Page 23 of Fifty & Feral

“Me too,” he whispered. He rolled his shoulders back, and his eyes flashed like he was fighting his own body for control.

“Do you need to shift?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. But… I have no right to ask this. You’ve already done so much for me, but can you stay tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”

“Of course,” I said.

“Shower?” he suggested.

“Please.”

And if that shower resulted in additional orgasms? I wouldn’t say no.

I could never say no to Jack.

Chapter 14

Jack

“So, you believe that he is your mate?” Mason stood in the kitchen of the house that was known as the pack house. As far as I could tell, no one actually lived here, but plenty of people couch surfed and stayed here whenever they wanted to. It was a large house, with five or six bedrooms and just as many bathrooms, plus a game room. Apparently, it was designed to be the alpha’s home, if they so choose. But the pack was currently operating without an alpha. Since the house was for the pack, it was meant to be a welcoming space for anyone to enjoy.

Mason filled in as alpha where he could, but the alpha role was not exactly an elected position. Not just anyone could do it. A wolf was born an alpha, or not.

“I think so. I mean, as far as what you have told me, it makes sense. I want him to be. I can’t imagine my life without him.” I was finally admitting it out loud for the first time, not just because I didn’t want to be stuck as a wolf forever, but because I liked him. A lot. Connor was exactly the kind of partner I had been looking for. The conversation was amazing, and everything else on top of that, absolute perfection.

Mason smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. You know you only have a week, right? You need to tell him. It would really be best if you explained it all to him and allowed him enough time to make a decision. He is what will anchor you to your human side. Without him… We can’t be sure of the consequences, but they aren’t good, Jack.”

That decision being whether or not to bond with me and make sure I don’t get stuck in my wolf form for the rest of my life. No pressure at all.

“Can someone explain to me why the heck a wolf needs a mate? That seems really unfair, and a little crazy.”

Mason shrugged and looked at the other pack members in the kitchen with us. “Not all wolves have a mate, but most do. All alphas have a mate, and they always find them before their full transformation is complete. This is one of those times where you have to trust fate knows what she is doing.

“I can’t pressure him into it, Mason. Connor has a good heart, he may decide to bond with me simply to save my life, and that is not the kind of bond that I want. I want it to be something he chooses.”

“Good luck to you, al — brother,” Luis said. He was another wolf in the pack. He and his mate had been a part of the pack for a decade now. He, along with Tucker, another pack member, and Tucker’s mate Celena, were in the kitchen with us. The more the merrier when it came to guiding me to talk to my mate before I turned into a wolf forever. I wasn’t sure when I made the switch from thinking of him as just Connor to thinking of him as my mate, but it felt right.

“The full moon is only six days away. When is your date?” Celena asked. She towered over her mate, Tucker. Her long blonde hair almost reached her hips. Tucker stayed closer to her side. The two of them had only been mated for two years. They’d explained to me that they’d grown up together, then one day Tucker came home from work and bumped into Celena. Their scents had changed and their mating bond flared to life. According to Mason, it happened like that sometimes.

“We have a date for tomorrow,” I said.

“You need to tell him,” Tucker said.

I knew that Connor felt for me similar to what I did for him. He had said it many times before about the strong connection we had, how he felt drawn to me, how he broke the rules and came to me in my hour of need. But that was vastly different than a lifetime commitment to a werewolf pack that, until a week ago, he hadn’t even known existed. Not to mention the fact that I would be asking him to alter his life so much. He would literally become something different.

If we mated, it was only a matter of time before he made his own transformation. Werewolves were not just born, they could be made. Many of the pack members were made members by being mated to werewolves.

Mason’s eyes filled with glee, and he clapped his hands together. “Okay, so, you have to plan the most perfect date. This is going to establish your relationship for the rest of your life. This is a start to a new beginning, a promise of a future to come. You can’t half-ass it.”

That was an incredibly romantic view of what was an entirely ass-backward situation. Connor and I weren’t exactly doing things in the normal order. We’d already slept in the same bed, twice. Sort of. Last night we’d spent time getting to know each other on a more physical level.

Tucker smiled and bumped Celena’s shoulder with his. “This isn’t going to be a first date, is it? Have you guys acquainted yourselves in other ways? No way you kept your hands to yourself for this long. When I realized Celena was mine, I couldn’t keep my hands off her. There’s nothing like that new-wolf libido.”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms, giving them my sternest look. It must have been effective because they all straightened their shoulders and bared their necks. “A man doesn’t kiss and tell, that would be incredibly rude. I won’t say no to assistance on making this a great date, but I will draw the line in talking about private things that happen between my mate and me in the bedroom.”

Luis snickered. “They don’t always have to happen in the bedroom, man.”

I willed my cheeks not to heat. I wasn’t unfamiliar with this type of teasing. But I wouldn’t play into it.