Page 4 of His to Mate

But this was a fresh start. Did they really want normal? The old normal? With all of the political bullshit and families torn apart over things that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things? Did they want all of that hate and anger back?

She sat down on a bench and watched as the gardeners went about their duties. There were imaginary lines here, in this new world, lines that she didn’t like. Lines between wolves and non-wolves, aliens and humans. Wasn’t that enough?

She knew there could never be utopia, people were far too flawed even when they thought they were perfect. But couldn’t they create a world that was close?

Rager and his soldiers came here looking to expand their own world, to have more room to grow. Did they have to follow the rules of that world? Couldn’t they break some of those old laws that kept them tied to ways that had never worked?

Throughout history men had tried, over and over, to force people to bow to a new way. To their way. Those ways had succeeded for a time, sometimes, but empires had fallen, time after time. With a sigh, Ann plucked one of the flowers from the white jasmine bush at her side and smelled it. Couldn’t life be this simple? Take what you need, give something back, and just let people be happy?

The problem was with people like Rex. Douchecanoe Rex. What an absolute shit, she finally decided as she got up to head into the house to get out of the heat. Her love for him had been a childish thing, something that only a child could feel. She hadn’t understood what a grown woman could feel, how much she could feel. She might have been naïve, stupid even, but she’d come to know that grown-up love was different.

Rager was a man, there was no doubt about that. A very skilled man, that took his time, that made sure she was right there with him at every stage. Whether it was in bed, or out of it, he asked her opinion, he made sure she was on the same page as him. Except for the whole wolf thing. That was different.

Did she love him, she wondered as she went into the library to find a book to take back up to bed with her? Her fingers played over rows and rows of leather-bound books, old books that might have fetched a small fortune back in the old world. She didn’t even notice them. Her thoughts were on his smile, the way it sometimes revealed a crooked molar in the back of his mouth, on the right upper side. And the way he’d look at her when his thoughts turned to… other things.

He could burn her up with those eyes, if she hadn’t already melted into a puddle. She hadn’t known any of this was possible, that you could become so fascinated with pleasure with someone, that you could be almost… addicted to a person. Was that love? Or really only addiction?

She didn’t know, and she didn’t really have anyone she could talk to here about it. Amanda and her mother would probably listen, but it would be awkward. She wasn’t really sociable enough to know the other female mates in their area. She’d met them, spoken to them, but she’d always been distracted, her thoughts tangled up with Rex in the early days, or with Rager now.

She pulled out a more modern-looking book, with a dust jacket, and drifted back up the stairs to their bedroom. Her phone buzzed and she pulled out an earbud to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hello, sweet Ann. How are you?” His voice purred into her ear, a sensation that she’d only experienced with him.

“I’m a very happy woman, thank you. I love your gift.” She leaned back against their bedroom door as she spoke, a new smile on her face. “It’s perfect, really.”

“I’m glad you like it. I thought it must be important to you.”

“It is. Music is one escape I’ve missed terribly, and you’ve given it back to me. It’s perfect, really.”

“Good. I only want to make you smile.”

“You do, don’t doubt that for a minute.” Since their wedding night, it had been like this. He’d made the world rock for her all over again, and since then, well, she felt a bond forming unlike any other she had, and sometimes there were awkward silences, but not often.

Now, if only she could find a way to make sure the rest of what was left of this world got to smile too.