My Second Chance Mate: A Shifter Romance Read online

  After ordering, I excuse myself to go to the restroom. Luckily, my sister doesn’t follow. I need a few minutes to collect myself. I wash my hands, splash some water on my face, and add more lip gloss. Probably pointless since it would only come off while eating, but I'm a girl. It's what we do. I exit the restroom, surprised to see Aiden leaning against the wall in front of it. The hallway is tight, making it hard to keep my distance from him.

  “Aiden, why are you here?” I ask, not liking the breathlessness in my voice. “I didn’t see my sister pass by me in there.”

  “No. I waited for you, so we could have a few moments alone,” he says, with that same intensity in his eyes.

  “Alone? Why would we need to be alone?”

  “So I could do this.”

  Before I can object, his lips cover mine. I want to push him away, but our wolves are calling out to each other, and I give in for a minute. A growl somewhere to our right brings me back, and I push him away.

  “What the hell was that?” My anger laced on every word.

  He tries to touch my face, but I slap his hand away. “I’ve missed you so much. I thought I could fight the bond, but I can’t. You’re all I think about. All my wolf wants. When I make love to your sister, it’s your face I see. I marked her hoping these feelings would go away, but they haven’t.”

  “You jerk,” I say with so much animosity. “How could you do that to my sister? You said you loved her. That’s why you rejected me!”

  His shoulders slump. “I do love her. Very much. And I would never want to hurt or leave her, but I can’t stop how I feel for you. That’s why I had an idea,” he says, taking a breath before continuing, “come back home with us, and we can be together in secret. I’ll stay with your sister for her sake, but whenever we have the chance, you and I can be together. Please say yes, I can’t fight the bond anymore. It’s too hard,” he pleads with me.

  I'm shocked and disgusted with the man in front of me. How could fate get it so wrong to pair me with someone so selfish? Distraught, I don’t object when two familiar arms encircle my waist, surrounding me with its chocolate caramel goodness, and the feeling of being safe and loved. Reluctantly needing his support, I lean into Trevor. I'll be scolding myself for this later, but for now I rest my back against his chest as he says with a possessive tone, “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’ll be marking her soon, so you won’t have to fight it anymore.”

  You've got to be kidding me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dinner with Two Mates

  Trevor

  I finally have her in my arms. Well, at least for now, because by the look in her eyes, she's ready to dismember me. It doesn't matter, because after the day I had today, all I need is her soft body close to mine.

  From the minute she left class, I was dying to follow her, but there was no getting away from Mr. Donovan. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the same excuse that she did, so I was forced to wait out the remainder of the lesson. As soon as the bell rings, I am out of there. I am anxious to get to her. And when I checked in with Austin, I find out that she was with him for almost the whole period. Already ticked beyond belief, I head to the bleachers to find she had left. Then I smell her on Austin, making me almost lose it. She kissed my beta on the cheek, and he had let her! What the hell? I am about to teach Austin a lesson when he points out that my mate is getting away. As I turned, I see that sure enough, her cousin is already pulling out of the lot, towards their house.

  I jump in my car to follow, but I had too late a start and is stuck waiting at the boundary line of their territory. I was prepared to wait all week if I had to. Finally, I see them head back towards town. They left in three cars all together, and I follow a short distance behind, until we reach the American Fusion restaurant. Not wanting to be caught stalking her, I park around back and sneak in. Luckily, I know the chef here, who happens to be a member of my pack, so he sneaks me in through the kitchen.

  I have a perfect view of them from behind the kitchen doors, and I notice their group consists of Jared, Harmony, the aunt and uncle, and two others. Not sure who they are but I don’t really care either. I watch the one person I now know I want to be my world. As she sit, I see her sniff the air and tense. Can she smell me as strongly as I could smell her? She shakes her head and studies the menu. I am safe from being discovered. I watch as she excused herself and head to the restroom.

