Mate Set (Mating Heat Book 1) Read online

  Realization hit her as she sat there. He’d started to change into a wolf when they were going at it. That’s why he’d sounded so unlike Grady at the end, and that’s why he’d fled the room.

  Mika was shaky as she forced herself to her feet. She winced as she stood up. She was going to hurt a lot more later because of how hard Grady had taken her. Even now she felt sore and tender between her thighs. As good as it had felt, he’d been rough. She swallowed and walked to the kitchen to find him.

  She wasn’t prepared to find a big black wolf lying on the floor on the rug in front of her sink.

  He was beautiful but Grady was one hell of a big wolf, almost big enough to ride. Her uncle was a lot smaller in his wolf form.

  Grady lifted his head. Black eyes stared at her and she thought she saw him flinch as she stared back. He was panting, mouth open, and his eyes were locked on her.

  Mika only froze for a moment and then walked farther into the kitchen. She let her gaze run over his furry body. He really was a beautiful animal. If she didn’t know it was Grady, she probably would have been terrified at finding a two-hundred-pound-plus black wolf in her kitchen. As it was, she just walked over and slowly sat down next to him. The cold wood floor felt good on her overheated flesh.

  “Are you all right?” She was proud that her voice didn’t quake.

  He just looked at her.

  She bit her lip and reached out slowly. He didn’t pull away so she touched his fur on the back of his neck. His coat was thick and soft. She ran her fingers into it and loved how satiny he felt. Uncle Omar had a rougher coat of fur and he didn’t feel as wonderful to the touch as Grady did.

  “Do you need some water?”

  He shut his eyes. He laid his head on her thigh. She guessed that was a no or he wouldn’t have pinned her down with his head. She hesitated and then kept touching him. She stroked his fur and used her nails to scratch him. He turned his head a little and relaxed more with his head on her lap. They sat that way for a long time.

  Mika wondered how long he’d be in wolf form. Her uncle said sometimes it could take a while to change back if the person shifting was highly emotional or if they were tired. She wondered what had triggered Grady’s change. She sat there waiting and then realized he’d fallen asleep.

  Instead of moving him, she shifted her body a little and curled around his back so his head was still on her thigh and she was lying on her side against him. The rug in front of the sink was a thick one that pillowed her head. She shut her eyes and lay there with the big black wolf. Her lover was currently sporting enough fur to make her a nice coat and he had a tail, four paws, a cold nose, and he couldn’t talk to her as he was.

  Her life was seriously strange.

  She lay there petting him as he slept. Her mind was going over how she probably needed some therapy because she didn’t seem to mind that she’d just had sex with a man who was now a wolf. She had no desire to ever make love to him when he had a tail, but she knew she should seriously be freaking out over after-sex cuddling with a wolf.

  She was living with and in love with a werewolf. Hot tears filled her eyes but she fought them back. The fact that she could never turn into a wolf would always stop him from accepting her. He’d never mate her. The entire situation hurt. She didn’t want to be with a man who couldn’t give back as much as she was willing to give. She’d gladly adjust to anything for Grady but he’d never do the same for her.

  In less than two weeks, she’d leave. He’d go find his little phone buddy and play chase-the-tail-in-the-woods with her. He’d forget about Mika. She’d just be another woman he’d fucked.

  She’d go home and never forget him. Life wasn’t fair.

  She forced herself to shove the painful thoughts away. Her fingers gripped his silky fur. He smelled like Grady, even as a wolf, and she loved how he smelled. She kept hold of his fur as she drifted to sleep.

  * * * * *

  Mika woke up when Grady lifted her into his arms. She opened her eyes and smiled as she wrapped her own around his neck. It was still light outside and Grady was fully back in his skin. He carried her out of the kitchen, her body aching and sore. She wasn’t sure if sleeping on the hard kitchen floor accounted for most of her aches and pains or if they were from the sex.

  “Are you all right?” He didn’t look at her as he carried her into her bedroom and eased her down on the bed.

