You Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 3)

Chapter 6: Gabe

Come on, Simon. Seriously. Settle down so we can sleep, I find myself having to scold my wolf who is in an all-too-familiar state of being worked up over our mate. Except now I know his name, and we finally know who she is.

I suspect he might have known all along, ever since I first saw her in her grandpa’s barn all those years ago, though I can’t figure out why he wouldn’t have just told me that. I suppose it’s because she was too young then for him to identify what it was that pulled him to her.

If she’s 19 now, back then she would have been only 13 or 14, still a couple years shy of being of age to identify her as my mate. But I also stopped going with my dad on his farm runs shortly before she would have turned 16, and I’ve been kicking myself about that ever since I got back to my place from the packhouse.

Simon wanted me to just scoop her up and bring her home with us, but I can’t do that. She’s new to my world, and my mom said she doesn’t even know about mates yet. I think as long as we’re careful about not overwhelming her with too much new information at once, she’ll be receptive to it all. She seems curious and open-minded like that.

And the woman loves animals. I’m confident now about my earlier impression after seeing how she was when I let Simon out to meet her, which was also right after I saw her with her chickens. She was petting and murmuring to them like they’re her children. I’d be offended by her looking at Simon as just a big, furry wolf and nothing more than an animal, but that’s kind of how I described it to her, so of course she does.

The important thing is that she seems to love him, or at least be exceptionally fond of him. It’s completely backward from what I would have expected from a human, but I think I can use her affection for Simon help me get close to her. My wolf is the scariest part of me for most humans, and she’s already pals with him. Now I just have to charm her into liking me even half as much.

I need to see her. You shouldn’t have left, he scolds me.

We just met her. I don’t want her getting creeped out by being too clingy too soon.

That’s your problem. She likes when I cling to her, he argues back, and I think he might be onto something there.

Maybe if I let Simon out, she’ll let me in.

No, that’s crazy. I can’t do that. I can’t be trying to spend the night with my mate already.

If she was any other girl, you’d be in her bed already, he accuses. Why is she the only one you’re allergic to?

Because I actually care what she thinks of me, and she’s not ready.

She’s not ready for you, you mean. She wants me. I can feel it.

Before I know what’s happening, he’s taken over my body again. The blanket is tossed away, and he’s up and throwing on the nearest pair of sweats. That’s it. No shirt, no shoes.

At least grab my keys so we don’t get locked out, I suggest in annoyance. This i***t is actually going to charge out of here in the middle of the night in my bare feet, shirtless. For someone who hates how I seem to be a magnet for desperate young she-wolves, he certainly isn’t trying very hard to combat it.

You just have to say no, he imparts his sage wisdom to me. But he does also grab my keys on his way out the door as requested.

I’m surprised that he doesn’t ditch the pants and end up shifting along the way, but he manages to keep it together, running the entire way to the packhouse. I guess he’s also not that worried about how I might smell by the time we get there.

A bit of light running is good for working up a natural musk, which should make you seem more enticing to our mate, not less, he argues, not bothering to slow down even as my feet start slapping against the rough gravel out in front of the packhouse.

You assume she has senses like ours. She doesn’t, I remind him.

The mate-link enhances her senses of her mate specifically.

He seems pretty certain of that, but I don’t know where he could have learned it. I certainly never did.

You weren’t the only consciousness that had to suffer through advanced werewolf studies, he points out.

That’s fair. There’s probably plenty that he learned while I was completely zoned out. Mrs. Willis was my least favorite teacher ever. Her voice was painfully dry and unengaging, and I learned next to nothing in her class.

At least one of us was paying attention. That might come in handy if Jeannie asks me any questions like that.

He charges into the packhouse, earning a few curious looks from the on-duty guards. Whenever they’ve seen me around here at this time of night before, it was sneaking out of the packhouse, not in. And never shirtless and barefoot, probably looking a wild-eyed fright. But to their credit, no one says anything or tries to stop me. Perks of being the Alpha’s son.

I’ll give him credit for how quietly he attempts to creep into my parents’ apartment, gingerly putting his key in the door and quietly unlocking it before slowly and almost silently pushing it open. Almost. It does squeak a tiny bit at the last second.

Which is why it’s no surprise when my dad, Matt, the insanely hyper-sensitive silver wolf, appears at the top of the stairs as Simon is attempting to creep past them and down the hall to Jeannie’s room.

What’s going on? Matt demands with a mind-link.

It’s not me. It’s Simon, I explain to him. He’s here for Jeannie.

She doesn’t even know who you are to her yet, and she’s not used to men. You can’t go in there. Come back in the morning.

“She likes me,” Simon whispers out loud.

Matt hurries down the stairs, realizing that Simon won’t be swayed so easily.

“You don’t want to scare her away by rushing things,” Matt argues gently, grasping me by both arms and looking right into Simon’s eyes.

“She misses me. I can feel it,” Simon tells him, his voice more pleading and desperate than I like the sound of.

He’d better not lose it. I don’t have a clue how to control him. I’ve never had to try before.

“That’s good,” Matt answers him gently. “That means that you shouldn’t have much trouble getting close to her in the future, but right now, you need to go home. Get some sleep. Come back in the morning after a shower, and I bet she’ll want to see you.”

“I need to see her now. She likes me as a wolf,” Simon half argues, half informs him as he attempts to shoulder past Matt and continue down the hall.

“Don’t make me order you to leave, Simon. I don’t want to have to do that.”

“I’ll never forgive you if you do,” Simon threatens lowly.

Apparently, though he never missed a werewolf studies lesson, Simon must have missed the times that my dads demonstrated that they won’t hesitate to fight me when I get overly worked up and disrespectful like that.

But to my surprise, Matt steps out of his way and lets him pass.

Why didn’t you stop him? I question him as I’m forced to witness my wolf stripping my pants off and shifting right in the hallway, intent on barging into Jeannie’s room next.

He’s right. She was completely comfortable with him as a wolf. I want to see where this goes, plus I already called your mother down here. If she says he goes, he goes.

It makes me a little sick to think that this might soon turn into the whole house being woken up to watch my wolf make a fool of me. At least it’s only my younger siblings who still live here, though nothing would stop them from blabbing it all over by daylight.

Simon pads silently into Jeannie’s room, stopping right beside her bed to watch her sleeping just like the creep he’s been acting all night. I can’t say I’m sorry to be here to see it though. She looks practically angelic all curled up under the blankets, her hair spread out on the pillow like a colorful halo. Her lips are parted slightly, which makes me glad that Simon shifted before coming in here. I know he would have tried to kiss her if he still had my lips to do it with.

Then he moves around to the foot of the bed, boosting himself up onto it as gently as he can manage. Jeannie mumbles in her sleep a little as he settles into the spot next to her and lies down, but she doesn’t seem to be more disturbed than that. Not until she rolls over and cuddles right up to him, sighing softly in contentment as if she expected him to be there all along.

“I’ll be damned,” I hear Matt mumble under his breath from the doorway.

I can’t see over there because Simon doesn’t want to look at anything but Jeannie, but I can smell that my mother’s scent has joined Matt’s. I guess they’re going to allow this. They’re insane, but as long as this doesn’t end up backfiring on me in the morning, then I suppose I’m good with it too.

And besides, it’s probably the only way I’ll be getting any sleep tonight.