The Wolf's Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel (12 page)

“You don’t like it?”

“I like it very much, Karly, but so will
every other man in the bar. So, no.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and put her
hands on her hips. “I’m not going to dress like a nun in front of
your friends forever.”

“Not a nun, just less like you’re advertising
things that aren’t for sale.”

“I wasn’t aware I was dressed like a
billboard,” She said dryly.

“Sweetheart, please? I want to introduce you
to my friends, but I, hell, maybe this isn’t a good idea.” He
sighed and went from looking like he wasn’t going to take no for an
answer about her clothes to looking defeated. She hated that look.
It was as if he thought his feelings had no value.

She gave him a shove towards the bed.
“Alright, give me a minute to pick out something
less-billboardy.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. She stripped
off the top and flipped through her things. “Can I keep the pants
on?”

“Depends. Are you wearing panties?”

She peeked her head out of the closet. “A
thong. I don’t do panty lines in leather; it’s like a cardinal girl
rule.”

He frowned in thought, “I guess you can keep
them on.”

She chuckled to herself as she turned back
around and finally made a choice that she thought he’d appreciate.
She had given most of her summer things to charity before she
bought clothes for fall, but she kept a few things she liked. One
of them was a black tank. It had a shelf bra in it, and was form
fitting, extra material from the sides gathered in a knot in the
front. She pulled one of his casual button down shirts from the
hanger, black of course, and slid it on. After she put on her black
ankle boots, she walked out as she rolled up the sleeves.

“Wait, I’m not done.” She walked into the
bathroom and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail. If someone
looked at her neck, they’d see his marks. Four white dots, two
thicker than the others, on either side of her spine.

“Better?” She asked, when she came out of the
bathroom.

He stood up and pulled her into his arms. She
let out a yelp and laughed as he kissed and hugged her close.
“Much. You’re covered and you smell like me even more with the
shirt.”

“Linus, you have to know that even if someone
was stupid enough to approach me that there isn’t anyone else that
I want to touch me for the rest of my life but you.”

“Well,” he smoothed his fingers to where the
marks were, “they wouldn’t just be stupid they’d be hospitalized
very shortly after.”

“And?”

He blinked. “And what?”

“And, you don’t want to touch anyone else for
the rest of your life either.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes, “Hell, Karly,
I don’t want to even look at another woman for the rest of my life,
let alone touch one. But women don’t look at me the way that men
will look at you.”

It was her turn to snort. “You’re
overestimating my appeal.”

He got that pissed look in his eyes when he
thought she was undervaluing herself. “Um, not even close. If we
make it through tonight without me punching my friends then we’ll
be doing great.”

She went up on her toes and nipped at his jaw
and he squeezed her lower back with both hands and sighed, the
stress of whatever situation he was imaging might happen at the bar
sliding away from him. At least for now.

As they pulled into the parking lot of Jake's
Bar, it didn't look like anything special to her. The pack had
their own entrance at the back of the bar so they didn’t have to
stand in line out front, which in the winter was a very good thing.
The bar had only been open on the weekends for the last two
weekends and they were waiting for feelers that the alpha had put
out to other packs in surrounding states for wolves that would want
to jump ship and join up with them and run the bar. So far that
hadn’t panned out.

Linus pulled her into his arms and began to
carry her across the parking lot. “Linus, I can walk.”

“I know, angel, but the parking lot is icy
and it’s cold as hell and your legs are short so I can carry you
faster than you can walk.”

She huffed, “My legs are perfectly sized for
my body. We can’t all be giants.”

He stopped walking and looked down at her,
“You’re right. Your legs are the perfect size to wrap around my
waist when we’re making love. But I won’t let you walk over ice.
I’m not an asshole. It’s not safe.”

She let it drop because he had this way of
arguing about her safety and she wondered if he would prefer she
was covered in bubble wrap. And sometimes she thought that he
wondered what would have happened if she had died out in the snow.
It seemed like whenever that thought crossed his mind, he got a
little over protective. She truly didn't mind; she just enjoyed
giving him a hard time.

