The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence (8 page)

"I've got plans." She said, telling Chris she
would call him back.

"I'm sure Jake won't mind if you're late to
work. Everyone's coming over at 7." Linus said.

"I've got the night off on Friday; actually,
I'm going up to a club in Rivertown with some of the girls."

"Our girls?" Michael interjected. "I haven't
heard about that."

She scoffed, sounding defensive. "Not your
pack, Michael, Jake's girls."

Michael sounded angry suddenly. "So what,
you're going to go to Jake's pack?" He said exactly what Jason was
thinking. Jake's females were accepting of her because although she
was single, the alpha female position was locked in, and Renee
loved Cadence like a daughter so everyone treated her with respect.
Jason's pack females hated her, because they all knew that he loved
her. His lack of claiming her had caused an enormous amount of
problems within his pack, all of which would be alleviated if she
would just remember what the fuck he'd done when she was 9. Damn it
all to hell!

She sounded so angry and hurt when she told
Michael to go to hell and left, the engine roaring to life as she
gunned it a little extra like a growl, and peeled out of the
parking lot, music blaring.

He walked out into the shop. Linus gave him a
sorry look. "She said she'd show up, maybe, but only for a few
minutes. Sorry, man, I did the best I could. I'm afraid, I'm afraid
you're losing her to the Garra pack." He walked into the garage
from the shop and Jason wanted to scream his head off and pound his
fists through the wall.

"Did you talk to Jake?" Michael asked, moving
back around the counter and giving him a wide berth.

He put his head in his hands on the cool
counter. "Yeah. He said that he already talked to Chris about
backing off, but that if she chooses to give in to Chris' advances
than it is out of his hands. I suggested he could order Chris to
back off, and he said that he thought 14 years was long enough to
mark a woman and not touch her, and that he would do nothing to
either encourage or discourage his son." He'd also suggested that
Jason could order his females to treat her with respect, because
part of why Cadence was so miserable was because she didn't feel
like she belonged anywhere. He couldn't force the females to change
a natural behavior any more than he could control the sun. The only
way the females would respect Cadence is for her to claim her
rightful spot as alpha and kick some ass.

He had left the bonfire as soon as she and
Chris did, stripping in the woods and shifting, running to her
house as fast as possible. He stayed in the shadows of the trees
surrounding her home and had watched with a trickling low growl as
that bastard Chris kissed her. She'd stopped it, it hadn't gone
very far for which he was glad, but then once Chris was gone, she
had gone into her house and started to cry, and then she’d
screamed. It wasn't a sound he had ever heard her make before, raw
and hurt and it made him ache to hold her and comfort her. He was
just so far removed from her life at this point that he had no idea
what was causing her so much grief. Even though it warred against
every instinct he had, he didn’t go to her because he knew she
wouldn’t accept him right now.

He'd stayed by the house for hours, until he
was sure she had fallen asleep, and then he'd gone back to find his
clothes in the woods and go home.

He spent the next few days waiting to hear
from her, one way or the other. It was true that he needed help. He
was a mechanic, not a paper pusher, and she was tough enough to
handle the baddest looking customer, human or wolf, and smart
enough to fix the mess he was pretty sure he'd made. The question
was whether she would want to be around him, whether she hated him
so much that she couldn't stand to be near him for an entire work
day.

Finally, on Thursday, she had left him a
message on the shop voicemail, purposely calling at 4 a.m. Her
voice had been hard and tired sounding. "I'll take the job, Jason,
pending some key points. I'll come in Friday morning. Be prepared
to negotiate."

He'd anticipated Friday morning like a kid at
Christmas. She strode into his office like she owned the place, her
hair pulled back into a ponytail that swung back and forth as she
walked. She was wearing a deliciously short camo skirt with olive
knee high socks and suede ankle boots, a black tank that peeked out
through a ripped off the shoulder beige top. Sliding into the chair
across from his desk, she crossed her legs and snapped her gum,
raising a brow at him.

