by Lisa Oliver
of whiskey he kept for special occasions, and not even bothering
with a glass, opened the bottle and tipped some of the contents
down his throat.
Nope. He still didn’t feel any better. He took another swig, feeling
the whiskey burn down his throat and hit his gut with a wallop.
Collapsing onto his couch, Zander stared moodily into the
darkness, the bottle of whiskey in his hand. The scenes from his
date from hell played through his mind. His discomfort started
as soon as he and Sully had met the two women at the
restaurant. Being a wolf shifter, Zander was an affectionate guy,
but the moment he went near his date for the evening, a
beautiful girl with a wonderful figure, his wolf had snapped and
snarled in his head. Zander had been so surprised he had barely
managed to cover it, settling for a handshake instead of his
customary kiss on the cheek.
The situation didn’t get any better as the evening progressed.
Every time Rebecca, his date, touched him, Zander felt like fire
ants were crawling under his skin. Rebecca was a touchy feely
type of girl, and while she was exactly the type of person Zander
usually went for – friendly, fun and totally gorgeous to look at –
by the end of the meal, Zander was wound so tightly he thought
he would snap.
The dancing afterwards was worse. Rebecca was an amazing
dancer, sexy, smooth and she moved like a gazelle. Normally
that would have had Zander panting after her and looking for a
way to take her home as soon as possible. But not tonight. Not
in the slightest. For the first time ever, he tried to prolong their
stay at the dance club, even though Sully was clearly wanting to
get to the bedroom side of the evening. But Zander already
knew that wasn’t happening for him and kept ordering drink after
drink after drink, until the girls begged off too.
“I should have taken my own fucking car,” Zander growled into
the darkness of his house. The freaking trip back to the hotel
was even worse. Rebecca in his lap, stroking him all over. Zander
trying not to shudder – not with lust – but with revulsion. By the
time they got to the hotel, Zander couldn’t stand it anymore.
Feigning food poisoning, he made his excuses and left, getting a
cab home.
“What the hell is happening to me?” Zander yelled into the
darkness. Immediately the picture of Terry on his knees, those
wonderfully expressive eyes staring up at him, hit the front of
his mind. Zander’s cock, which had been limp and unresponsive
all evening, suddenly sprung to attention causing Zander’s balls
to throb and his heart to pound.
Swigging another large gulp of whiskey, Zander sat in his couch,
looking at nothing, thinking about Terry. Maybe it wasn’t
meeting Terry that was causing his little issue. Maybe it’s just
since meeting his mate, and his mate being male, that his cock
needed to vent inside a male first, before he went back to taking
women to bed. Zander’s mind was clear enough to think he
might be barking up the wrong tree, but fuzzy enough thanks to
the alcohol, to consider giving it a try. He had two days off and
he would head out to Dallas as soon as he’d had some sleep. It
was a long drive, but fuck it. Zander was going to get some ass
if it killed him and he refused to even think about what might
happen if his dick failed to perform. That just wasn’t an option.
Chapter Three
Four days later
Terry was just pinning up the last of Davina’s hem when his
phone rang. Glancing at the screen, he didn’t recognize the
number so he ignored it, focusing on the dress.
“Get your phone honey,” Davina rasped above his head. “I’m
dying for a smoke.”
“Those things will kill you,” Terry said with a smile, reaching for
his phone, as Davina stepped off the raised platform and headed
outside.
“So long as I’m a beautiful corpse, darling.” Davina waved him
off, already pulling out her cigarette packet from her bra. Terry
had seen bras filled with a lot worse things. Accepting the call,
Terry said, “Terry Martin speaking.”
“Mr. Martin. It’s Detective Zander Samuels. We met the other
night at the sports bar incident.”
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. It was him. Mr. Perfection.
Terry would know that steel laced voice anywhere. His mother
was right. The man was after him. Terry’s face went red, his
breathing started to race and his cock started knocking at the
zipper of his pants demanding attention. Oh my God.
“Mr. Martin, are you still there? I need you to come down to the
station to talk about the fight.”
Mr. Perfection’s words were like a bucket of cold water over his
head, and Terry snarled – he actually snarled.
“Are you going to arrest me for something, Detective Samuels,
because you already have my statement and there is nothing
else I can add to your enquiry.”
“No, no, of course not. It’s just some things have come up with
the case that I would like to talk to you about.” Did the big
detective sound defensive? Terry dismissed that thought as
quickly as it came – there was no way the big Alpha wolf was
anything but cool, calm and fucking arrogant. That was the
problem with Alpha wolves, too full of themselves. Terry had
never met one before Zander, but his mother had told him
enough stories about it.
