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Clarey’s eyes widened and she went pale. “Oh, no. I can’t call you that. You’re the alpha’s mate, and I’m just … me.”
Katee ignored the men around them and knelt beside Clarey’s chair. “You might not believe this, but I bet every man at this table would agree that you are the most important member of the pack. You keep these guys from starving to death and living in a filthy house. And I’m sure they don’t tell you how much they appreciate you, do they?”
Clarey shrugged and looked down at her plate, her cheeksturning red. She spoke softly, but from the silence and stillness around the table, she was certain every man there hung on her words. “No, but I just needed to earn a place in the pack. I’m too small to fight, and I don’t want to leave. I really like it here.”
Katee looked at her mate, who watched her with the same stunned expression the other men at the table wore.
“You feel safe here, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Clarey’s whispers were growing softer.
“Look around the table, Clarey. I’m pretty sure no one wants you to leave. Do you, guys?”
Katee watched as Clarey hesitantly lifted her head and looked around. “You can’t leave us, Clarey. We’ll all starve,” Duck said, from his place further down the table.
“I think you’ve more than earned your place in the pack,” Katee said.
Several others added their agreement, and Clarey looked at her with tears in her eyes. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Katee.”
“Thank you, Katee.”
“If you’d like some help in the kitchen, let me know. I don’t cook very well, but I can peel a potato and stir pots,” Katee said before standing and returning her to her place at Toren’s side.
Once she was seated, he took her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. “Thank you. I think we were all taking her for granted because she just sort of took over the chores without us really noticing.”
Katee leaned closer so her lips were just an inch from his ear. “How soon can we go back upstairs so you can fuck me until I scream?”
She ignored the chuckles from around the table and continued staring into Toren’s intense blue eyes.
Without another word, Toren pushed his chair back,scooped her up from her chair, and threw her over his shoulder.
As soon as they were out of the dining room, the room erupted in male laughter.
Though her face was burning with embarrassment at his enthusiasm, Katee could not help her own giggles as Toren carried her up the stairs three at a time.
Chapter Six
“I’m going into town. Is there anything you need?” Katee said as she walked into his office a week later.
After several days of bonding with his mate, Toren had forced himself back to work the day before. Studying the balance sheets to try to figure out why several of the businesses the pack owned weren’t doing well had given him a headache. After three hours of crunching the numbers, Toren had decided it was time to find an accountant to figure it out. He just wished one of the pack members had an interest in numbers.
“I can’t go today. We’ll go tomorrow,” he grumbled before returning his attention to the papers in front of him.
“I wasn’t asking you to go with me. I’m asking if there is anything you need from town,” she clarified.
Lifting his head, he pinned his mate with a dark look before blinking and studying her. Except for when they’d left his rooms to join the pack for meals, she had worn only one of his t-shirts or less. Seeing her fully clothed in a sundress and cowboy boots with her purse over her shoulder had his wolf howling.
“You can’t go without me,” he stated flatly.
Apparently, his mate had yet to learn that his word was law. Shifting her feet apart, she planted her hands on her hips and looked like an old-time gunfighter preparing to quash her opponent. Toren’s cock filled at her confrontational stance and the fire that blazed from her eyes.
“Toren Waverly, I have been doing what I want when I want since I was sixteen years old, and I’m not about to stop now. Just because you claimed me as your mate does not mean that we will be attached at the hip from now until eternity. I’m a big girl and am going to town this afternoon. Now, the topic of discussion is whether or not you need me to pick anything up for you while I’m there.”
While her strength and independence turned him the hell on like nothing else, there was no way he could allow her to go into town alone. Carefully putting down the pen in his hand, he slowly stood, breathing deeply to try to control his wolf. Otherwise, his beast would push forward and tackle her to the floor and keep her there until she changed her mind.
“You don’t realize the danger you would be in if you went to town alone,” he said softly as he moved from around his desk. “As my mate, you are the most important member of this pack, but also the most vulnerable. We have enemies who would think nothing of taking you to make me bleed. And losing you would make me crazy to the point Duck and the rest of the past might have no choice but to put me down. If they killed you, I would feel it and soon die as well.”
