His Imperfect Mate 26 (2 page)

“You know you can talk to me,” Taylor said from the back porch.

Sloane rolled his eyes. Getting out of the Den was exactly what he needed. A live-in counselor wasn’t what he wanted. He wasn’t going to go crying on anyone’s shoulder about his fucked-up ass love life.

He was a guy after all, and men sucked it up and held it in.

“Yeah, thanks.” Sloane scratched at the stubble on his jaw, wondering if Taylor was going to let the matter go. Everyone knew he was hurting, and everyone tried to give Sloane advice.

All Sloane needed was to be left alone to live out his life in quiet misery.

He heard the door open and then close, letting out a long breath that he was finally alone. Sloane knew the guy meant well, but he really didn’t think Taylor, or anyone else, could help him.

What was done was done.

Taking one last deep breath, Sloane walked back inside, surprised at the progress the guys had made. Most of the boxes were empty and broken down, sitting in a flat stack off to the side. Everything seemed to be put away in the kitchen. The same held true for the living room.

“That’s about all we have for today,” Steven said, looking exhausted. “I’m sure you can handle the rest on your own.”

“Thanks.” Sloane watched the guys walk out the door, leaving him here by himself at last. He had wanted to be alone. This was why he had moved out. So why did he feel so alone?

Sloane pushed aside the feeling as he got acquainted with his new house. After checking out everything downstairs, Sloane went upstairs. He wasn’t even sure what he had in his new house. The guys had been great at remembering even the smallest details. He had shampoo and soap, even toothpaste.

His head snapped up when he heard a knock at the door. Had someone forgotten something? Trudging down the steps, Sloane opened the door wide to see Chance standing there with a shitty grin on his face. The bear was holding a large box in his hands.

“Pa said I should bring you something to eat in your new place.”

Chance pushed past Sloane and stopped in the middle of the living room, checking out Sloane’s home. “Not bad.”

“Kitchen’s this way,” Sloane said as he plucked the box from Chance and sat it on the kitchen table. It smelled good as hell.

Sloane’s stomach growled in agreement. With the move and everything, he hadn’t eaten all day. He was starving.

Opening the box, Sloane found a large Tupperware full of food from what looked to be dinner. There were also some rolls, and some dessert.

“It ain’t much, but Pa sent you a plate of dinner.”

Sloane grabbed some silverware from the drawer and took a seat at the table. Chance sat with him. It felt odd, yet soothing not to hear any noise around him from mates or babies. Not that he had anything against them.

The place was quiet.

“Looks like you settled in pretty damn quick, Sloane.” Chance got up, wandering around, opening things, and being nosey. Sloane didn’t stop him as he ate. He gazed over at the empty chair next to him and wondered what it would be like to have D sitting here with him.

Sloane growled at the image of his mate sitting there eating dinner with him. It was a homey picture, one he wasn’t sure would ever happen. Besides, D was a vampire. There was no way he’d be sitting here eating anything.

His resolve was slowly fracturing, and Sloane knew he was fighting a losing battle. He had seen D, had heard his melodic voice and had wanted him from the jump. The need to hold the man in his arms, to run his hands through that smoky-black hair, had driven him nuts since the first time he laid eyes on him on that dark back road.

And his mate had called his brothers to come take care of Sloane.

Talk about twisting a knife in a guy’s heart.

Sloane had been livid when he found out what D had done. But the rage had turned to hurt, and now the hurt was turning into loneliness and need. It was so screwed up.

“I, uh…” Chance glanced around, shoving his hands into his front pockets as he stared up at the ceiling.

Sloane knew what was coming. Everyone felt compelled to keep him updated on the vampire. For some strange reason, people thought it their duty to keep him abreast of whatever was happening with the sexy little man. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“It’s cool.” Chance pulled his hands free of his pockets and took a seat. Fuck if Sloane wasn’t curious now, but he wasn’t going to ask how his mate was. He already knew D wasn’t eating and looked like shit. At least that was what he had been told.

So why did Sloane
feel
like shit for not wanting to ask?

