Yvette Hines - The Club

“Not if it really happens.” Blowing her a kiss, Kelsey exited the bedroom as Olivia laughed in her wake.

Her laughter subsided as she heard the front door close and the sound of Kelsey’s Camaro’s engine revving and subsequently fading down the street. Dropping the covers, she got up from her bed and padded across the thick carpet to her bathroom. Once inside, she turned the light on and assessed herself in the mirror, something she had been too exhausted to do in the early morning when she had returned home.

Standing there looking at her nude reflection, she didn’t notice anything odd—nothing seemed changed. She moved her gaze from her thighs and continued up past her sex, over her breasts and paused at her neck. There, she saw the small, red marks at the base of her throat, almost completely faded but evidence of Anton’s bite. Reaching up, she touched the skin. Below it she could feel the heavy thumping of her pulse, her carotid artery pushing her life’s blood to her brain. When she stared at her face, everything appeared as it should be, as she had looked all her adult life. Opening her mouth, she checked her teeth, making sure she hadn’t sprouted fangs. Nope—her teeth were not elongated and there were no points at the ends.

She let out a sigh of relief—she really didn’t want to become a vampire.

What about a wolf?

Twisting her upper body at the waist, she gazed at the other bite. Right there, in the muscle above her right shoulder blade, were two half-circles, top and bottom row of teeth. Unlike the bite on her neck, this one was barely healed—it appeared swollen, with red and purple bruising around it. Her brows furrowed. Remarkable, Anton’s mark was practically gone, appearing like two mosquito bites, and Trae’s remained, bold and vivid. Why was that?

Trae’s mark .

He had spoken to her, in her mind.

Trae’s mate . That’s what he had told her.

“What does that mean?” she questioned herself. Pacing the bathroom, she tried to think of every horror movie she’d ever seen, but her archive was small. She wasn’t a big horror fan. Didn’t like scary things, or things that went bump in the night.

Oh, God, when was the next full moon? Would she change? Glancing at her arms, she didn’t notice any additional layers of hair sprouting, of course, and her nails were still trimmed and blunt-cut as she always kept them.

“Olivia, you need to keep calm.” Talking to herself out loud helped her get control of her emotions. Being shuffled from place to place most of her life had left her with only one voice of reason, her own. Taking a deep breath, she filled her lungs with air and held it there until her chest began to burn. Slowly, she let it out. Feeling slightly better, she tried to remember if Trae had said anything else to her.

But the only thing that she could recall was after breakfast, when he had helped her into the passenger seat of Kelsey’s car and told her he’d see her soon. What was soon? Still riding on her euphoric high, she had given him her address and number. Now that she had a moment to think clearly, she regretted her decision.

What was I thinking?

However, she knew she had not been thinking, but feeling. No more. She needed to make sense of all that had happened, including the joy, peace and passion she had felt around Trae.

Some things didn’t make sense. She had never felt that type of connection with previous boyfriends. She could easily blame it on the fact that Trae was not really human, but that would not explain why she hadn’t had the same response to Anton.

“Ahh!” Frustrated by all her musing, she exited the bathroom and put on sweat pants and a T-shirt. Still wanting to sleep, but not believing it was possible at the moment, she went to the living room, where she grabbed the throw blanket from the back of the couch and lay down on the sofa. Maybe Trae would not call or come to see her. Then she could just chalk the night up to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She didn’t want to think about Trae, Anton or last night’s events anymore. Overdosing on television would help her blot out her actions and just maybe she could fall back to sleep until tomorrow.

The bite on her back pulsed, a reminder that Trae would be hard to forget.

“We’re here, son.” Ziona Wulfene walked into the study beside her husband. His mother was always elegant. As the head female in their pack, she kept herself looking meticulous and sharp in slacks and a blouse. As sophisticated and demure as she appeared, Trae had been witness to her taking down a few female weres who had thought they could steal his father away. She wasn’t weak and could bare her teeth in a flash if provoked.

Trae crossed to his mother and bestowed a kiss on her cheek.

“What’s this all about?” His father waited until his mother had taken a seat on the short couch, then sat beside her.

Trae dragged over a chair from the antique writing desk in the corner of the room and sat across from his parents. “I’ve found my mate.”

His mother’s lips parted in shock as she pressed a hand to her chest.

His father studied him with hazel eyes that matched his own. “Is this some type of game you’re playing, Trae?”

The growl slipped from Trae’s mouth before he could stop it. He hated having his words or actions questioned.

“Romel, what would be his reasons for such a joke?” Ziona found her voice and glanced from her son to her husband.

“Because of the ultimatum I presented Trae with just yesterday.”

“It’s not a joke, Dad.”

“See, darling?” His mother placed her hand over his father’s and squeezed, trying to keep the peace. Something passed between his parents and Trae was sure they were communicating mentally.

He doubted he and his father had made things easy for his mother over the years, both being Alphas. Good thing all his siblings were Betas, otherwise there would have been even more confrontations in their household for her to referee.

“Tell us about her, Trae.”

“Yeah, son. Who is this mate? Where’d you find her? Especially since you spent most of your night at that club.”

Pulling in a large gulp of air to keep him focused and calm, Trae leant back in the small chair. “Amazingly enough, Dad, that’s exactly where she was.”

“So, you’re trying to tell me that despite all the time you’ve spent frolicking about down there, you’ve just now realised this girl is the one? Your mate.”

“She’d never been there before, but if she had, I’m sure I would have noticed her right off.”

“Hmm.” The non-word slipped from his father.

“This is wonderful.” His mother’s greyish-blue gaze lit up with excitement. “When do we get to meet her?”

“It will have to be soon, with the induction ceremony happening at the end of the week,” Romel declared.

Trae briefly cut his gaze to his father, then looked back at his mother. “As is customary, she will be at the ceremony. There just isn’t time to bring her to you before then. Besides, I need to explain to her what to expect and get her consent to join me.”

“Her consent?” his father questioned.

His mother frowned. “Explain things to her? She should understand how things are done, even if she is from a distant pack.”

Taking a moment to stare down at the carpet, Trae gathered his thoughts and formulated his words with care. “She has no understanding of our ways. Olivia is a human.”

“A human ?” his father leant forward, placing his forearms on his knees.

It wasn’t as if it was unheard of. There were a few weres in their pack who had found human mates. But it was rare that an Alpha’s mate wasn’t pure-blooded.