“So am I.I’ll see you soon, Sharon.”Leaving the hotel, he was on his way to the pizza place in a few minutes.As soon as he arrived and told them who he was picking up for, they did ask him a lot of questions.They didn’t seem impressed with him being a doctor because, of course, doctors could be predators, too.
“I know your name now, so you’d be better off behaving yourself.I like Sharon, and she’s a good girl.A little on the shy side, but she’s a good girl to everyone.”He promised the owner of the pizza place that he’d be on his best behavior.“See that you do.I’m not opposed to killing you if you hurt her.”
“I’d allow you to do that, too, if I were to harm a hair on her head.She means a great deal to me as well.”One of the others whispered in his ear, and the boss looked at him.Then he leaned over the counter and asked him if he was a wolf.“I am.And if you know that, you know that as my mate, I won’t harm her at all.I’m going to talk to her tonight about it.”
He nodded before speaking again.“You see that you do.And I don’t want to hear about you taking advantage of her just because she’s your mate, either.I know that it’s rare, but you behave yourself too.Like I said, she’s a good girl.”
“I promise you on the heart of my mother, she’ll be as safe with me as she would be with you.”That seemed to satisfy him, and he handed over the pizza.“Call it a pre-wedding gift for the two of you.Now get on out of here before it gets cold.Pizza…my pizza isn’t good cold.You eat it hot or not at all.”
“Thank you.”He didn’t even feel jealous about the man drilling him about Sharon.He was glad that someone was out there watching over her for him.And when he got to the house, he was very glad when she asked who it was before opening the door to him.Yes, she was going to be safe with him forever.
“This is the best pizza, wouldn’t you agree?”He said that he’d never had one better.I never thought to ask you if you’d like a meat one.But then, I guess you eat a great deal of meat.”He asked her what she meant.“Grizzle called here after you left the pizza shop.He told me to have an open mind and that you were a shifter.A wolf shifter.And that you had something to talk to me about.Is that alltrue?”
“It is.And since I’m assuming you’re not flying off the handle or anything, you know what you are to me.”She nodded and suddenly found her pants interesting.“Look at me, Sharon.I won’t ever hurt you.Not in any way.”
“I know that.I don’t know why I know that, but I do.Also, you healed my hand for me, didn’t you?”He said that he didn’t know.He’d never had a mate before and didn’t know what he could do with just a touch.“It doesn’t hurt at all.I’ve been tempted to pull the bandages off and look for myself, but I’m afraid of what I might see.Is that something that mates are supposed to be able to do to each other?”
“I don’t know, honestly.What I do know is that today, when you passed me the note with your address on it, I felt something tingle.Did you feel anything?”She told him that she’d felt the same thing.“Then I can only assume.If it’s not healed up, I can put the bandages back on you.I never go without my medical bag.I even filled it out today when I was at the store.I’m always afraid of not having what I need the next time, so I always do that when I’m…I’m babbling.I want to see it, too.”
She undid the wrap and, with shaking hands, showed him what was left of her wound.Just black threads in the wrapping and nothing more.Even the cut looked healed.The scar was still pink, but it was about as good-looking as if it had happened months ago instead of last night.He kissed the area, and she inhaled sharply.
“You’re beautiful, Sharon.”She slid to the floor with him, and he kissed her again.This time on the mouth.“You’re so very beautiful that I’m excited for the next thousand years or so hanging out with you.”
“That’s a long time.”He’d tell her later that they had that much and more to be together.Tonight was for them.“I’m not much of a catch, I’m afraid.Daff was allowing me to work so that I could have some income.She’s good to me.”
“You won’t have to worry about money again, love.I have enough for us.”She nodded, and he smiled.“Can I kiss you again?You taste like pizza and beer, and that’s so good.”
He had to calm his wolf a couple of times when they got into kissing heavily.As soon as she got up to clean up their mess, he had a good talk with himself and his wolf.He didn’t want to make love to her on the night he promised to behave himself.No, he was going to be a good man and woo her first.
“I have some dessert.I have apple pie and lemon refrigerator cake.Which do you want?”Two of his favorites, how was he to choose?It was going to be difficult being a good man with a woman who spoke to his inner beast.
Chapter 1
Going home after spending the evening with Sharon, Kendrick decided that he’d move to any place that she wanted and damn the fact that he had a pretty good practice right now.Being a doctor of good standing, he knew that he could get a job anywhere and be happy so long as she was.It was his life’s mission to make his mate happy in every way possible.Boy, did he sound sappy right then, and he had to laugh at himself.His brothers would be teasing him forever about how they’d met.And he found that he was all right with that as well.