His whole body lit up for her, tightened
nearly painfully, and he had to remind himself that she'd hardly
react the way he wanted if he acted like a caveman. Or an actual
wolf. As it was, he was just one peek at her ivory thighs away from
humping her leg. "Five days a week, 40 hours plus overtime as I
need it from you, and I can give you 25k to start, plus anything
you need done to your car for cost."

She breathed in and out silently, her breasts
rising and falling with the motion, as she contemplated what he
offered. "Anything less than 30k is an insult to my bachelor's
degree." She swung her foot in thought. "I want this office for my
own, but a nicer chair, a tank of gas a week, and you can install
an upgraded sound system in my car, at no cost."

He tried not to smile. She'd actually given
some thought to her negotiations. He wasn't about to rollover for
everything, though. "I can't go higher than 27, and it's not an
insult, it's just business."

She made motions to stand up. "Oh, well. See
ya."

He nearly roared. "Wait, you're walking away
for three grand? Hold on, there has to be something else I can give
you in exchange. Name it."

He saw the look cross her face and thought
with chagrin 'uh oh'. "Paint my house."

"What?" He sputtered.

"You heard me. It's going to take me forever
to paint everything; I've only gotten my bedroom done. So paint the
rest of the inside of my house, and I'll grace you with my amazing
business skills and save your ass."

"I meant I'd give you anything related to the
garage."

She grinned and he knew that she knew she had
him by the balls. "Sorry. I've made my final offer. 27k, nice
office chair, weekly tank of gas, and my sound system, plus,
painting my place. And I know you'll do a great job. I expect you
in overalls. You can start on Saturday, and I'll start on Monday."
She crossed her arms in a final way and he almost laughed.
Almost.

"You have to buy the paint." He growled.

"I already did."

"Fine." She stood up with a grin, such a
sweet look on her face that it nearly brought him to his knees, and
extended her hand. He took it, her warm hand in his something he'd
wanted to feel again for such a long time. "Tomorrow, then. Make
sure there's coffee."

She hummed in her throat. "Bright and
early."

She wrinkled her nose in happiness, and he
wanted to hug her but held himself back. That was the girl he
loved, the one that loved to win arguments and torture him because
she loved doing it, not because she was so miserable. He watched
her leave, listened to her engine as it faded away, and went out to
procure help for painting her house, and to find a suitable chair
for her.

Linus' home was small but comfortable. He was
just a little older and had been married for a while to a human,
who had thought it was sexy to be with a wolf. What Linus hadn’t
bargained for was that when they got married she’d had the belief
that he could just leave the pack. Linus was fourth ranked in the
pack and too powerful to turn his back on them, and when she
figured it out she left him, but not until she made him thoroughly
miserable. He paced on the small back patio where Linus had lit a
large grill. Werewolves could pack food away like carnivorous
camels. The pile of raw meat on the trays in the kitchen attested
to that fact.

"You're making me nervous." Linus said as he
scraped the metal grating with a wire brush.

"I don't like this whole thing with Jake's
females." He admitted. "Where the fuck is Callie? She's supposed to
be here."

Michael leaned out of the back door. "She's
on her way, I just called her. It's only 6:30; don't get your
panties in a bunch.

When Callie arrived, she was at least as
nervous as Jason was because she missed Cadence. Without her best
friend to shore up her self-confidence, Callie had taken an even
lower position with the females who saw her as weak on her own. It
made him angry, because Callie had been loyal to him for years,
sharing information when he asked for it even though she felt it
was betraying Cadence to do so. But Callie had to stand up for
herself whether she had her ball-busting best friend with her or
not. He watched as Callie threw herself off the porch and into
Cadence's arms when she showed up finally at 7:30. She was sobbing,
explaining that she'd never betray her, that she'd never even think
to do anything to hurt her at all, and it was like Callie was
saying what he was thinking. Why was it so simple with women, but
so difficult when it was the opposite sex?