  “I’m great. Were we asleep long?”

  Grady straightened and glanced at the clock. “A few hours.” His gaze wandered down her body and he flinched.

  She followed his focus and saw that she had a bruise on her hip where he’d gripped her during sex. She sat up and hid the flinch from him—she hoped—as she accidentally rubbed her tender flesh on the bedding with her movements. She was damn sore. Her sex felt swollen and slightly inflamed.

  Grady growled. “I hurt you. I’m so damn sorry, babe.”

  “I’m not complaining.”

  “You should be screaming at me after what I did.”

  Frowning, she watched him as he seemed to look at everything on the bed except her. “I’m fine. Are you all right? You didn’t mean to shift, did you?”

  His attention snapped to her and she saw his eye color go black. “Do you think I’d ever do that on purpose?” He spun and walked a few feet away, keeping his back to her as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I could have killed you, or hurt you really bad.”

  “You didn’t. I’m a little sore, I admit, but it was amazing. I came hard, if you didn’t notice. If you were hurting me, I would have been screaming in pain instead of getting off.”

  He growled low and deep—his angry growl. She bit her lip and watched his tense, naked body. Dread filled her. Was this where he called it all off? Was he going to tell her goodbye now? He’d marked her. If she understood it correctly, he needed her during mating season now that he’d done so. No one would have worried about Grady hunting her down if there was a reason he wouldn’t be able to hunt for her. If it were that simple, he would have shipped her off himself.

  He couldn’t get rid of her while he still needed her, could he?

  “I think you aren’t safe with me. I thought I could control myself but I can’t.”

  She let out the breath she’d been holding. He wasn’t telling her to go home and he wasn’t leaving. “I’m fine. We’re fine. You didn’t hurt me. I’m sore but I was before. We can do other things for a day while I heal up.”

  Grady spun and snarled. He flashed his teeth and his black eyes narrowed. “You don’t understand. I lost control. I started shifting inside you, damn it, like you were a werewolf! You aren’t. I fucked you hard, as though you were built to take it, and you aren’t. You don’t heal fast the way I do. I could have torn you up inside. I could have fully shifted and not stopped fucking you. Do you understand that? Do you have a hidden kink for bestiality, babe? How much would you hate me right now if that had happened?”

  “But it didn’t.”

  “Do you know when wolves are in mating season that we can go for hours? If you were a werewolf, I would take you, come, stay inside you, and keep taking you over and over until I collapsed. In skin and in fur. I’m very dominant as an alpha-blooded male. If you were a werewolf, then my shifting would have forced you to shift with me. We would have shifted from skin to fur together and kept right on going. I lost control, and it wasn’t until I realized you weren’t shifting with me that I snapped out of it long enough to get the hell away from you. I’d already started shifting and I couldn’t stop.”

  Swallowing, Mika kept her gaze locked with his. “It’s all right, Grady. I’m all right. You realized, you got control, and you didn’t hurt me. I’m fine, so calm down.”

  He shook his head and spun away to present her with his back again. “I can’t. I wish to God I hadn’t had to mark you. I can fuck other women if I have to but I know you’re carrying my mark. My inner beast wants you. My animal side won’t be satisfied unless it’s you I’
m with. It would mean fucking someone but not coming if I tried to mount other women until my mark wears off you.” He moved and punched the wall. A hole opened in the plaster under the assault of his fist. “Damn it!”

  Pain sliced through Mika at the thought of him with other women. “It’s a good thing then that you promised me to be loyal until the mark wears off, so you won’t have to worry about other women and what would happen if you tried to have sex with someone else.”

  He kept his back to her. “I’m putting you in danger, Mika. If I thought mounting other women would protect you, I’d walk out now to go find one. I know I’d end up going insane if I couldn’t have you. I know you’re marked as mine and I’d hunt you down when I lost my mind from the need to be inside you. I hate mating season. This is so screwed up. I used to love this time of the year. It meant hot sex, plenty of it, with women throwing themselves at me. Now I’m terrified I’m going to end up killing you, and because I marked you, other women aren’t even a viable option.”