“You’ll need to speak to my friend Roy,” he said forcing himself
to be professional. “I was just a bystander. I didn’t say anything
and only hit anyone to defend myself and the people I was with.
I honestly don’t have anything else to add.”
Zander’s voice got so low, Terry had to rely on his enhanced
senses to hear him. “You know what this is about, pretty boy. I
need to see you.” Terry could hear the blatant sex in the man’s
voice and fanned his face with his other hand. He had to be
strong though, his mother didn’t raise no slut.
“Well I don’t consider meeting you in an interview room at the
local station as a proper first date. You’ll have to do better than
that.”
With a determined press of his finger, Terry ended the call,
before his knees gave way and he slumped to the floor. He’d
done it. He’d blown off Mr. Perfection. Had he gone totally mad?
He could have lost his virginity by nightfall. Be claimed and
wanted by someone who was meant to stay with him forever.
And he’d blown the man off.
“Terry, darling, why are you on the floor? Are you okay? Was the
call bad news from home?”
Suddenly Terry was wrapped up in what seemed like miles of
chiffon and silk as Davina put her burly arms around him. In her
other life, Davina was a truck driver called David, and Terry got
the impression that David ate far too many pies when he was in
his truck. But the comfort was nice, and Terry let himself wallow
in the smell of musk and cigaret
te smoke for a moment, before
pulling himself together.
“I just blew off the most perfect man in the Universe,” he said
sadly.
“Why on earth would you do that?”
“Because he wanted to meet me at the police station, and I
wanted a date,” Terry wailed.
Davina picked Terry up and set him on his feet. Terry found
himself confronting two very stormy, bloodshot eyes. “Now you
listen to me, my precious. If he can’t treat you right, and take
you out somewhere nice, then he ain’t worth it. No man’s got a
dick worth putting up with shit for, you hear me?”
Terry thought that Davina probably had that last part wrong, but
she was right about the first sentiment. Sure Mr. Perfection’s
dick was probably long, thick and absolutely amazing, but Terry
deserved better than to have a first conversation with his mate
in a police interview room.
Nodding his head, to show he understood, Terry stood up
straighter, and then helped Davina up back onto the platform
above him, while Terry got to work hemming the last piece of
the gown.
“So he’s a policeman, ha?” Davina said, looking intently at the
beading on the bodice of her new gown.
Terry nodded.
“Gotta love a man in uniform,” Davina said with a sigh.
“Only if he loves me first. Otherwise he’s a prick with no sense
of style,” Terry said, grinning up at her.
Davina’s laughter warmed Terry’s heart as he got back to work.
/~/~/~/~/
Zander growled, and barely resisted the urge to send his phone
through the nearest wall. His mate, that tiny little wolf who was
lucky if he was a hundred pounds soaking wet and an Omega to
boot, had said no to meeting him. Him! An Alpha wolf. Even
without the mate connection, Terry should have come running
as soon as he heard Zander’s voice. Omegas were submissive,
meant to obey the stronger wolf. At least that is what his Father
had told him.
Groaning, Zander thumped his head on his desk. He’d had the
whole thing all planned as well. He would see Terry under the
guise of conducting an interview, get the man alone in one of
the rooms, and at least get his cock sucked. For goodness sake,
it wasn’t as though that was too much to ask, was it? Then back
to Terry’s place for a quick fuck and claim, and then Zander could
get his dick licked and sat on anytime he liked. Free sex on tap
anytime he wanted it, and no one need ever know about it.
Zander could keep a secret and it wasn’t as though he and Terry
ran with the same people. He’d just tell Terry the score, and
because they were mates and he was the Alpha, Terry would
understand and keep things quiet on his end.
“Where were you this weekend, I thought we could try those
hostesses again, since you were sick last time. Rebecca seemed
awfully keen to catch up with you again.” Oh fuck, why did Sully
have to always corner him when he had more important things
to think about? Like how to get Terry around his dick that was
hard every time the infuriating man hit any of his brain cells. In
other words all the time.
“You’re seeing Suzy again? That’s not like you. Getting the house
in the burbs vibe or something are you?”
Zander wasn’t in the mood to make nice, and he definitely
couldn’t have another date with Rebecca. One failure was more
than enough. His efforts in Dallas were just as pitiful and by the
time Zander had headed out for the long drive back to Houston,
he had made some serious decisions.
He would find Terry. Claim his mate. Then hide him and just visit
him when his dick demanded. A simple plan, and Zander had
been so confident that it would work, he even delayed another
day to catch up on some of his cases, before ringing his little
mate. He thought he could give his mate at least one night of
his time seeing as it would be their first time together. After that
he would just snatch an hour when he could, so that Sully
wouldn’t suspect anything and he could focus on his work and
the life he already had.
