“Your uncle and I live together and we’re a couple but we aren’t mated. I don’t want to be mated. I was mated when I was younger and it sucked.” Minnie’s gaze locked on Mika. “Being mated pretty much makes you a damn slave that a mated man thinks he owns lock, stock, and barrel. He orders you around and treats you like property because you are his. It’s in their damn blood when they mate to take it to the extreme. We have sex.” Minnie pointed at herself and then Omar. “He can bite me all he wants but no glove, no love. That’s our motto. We use condoms. It takes more than a bite alone to make a mate. You must have a mix of sperm and saliva at the same time to mate while partially shifted.”
“She doesn’t want to know that.” Omar sighed. He gave Mika a pained look. “Tell her you don’t want to hear this.”
Mika ignored him. “Tell me more.”
“When you don’t use condoms they mark you inside, and the more you smell of them, the stronger the urge is for them to bite you. Once you’re mated your body changes so you smell like their scent, telling all males you belong to someone. Once mated, all these aggressive and dominating asshole genes that are hidden in their blood come screaming out,” Minnie raged. “And then whatever poor woman agreed to the mating finds herself barefoot and pregnant with a dominating jerk issuing orders.”
“Now Minnie, it’s not that bad,” Omar said.
“Are you the woman?” Minnie glared at him. “I was mated, Omar. Don’t you tell me it’s not that bad.”
“Um…” Mika eyed Minnie. “You aren’t mated anymore?”
Minnie shook her head. “The dumbass got himself killed in a bar fight. It was the best day of my life.”
“Not a love match, huh?” Mika hid her surprise at Minnie’s outburst.
“No. I was eighteen and he was hot looking. I just wanted to jump his bones but instead the drunken son of a bitch bit me. He was a lazy jerk who couldn’t keep a job and he was a lousy lay to boot. His mother was a real bitch in every sense of the word so it was the worst year of my life.” Minnie huffed. “And don’t bother asking me why I stayed. You humans have it easy because divorce isn’t allowed with shifters. No man is going to let his mate just walk away. They own you and they are going to give you up about as easy as they are going to allow someone to cut off one of their nuts. It ain’t happening.”
Omar closed his paper as he frowned at Minnie. “Honey, I’m sorry your friend got bitten during sex. I will never do that to you. Calm down. It’s done. Getting upset over it won’t do any good. Maybe she’ll be happy with him. She wanted him enough to go to bed with him so it might work out. You said yourself that she was really lonely.”
“Maybe.” Minnie calmed. “We’ll see. At least he has a job and a house.”
Omar nodded before he looked at Mika. “How is the house? I sent a cleaning woman in to clear out the dust.”
“Perfect.” She nodded. “Thanks for the food in the fridge too.”
“Make sure you lock all the doors and windows,” Minnie said softly. “You’ve never been here during mating season. We have a lot of strange men running around Bartock because it’s the largest shifter city within a few hundred miles so they all come here to hook up with women. Some of them aren’t picky if she’s Other or human.”
That drew a frown from Omar. “I didn’t think of that. I’ve been busy trying to keep the peace and then Mika just showed up so I didn’t register that she might be in danger.”
“Duh,” Minnie muttered. “She’s good looking. Did you never think one of them might see her and want to jump our girl?”
Omar stood. “I’ll assign her a guard. Shit. I’m so used to our pack following the rules about leaving humans alone that I didn’t think about all the visitors we have.”
Mika was half tempted to tell him what had happened last night but she kept her mouth shut, figuring she and Grady were even. He didn’t need to be rewarded by her uncle for saving her ass after that marking stunt he’d pulled. Besides, if she told her uncle what had happened, she’d have to tell him every detail, from the moment she left her house until she’d arrived home. She wasn’t going to share what had happened between her and Grady with him. No way. Her uncle would blow his top. An angry Uncle Omar was a scary Uncle Omar.
Minnie sighed and stood. “Who can you trust with her? Really? I can’t think of one strong male in the pack who wouldn’t let his dick get the best of him. A young, strong, mated male isn’t going to leave his mate at home when there are randy wolves sniffing around.”
