The Mating Game by Lana Ferguson - 12

Things have been slightly less strained after my talk with Tess on the deck a few days ago. At least…outwardly. I still think about the way she sounded and smelled in my arms at least fourteen times a day, but who’s counting?

She and her brothers have gotten quite a lot done in their first week; the carpet in the great room has all been ripped up, and they’ve even started working on the mantel over the fireplace. I have to admit…the changes are already an improvement, and there’s still so much more to be done. My few discussions with Tess prove that she’s doing her best to plan her updates without changing the heart of the place, and I can’t tell her what that means to me. I probably should, but then again, I can barely speak to her for more than five seconds without remembering her touching herself in my bed. It makes for an awkward working relationship, to be sure.

Which is why I’ve resorted to calling what I hope will be a more expert opinion.

It rings twice before he picks up; ever prompt, my cousin.

“Hello,” Noah greets.

“Hey,” I answer. “Busy?”

“Most days, yes,” he tells me in that dry tone that garners no nonsense. “Did you need something?”

“I needed to ask for…some medical advice.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, it’s not for me.”

A stretch of silence before: “Well, go on then.”

I remind myself that Noah is practically an android and that I shouldn’t be offended by his brusqueness.

“There’s a woman—”

“I’m the last person that you should be asking for advice on women.”

I scoff. “Says the happily mated man.”

“Yes, but”—his tone goes a fraction softer, as it often does when he speaks of his mate—“that was mostly Mackenzie’s doing.”

“Are you telling me I should call your mate?”

I smile at the prickliness in his tone when he answers, “No. You can ask me.”

“There’s a woman here working on the lodge, and—”

“What’s wrong with the lodge?”

“Are you going to let me finish a question or are you going to keep rudely interrupting?”

“You introduced a new topic into the conversation,” he says. “It’s not rude to ask for clarification.”

Literally an android.

“The lodge is fine,” I explain. “Jeannie—” I frown, not exactly wanting to put it out there that my aunt strong-armed me. “I mean I hired a team to do some renovations.”

“That’s nice,” Noah says. He’s quiet for a second before: “Even the corner bedroom upstairs?”

“Yes, I’m sorry to say we will be touching your unspoken heat room.”

I can practically hear him frowning; I don’t want to think about all the reasons that room is special to him—it took a week of uncomfortable boners to air out the scent of Mackenzie’s impromptu heat last year.

“I suppose if you have to,” he says petulantly. “What about this woman?”

“She’s heading up the team doing the renovations.”

“And?”

“ And she’s experiencing some…strange symptoms.”

“What sort of symptoms?”

“Like, a-week-ago-she-was-a-beta symptoms.”

“Ah.”

I rear back. “ ‘Ah’? That’s all you have to say?”

“I’ve heard of this happening,” he tells me.

“You have?”

“Mm-hmm. This isn’t the first case I’ve been made aware of. What sort of symptoms is she experiencing?”

“ Heat symptoms,” I tell him through gritted teeth, tensing from just the thought of Tess spiraling into another episode. “Ones that go as fast as they come.”

“How long do they last?”

“So far, it’s only happened one time, but it lasted at least a few hours. I don’t know. She was gone when I woke up.”

“You slept with her? Someone experiencing heat for the first time?”

“ No ,” I huff. “I’m not a fucking monster. I just gave her my scent and…talked her through it.”

“Talked her through it.”

“She needed something! She was suffering.”

“I suppose it would take considerable willpower to resist a shifter in full-blown heat. That was good of you.”

“Not just any shifter,” I say. “She’s a fucking omega.”

He’s silent again, and I hear the creak of his desk chair as he no doubt leans back into it. “That is a pickle.”

“I’d say it’s a whole damned jar of them.”

“And she’s…staying there?”

“That was part of the agreement when she took the job. I can’t kick her out. It would take her, minimum, thirty minutes to get here in the mornings from town. It’s not safe for her to be driving on those roads like that in her tiny little car.”

“Oh boy.”

“What?”

“You like her.”

I blanch. “What? No. I barely know her.”

“And yet you’re sitting here worried about her well-being to the point that you’re calling me for advice.”

“I just don’t know what to do if she has another episode.”

“Did you talk to her about it?”

“I…may have been a bit of a dick to her about it afterward.”

Noah makes a sound that accurately mirrors my own discomfort. “I guess that’s to be expected after Chloe.”

I wince at her name. I’ve done my best to think of her as little as possible in the years since I last saw her, but this week with Tess has definitely made it harder to brush the thought of her aside.

“I don’t know what came over me,” I admit. “I was just so angry that she could be so careless. Then she told me everything that was going on, and I couldn’t help but feel…”

“Feel what?”

“Responsible? Somehow? Like I needed to help her.”

“Alpha instincts,” Noah says with a hum. “They’ll only get worse the longer you stay in close proximity to her,” he warns. “Trust me.”

I run a hand through my hair, mussing it. It’s no secret what Mackenzie and Noah went through last year when they started seeing more of each other only to have her accidentally go into an early heat, and while that worked out for them , I’m certainly not interested in playing their little mating game.

