Page 2 of Mismatched Mates

His smile slipped for a second. “Don’t be like that, Jane.”

“Like what?” I whipped my phone out of my clutch, momentarily pausing at the picture of the twins on my lock screen. It was a timely reminder of why I worked so hard and why I needed to be strong, now more than ever. I scrolled through my emails, checking none had come through from clients since I’d logged off at home twenty minutes ago.

“Bitter. I made a mistake, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”

Bitter. Wasn’t the first time I’d heard it, and probably wouldn’t be the last. “A mistake is forgetting to take out the trash or sleeping through your alarm.”

I glared at him and clicked on a new enquiry email. “But abandoning your family for a midlife fling isn’t just a quaint little slip-up we can all laugh about later."

Through my lashes, I glanced up at him. Once upon a time, I’d found him handsome. Dashing even. And I thought I’d loved him—enough to ignore all the warning signs. That’s the thing, when you love someone, they don’t need to lie to you. You lie to yourself.

I was done lying.

He rested his elbows on the table, trying and failing to assault me with puppy dog eyes. “You know I’m sorry. I’m trying to connect with you.”

I fired off an email response on my phone—a much more productive use of my time. “Wow, stellar effort.You chose the loudest bar in Pine River, the one filled with wolves and bears dying for a fight, and thought a solitary drink would help usconnect?”

I clung to sarcasm and snark, my weapons of choice. Either that, or give in to the familiar pull of shared history. But the kids deserved better.I deserved better.

He tried again. “I miss you… and the kids.”

“You've got a funny way of showing it. Quite the disappearing act.” My words came out harshly, but it was one thing to hurt me, to embarrass me, but hurting Lance and Brandon—that’s one thing I couldn’t forgive.

“Let’s cut to the chase, because begging isnotyour forte. Not that I know what is.” I looked down at my phone. Another two emails had come in. Running a party planning business required constant diligence; things could go awry in minutes. “The answer’s no, by the way.”

He lunged across the table, grabbing my wrist. “Stop working for one goddamned second and look at me, Jane. You know you don’t mean that.”

My bear growled a low warning, and Jason’s eyes dipped, mouth opening. His face paled. I slowly looked up, jaw tight.

Jason's hand remained closed around my wrist but to my satisfaction, I felt nothing but resolve to move on.

He plowed on, oblivious. “Think about Luke and Victoria. We could have what they have.”

An unrestrained growl ripped free as I jerked my hand away, and a few people gave us sidelong glances. Probably making bets about whether we’d start a brawl.

“If youeverbring up my brother or his mate again,” I snarled, feeling my canines lengthen, “then you are going home in a body bag. Understand? We willneverbe like them.

Until Luke had met Victoria, I hadn’t been certain mates existed. But though my brother had found his mate, I certainly hadn’t—I doubted I ever would but that didn’t mean I had to settle. Which, if I was being honest, was exactly what I’d done.

Instead, he sneered. “You’re miserable without me. I bet you don’t even have a date to Luke’s wedding. Face it, Jane, I was the best you were going to get, and if you let go of your pride for one second, you’d see that, too.”

All the hurt turned into rage. It rose, razor sharp, from my gut to my throat. Killing him would be entirely too merciful, never mind messy and illegal, so I went for his jugular the only other way I could. “Oh,” I said, voice sickly sweet, “didn’t you hear?”

The triumph drained a little from his face. “Hear what?”

“The grapevine must be a little slow. I do have a boyfriend,” I lied with a smile. “And he’s coming to the wedding.”

The moment I got home and input the data from the client email chain into my spreadsheet, I called Heather. She answered on the very first ring. “I made a mistake,” I blurted immediately.

“Oh, you mean—hello wifey, the person I would have married if only you had a penis, how wonderful it is to hear your voice.”

I rolled my eyes. There was a note on my fridge reminding me to check certain invoices before sending them off to the accountant.

I snatched that up as I collected my laptop and poured myself a generous glass of red wine, the earthy aroma filling my nostrils as I swirled it gently. “I’m being serious.”

“Is there a time when you’re not being serious?”

“Sometimes I wonder why I call you.” I opened the laptop to my spreadsheets, where neat rows corralled information and numbers tallied themselves through the magic of formulas. The irony was not lost on me, as a supernatural creature who believed order was the highest form of magic.

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