She had teared up but not actually cried at
Callie's admissions and apologies, and her emerald eyes were bright
green now, and she looked happy. She also looked fucking
incredible. She had on a sweet little plaid mini skirt with white
thigh high stockings with little black bows in the front, black
heels with a strap across the top, and a belly baring white
sweater. She completed the unabashed school girl look with two
ponytails high on her head, with little pink ribbons and soft
makeup. Michael turned around to give a look to Jason that said
exactly what he was thinking, "holy shit!"

He watched as she looked around at the people
in Linus' house and gave him a suspicious glance but didn't say
anything except hello to the men. He'd chosen his highest ranking
people, and with Callie as the only female, he had hoped that
Cadence might stick around longer to protect her friend from the
others, but she was beeped on her phone almost immediately. "I'll
be there shortly, I'll call." She said to a female, but he wasn't
sure which one from the voice.

She and Callie fell right back into old
habits, talking together and mostly ignoring the men. Michael hung
with them and tried several times to draw him and the others into
their little world, but even though Callie tried to throw
conversations his direction, Cadence seemed unmoved by the
attempts. She was buzzed three more times in a half hour, and then
finally announced she had to go. She'd barely said anything to him
and his heart fell into his knees. She kissed Linus on the cheek
and thanked him for the invite. Swiping a carrot stick from the
counter and giving a half wave to the room in general, she left,
the skirt fluffing up behind her and revealing the barest,
tantalizing view of the back of her thighs.

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of the
holster to see a text message from her, "Don't forget bright and
early tomorrow."

He laughed, sadly, because she hadn't cared
at all about talking to him or being around him. "I'm sorry,
Jason." Callie said. "I don't understand why Jake's pack is being
so accommodating to her all of a sudden. It's almost like they are
purposely trying to sway her to their pack. She couldn't wait to
get out of here."

"I know." He groaned, a feeling of
unhappiness settling over him. He hadn't meant for this to happen.
He hadn't meant for any of it to happen at all.

"Do you think that's possible?" Linus
asked.

"What?" He snapped.

"That Jake's pack is purposely being nice to
her, like maybe a certain alpha wannabe has asked it of his mom, or
the females?"

Clay, his fifth in rank, said, "Makes sense.
If Chris snagged her, their pack would have an advantage. His mom
and your mom were nearly equals, kept your dad and Jake in line and
kept a good balance, but Cadence is tougher and meaner than any
female out there. There isn't a girl in our pack that can compete
with her if she doesn't come to our pack."

That was an unexpected revelation, but it
made perfect sense. Jason knew that Chris liked her, maybe even
loved her a little, because she was hard to be around and not fall
in love with, but if he was actually courting her right now, while
the time was Jason's, then it didn't bode well for him. Cadence's
history with Chris was much less tormented. Chris had never been
outwardly mean to her because of Jake, but he hadn't been fall over
himself nice, either. He was starting off from a much better place
than he was, that's for sure. She didn't hate Chris. In fact, she
clearly liked him and was in the mood to be swayed.

"Callie?" He said finally and the look she
gave him told him that she'd been privy to a conversation he didn't
know about yet.

"I'm sorry, Jason. She told me, earlier
before she got all jealous and confused, that she thought she'd
been single long enough, and that if no one stepped up to the plate
from our pack, then she'd move on. To Jake's pack."

If a broken heart could break further, his
did. His mate, his sweetheart, was lonely, and was turning to Chris
because he was nice and she clearly didn't realize his intentions.
He was certain she hadn't realized it, but Chris had been
eye-fucking her on the stage the whole time they were singing, and
she had sounded incredible and looked amazing and damn it all to
hell if it hadn't made her even more irresistible to the males in
the bar. He was certain that Chris would waste no time in making
his intentions clear, marking her and mating with her as soon as
his time was up.

After he left Linus' he went to his parents'
home. Partly to make sure Cadence made it home okay, but partly
because he needed advice. "I'm sorry that I made the decree, son,
if that's any consolation, although I'm certain it's not. I never
would have guessed that after being surrounded by us for so many
years that she wouldn't have figured out what you did and asked
about it." His dad took off his reading glasses and settled back in
the easy chair. "I wish I could fix it. Alpha decrees are binding,
forever, that's the point of them."