  I quickly follow, but she goes in before I can stop her. I hide in the darkest corner of the hallway, in case her cousin come looking for her. As I was standing there, I see the black-haired guy that is with them, casually lean against the wall, waiting for her to exit. My possessive instincts kicks in. Harmony emerge from the rest room, and is surprised to see him waiting there. The conversation that follow had me clenching my fists so tight, I am leaving fingernail marks on my palms. Suddenly, he kisses her. Tiny hairs started to sprout all over my body. I see the future I could have with her slip away. There were flashes of our wedding, her bearing our first born, and the rest of oure beautiful children, us growing old together, the happiness and love I felt with her, and I knew right then and there . . . Even if being with her means facing the possibility of losing her too, I still want to have that future. A future he is trying to take away. As soon as that thought crossed my mind I let out a growl. It breaks them apart, and seeing the anger on her face helped me gain control of my wolf. They continued to talk and Harmony was getting madder by the minute. Listening closely, it all fell into place. This was the idiot mate that gave up someone so amazing. The same someone I almost lost and still might lose because of my foolish thinking. I was set to let Harmony handle things for herself. She was doing an excellent job so far but when the douche bag made a proposition to my mate, I had enough.

  Walking towards them, I put my arms around her waist, enjoying the tingles flowing through my body, and growl satisfactorily when she leans onto me. I know she is in a weak state, and I am taking advantage of it, but this is probably the closest I’d be allowed to get to her, so I relish the moment before shocking them both with my next words, “Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I’ll be marking her soon so you won’t have to fight it anymore.”

  Thus, the reason why I am now standing with my arms around an angry mate with an even angrier soon to be alpha in front of me. Sensing the anger radiating off of him, I gently shove Harmony behind me, and prepare myself for a brawl.

  “Get away from her,” he orders me.

  Who does he think he's talking to? My wolf is begging me to kill him now. Not only did he hurt our mate, but he's also trying to take her away. My eyes blaze with a golden brown color as I stare him down. “She is mine, and no one tells me what to do.”

  Surprise registers on his face as my words sink in. “You’re her mate too? How is that possible?”

  I smirk at him, but my anger remains. “When you made the biggest mistake of your life and rejected her, it gave me the best gift in the world. A second chance at a mate. Yours to be exact.”

  “That won’t be happening. She’s coming home with me. She is mine,” he threatens as he takes a step toward me.

  Breaking out from behind me, Harmony quickly steps between us, placing a hand on each of our chests and pushing us away from each other. Her touch has a calming effect on our wolves until we both realize where her other hand is and almost lose it again.

  “Harmony, get your hand off of him,” the asshole orders.

  No one talks to her like that. “Listen, mutt. Y—“ the rest of my sentence is cut off as we are joined by a fourth person.

  “There you are, guys. We were wondering if there was some kind of back up with the toilets here since you were both gone for so long,” the newcomer who I’m assuming was Harmony’s sister by the similar facial structure, teases with a playful smile on her face.

  I’ll admit she's pretty, but she’s nowhere near as beautiful as Harmony. Not only is the idiot over here stupid but he must be blind as well. Tension still hangs in the air. Harmony’s sister is unaware of it which is made evident by her next enthusiastic question. “So, Harmony, are you going to introduce me to your handsome friend here?”

  By the death glare Harmony is shooting my way, I can tell she's about to say something nasty and ruin all my hard work in getting this dumb ass over here to believe I plan to mark her so I quickly reach over to shake her hand as I say, “I’m Trevor. Harmony’s mate. I’m assuming you’re Harmony’s sister, Megan? Harmony’s told me a lot about you!” I sneak a glance at Harmony, and if looks could kill, I’d be swimming with the sharks with weights tied to my ankles. I'm in big trouble.

  ***

  Harmony

  I'm going kill him. I'm about to be put in jail for a very long time for murdering one Trevor Hanes. How can he tell my naïve, romantic-at-heart sister that he's my mate? Especially with her thinking that the only reason I left home was because I longed for a mate of my own. There is no getting out of it. The smile that lights her face after hearing Trevor introduce himself as my mate is so radiant that it's giving the sun a run for its money.