“She’s human.” Omar frowned. “She’d be safe from our pack.”
Minnie rolled her eyes. “She’s attractive. That’s all a hard-on sees, love.” She snorted. “A turned-on guy doesn’t care if she’s an alien from space. If she’s good looking, a man would do her. You can handpick one of the best of our single males and maybe they’ll hit it off. No vacation should be complete without a little sex.” Minnie winked at Mika. “It would probably be your best trip here yet. I might hate the idea of a mate but you were ready to get married to a man. Our males don’t cheat.”
Omar softly cursed. “No. She’s not hooking up with a wolf.”
Minnie frowned. “You raised her to know about us, Omar. When your sister married a human, you could have kept her oblivious to our kind.”
“I saw you change from a dog into a naked man.” Mika chuckled. “You had to explain what you were to me at that point.”
“Dog.” Omar rolled his eyes. “I’m a wolf.”
Minnie chuckled. “Ruff.”
Omar growled. “Not funny. It was cute when she called me doggy when she was tiny but it’s not cute anymore.” He puffed up his chest. “I’m a timber wolf. We’re fierce.”
“You told her for a reason. I thought you wanted her to hook up with one of our males.”
“I told her so she wouldn’t hook up with one of ours.” Omar sighed and studied Mika. “You were too young to remember how hard your parents had it, being of mixed race. Your mother always had to hide what she was from your father’s family and friends. Our kind gave them shit because your dad was a mere human. I hate to admit it but wolves can be assholes about that. We’re stronger and we can be pretty damn snobbish. I want you to marry a human and avoid wolves. You’ll be happier that way.”
“Okay. So what’s the plan, fierce wolf?” Minnie asked.
Omar’s attention fixed on Mika. “You will stay here at the house this visit. We’ll change the bedding in the guestroom.”
“Oh no,” Mika shook her head. “I’m scarred from the last time I stayed here.”
Minnie laughed. “We were just having sex.”
Mika’s eyebrows shot up. “It sounded as though Animal Planet hit wolf land during a dog fight. No thanks. No way.” She frowned at her uncle. “I couldn’t sleep between all the thumping noises and the howling and the growling.”
Minnie laughed again. “And now it’s mating season. We were tame then. We broke our bed last night.”
Omar flushed a little. “She’s a child, Minnie.”
Mika shook her head. “I’m not a virgin at twenty-eight years old. I haven’t broken a bed yet but I’ve sure fallen out of a few of them a time or two when we lost track of where the edge was.”
Omar growled, narrowing his eyes at Mika. “You’re a damn virgin until you get married. That’s final.”
Chuckling, Minnie walked over and sat on Omar’s lap. She winked at Mika. “It would probably be impossible for you to hook up with a guy and get laid if you were staying here. Your uncle would kill any guy who wanted to nail you under his roof.”
“Enough,” Omar growled. He shot Minnie a dirty look but he rubbed her hips with his hands. “She doesn’t get laid. She’s an innocent virgin. That’s how I want it and damned if either of you are going to blow my illusions. I’m much happier this way.”
Mika laughed and stood, grabbing breakfast dishes. “Okay, Uncle Omar. I’ll remove my virgin ears and go do the dishes since Minnie cooked. I’m not st
aying here though. I’m fine at my house. I’ll lock up tight at night.”
Mika slowly washed dishes, her mind drifting to the stranger from last night. Grady. She was tempted to pull Minnie aside and ask her if she knew who he was. It was doubtful though. She’d met a lot of pack males over the years. She’d never met Grady. Minnie had said lots of werewolves showed up in town for mating season. Grady was probably one of those males who traveled far to meet up with his own kind.
She dried the last dish and walked out of the kitchen. She heard voices coming from the living room. Minnie stormed into the dining room. Mika froze, seeing the pissed-off look on Minnie’s face. Minnie clenched her teeth.
“Men!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Your uncle called some of the pack males here and he wants you in there.”
Mika blinked. “Okay,” she said slowly.
