Page 32 of Predator

And I’m happy about that, even as I stew over losing badly again and again.

That’s why, after I talk Tristan into a fourth game, then a fifth—that he might’ve let me win, not because he still wants in my pants, but because it was kind of pathetic at that point how much I needed to come out victorious—I’m still hanging out in the game room by myself when Lucas comes looking for me.

Whether he followed our bond, followed his nose, or one of the others told him where to find me, I’m getting ready to practice another game of pool when Lucas walks in. He’s fresh from a patrol, his curls windblown, a touch of red on the heights of his cheeks. He had time to change, though, wearing a light grey t-shirt that shows off his muscular chest and sculpted biceps.

His thumbs are hooked in the belt loops of his dark denim jeans. I love it when he does that. It makes the ropey cords of muscles on his forearms stand out as his elbows are cocked.

“Hey, Luc. Want to play?”

Before he can answer me, my mate breathes in deep, nostrils flaring as his eyes dart around the room. It’s obvious that no one else is in the game room except for me at the moment. But as his gaze lands on the pool cue that Tristan took from Eleanor, then hung up on the wall before he left the game room, I can just see his mind spinning.

Another quick peek around, almost like he’s watching an invisible game of pool play out in front of him, before he moves further into the room.

Pausing on the other side of the billiards table, almost like he needs to keep a little distance between us, he rests his palms against the wood. His claws are out, the points hitting the green felt, but his face is calm as he says, “Tristan was in here.”

I wait to see if he’s going to add anything else. Because that? That wasn’t a question. That was a statement. From his lingering scent alone, Lucas knows that Tristan was in the game room with me long enough to leave his mark.

I’m competitive, and Lucas is jealous. That’s part of who he is. My Alpha mate has been like this from the beginning, though I initially took it as disinterest on his part. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Lucas kept his distance at first because he wanted me so badly, and it rubbed his fur wrong whenever I got too close to his Beta.

I didn’t know. I had no freaking clue actually. I just thought Tristan was coming on a little too strong, and Lucas was only inviting me to stay at the pack house because he felt bad for me. And while Tristan did make it pretty obvious that he was into me, Lucas stayed away because he didn’t think I’d want him.

How could I not? Even when he was the heroic huntsman in my fairy tale, I was snared under his spell. A wolf? I was down. The beast? Well, that gave me a little bit of a pause there for a moment, but in the end… I love Lucas, and that includes every part of him.

Besides, maybe it’s not the healthiest reaction, but a guy being so jealous that he needs to scent-mark me after my friend touches me? That’s pretty hot. Lucas’s face tightening up as he realizes that I was with Tristan while he was out on patrol? As long as he doesn’t think anything happened, that’s pretty damn hot, too.

Mates don’t cheat. I would never, but now that I have a bond with Lucas, just the idea of even making a move on another guy has me dry-heaving a bit. Add that to how loyal Tristan is to Lucas—stepping back multiple times whenever Lucas reminded him that he had a ‘claim’ to me—and I’m not so surprised that we had our conversation.

We’re friends now. I’m sure Lucas knows that.

At least, the logical part of his human brain does. The wolfy side?

Yeah. He’s struggling there, isn’t he?

Good thing I know how to take care of that…

First, with words. “He was,” I tell him. “So was Eleanor. She kicked my ass at pool, then Tristan came along and did the same freaking thing.”

He tilts his head slightly, a predator’s gaze watching my every move as I set the cue down before walking over to him. His arms open wide in invitation, and I walk right into them, bracing my palms on his shoulders.

This close, he should be able to decipher the scents and see that while the room surely stinks of Tristan, I don’t.

He drops his head, putting his nose into my loose hair. Breathing in deep, he cups my chin in his hand and rumbles softly. “So fucking sweet, sucre. Thank you. I needed that.”

It’s a learning curve, this mating thing. I get it. It’s one thing to know that this is it, this is forever, but we both have baggage. As a supe, Lucas waited for his one true mate—then lost her so soon after finding her. Then, sacrificing half of his own soul to bring Jolie back, he got me after seventy freaking years… and not only didn’t I remember him or anything about my first life, but I knew nothing about supernaturals until I got caught up in their world.

It’s mine now. Just like Lucas is mine.

So we’ll have bumps in the road. I’ll secretly be jealous of Jolie, Lucas will be jealous of everyone, but we’ll get over it. Once we both realize that we’re it for each other and that this fated love we have is enough to get past the worst of both of our traumas, we’re gonna get the rest of that happily-ever-after promised to us in all those fairy tales.

For now, it’s just Lucas and me—and if I need to remind him that I’m his… that I’ve always been his… yeah. I think I can take care of that.

I slide my hand down his chest, patting him there. “Anytime, babe.”

The other day when we were playing pool, Eleanor told me that Jade had taken off for a few days just to come to grips with her disappointment that the stasis spell hadn’t let up yet.

Turns out, that’s something she’s been known to do. Well aware that, despite her diminutive size as a human woman, she could more than handle herself, Lucas lets her go for as long as she needs. Besides, it’s not like she can leave Winter Creek. She’s somewhere out there, either in the woods, or in the cave systems that exist behind Tristan’s secret waterfall.

But while Jade gets pissed and vanishes, the longest she’s been gone in the last seventy years was four days. When it hits a full week, Lucas calls it.

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