She’d been working when he’d gone into the gas station to thank the owner for letting him leave his car parked in their lot all day.He’d been hanging out with Conri and Cass for the day at Rainersville for the big traders/swappers days they had every year, and had asked to park his car there rather than drive behind them.As it turned out, he was glad that he had as Sharon, Sharon Taylor had been hurt on the slicer and needed fifty-four stitches when the meat she’d been slicing had fallen over, and the slicer had cut her up badly.
Taking her to the hospital in an ambulance, he’d gotten rooked into staying until three in the morning, helping with other patients that had come in from all kinds of ailments after spending the day out in the sun.Taking a nap in the hospital so he could drive home, he had stopped into the gas station again to make sure that Sharon was all right.He didn’t know immediately that she was his mate, but it didn’t take him long to ask her out.
They had pizza for their first date, and he couldn’t have been happier.When her wound was suddenly healed from his touching her, he knew then without a doubt that she was his mate.His healing her sort of sealed the deal for them, he thought.
Now that he was home and working, he wanted to close up shop and go to see her again.They had talked a great deal when he’d been with her, but nothing earth-shattering.She told him she was as poor as a church mouse, and he told her that she didn’t have to worry about money ever again.
“I will forever worry about money even if I have a billion dollars.”He told her how sorry he was for being so flippant about money.“Just keep that in mind, as well as I’m not going to be a kept woman.I like to work.Not as hard as I am right now, but I don’t think I could stay at home and be pampered for the rest of my life.”She looked at him before speaking again.“Okay, that’s not true.I could be pampered by the right person, but I need to make sure that I don’t become as large as a house waiting for my husband or whatever to come home to me.”
“You’ll never gain any weight unless you’re breeding or having children.Nor will human illnesses claim your life.I only need to claim you as my mate so that you’ll live a very long and hopefully stitches-free life.”She laughed, and that was what he’d been hoping for.“Also, no matter if you’re on the pill or other kinds of contraceptives, you’ll get pregnant if you’re ovulating if we have sex.If we have children, I mean.”
“Ifwe have children?”He told her that he believed that since it was her body and only hers, she would decide when they had children and sex.“I’d like to believe that, but I’ve been around before.I’m not saying that you’re lying to me, but—”
“That’s another thing.I can’t lie to you.Not that I would, but it’s something in my DNA that prevents me from telling you a lie or even by omission.To me, it’s the same as a lie.”She just eyed him hard.“I swear to you on the heart of my mother, who is alive and well, that I’m telling you the truth.And so you know, if you ask me something, I’m not going to be able to sugarcoat it as much as you might like.”
“Do I look fat to you?”He said he thought that she was a beautiful creature and that he was already half in love with her.“Good answer.I don’t know about the love part yet, but I like that youcan’t lie to me.It might just save your ass if anything comes up like another woman.”
“There won’t be.Ever.I promise you.”They talked about him being a wolf, and she asked him some good questions.When it got to his age, he told her how old he was, and he wasn’t sure she had believed him.He was honest in telling her that he was nearly four hundred years old, only younger than his older brother, Conri, by a few years.“I’ve been waiting for you for all my life.”
“I don’t have much in the way of family left.My mom and dad are still alive, but I’ve not spoken to either of them for a decade.Mom lives in California, and my dad lives in upstate New York.I hadn’t thought of it before, but they couldn’t be more apart than they are right now.They’ve been divorced since I was about ten and have never gotten along well enough to allow me to live with either of them.I lived with my grandma until she had to go into a nursing home.”He asked if her parents were happy.“I don’t know whether they understand that word or not.They seem to be their happiest when they’re bickering with each other.I just stay out of their way.They don’t bother me, and I do the same for them.To be honest, I don’t know that I’d recognize them if they were to come up to me on the street.I hate to think about that, but that’s the way I feel.”
“I’m sorry.Our father was a bastard.He and my brother Conri’s first wife had an affair and stole from the pack.Since he never claimed her, she wasn’t immortal like we are.Mom took her immortality from dad when it was figured out what he’d been doing, and she’s never been happier.”She said that it sounded like neither of them had had a good childhood.“If not for my mom, I might well believe that.She was our rock and foundation at the same time.”