  Shoulders hunched, she curled into a ball, still sitting up. The anger and regret in Grady’s voice hurt. He really hated the fact that he was stuck with her through his mating season. He wanted to be with another werewolf. She’d thought he might change his mind at some point and be happy he was with her, but he hadn’t. If anything, he was even more set on it being a mistake after spending time with her.

  “Please shower,” he said softly. “I’m getting hard again, and you smell like me and sex. Clean yourself well. I need to get some air. I’ll call someone to watch the house while I’m gone. Don’t leave. And I can’t touch you anymore without condoms. The stronger you smell of me, the harder it is to maintain control.”

  She watched him storm for her bedroom door. “Grady?”

  He stopped at the door but he didn’t turn to look at her. “What?”

  “Are you going to go be with someone else? Please be honest with me.”

  He shook his head. “It wouldn’t do any good. My body only wants you, Mika. We’re both damned until this is over. I just need some air to clear my head, and I should stop at the bar to check on things. I also need to grab more clothes while I’m there. I won’t be gone long. I can’t be gone long, or my need for you will start to hurt if I don’t…touch you again soon.”

  She watched him leave her room, moving down the hallway to the guestroom. She got up from the bed and limped slightly as she walked to her bathroom. She heard Grady talking from the other room. He’d said he was going to call someone to guard her and obviously was doing that now.

  She softly shut her bathroom door and started the shower.

  Chapter Nine

  Mika took an instant dislike to Eric Voigt. He watched her silently as she sat on her couch, trying to pay attention to the television. He looked at her as though she were a bug under a microscope. The man was a blond surfer-looking type with tan skin and a swimmer’s built. He was good-looking but he made her feel uncomfortable. The six-foot-tall man had arrived minutes after Grady had left her house. This was the man who Grady had called to babysit her.

  She turned her head and met his pale blue gaze. “Do you have to stare? I can feel it. Do you want the remote control? I’m sure there’s something more interesting to watch on the TV.”

  He didn’t look away from her. “I’m just thinking. I didn’t mean to wig you out.”

  “I’m not wigged. I’m just getting uncomfortable with the whole intense staring thing.”

  “I apologize. I’m just very intrigued by you. Omar kept you a secret from most of us. I didn’t even know he had a niece until recently. From what I heard, Omar threatened death to any man who touched you. Now I’m sitting here wondering how long Grady has to live, since you reek of him. Omar is going to kill him, isn’t he?”

  She looked away and glanced at the commercial on TV. “Uncle Omar is aware that Grady and I are sleeping together, and Grady is perfectly safe. Beyond that, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  He tilted his head, still staring at her. “Grady isn’t into human chicks. He avoids them unless it’s an occasional one-night stand. You’re obviously more than that. He marked you well, from the strong scent you carry.”

  “Ask Grady your questions.” She stood up. “I’ll be in my room taking a nap. Make yourself at home. There are snacks in the kitchen if you get hungry. Grady said he wasn’t going to be gone long.”

  She walked into her room and shut the door. The guy was as nosy as hell and she really didn’t want to hear more about how she wasn’t Grady’s type. It stung enough when she got that from Grady himself.

  She lay back on her bed, peering up at the popcorn ceiling of her old house. How she could fall so hard and fast for a guy amazed her, but Grady wasn’t like any other man she’d ever met. He wasn’t even really a man.

  She turned her head and looked at the phone, tempted to call Minnie and have a girl talk. She didn’t reach for the phone though, knowing Minnie would just worry about her, and she didn’t want that. She was doing enough of that on her own.

  Mika heard the front door slam a while later and sat up. She heard soft male voices but she couldn’t make out the words. A good ten minutes passed and then she heard the front door slam again. She watched the bedroom door open and Grady paused in the doorway. He looked good in the faded jeans and blue tank top. He had his kick-ass boots on and his hair was down. His dark eyes studied her.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine. How are you feeling? Did getting some air help?”

