Fierce

Chapter 3

3

LEVI

I walked into the stable, thinking of Charlie with every step.

It was unusual for me to be this attracted to a female. Unusual enough to make me wonder…

No. No f*****g way. I would’ve known if she were my mate. At least, I thought I would. I didn’t get that instant recognition thing male shifters said they felt the moment they caught their mate’s scent. Like Boyd with Audrey. Colton with Marina.

Of course, my wolf was latent—he was inside me but couldn’t come out—so it was possible I wouldn’t know.

This was why I wanted a she-wolf for a mate. If Charlie were a shifter, she would know if we were mates. She’d tell me. Because my wolf had been broken—whatever the f**k the word was—by my grandparents, I was left playing guesswork. It would be easy if Charlie knew she was mine. Obvious. We’d be f*****g right now, and I’d be making her mine. She’d have no doubt she belonged to me, that my mark belonged on her dark skin. It would be as simple as that.

But no. It was possible I was as helpless as any ordinary human trying to figure out “the one.”

Fate was f****d up. With my mother being human, I had her DNA, too. Human DNA that kept me from important shifter things. Letting my wolf out. Scenting my mate. Knowing her. More.

As for Charlie? I wanted her. There was no denying it. The chemistry was there if not the mating scent. I growled in frustration. I would have her. I had two weeks to do so.

I stalked into the cool stable, pointed at Johnny who was brushing down my horse. I should thank him for it, but I had more important things to say.

“You’re staying with your parents.”

“I am?” Johnny asked, eyes widening, pausing with the curry comb on the horse’s flank. He might be young, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be back at home in his childhood bed. Too f*****g bad.

Clint and Boyd were brushing the other two horses down and stopped when I piped up.

“Why’s that?” Clint asked, brush in hand. The corner of his mouth was tipped up.

I narrowed my eyes, set my hands on my hips.

“Yes, Levi,” Audrey drawled.

I spun about at her voice, not realizing she was in the corner out of the way. She was settled into a chair Boyd must have brought out of the stable office for her. She had a cloth tossed over her shoulder with Lizzie nursing beneath it. I saw her tiny bare feet sticking out from the edge of the pink cover.

A woman nursing a child didn’t do a thing for me, not any more than a woman brushing her teeth or eating corn on the cob. But Audrey feeding her infant all of a sudden struck a nerve. I wanted my child suckling at my mate’s breast. I envisioned Charlie feeding our baby, and… f**k me. Babies? I was in epic trouble here. She was not my mate. She did not want my babies. Hell, she didn’t even want to stay down the hall from me.

“Why is Johnny staying with his parents and not in the bunkhouse with you and the lovely veterinarian?” she asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. Her mouth turned up in a sly smile. Those glasses might give her an innocent look, but she was far from it right now.

I wasn’t going to snap at Audrey. My wolf might be ready to snarl, but she didn’t deserve it, even if she was taunting me. Boyd would also rip my throat out.

“Because I want her,” I replied through gritted teeth.

“She’s your mate?” she asked.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Maybe she is, and you just can’t smell it,” Audrey countered.

It was possible, but I felt like I’d know. It was f*****g unfair. A wolf inside me but couldn’t be let out to run. Couldn’t scent his own mate.

“I want her. That’s enough.”

Clint slapped Boyd on his shoulder, making me turn and face them. “Twenty bucks, dude,” Clint ordered.

“What did you two assholes bet?”

Boyd grinned. “Bet you’d claim her. Wolf or not.”

“A tip, Levi,” Audrey said, rolling her eyes at her husband and brother-in-law. “Be nice.”

I gave her a glare over my shoulder, but she just smiled back.

“Yeah, being a grumpy fucker’s not going to help you,” Boyd said, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket.

“I’m not grumpy.” I took my hat off, ran my hand through my hair.

All of them laughed, and I wasn’t sure who to throat punch first.

“Where’s her mare?” I asked, trying to redirect, so I didn’t start a shifter brawl in front of the horses. The animals had gotten used to us all being shifters, having predators inside us, but we had to be cautious around them. Especially new ones like the horse Charlie brought.

Clint tipped his head. “Put her in the near pasture.”

Was it strange that I didn’t even like the other guys handling Charlie’s mare?

Not just strange, downright nuts. Especially considering Seraphina wasn’t even Charlie’s. The mare belonged to her boss, Mr. Claymore. Some eccentric millionaire.

Whatever. He could be as eccentric as he wanted because his craziness was what had brought Charlie here. I owed the man a thank you card. And a resignation letter for his soon-to-be former vet because while everything in me resisted wanting a human, I wanted Charlie here, and I had a feeling two weeks wasn’t going to be enough.

I turned on my heel and headed out to the pasture, only because I couldn't very well go back into the bunkhouse and wait outside Charlie’s room like a crazy stalker. Being with the horse was the next best thing. Like getting to know Charlie’s horse—making friends with Seraphina—would somehow get me closer to her prickly veterinarian.