“Can’t you prescribe me some suppressants?”

“I can,” he says. “Although, if she’s experiencing heat symptoms, even they won’t be enough to ensure you won’t be affected by it.”

“So, what? I just ride it out? Hope that I don’t maul her next time?”

“If she doesn’t want your…help, then I suppose that, yes, that’s all you can do.”

“Great,” I groan. “Good talk.”

“I’m a cardiologist,” he says, “not a relationship guru.”

“There is no relationship,” I huff.

“Be that as it may.”

I scrub a hand down my face, realizing that this conversation is pointless. Noah is so wrapped up in his own mated bliss, he probably can’t even see the true gravity of the situation. It’s night and day how different he is after mating with Mackenzie.

Still an android though.

“Well, just…send a prescription to the pharmacy in town, would you? I need all the help I can get.”

“Does she smell that good?”

I think back to her soft scent of baked apples and cinnamon that makes my mouth water, knowing that I’m in danger of running into it around every corner, no escape to be had. I sigh, resigning myself to my fate.

“You have no idea,” I tell him.

His answering chuckle offers no comfort as he answers, “You’d be surprised.”

I run into Tess about an hour after I hang up with Noah, and immediately upon finding her, I can tell that something is…off. Her hair is mussed and her expression is pinched, and she sucks on her thumb while holding a hammer and cursing at the offending tool.

“You all right?”

She jolts at the sound of my voice, turning her big brown eyes on me as her lips part in surprise. I’m hit with her scent, exactly as I knew I would be, and I have to take small, shallow breaths just to try not to be overwhelmed by it.

“I’m fine,” she says. “Caught my thumb with the hammer.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, it’s not my best day.”

There are dark circles under her eyes, a paleness in her cheeks that makes the freckles I’m just now noticing look more prominent, and it makes my alpha stir, makes him perk up and take notice. “You look…tired.”

“Tired,” she scoffs. “Is that code for ‘like shit’?”

“No, just tired,” I chuckle.

“My fucking skin feels too tight. Is that normal? I keep getting these weird cramps in my legs, and I feel so…so restless . I can’t seem to shake it. It kept me up half the night.”

Uh-oh.

I try to keep my tone gentle because I imagine that coming into all this as an adult has to be scary. “Um…have you still not shifted yet?”

“What?” Her brows shoot up. “Of course not. I don’t even know how.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek for a moment while she studies the red tip of her thumb, telling myself to keep my mouth shut. It’s not like the last time I offered her help went so well. Still, I can already feel it, how I won’t be able to walk away from her without saying something. It’s a fucking pain in my ass, truth be told.

“I could show you,” I tell her. “Or try, at least. I can’t say I’ve ever taught someone how to shift.”

“You don’t have to,” she argues hesitantly. “You’ve already done so much. I don’t want to be a burden.”

I frown. “It’s not a burden. And it’s okay to admit you need the help, Tess. Who else is going to show you?”

To my relief, she looks relieved. “Really?”

“If you want.”

“Actually, that would be…kind of great? I’ve been reading some of the pamphlets the doctor gave me, and it gives all these descriptions of what it feels like—but not how to actually do it.”

“Probably because most people do it for the first time as teenagers. It’s just an instinct, really.”

“Well, it sure as hell doesn’t feel like an instinct.”

“Tell you what,” I say. “Meet me out back when you’re done here, and we’ll go through it together.”

There’s gratitude in her eyes, and that has my alpha preening, practically puffed up with pride at the idea of coming to her rescue.

Down, boy.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s fine,” I assure her. “Someone has to do it, and I doubt your brothers will be much help.”

She winces. “Especially since they don’t know.”

“You haven’t told them?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I haven’t figured out how to broach the subject of me turning into a fucking wolf and begging strangers for sex yet.”

I can’t help it, I snort out a laugh. “Oh, is that all?”

“I know, right? No big deal.”

She’s smiling at me now, and I can feel my own face mirroring the action. It’s funny how when she’s out of my sight, all I do is worry about interacting with her, and yet when I’m actually doing so, it’s strangely easy. I don’t know what to make of that.

“An hour good?” I ask.

She nods. “Sounds great.”

“All right,” I answer. “I’ll see you then.”

She gives me another nod and a small smile before going back to what she was doing—and I turn to escape the vicinity of her potent scent so I don’t drown in it. It doesn’t occur to me for several more minutes that she’s going to have to be naked for this little lesson.

Fuck.

I’m trying very hard not to be distracted from what I’m trying to teach her, but it’s more than a little difficult, given that my hand is currently curled around her calf. Sure, I’m only teaching her the best way to bend when she’s getting ready to shift, and her clothes are still most definitely on, but tell that to my fucking hormones. It’s like my body can’t seem to reconcile the innocent gesture. Not with her smelling like she does.

