Page 7 of I Don’t Believe In Fated Mates!

"Scram!" Jesse yells, glowering, and instantly they scatter.

"Hello, mother. Hello, Alpha's mate," Cole says to me, inclining his head. "I'm Cole, your new brother-in-law."

"Hello, delusional wolf." I stick my hand out. "I am Lane Davenport. Hopefully, your new schoolteacher. Definitely not the Alpha's mate."

"Not yet." His eyes twinkle with amusement.

Jesse lets out a low growl. "Move away from my woman."

His woman? I stifle a laugh. Is this how fast things move in wolf territory? He's going to find out that it's not like that for humans.

Even though his possessive glance may be the hottest, most delicious thing I've ever seen and I want to lick him from head to toe.

"Boys, boys. I am still your mother, and I can still ground you," Marion calls out. "And now, we can finally get to that interview."

"There is no interview. She's hired," Jesse announces.

We all stare at him.

I arch an eyebrow. "Pardon me? I mean, I very much want this job, but about twenty minutes ago you said that the day you let a human on the pack lands was the day that you danced the can-can. In a tutu."

"You what?" His mother bursts into laughter. "Oh, no."

"I didn't mean you," Jesse protests to me.

He doesn't get off that easy. "You said any human at all. You were very specific about that." I narrow my eyes at him.

"You did say that." Cole's got an enormous grin on his face. Jesse shoots him a murderous look.

"I'll skin you later, I mean deal with you later, hairball." Jesse turns his attention back to his mother. "I assume that if you had her drive all the way up here for an interview, you already did your due diligence, and she passed with flying colors."

"She did indeed. She's marvelous on paper, and in person." Marion's smile at me feels like a warm maternal hug, and I almost melt.

Jesse frowns at her. "Then what's the issue? She can start right away. Well, after the mating ceremony."

"What! After the what?" I yelp.

Cole is laughing out loud now. "Dude. This is fun to watch, but it's also painful. Slow your roll. She's a human, she's never experienced the fated mate thing, and you did not make the best first impression."

"I agree with all of that," I say, nodding.

"Excuse all of you. My mate and I have a lot to talk about." Jesse throws his enormous arm around my shoulders and steers me away.

The pack territory is wooded, with broad paved lanes weaving through the trees and houses scattered around among them.

I find myself walking beside him, breathing in his earthy masculine scent. I can't let this go on. I can't let myself want him, start to trust him, get involved with him in any way…can I? I need this job. What happens when…if…he gets sick of me?

"Stop calling me your mate," I tell him, with a tremor in my voice.

He gives me a puzzled look. "Why? I need to get the word out so nobody tries to claim you, because then I'd have to kill them."

"No!" I cry out in protest. "No killing!"

He heaves a martyred sigh. "Only for you," he says. "I'll just have to settle for a little light maiming."

"You – I – No! Here's the point. I am not your mate. You just met me. Wolves mate for life, right?"

"Of course we will be mated for life."