“Suzy’s nice. She’s not around much. Don’t see the harm in
meeting up with her when she is,” Sully said, a flush creeping up
his lightly tanned face. Sully was a good looking man. Not
Zander’s type at all, but he had clear skin, strong bones, and
bright blue eyes. He was a devil with the ladies, which was why
he and Zander got on so well together.
“Yeah, well, don’t go roping me into your plans,” Zander said,
thinking quickly. “I’ve got a bit of tail of my own I’m chasing,
and no,” he said when he saw Sully open his mouth, “she doesn’t
have a friend for you. Back off.”
Actually Terry did have that Roy bloke, but somehow Zander
couldn’t see Sully going for someone like him. Not after his
comments at the sports bar. Pursuing Terry was going to have
to be a solo mission and if Sully was interested in Susy, then all
the better for him.
Or so Zander thought until Sully opened his mouth again.
“Awesome. We can double date. Just let me know when and I’ll
get in touch with Suzy and see when she’s free. Her and Rebecca
fly into town every three days.”
When pigs fly, Zander thought as he smiled and nodded, hoping
to shut Sully up. There was no way Zander was ever double
dating with his partner again, and for the first time since he met
his friend, he hoped that Sully would get serious with a girl.
Maybe then he would leave Zander alone. Terry mentioned going
on a date and that wasn’t something Zander was prepared to do.
He didn’t want to go out with the man, he just wanted to have
sex. He was Alpha. Alpha equaled high sex drive. Didn’t his little
mate even realize that? And for Zander, things were getting
desperate with both his cock and his wolf. If he was ever going
to have sex again, then he had better put his thinking cap on.
Chapter Four
“What about that one?”
“Too skinny.”
“The one next to him.”
“Pimples, ugh.”
“That one over there with the denim shirt?”
“Denim? Are you kidding me, do I look like I’d ride a cowboy?”
“For a virgin you sure are picky,” Roy said, giving up on his quest
to find Terry a hookup for the night, at least for the moment.
Terry knew his friend well, and Roy never gave up. For a moment
Terry had been tempted to tell his friend the whole truth. How
he was a wolf shifter, how he had met his mate and what that
meant in the scheme of things, including the tiny little fact that
only Zander would be able to take his wretched virginity now.
But Terry stopped himself. Roy was open minded but Terry didn’t
think he was open to hearing that his friend of four years could
turn into a wolf at will.
It had been two days since Zander had rung with his outlandish
request for an interview, and Terry had been going out of his
&n
bsp; mind, alternating between convincing himself he had done the
right thing in staying strong and holding out for a relationship,
and crying because he was sure he’d never see his mate again.
His mother kept telling him that Zander wouldn’t give up on him.
His friends, deciding he was too distracted for words, staged an
intervention and pulled Terry out for the night. Fortunately they
were in Club Blue so at least the chances of getting punched by
bigots were fairly slim. The place had decent bouncers who made
sure everyone was safe.
“Come and dance with me, Terry” Max said suddenly. Terry
looked over in shock. Max never danced with any of them except
Joel. Everyone knew that he and Joel were skin tight and would
never cheat on each other, not even getting close on the dance
floor with someone else. Max’s invitation broke the bro code they
all lived by on so many levels. But Joel gave him a small grin
and nodded his head, so with a shrug of his shoulders, Terry got
up and let Max lead him to the dance floor. He did love to dance,
but he was usually too shy to dance with anyone but his friends.
But he’d never danced with Max on his own.
Instead of leading him into the middle of the dancers, Max led
him to the far edge, away from the sight of the table where the
rest of his friends were having fun. The music was quieter there,
and Terry reminded himself to relax and try and give the illusion
he was happy. It wasn’t his friends’ fault that he couldn’t think
of anything but a certain arrogant detective.
Max danced close to him, but didn’t touch him, for which Terry
was eternally grateful. With every passing day it was getting
harder to accept the affectionate touches from his friends, and
Terry had wondered how long it would be before he got to be a
complete outcast. With gloomy thoughts of being the perpetual
virgin spinning through his brain as his body moved
automatically to the music, Terry almost jumped out of his skin
when Max finally did speak to him.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, being scared about anal sex
for the first time,” Max said quietly.
“I’m not,” Terry lied. Actually he had been before meeting
Zander, but now he knew he had a mate, and knew as well that
mates couldn’t hurt one another, he had gotten over that fear