  I, on the other hand, am probably resembling something more like a volcano about to erupt. I am that mad. Regardless, there is nothing I can do about it because to reveal the truth of Trevor's reason of being here will reveal that Aiden is my mate. I admit I'm stuck in this situation for now, but Trevor better wipe that smug look off his face because he is so in for it.

  Aiden is still trying to hide the glare on his face and calm himself while Trevor is looking at me with such love. I'm blown away. Either he's a really good actor or something happened to make him do a complete one hundred eighty from yesterday. I'm betting on him being a good actor. Resigning myself to this charade, I let Trevor take my hand as we follow Megan
and Aiden back to our table.

  After Trevor’s revelation, Megan immediately invited him to join us. I try to ignore the tingles shooting up my arms and decide to start my payback now by stepping hardly on his toes as I move around him to take my seat. I see him flinch and grunt as I sit down and feel the first hint of satisfaction. Jared’s eyes are on me in question and I quickly fill him in on the action he missed five minutes ago. He makes the mistake of drinking while I tell him and ends up spewing water all over himself and his side of the table. My uncle has to pat his back while suffers a coughing fit and when my aunt worriedly asks if he's okay he mumbles a, “Yeah, mom. Just went down the wrong pipe.” His choice of words oddly resemble my life at the moment.

  Our food arrives and Trevor declines, saying he ate before he came. If that's the case, why is he at a restaurant? Fortunately for him, no one questions it. He easily chats with my uncle about pack matters all the while Aiden aims glares his way from his place at the opposite end of the table. I see Trevor glance at him from his side eye. He then smirks and puts his arm around the back of my chair, and starts to play with strands of my hair. Aiden stiffens and Trevor covers a laugh with a cough. I'm enjoying Aiden’s discomfort, but I can't let Trevor think I'm okay with him touching me. Slowly sliding my arm under the table, I place my hand on his thigh causing it to tense and catch his breath. I move my hand a little higher up, closer to his groin, and when I feel his body relax in pleasure, I pinch the inside of his thigh hard enough to leave a bruise. His knee jerks so hard it hits the table, causing everyone to look at him. He smiles sheepishly as if it were a twitch of a nerve or something and they buy it returning to their conversations, but I can see the discomfort it causes him. I have to bite my lip hard so I don't laugh out loud. He sees this, and gives me a disapproving look as if warning that I'll pay for that later. Yeah right.

  The meal continues on like this. I’m doing everything in my power to annoy him. I put salt in his water while he isn't looking, but he drinks it as if it's the most delicious beverage. I tap the male waiter’s butt when he's directly behind Trevor, causing him to jump with a glare on his face as he turns. Though that one backfires ,because when the waiter sees the offender is Trevor, he smiles and winks, later slipping his number to him which makes Trevor whisper in my ear, “I’m so hot, even guys want me!” My cousin enjoys the show from his front row seat at the table. I know his ribs are going to hurt tomorrow from all the laughter he's been stifling.

  Finally, the meal comes to a close, and Trevor cons his way into getting my uncle to agree to let me leave with him, promising to drop me off later. Hello? Doesn’t anyone over here realize I have a mind of my own and can make my own decisions? Evidently not, with all the plans being made without my consent.

  I keep my smile in place until their headlights vanish from sight, and then proceed to hit Trevor in the chest, all the while cussing him out for his lie and unwanted hands on my body. I'm getting really worked up, but to my disappointment, my hits weren’t even affecting him. It's like hitting a rock wall. A very sexy, tall, great smelling rock wall. AARGH! The bond is already starting to intensify. I try to back away when he grabs my smaller hands in his bigger ones. He then holds it to his chest and says, “You know you’re really hot when you’re mad.” I’m going to punch that smile right off his face! Or kiss it off . . . NO NO NO definitely punch!