“I was just gonna—”

“You are one stubborn ass bear, aren’t you?” Sloane stood, tossing the dirty bowl and fork into the sink, fighting back the questions threatening to spill from his lips.

I don’t want to fucking know.

Yeah, he did.

“Say that he’s starting to eat now,” Chance finished as he jumped up from the table. “Come on, tell me you honestly don’t want to know.”

“I honestly don’t want to know.”
Liar.

“Lie to yourself all you want. I can see it in your eyes. You’re hungry for any news about him.” Chance looked smug as hell as he stood there with his arms over his chest. Sloane wanted to wipe that damn look off of his face.

“Thanks for bringing me something to eat, but you can go now.”

Sloane headed out of the kitchen before Chance opened his big mouth again. The guy just didn’t know when to shut up.

“Pa wanted me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night, but I have a feeling the answer is no.” Chance walked toward the front door, pausing long enough to look at Sloane for an answer.

“No,” he said before turning his back and walking away. The urge to say yes was on the tip of his tongue. But Sloane wasn’t going to give in to his need to be near D. He’d fought it this long.

“Suit yourself.”

“Don’t you have some cow shit to shovel or something?” Sloane was getting tired of this. Every-sho
fucking
-body wanted to have a say in his personal life. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?

“Say what you want. You miss him,” Chance said and then hurried out the door.

Sloane sighed, running his hand over his head, knowing damn well it was the truth. He turned and climbed up the steps, heading for bed.

Maybe tomorrow it would hurt less.

* * * *

Dudley watched out of his bedroom window as a truck pulled into the Lakelands’ driveway, his heart sinking when he saw that it wasn’t his mate. He had been trying for months now to get Sloane to forgive him, but the wolf wasn’t budging.

He hadn’t intentionally called the hit down on Sloane, but his mate wouldn’t listen to him. No matter how much he called, begged, or even showed up at Sloane’s, only to get kicked out, Sloane wasn’t willing to hear a damn thing D had to say.

D sighed as he sat on his bed, knowing full well that what he had done was wrong. The pain of being separated from Sloane was growing, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

The man wasn’t going to forgive him.

D curled up on his bed, staring at the wall for the millionth time as he fought the pain inside of him. He wondered what Sloane was doing now, who was with him, and if the guy was even thinking about him—aside from negative wishing.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Luke, Pa’s mate, asked as he stepped into D’s bedroom. “There’s a vampire marathon on one of the channels downstairs.” Luke leaned against the doorframe, waiting.

D shook his head, feeling as though he would never be happy again. “No thanks.”

Luke stood as he stared down at D, pity in his eyes. “Look, I’m not trying to pry into your life, but sitting in your room day after day isn’t good for you. Now come downstairs and watch those movies with me.”

Normally he loved watching the way Hollywood portrayed his race, but without his mate’s forgiveness, D wasn’t even in the mood to breathe. Losing Sloane hurt like hell, and he didn’t want to laugh.

“Move it, mister.”

D stood, following Luke down the steps. He wasn’t sure why he was going, but he knew if he didn’t, Luke would only keep pestering him. He flopped down onto the couch, watching the fireplace instead of the television.

When the marathon ended, and no one was awake but D, he thought about how odd it was that he had started out to be the one who was rejecting Sloane at every turn, running from him in fear.

And now…

Leaving the living room and heading outside, D pulled in a lungful of fresh air. He was told all his life that time healed all wounds.

What a fucking joke that statement was.

Not only had he been lied to his whole life by his father and brothers about what a shifter would do to Dudley if he ever let one get close, but now that statement was a lie as well. Did anyone know how to tell the truth?

D hopped off the porch and began to walk toward the woods.

’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Another fucking lie. D was losing his faith in not only humanity, but everything around him period. The lie his father had told him and his three brothers had destroyed D’s life. If he wasn’t so afraid of his father, he’d go find him and give him what for.

D walked into the woods, raving on and on about all the stupid quotes out there and how they were all lies.

Lies, lies, lies.

