29 – Fated

Troy followed his mate eagerly into her apartment, overjoyed that she’d invited him in. This was it, the first day of their lives together. He would never leave. The apartment was dark. She snapped on lights, moving slowly, not looking at him, revealing an open living and kitchen area, with a hallway off to the right.

He touched everything, her counters, the walls, her paintings, the salt and pepper shakers, a damp towel hanging on a chair, the back of her couch, all the pillows on the couch, then across the room to the other shelf, picking up and putting down her little picture frames and travel mementoes one at a time.

When he turned around, she was watching him, arms folded over her chest. He could not read the look on her face, but her scent said she was overwhelmed and nervous.

Your place is so cozy, he told her in ruhi. I love it. She didn’t respond. Should he tell her about ruhi? No, he decided. She seemed dazed, like she was having a hard time accepting everything else he’d told her.

“Sit down,” he said, leading her to the dark couch. He grabbed a pillow and propped it behind her back, then another. He threw a pillow on the coffee table, picked her bare feet up from the floor, and put them on the pillow, plumping it under her pretty pink toenails. “Drink?” he said.

She didn’t respond to that either, only staring straight ahead. Thinking hard, maybe. He went to the kitchen and got her water, putting it down next to her, then he looked around for a blanket. He found none so he went down the hallway, finding her bedroom. Her sleep scent was strong in the room, and Troy caught an undercurrent that made his heart leap. His female was three days pregnant.

The night he’d claimed her, he’d also put a pup in her belly.

Troy turned in a little circle. Troy put his hand on his head. Troy thought about telling his brother. Troy thought about howling. Troy held on tight to a chair near him, trying to deal with the overwhelming emotions that were coming at him from everywhere, threatening to knock him down like even a bear couldn’t.

Pups. His own pups. He was shifted. He had a mate. She was pregnant with his young. Did he cry? He might have. He didn’t know. The one thing he did know very clearly, was that if he told his female what he had scented in her bedroom, she would bolt. Did she not want young? No, he decided, it wasn’t that, it was… complicated, like she was, and he wouldn’t have her any other way. He would just have to ease her in, give her time.

He went to the doorway to look at her. She was still staring straight ahead, still leaning against one pillow, with her feet up on the other pillow. Even from the back she looked dazed. He wanted to touch her hair, wanted to run his fingers through it. He wanted to taste her again. He wanted to give her twice as many orgasms as he had last time, but he had to control himself, he had to wait until he was invited, and he would never be invited if he pushed her.

Which meant the only thing left to do was get her a blanket. He pulled the one off of her bed and took it to her. She didn’t say a word when he put it on her, only stared in the general direction of the TV, which was off.

Troy sat down next to her, but keeping his distance, a full cushion away. From there, he got a steady infusion of her cooling scent. He picked up the remote and turned on the TV, checking his female’s face every so often.

Was it really possible that he still didn’t know her name?

“Daisy,” he said.

She didn’t say a word.

“Peony.”

She turned her head very slowly to look at him.

“Bamboo,” he said, then he shook his head. “Bamboo is stupid, scratch Bamboo. No one names a kid bamboo.” He searched her scent to make sure he hadn’t just made a bigger fool out of himself. Nope, she wasn’t named Bamboo.

He looked around the room at all the plant paintings and forest scenes, searching for inspiration. It struck. “Mint, is that your name? Pepper?”

She shook her head, her face as carefully blank as it had been in the Dairy Queen. Uh oh.

“I’ll think on it,” he said. “Unless you want to tell me.”

She didn’t answer. Her face turned toward the wall again.

He turned on the TV as quickly as possible. Netflix. Perfect. Now to find something she might like. He scanned her Recently Watched.

Under a Full Moon. The cover art showed what was obviously a werewolf about to carry a woman somewhere, and of course a full moon hung in the sky. Nice. He would watch that later.

The next one was titled, The Dragon Maiden, and it showed a dragon stretching a scaly neck out to a maiden. Hm. He didn’t like that one so much. Just what exactly did that mean, Dragon Maiden?

The next one was titled The Red of Night. Another werewolf flick. Good deal, but Troy got out of there anyway, because he didn’t think he could handle it if he saw the words bear and maiden anywhere.

He scrolled down to Trending Now. His female’s phone dinged and she snatched it up, holding it close to her face like he might try to read what she was typing. He wouldn’t do that. He looked the other way while she typed frantically, then put the phone down again. Her scent was… interesting. He looked at her. She was blushing, and it made her look fresh and young and sweet and if the pup in her belly was a female, Troy hoped she looked just like her beautiful momma and not at all like her mangy poppa. He grinned until he thought he might pop a blood vessel. He tried to get himself together.

He pointed the remote at the screen and found Cops. He turned it on. Bobbed his head with the theme music. Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do?

His female’s scent had gone alarmed. Troy hit the pause button and got out of that screen.

Hm. Ok, what would she like that he would like, too? Troy thought hard, scrolling aimlessly. What did he know about her? She was pretty. She smelled good. She was a hard worker. She… she didn’t like flowers. She was buttoned up, until he pressed the right buttons, and then she buttoned all the way down. Shit! His dick was hard instantly but that was not what his female needed at that moment. Troy pressed the select button on the remote, turning on anything. He got up. “I’ll be right back,” he said. She nodded her head slightly, not looking at him, still seeming dazed.

Troy looked around. His dick was not cooling it and his female’s scent did not help. Out the sliding glass door he went, wrestling with the drape for only a minute. He pulled the door shut, but not all the way, wanting to hear his female if she called him. He stared out at the forest, pulling in great lungfuls of air, waiting for the monster in his pants to chill the fuck out.

Did he scent… bear? The forest that divided his female’s subdivision with Remington’s subdivision was not wide, stretching maybe only a mile or two in each direction, but the trees were high and he could not see to past them.

The scent had only been the barest bear whiff, but he took note, trying to catch another, considering jumping over the railing and running into the forest for a sniff around, but decided against it. His female was skittish right now, and it could do more harm than good. He called his brother instead.

Trevor, put another guard on Blake.

I’m here with two patrol officers. I’m leaving soon, but I’ve got two more patrol replacing me.

Two more on top of that. I’ve got a bad feeling. Roust some KSRT, too.

I’ll try, but most everyone is already working. We’ve got reports of foxen disappearing, kidnapped some are saying, and we’re scrambling, trying to figure out if Khain is involved, but if I have to, I’ll start pulling more officers from neighboring districts to come work out here. I agree that something is about to happen. Where are you? We’ll send you a guard, too.

I’m close. Send a roving patrol car out to circle the streets just north of Remington’s, and that’s all I need. The last thing he needed was someone like Mac and Rogue showing up at the apartment. Or Canyon and Timber. He couldn’t decide who would be worse.

How’s it going? Trevor asked after a beat to consider.

Good. I’m inside her place. We’re talking. I’ve told her everything.

What’s her name?

Gotta go, she wants me.

Troy turned off ruhi in his head, praying that was true.

Again, the barest whiff of bear floated to him, but it wasn’t pure. It was almost like someone was walking around in the woods with a bear paw on a chain or something. Did people wear bear fur? Probably not. Bears didn’t stand for that shit. That would be like trying to wear wolf.

Was he being watched? He might be.

Troy snarled into the forest, soft at first, then louder, then one last wicked-mean rolling growl. If someone was watching him, that was their only warning. If he saw anyone too near his female, he was breaking necks first, asking questions later.