  “Let me go, Trevor. It’s been a long day and an even longer night. Just take me home,” I grumble.

  “No. Please, Harmony. Just come with me to my pack house. I just want to talk with you. I have some things I need to say,” he pleads with me.

  “I don’t think so. The last time we did that, you ended up rejecting me. So, I’ll take a pass thank you very much.”

  “It will be different this time. I promise. I’ve come to realize some things and I need to tell you about them,” he tries again.

  “I don’t know . . . ” I say on the verge of giving in.

  “If you won’t come for me, will you come for Cody? He’s been dying to see you again. I swear we’re a step away from having surgery done on me to cure me of whatever is keeping you away,” he says with a smile on his face.

  Thinking of little Cody, I return his smile and feel myself give in. “Alright, but only for Cody.”

  His face lights up with the most gorgeous smile I’ve ever seen. Note to self, do not make Trevor smile. The effects are dangerous to my heart.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mouth, Insert Foot Here

  The ride to his place is quiet and filled with questions. He glances my way more than once, but I refuse to look at him. I'm still angry. For the rejection, the lie he told, the dinner, and the brunette. Finally arriving at the house, I take a minute to admire the garden in the moonlight. It is so dreamy. I can see myself here. Shaking away that silly thought, I follow him inside.

  We hear laughter coming from the entertainment room so we head to that direction. All the guys are in there, lounging on the couches with little Cody on the floor playing with some trucks. I wonder to myself if they owned shirts at all, because this is the second time that I’ve been in their presence while they're half dressed. If they do, I’m tempted to throw them ou,t because I don't mind the view. My thoughts must be plastered across my face because Trevor’s stance becomes rigid and is followed by a growl. Rolling my eyes at him I say, “Oh stop. I’m just looking. It’s not as if I was doing something like, I don’t know, dragging them into the woods to get my hots off.” He flinches and is about to come back at me when Cody notices our arrival.

  “Harmony, you came back!” he shouts while running to hug my legs.

  I bend down to scoop him up as if it is the most natural thing in the world and say, “I sure did, buddy. I guess I just couldn’t stay away from such a handsome guy like you.”

  He smiles and says, “I have that effect on the ladies,” causing me to burst out laughing.

  “You’ve been spending way too much time around some flirts,” I say shooting the boys a reprimanding look and causing a few sheepish grins and one unrepentant one from Jeremy. Ahh. . . so he must’ve taught this particular line to Cody.

  “Are you not lergic to uncle Trevor anymore?” he asks in all seriousness.

  “Lergic?” I ask.

  “He means allergic,” Trevor says taking Cody from my arms. “I told you there is nothing wrong with me, you knucklehead.”

  The room fills with Cody’s giggles as Trevor blows raspberries on his stomach. The sight of my mate playing so carefree with the little boy that has already stolen my heart causes a crack in the shell around me that I'm trying so desperately to keep intact. Needing a reminder of why that's a bad idea, I force myself to conjure up images of Trevor and his groupies, the most recent one from today fresh in my mind. Shell firmly mended.

  I reply to Cody's question. “No, there’s nothing wrong with your uncle but he should be making a trip to the clinic soon to get tested for some STDs.”

  Trevor’s playing ceases, the slight twitch if his jaw showing his unease. The guys burst out laughing ,and Austin tells the others. “You see why I like this girl?” Earning him several nods of agreement and a scowl from Trevor. The laughter dies as we're all taken by surprise with Cody's next question.

  “What’s an STD?”

  Awkward didn't even begin to describe the silence that follows. Noticing Jeremy is about to answer him and almost sure the response won’t be good, I rush to say the first thing on my mind. “Small toe disease.”

  What did I just say? I guess I’m not too good at thinking on my feet. It’s definitely something I should work on. Of course the guys burst out laughing again, only this time it was at my expense.

  Everyone starts to calm down when Cody follows up with, “What’s that?” Which starts a new round of laughs. Someone save me from curious five-year-olds.