“He’s going to parade you around and see who looks at your body. He’s going to pick a guard for you from the man who looks least interested.”
“No way.”
Minnie jerked her head in a nod. “I tried to tell him, but will he listen to a mere female? Hell no. It’s insulting. We’re not meat to dangle in front of men. He’s using your body to see who is interested in fucking you and who isn’t. It’s disgusting.”
A chuckle escaped Mika. “I see.”
“I don’t know what you find amusing.”
Mika looked down at her clothes. She bit her lip and unbuttoned her shirt. She tugged at it until a hell of a lot of cleavage showed. She gripped her cotton skirt and tugged the waist up to under her bra, securing it there. It hiked her knee-length skirt up to her thighs at an almost indecent height. She lifted her head and smiled at Minnie. She put her hands on her hips while pushing out her breasts. She winked.
“Unless one of them is gay, they’ll all look. I don’t want a guard.”
Minnie suddenly laughed. “If you’re going to teach him a lesson on bad plans going wrong, go all out. Mess up your hair after taking it out of the ponytail. Our men love wild, long hair.”
Mika tugged out her ponytail and shook her blonde hair. Minnie moved to her and put her fingers in Mika’s hair, giving it a good tussle. Minnie was grinning when she stepped back.
“Suck on your lips and rub your teeth over them. It makes them redder and kind of pouty.”
Mika did it and smiled at Minnie. “What do you think?”
Minnie grinned. “Don’t move.” She ran in the kitchen and in seconds she came back holding up a small dark brown bottle. Mika eyed it and arched her eyebrows. Minnie laughed, uncapping it. She put her finger on it and turned the bottle. She stepped closer to Mika and then gripped Mika’s shirt. She reached in and wiped her finger on the bottom of Mika’s bra. When she pulled out her hand she adjusted Mika’s shirt down low again to expose maximum cleavage.
“Vanilla. All that was missing to turn on a wolf was you smelling like something edible and sweet.”
“My uncle is going to kill me, isn’t he?” Mika chuckled.
“It will serve him right.” Minnie closed the small bottle and shoved it into her back pocket. “He’ll bellow for you in a minute. I’m going back in there. I have to see this.”
Grinning, Mika waited. She edged toward the door and listened, keeping out of sight. She didn’t want to get caught spying but she was really interested in what her uncle was saying to his men.
“So I want one of you to guard her while she’s visiting. She’s human.”
“Human?” One of the men almost spat the word. “I thought you said she was your niece.”
“She is.” Omar growled. “She’s not blood though. She’s my sister’s adopted child. My sister was unable to birth children so they adopted Mika when she was four weeks old. She knows she was adopted so it’s no secret. We are blessed to have her in our family and I consider her to be my daughter. She’s off limits. Is that understood? If one of you touches my girl, I’ll castrate you myself. There’s no rock in this world that you can hide under that I won’t find you if you lay a finger on my Mika. Now, I’m going to call her in here. She’s known about us since she was five years old so you can be yourselves.”
“Great,” one of the men snarled. “This should be fun. Does she decide who guards her or do you?”
“I do,” Omar growled back softly. “Be polite.” He took a deep breath. “Mika! Come in here now,” he bellowed.
Mika grinned. She waited a few seconds and then pushed away from the wall. She walked into the room and kept her gaze locked with her uncle’s. She ignored the men.
“Whoa, it’s hot in that kitchen.” She waved her hands at her chest. “You should turn on the air conditioner.”
Mika fought a laugh as she watched her uncle take in her clothes. His jaw dropped, his eyes widened as he paled and sucked in air sharply.
“Mika, we have company. Fix your clothing, damn it.”
Mika ignored his demand and turned. She let her gaze go over Minnie, who was grinning widely and obviously fighting a laugh. Mika studied the first man, a blond, about six feet tall, who stared at her chest so hard she could almost feel it. She turned to look at the man about three feet to his left. He was shorter, stocky, with a crew cut of dark brown hair. He was gaping at her legs. The man next to him, openly leering at her breasts, had blond hair and wore a suit. The last man was over by the door so Mika had to turn her head to get a good view of him.