We’re in a small clearing just out of view from the lodge; Tess was afraid her brothers might stumble upon us while we were going over things, and apparently she’s not ready to tell them anything. Not that I blame her. I don’t know that I would have an easy time explaining this either.

“You’re going to want to lean into a crouch,” I tell her. “That makes it easier when you go from two legs to four.”

“This is so fucking weird,” she mutters.

“Just wait till you eat your first rabbit.”

She audibly gasps. “I will not be eating a rabbit.”

“You get caught out in the snow one good time? You’ll eat a rabbit.”

She makes a disgruntled sound, and I chuckle under my breath. She’s kind of easy to rile up.

“But how do I…you know?” she says. “Is there some sort of magic word to change?”

I bark out a laugh. “No, there’s no magic word. Your body is meant to do this, and once it realizes that, it will be as easy as breathing.”

“ Breathing doesn’t require me to eat poor innocent rabbits,” she grumbles.

“That restlessness you’re feeling in your skin? That’s because your body wants you to change forms. The wolf is a part of us, you know? You have to let it out sometimes, or else it will get…cooped up.”

“You talk about it like it’s a separate person.”

“I suppose in a way…it is? There’s the human part of my brain, and then there’s the wolf. After so long…I can recognize who has hold of the reins.”

“This is…so fucking weird.”

“It’ll get easier,” I tell her. “I promise.”

“So how does it work?”

“You have to imagine your wolf like an actual entity,” I tell her. “It’s a part of you, but it’s also its own being.”

“Because that isn’t cryptic.”

“Hey, it’s not like I’ve ever had to explain this to someone.”

“You’re right,” she sighs. “I’m sorry. Go on.”

“You need to focus on that restlessness you’re feeling. Tap into it. You need to imagine it like a string you can pull. Don’t fight it, but instead seek it out, yeah?”

“That still seems cryptic as hell.”

“You’ll just have to try, and we’ll go from there, okay?”

“Maybe you should go first,” she says. “So I can see it happening.”

My jaw works, dreading the next part that still hasn’t occurred to her. “Well…I’ll need to get naked.”

“ Naked? ”

“Yeah. This isn’t news. You remember when you came across me when I’d shifted the other day? It’s just something you have to do. Unless you want to tear through your clothes. I’ve done it before, and it’s a bitch.”

Her mouth hangs agape, her eyes narrowing like she’s suspicious of me.

I roll my eyes. “I’m not trying to get you naked, but you will have to be to do this. Even if you want to try it by yourself.”

“Ugh, fine,” she concedes. “Take your damn clothes off. Can you at least hide your…you know?”

“I’ll do my best not to flash you.”

She angles her body, no doubt watching from her peripherals while I start to shed my clothes. It’s fucking freezing out, but thankfully, I run just a little hotter than a beta. I save my boots for last so I don’t accidentally freeze my toes, shoving it all into the nylon bag I brought for us before I stand up straight. I turn to the side with one hand covering my dick, doing my best to maintain some modesty.

“Okay,” I tell her. “Ready when you are.”

She peeks over at me, and I can tell by the slight widening of her eyes and the more than slight bloom of her scent that she likes what she sees. A part of me wants to preen under her attention, but I shove it down. That’s not what we’re doing here.

I close my eyes and draw on that feeling inside that’s a bit more animal than I am—almost like calling out to an actual wolf and bidding it to come closer. It’s like breathing now, the change, but as my limbs shift and my fur sprouts, I can only imagine how shocking it must be for Tess, who has no prior experience.

When I’m down on all fours, I settle on my haunches, staring back at a now wide-eyed Tess, who is looking at me like I’m some sort of alien. She waves at me like she’s testing to see if it’s actually me, and I yip at her while throwing my head back in answer.

“Fucking freaky,” she mutters.

I trot over to her side, tugging at her coat sleeve with my teeth to try to pull it from her shoulder. I know that without some sort of nudge, she’ll put this off for as long as she can until she spontaneously shifts in the middle of a grocery store or something.

“I get it, I get it,” she huffs. “Get naked.” She points down at me. “But you turn around.”

I dutifully do as she says, circling in place and settling again to face the opposite direction. I can hear the rustling of her clothes as she slowly sheds them behind me, and even as a wolf, I shudder at the thought of her without them. It’s something I didn’t get to see before, and I can’t pretend that this isn’t a little disappointing. I’m only human, after all.

Well, mostly.

“All I’m doing is freezing to death,” I hear her grousing behind me, the chatter of her teeth clicking in the stillness. “How the hell am I supposed to pull at some invisible string?”

I yip again, pawing at the snow and bending the front half of my body as if readying to pounce. Thankfully, she gets my meaning.

“Yeah, yeah, lean into it, I got it.”

If I could, I would smile. She might be pricklier than I am sometimes.

I hear her feet shuffling in the snow, her muttered curses and deep breaths, and I don’t know if it’s her own body’s need to do so or just a stroke of luck, but after a few minutes, I hear something plop down into the snow, followed by the soft whimpering of another wolf.

And when I finally turn…I find the most stunning creature on four legs I’ve ever seen.