If he could find the people who made up those quotes, he’d smack ’em. D stilled when he heard a twig snap. In his ranting, he hadn’t noticed how far into the woods he’d actually gone. All he had wanted to do was try and clear his mind.

Now he was far enough in the woods where he couldn’t even see the house. Double crap. He should have been paying attention. D took a step back, and then another, trying to quietly exit the woods without being heard by whoever was there.

He could disseminate, but the problem was, D never really got the hang of that little trick. He either ended up somewhere other than he originally wanted to go, or not even going anywhere at all. Once he had disseminated right into a church gathering. Boy, had that been awkward.

Snap
.

The sound was closer now. D threw caution to the wind and hauled ass. There was no way he was going to get eaten by a—damn, he really needed to stop thinking that way. It was what got him into trouble in the first place.

Not all shifters killed vampires.

He wasn’t even sure it was a shifter in the woods, but D wasn’t taking any chances. He knew the Lakelands were in bed, so it wasn’t any of them. Wandering out here had been a stupid mistake, a mistake that was in the woods now.

D ran into the yard, stupidly looking over his shoulder as he cleared the woods.

“Ah!” There was a huge ass wolf on his tail, and gaining fast.

Only halfway across the yard, the wolf cut him off. D swallowed and then swallowed again as his throat dried out and his heart raced frantically behind his chest.

“You don’t really want to eat me. I’m not very tasty.”
Please
don’t eat me.

The wolf cocked his head, giving off a low growl as his eyes blazed at D. Oh, Jiminy Cricket, he was in trouble now. D took another step back, staring into emerald-green eyes.

Eyes that looked like…

Chapter Two

Sloane wasn’t sure what possessed him to take a run in the middle of the night. He hadn’t been able to sleep, and he had paced the entire house manically because it was too damn quiet. Wasn’t that ironic?

Now he stood here, staring at his mate, seeing the fear in D’s eyes.

He knew he could shift and let the vampire know that it was him, but Sloane wasn’t too sure what to say after that. He took a step back, sitting down on his haunches as he watched D watch him.

He felt hot and cold emotions flush through his veins at the sight of his mate. It had been months since he’d actually seen the man, and he wasn’t sure how he felt right now.

“Is that you, Sloane? Because if it’s not you then I’m giving you fair warning that I taste like shit.”

The corner of Sloane’s lip turned up as he stared at his mate trying to weasel his way out of this. If he thought his chest hurt before, it was nothing compared to staring into his mate’s midnight-black eyes.

Every cell in Sloane wanted to reach out, to touch, to hold. He wasn’t sure if he was there yet, but denying that laying his eyes on his mate felt good would be a lie.

“And I hope to god I give you heartburn and gas!”

Sloane chuckled inwardly as he stretched his paws out in front of him and then rested his head on the soft fur of his legs.

“Okay, you’re relaxing. So either you’re Sloane or you are a very lazy wolf. I’m going to go with the first guess, though.” D took a hesitant step closer, his eyes flickering over Sloane’s face while he splayed a hand in front of him. “Just give me a nod or something, please.”

Sloane lifted his head enough to nod and then laid it back down.

He wanted to ask his mate why he hadn’t run into the house. If D wasn’t sure who the wolf was, he shouldn’t be out here trying to reason with him.

He was going to have a long talk with the man at another time about his safety. Without knowing who the wolf was in front of him, D shouldn’t be trying to say a damn word. He should be in the house already.

Even though he was hurt at what his mate had done to him, Sloane couldn’t refute the fact that it felt really good to be near D. Just being in the presence of his mate brought him a comfort he was lacking.

The edginess he felt earlier dissipated as Sloane gazed at the nervous vampire.

Which was a hell of a contradiction considering what D tried to have done to him.

“I’m not sure why you’re here.” D slowly lowered to the ground, tucking his legs under him as he placed his hands on his lap. “But I’m glad you are. Does this mean that you’ll listen to me now?”

Sloane hadn’t seen the vampire since he had tossed him from the house when D chained himself to Sloane’s bed two months ago. The pain was still too fresh at the time, and Sloane couldn’t cope with it then.