Oh shit, she thought. She stared into a pair of dark, familiar eyes that were staring right back into hers. He broke eye contact to glance up and down her body and then his gaze locked on her face again. For a few seconds there he paled just a little. She saw Grady’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard and his hands at his side flexed into fists and then opened. Mika spun away from him quickly.
“You bellowed?” She was proud that her voice didn’t shake as she faced her uncle.
She was in shock. He’s one of my uncle’s men. Shit, this is bad, she thought. Her uncle had just warned his men that he’d castrate any of them if they touched her so if he found out about last night he’d have a damn fit over what Grady had done to her. She bet her last dollar that right now Grady was silently freaking out too. Her heart pounded but she took deep breaths to calm herself as she met her uncle’s furious look.
“Fix your clothes,” he growled.
Mika tugged down her skirt to a modest length and buttoned up her shirt. “Better?”
“Much.” Uncle Omar was still angry. “Let me introduce you to my most trusted males.”
Inclining her head, she turned to the first one again. The man had stopped staring at her chest as he moved forward. “I’m Riley Forest.” He held out his hand to her.
“Mika Richards.” She lifted her hand to shake his.
“Don’t touch her,” Omar growled.
The man jerked back a few steps, letting his hand drop. Mika sighed and dropped her hand. She shot her uncle a frown as he shook his head at her.
“They aren’t allowed to touch you at all.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little overboard?”
“I think you’re still not too old to get a good swat on your ass if you keep arguing with me.”
Mika darted a glance Minnie’s way. Minnie rolled her eyes then lowered her gaze to the floor. Mika sighed and put her hands behind her back to lock her fingers together. If it happened to push out her breasts, so be it. She smiled in amusement and nodded at the man. The second man nodded at her when her attention turned to him.
“Gregor Marlin,” he said softly.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
The third man had crossed his arms over his chest and he looked pissed off. He met her gaze and jerked his head in a nod. “Rick Voll.”
“Hello.”
Grady was careful to show no emotion on his face. “Grady Harris.”
Their eyes locked. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She smiled at him.
She saw his eyes narrow but his e
xpression didn’t alter one bit. She had to bite back a laugh. She hadn’t meant to say that. It had just popped out of her mouth. She turned back to her uncle to stare at him silently.
“One of them has volunteered to guard you during your stay after I explained about the danger you could face. You’re an attractive girl and I think it would be best if you had a guard with you.” Uncle Omar paused. “I know you are independent and you think it’s not necessary but I don’t want someone to go after you. You have no idea what a male is capable of when it’s mating season.”
She sighed. “I think I have a pretty good idea, Uncle Omar. I promise you that I won’t go out after dark.”
He snorted. “We’re not like your human men, honey. You don’t know how persistent we can be. Just because the sun is up doesn’t make a man less stupid when it comes to an attractive woman. They aren’t just going to be looking for an attractive woman after dark. Minnie was right. It’s a dangerous time for you to be visiting. I insist on the guard and that’s final.”
“I’m sure your men have better things to do than babysit a twenty-eight-year-old woman.”
“No, they don’t.” Uncle Omar frowned. “You have a guestroom. One of them will be at your house within an hour with a bag. He’ll be staying with you while you visit or until mating season ends. Sorry, baby, but that’s how it is. You may go straight home now. That’s an order.”
She clenched her teeth. “Fine.”
“I know you aren’t happy about this.” Uncle Omar sighed. “I’ll worry about you. You can’t defend yourself against a wolf, Mika. If you were a bitch, you’d have claws and teeth to fight off an unwanted male but you don’t. I’d rather be overprotective than the alternative.”
She saw the worry in his eyes and her shoulders slumped. “I know you worry about me.”
“I do. You’re the only family I have and you’re a daughter to me. I love your visits but I’d never forgive myself if you were hurt or killed while you were here. Please let me protect you, baby. I can smell that you’re very angry but this is what needs to be done. I have a pack meeting tonight so I don’t want you coming here because it’s going to be wall-to-wall males.”