Page 5 of Mated to the Human: Volume One

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Derek stopped the bike at the gate of the private parking lot for the hellhound clubhouse. He pulled his ID card out of his pocket and held it up to the scanner. The light flicked to green, and the gate opened.

Clubhouse wasn’t really the appropriate term. The first level of their building was offices, a dispatch center, and cells to house unruly paranormal citizens that the human police didn’t have the means to handle. The three floors above were apartments. The whole hellhound pack lived in the building along with their mates and kids.

Derek’s apartment was on the fourth floor. A one-bedroom haven where he could hide from the world and relax. Now, he would share it with Hollis.

He backed the motorcycle into his parking spot and killed the engine. Without the bike’s rumble, Hollis’s heartbeat seemed loud with nothing but the steady flow of traffic and random horns honking to drown it out.

Looking back over his shoulder, he watched Hollis look up at the building and swallow hard. Reaching back, he offered Hollis his hand. “If you’re not used to riding, sometimes the legs get wobbly.”

Hollis’s gaze snapped to his. He took Derek’s hand and climbed off the motorcycle. When he had both feet on the ground, his grip tightened. Derek held him steady and climbed off himself.

“You know you don’t have to be nervous,” Derek said, gently, reaching for the chin strap of Hollis’s helmet and unfastening it. He lifted the helmet off Hollis’s head and smiled when his blond curls spilled over his forehead.

Hollis huffed and pushed them back. “That obvious, huh?” He let out a long sigh. “You seem like a good man.” He shot a furtive look Derek’s way before focusing back on the building. “But this is…this is crazy, isn’t it?”

“A little bit, yeah.” Derek offered Hollis his arm. After a strange look, Hollis took it and let Derek lead him toward the door. “Honestly, I think there are probably a hundred better ways to inspire paranormal and human unity, but Lenette and the mayor are apparently matchmaking old biddies.”

Hollis let out a sharp bark of laughter before slapping a hand over his mouth.

Derek shot him a smile and punched in his code on the numeric pad beside the door. “I’ll get you all set up with your own codes to the gate and building. There’s a walk-up entrance on the other side since you won’t be driving, but I’d like you to have a card to access the gate anyway.”

Hollis didn’t say anything. Only nodded.

Derek pulled the door open when the lock clicked and held it open for Hollis to walk through. Which he did with only a small pause. Not wanting to rush him, Derek took his time closing the door and stayed a step back. The building wasn’t super new, but it was clean and in good repair.

Bulletproof glass doors led from the entryway into the main hall. It was a straight shot through to the walk-up entrance—brightly lit with linoleum flooring and slate-gray walls. A door to the left led to the enforcer headquarters. To the right were elevators, the stairwell, and a maintenance supply room.

Hollis wandered forward, taking everything in.

Derek’s core crew had wanted to throw a reception for them, but he’d declined. Instead, he planned to order in a nice dinner and try to make Hollis feel as comfortable as possible. Maybe once they were more settled, they could talk about having a proper mating ceremony and doing all the things that entailed. For now, he just wanted to get them both behind a closed door.

He pushed the up button for the elevator. The silver doors slid open, and they stepped inside. Hollis stood beside him instead of retreating to the opposite side of the empty car, and Derek was glad for it. Of course, Derek was the most familiar thing to Hollis here.

Thankfully, the ride to the fourth floor was short. After they got out of the elevator, Derek led them down the hall to his—their—door. He turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. “This is it.”

The apartment was nice. Since it was his sanctuary, he made sure of it. A big comfortable couch dominated the living room. There was a bistro table out on the balcony where he liked to have breakfast, and he remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms last year.

Hollis followed him in, eyes darting around as the door clicked closed behind him.

Derek kicked off his boots on the mat beside the door. Hollis did the same.

Sniffing the air, Derek followed his nose into the kitchen and found two place settings on the table, a bottle of chilled wine, and two bags on the kitchen counter from his favorite Italian restaurant.

“Something smells good,” Hollis said quietly from his elbow.

Derek looked down at him. He was putting on a brave face, but that thread of anxiety in his scent hadn’t lessened at all.

“You like Italian? I’d planned for us to pick out and order something once we got here, but it looks like Knox and Ariella beat us to it.”

“I like Italian,” Hollis said, walking over to peek in one of the bags. “Who are Knox and Ariella?”

“Knox is my second-in-command. Ariella’s his mate. She’s actually super excited you’re here.”

“She a matchmaking old biddy, too?”

For a stunned moment, Derek couldn’t do anything. Then a big rumbling laugh spilled out of him. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

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