  He hesitated and then nodded. “I just needed to think.”

  She guessed by the tone of his voice that nothing he’d been considering boded well for their fragile relationship. She just waited, figuring he’d tell her about whatever had put that tension in his voice. She scooted to the edge of the bed.

  “I still don’t trust myself with you.”

  “You’re not going to hurt me, Grady. I trust you, even if you don’t trust yourself.”

  He took a deep breath. “I came up with a solution.”

  “Why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to agree with what you’re about to say? Are you leaving? Are you moving out?”

  “I can’t do that. I’d want you, and I’d go nuts if I couldn’t have you until I’m out of heat.”

  She knew it was pathetic that relief flooded through her. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Grady. She knew her time with him was limited but she was unprepared to lose him so soon. She hugged her chest and silently stared at him, waiting for him to talk.

  “We’re not mated.” She felt the need to say it.

  “Eric is a special member of our pack. His father is a werewolf but his mother is human. He got some of the abilities of a shifter but not all of them. He can’t shift all the way and he doesn’t suffer from mating heat, but he has the strength of a full shifter. He’s unique that way.”

  Mika frowned. “Okay. Thanks for sharing that. What does this have to do with us?”

  “Eric and I grew up together and we’re best friends. I explained to him what’s going on and my fear of hurting you.”

  “And he had some good advice?”

  Grady hesitated. “No. I just told him what I needed. He agreed with me that it was a good idea.”

  She frowned. “What do you need? What’s a good idea?”

  Grady leaned against the doorway. “I don’t trust myself with you. I really am afraid I’ll hurt you, Mika. I’m afraid I’ll lose control totally one of these times. I don’t want to be mated to you, and I’m sure you feel the same way on the mating issue. I could kill you by accident or cause you serious harm. I was too rough with you earlier. Next time…” He clenched his teeth. “Next time I could really do damage, and I won’t allow that to happen. Omar trusts me not to hurt you. I couldn’t live with myself if I ended up doing something bad to you.”

  “I appreciate that but you didn’t hurt me, Grady. I’m fine.”

  The front door slammed again.

&n
bsp; “I thought your friend left before?”

  “He did. He went outside to make some calls but now he’s back. Eric is going to be staying here with us until mating heat ends.”

  “What?”

  Grady slowly nodded, staring at her. “He can make sure I don’t hurt you. He won’t suffer mating heat so he can keep a clear head, and he’s strong enough to stop me if I get out of hand. Because we’re best friends, and we’ve dated some of the same women in the past, I know he won’t hurt you, either.”

  Mika was swamped by confusion as she let everything he said sink in. “You want him to stay here while we…” She swallowed. “He’d hear us, Grady. He’d be in the damn house with us.”

  Eric walked into the bedroom, standing just inside the bedroom door. Mika shot the man a frown and then turned her full attention back to Grady.

  Grady walked closer, to stand in front of her. He crouched down and put his hands on the bed, straddling her her legs. A few feet separated them as he stared at her with a very serious expression.

  “I don’t think you understand, babe.” Grady’s voice softened. “I don’t just want Eric in the same house with us. I want him with us. He’ll be right here, on hand to protect you if I get out of control. He needs to be in the same room so he knows if I’m about to lose it. When I said we dated a few of the same women, I don’t mean we just saw the same ones at different times. We shared them. Together.”

  Mika’s heart nearly stopped—and then it started to pound. Emotions slammed her in a jumble she couldn’t even sort through. “What?” She barely got the word out.

  Grady gripped her knees. “Have you ever fantasized about a threesome?”

  Mika reacted as though he’d physically slapped her, pain shooting through her at his words. Her horrified stare flew to Eric. He was smiling at her. Her attention jerked back to Grady, who was watching her face closely.

  She didn’t think about it, just did it. She lifted her foot and planted it on Grady’s chest. She kicked him away from her hard enough to knock him on his ass.