When the door opened, they were in a dark,
wood paneled hallway. Music was muffled though the walls but loud
enough she was sure it was going to burst her ear drums, and she
was totally right. When he put her down and opened the door into
the bar for her, she was nearly bowled over by the music. He took
her hand firmly in his after a quick scan of the tables, and pulled
her behind him towards the right side of the very busy bar.

He didn’t give her much slack, holding her
hand very close to him as he maneuvered them through the throng of
tables, around the small dance area, and to the line of u-shaped
booths along the wall. She felt him grow nervous and squeezed his
hand for reassurance.

He stopped at a booth in the middle. There
were four people in it. Two dark blonde males, one brunette female,
and a black haired male.

“Linus,” the male in the center of the booth
said, sliding his arm around the brunette female possessively. He
had dark blonde hair and a goatee and serious blue eyes.

“Jason.” Linus took a slow breath and said,
“This is Karly. Karly, this is our alpha Jason, his mate Cadence,
Michael our second, and Bo our third.”

Everyone at the table stared at her in
silence. Not unfriendly but not exactly welcoming either. They
stood in silent limbo for several moments and then Cadence elbowed
Jason and he shook his head as if clearing thoughts from it. “Nice
to meet you Karly. You can join us, if you’d like.”

Everyone shifted and Linus put her inside
next to Cadence and sat on the end. He put his arm around her and
held her hand with his other hand under the table.

Bo stood up, “Would you guys like a beer or
something? We don’t have table service right now.”

Linus said, “Just a couple sodas, Bo, that
would be great.”

Bo nodded and walked off as Michael grunted
in disbelief, “Since when do you drink soda at a bar, Linus?”

Linus bristled, “Since I have someone riding
in the truck with me and I don’t want to impair my driving
ability.”

The frowns and stunned looks told her that it
wasn’t typical for Linus to talk like that or to turn down beer.
She wouldn’t embarrass him by pointing it out, though. She would
offer to drive, but she didn’t know the town well enough yet to get
them home in the dark and he would most definitely turn her down
anyway.

Bo returned a few minutes later with two
sodas. At that moment, the DJ who had taken a break started the
music going again. Some women walked by, giggling in that way that
girls will when they’re out with their friends and she caught
Michael looking after them in a longing sort of way. Maybe Bo
wasn’t the only one that was lonely. Karly thought it was different
for wolves. Not all of them were lucky enough to get a real mate;
they stayed in their own pack and settled down with someone they
loved but not necessarily the right wolf for them. Mates weren’t
always in the home pack. Looking for a mate, waiting and taking
your time – that was how the packs stayed fresh and didn’t grow
stagnate. If no new wolves went out and found mates and started
families, then, eventually the pack imploded on itself from lack of
new blood. Teenagers left for greener pastures but not with the
pack in mind, and families disappeared to nothing.

Linus was very calm but she could tell it was
partly from holding onto her but also because he was doing a very
good job of reining in his emotions. If he was nervous, everyone
around them would know and wolves were really funny about
nerves.

A woman with honey brown colored hair came
over to the table, “Hey guys,” she turned to Karly, “Hi, I’m
Callie.”

“Karly, nice to meet you.” She said and
extracted her hand from Linus’ with some difficulty to shake her
offered one. Bo scooted over and Callie sat down.

“So are you from around here, Karly?” She
asked.

“I’m from West Virginia.”

Brows raised at everyone around the table.
Michael said, “Did you come here for work or something?”

“No, I was traveling, trying to figure out
where to settle down.”

The curious brows shifted slightly to wary
and she felt Linus get tense and then he purposely picked up her
left hand and put it on the table and five pairs of eyes caught the
ring on her ring finger.

Linus said, “I asked Karly to marry me last
weekend. Her father is second in his pack, her mother is
human.”

Bo and Michael looked dumbfounded. After
several quiet moments, Callie broke the silence, “Congratulations,
Linus, Karly. I’m so happy for you both.” She smiled genuinely, and
Cadence and the others gave their congratulations as well.

