Crap on a stick.Davis was right. Leyden bowed his head slightly and said, “I’m sorry, Davis. Just meeting Connor, protocol flew right out of my head. That man is my mate. Please, permission to shift and follow him on your territory?”
Leyden was amazed when Davis shook his head. A mate was everything in the shifter world, and Davis knew that as much as he did.
“It won’t do you any good. Connor doesn’t think he’s mate material and he won’t be happy to see you, especially given that you’re an alpha,” Davis explained. “Come on over to my house and we’ll have a drink. Connor’s been my friend for life, and if you’re going to get anywhere with that stubborn fool of a man, then I can at least tell you all I know.”
Throwing a last longing look through the trees, Leyden followed the alpha to a large, pleasant log home, complete with a wide porch, bright curtains, and big windows. He barely took note of the décor inside, just following Davis through into the bright, clean, well-appointed kitchen. Davis took a couple of beers out ofthe fridge and passed one to Leyden, indicating he should sit on one of the kitchen bar stools.
“Connor doesn’t do sex,” Davis said bluntly, when both men were settled. “To the best of my knowledge the man hasn’t even kissed anyone yet.”
Leyden didn’t bother to hide his shock. A wolf shifter who didn’t have sex was unheard of. All sorts of scenarios flashed through his head. Perhaps the man had been hurt as a youngster. Perhaps…no, Leyden couldn’t think of one good reason why a full wolf shifter, especially one with as much power as Connor clearly had, would not want to have sex.
“What’s wrong with him?” he said, immediately regretting his words when Davis glared at him.
“There’s nothing wrong with him,” Davis snarled. “He’s my pack second. He fights like a machine. He’s a fucking strong wolf, with more intelligence than I have. He cares for his pack and keeps us secure. I trust him with my life.”
“Then why?” Leyden left the question hanging, not wanting to say anything else to upset Davis. He was a visiting alpha after all.
Davis shrugged. “It’s just the way Connor is wired. He was born in this pack; he’s only a few years younger than you or me. We’ve been friends forever. When we both shifted for the first time, I started chasing tail and noticed that Connor wasn’t following me. When I asked him about it, he said he just didn’t feel he could be with someone he didn’t have a connection with, and you know what wolf shifters are like.”
“Yeah, looking for instant gratification, rather than anything else,” Leyden said with a sigh, knowing he was exactly like that. Before becoming alpha, Leyden would have sex with anyone who caught his eye - man, woman, didn’t matter. He was used to having sex two to three times a day, and again at night,and becoming alpha had simply increased his pool of potential bedmates, not lessened it. He didn’t have as much time to indulge as he did before, but he definitely loved the sexual side of his life.
“It’s not that Connor doesn’t want to be with someone. He does. And he is more than appreciative of how some of the men look in the pack. But he’s not about to go falling into bed with someone until he gets to know them first, and wolf shifters are more fuck-first-and-talk-later types.”
“But he’s my mate,” Leyden said, well aware he was close to whining. “He’s got to feel the pull and attraction between us, surely?”
“That’s probably why he ran off like he did,” Davis agreed. “Connor knows that mates meet, fuck, and claim each other within hours of meeting. To be honest, I thought Connor would be the same when he met his intended. But clearly, if the man ran off, then he is going to take some serious wooing before you’ll get into his pants.”
Leyden thought of that delicious man and his pants and stifled a groan. He had seen Connor when he first arrived at the meet and greet, and was instantly attracted to the dark-haired, green-eyed hunk. He made a point of catching Connor’s eye and was so sure the man would be after him like a shot. When Connor stayed away, to the point of remaining on the other side of the room, Leyden used his considerable charms to woo some of his admirers, thinking it would spark the man to make a move. After all, he was an alpha. It wasn’t as though he had to go chasing after anyone to get them into bed.
But Connor had stayed against the wall, and when Leyden had stepped up his flirting, Connor had just looked away. When Leyden saw Davis talking to him, he knew he had an opening. What he hadn’t expected was to get within five feet of the manand be hit by the most delicious scent he had ever smelled in his life.
Leyden had done all he could to restrain his arousal, curbing his cock and his wolf. He had found his mate and all he wanted to do in that moment was grab hold of the man and fuck him into the nearest wall. He hadn’t been able to swallow the possessive “mine” that sprang from his lips as he realized just how important Connor was to him. And rather than run to him, his hunky wolf had run away.
“I’d better be heading home,” Leyden said, slipping off the bar stool and standing up.
“You’re just going to leave your mate? Just because he might take a bit of work before you can claim him?” Davis was horrified, as Leyden knew he would be.
“Don’t ever think that. Connor was mine from the moment I caught his scent,” Leyden said. “I just need time to think and plan my approach.”
“Yeah, well, you might want to curb your ownfriendlinesswhile you’re thinking,” Davis said with a grin. “When you do get close to your mate, you don’t want your scent smelling of others. He’s likely to never give you a chance if that happens.”
Leyden adjusted the semi-hard cock resting in his pants and shrugged. “My casual sex days are over, as of now,” he said. “I’ve scented Connor, I know he’s my mate, and being with anyone else would be cheating, and I don’t believe in that. That’s why I have to think and plan quickly, or I’m going to have the worst case of blue balls in existence.”
“My territory is always open to you, to allow for your courting,” Davis said as he led Leyden to the door. “And if you ever want to talk about it, don’t hesitate to give me a call. Connor’s been a lifelong friend to me and I honestly want to see him happy.”
Leyden nodded his head in thanks and slipped out of the door. He took one long look at the tree line, and thought he caught sight of a large wolf, hidden in the trees not far from the hall. But there was no way of knowing if that wolf was his mate, so Leyden strode across the short distance from the alpha’s house to the pack hall and found his truck. The sooner he got home, the sooner he could start thinking of ways he could get to know Connor better. And he had a couple of people he had to kick out of his bed. Celibacy wasn’t something Leyden had ever practiced, but he figured now was as good a time as any.
The wolf followed Leyden’s truck all the way to the edge of Davis’s territory, stopping at the border. In his rearview mirror Leyden could see the wolf tip his head back, a mournful howl wafting in the open window of the truck. Leyden was tempted to stop the truck and go back, certain now the wolf was his mate. But Leyden forced himself to keep moving toward his own home. He had some serious thinking to do, and he wasn’t about to fuck anything up. Connor was already that precious to him.
Chapter Three
Connor was out walking the boundaries of the pack’s territory when his cell phone rang. Although he would normally do the patrol in wolf form, since he’d watched Leyden drive away three nights before, Connor didn’t dare shift. His wolf wanted to get closer to the man he recognized as mate and didn’t care if he had to cross territory lines to do it. The human side of Connor knew that if he wandered into Leyden’s territory, then any one of the man’s enforcers could chase him down, beat him up, or even kill him if they wanted. Wolves were very possessive of their land.
Flicking a quick glance at the screen, Connor tapped the accept button and pulled the phone up to his ear.
“Alpha,” he said gruffly.
“Where are you?” Davis asked. “I’ve been trying to find you all morning.”
