you're mine ." Even without his wolf suit on, he kind of growled that last word.

I wasn't sure what to say. We hadn't even been dating, in my opinion, but here we were married. Because I knew that was what being mates meant and wolves mated for life. Even if my feelings weren't as strong because I was only human, he was already in this until death did we part.

A sudden forceful knock on the door made me yelp and flinch. "Hell," I grouched, "I think I might be scheduled for some kind of wedding thing this morning."

Sacha let me go and reached for his boxers. "It's okay. We can talk later."

Yeah, maybe a break would be good, so I could sort out my head.

I grabbed a pillow from the bed and held it in front of me. I opened the door only wide enough to see half of me, and found Fabian in the hallway.

Hands on his hips and dressed for being outside, he looked me over with a frown. "Ezequiel, why aren't you ready?"

"Uh…" I could hear rustling behind me and cleared my throat to try and cover it up. "I forgot to set an alarm. What, um, time is it?"

"It's time to move your ass, that's what time it is." He crossed his arms over his lean chest. "We're supposed to be doing the scavenger hunt right now. It's for things to put in my bouquet."

I blinked at him a few times. A scavenger hunt to make his bouquet? That seemed way too unplanned and risky for someone who wanted perfection.

"Ezequiel, get ready!" he said as he stomped his foot.

"Jesus, okay!"

And I made the mistake of stepping back and letting the door open wider. I knew the moment Fabian saw Sacha because I'd never seen his eyes open quite that wide before. He gasped in scandalized awe and then the round O of his open mouth transformed into a cheeky grin.

"Oh, I see," he purred.

I cringed, but Sacha chuckled behind me. I felt Sacha's warm hand on my shoulder before he said, "Do you mind if we have a few minutes to say goodbye?"

Fabian shook his head. "Oh, no, cupcake. You tell papi here that you'll see him later ."

There was just enough malice in his tone to make me cover my eyes and groan.

But Sacha took it in stride and kissed my cheek. "I absolutely meant goodbye for now, not forever."

I gasped and grabbed the doorframe when Sacha goosed me. "Oh, my god ."

"How about I walk you down to breakfast?" Sacha asked, but he wasn't talking to me.

"No, wait!" I tried to grab him, horrified by the idea of the two of them alone together, but he dodged me.

"That would be wonderful," Fabian cooed and looped his arm through Sacha's. "Tell me you had my dear Ezequiel screaming your name last night and we'll be the very best of friends."

I closed the door. "Shit, shit, shit."

It wasn't that I didn't want my family and friends to know or get to like Sacha, but if the two of them were going to share embarrassing stories, I wanted to be there to shove mini muffins in their mouths to shut them up as quickly as possible.

I raced around the room getting dressed and cursing my ass every time it reminded me of why I had spent the last twelve hours screaming Sacha's name.

By the time I made it down to the restaurant, Sacha was nowhere to be seen and Fabian was lounging in his chair like the queen he was and smirking at me. "Well, well, well," he said, "you have been a very busy boy."

I dropped into the chair beside him with a groan. "Please don't tease. This is all so…complicated."

"Mmm, yes. He's absolutely smitten with you."

Because he thought I was his fated mate, the one man destined to be his everything. Fuck me, that was a daunting thing to be for someone.

"Oh, quit your frowning," Fabian snapped. "Jesus, you're such a—"

"Excuse me! There are a lot of things to consider here, thank you very much."

"Like what?"

I stared at him. How could he not guess on his own? "How about the fact that I'm leaving at the end of the week because I live on the other side of the country?"

Fabian shrugged. "Do you, though?"

Well, fuck, he had me there.

"Why not stay here," he went on, "and see what it's like? He'll let you live with him—I know that without even asking. Let him be your sugar daddy for a while, or get a job at one of the bars. You know you'll be running the place within a week." He sat up and leaned toward me. "This is your chance to reinvent yourself. Why not explore the possibilities right here?"

I blinked at him. His earnest encouragement was entirely unexpected. I'd thought I would be coming down here to take a ribbing for deflowering a virgin and going M.I.A. for, like, twenty-four hours. Instead—and without even knowing all the details—my cousin was very seriously urging me to change my entire life. I didn't know what to think.

Fabian patted the back of my hand and stood up. "Here," he said and handed me a spiral-bound notepad with an attached pen. "Go find things and think about your life. This is the only time you get to be all in your head, though, so get it done."

He tried to poke my forehead, but I whacked his hand and made him run off, giggling like a maniac. God, he was such a little shit. Making me contemplate my life while… I opened the notepad and saw a list of items to find for the scavenger hunt. Making me contemplate my life while finding branches, leaves, pinecones, and other nature bits, for fuck's sake. Yep, that would have me knee-deep in my thoughts in no time.

I went over to the buffet tables to see if there was some kind of portable breakfast something to take with me while I went walkabout in the Colorado forest.