Linus relaxed slowly after that, slipping
into a conversation with Bo about trucks and she leaned into his
side and watched the beads of water gather on the outside of the
glass in front of her. She wasn’t really thinking about anything in
particular but she wasn’t paying attention to the conversation
either.

“Karly?” Linus said.

She snapped from her thoughts of nothing and
blinked up at him. “Sorry, what?”

He smiled in that understanding way he had,
like he thought she couldn’t ever do anything wrong and apparently
repeated himself, “I just offered to host a pack meeting tomorrow
night, around dinnertime, at the house. I wanted to make sure you
were okay with that.”

She straightened. The chance to cook for the
pack was quite an honor, especially for someone so new like her.
“Of course, Linus, whatever you want.”

Michael grumbled under his breath and Linus
darted a glare at him but looked back at her with adoration in his
baby blues, “It will just be the top ranked, so not the whole
pack.”

Her head spun as she started to plan the meal
in her mind and he looked into her eyes for a little bit longer as
if he thought maybe she wasn’t okay with them being at the house,
but she totally was. She needed to show Linus that she could handle
being part of his life because she’d grown up being taught just how
to do it. Although their pack was more modern than hers, Linus was
her mate and these people were his closest friends; and if they
were unsure of her because they thought she was human and his ex
was a nutcase, then she would just have to prove otherwise. And the
greatest proof would be Linus’ happiness…and time.

Eventually, everyone at the table relaxed and
although she was only half listening because she was putting
recipes together in her head, she did find out that Jason and
Cadence had only been married for about two months and they were
still getting used to being with someone full time. Karly guessed
that spoke to how a person viewed marriage and mating. She’d spent
so much time alone, searching for the man that she could wake up to
every morning for the rest of her life that she craved their coming
marriage. But some people, perhaps Jason and Cadence, spent a long
time alone and enjoying their solitude. Those were the sorts of
couples that fought over which side of the bed they slept on, or
who controlled the remote. Personally, Karly didn't care what side
of the bed she slept on as long as Linus was holding her, and as
far as the remote went, she couldn’t say how often he’d turned on
the TV to watch something and they’d ended up missing it
completely.

As time dragged by, she was not only bored
stiff with sitting in the booth and not really being included in
any conversations but she also had to pee. She patted Linus’ hand
that had been parked on her shoulder for at least an hour and told
him she needed to get up. He walked with her to the bathroom even
though she protested she could go on her own, but that possessive
look was back in his eyes and she knew he wouldn’t want her out of
his sight so she dropped it.

“You’re being really quiet,” he said as they
made their way past the throng of tables towards the back where the
bathrooms were located.

She didn’t want to sound petulant, because in
truth she only really cared about talking to him, but it wasn’t as
if any of his friends were being overly friendly. She wasn’t sure
she could say anything that wouldn’t make him feel bad. “I’m not
exactly being included in any conversations.”

He stopped abruptly and she crashed into his
shoulder. He looked worried and angry and he cast his eyes back
towards the booth and then he dropped them to hers and slid his
thumb across her jaw and hooked his hand behind her neck. “You
don’t really like this, do you? Sitting in a bar and basically
doing nothing.”

She shrugged, “It’s not really my thing. I’d
much rather be home with you, or out doing something, not just,”
she stumbled trying to find the right words, “not just sitting at a
table with people that don’t trust me not to hurt you.”

“I’m really sorry. I should be doing a better
job of including you in the conversation. I basically hung you out
to dry.”

“It’s okay, Linus, I promise. Now, I really
need to pee, so you know, lead on or get out of the way.”

His smile was forced, but he gave it to her
anyway, turning and taking her hand in his and leading her to the
bathroom. She left him in the hallway and went inside and used the
facilities. As she smoothed her hair back and adjusted her top, she
wondered what they saw when they looked at her. Another chew toy
werewolf groupie, looking to bang the big bad? Maybe. Probably. She
shuddered at the thought