Page 4 of Slade's Feisty Mate

“You’re going to start getting mating dreams, and we’ll have to leave to find your mate, and then we’ll have to leave to find Galen’s mate, and then mine. I mean…I don’t want our family to be broken up.”

Slade hadn’t really given it much thought. He’d kind of expected Alaric to stay with the NWFA and their family and for them to continue to travel. But it was unfair of them to expect his brother to keep fighting when he had a new mate, and living on the road was no place to raise a family.

“Maybe we’ll be lucky and our mates will all be here in Belle Terra,” Slade said.

Galen, ever the pessimist, said, “Yeah right. As if we’d be that lucky.”

Slade held open the door for Lia and then entered the posh lobby. The floors were marble tile, white streaked with gold, and the dark furniture and crimson rugs added just the right bit of warmth to what could have been a sterile feeling area.

Slade’s cat perked up and began to prowl in his mind. Figuring it was because he was hungry and sore from the fights, he ignored the cat and turned in a slow circle to take in the hotel. And then he saw her. Curves for days. Long, red hair with golden highlights. Bright green eyes.

Pain filled his head, and his cat roared in anguish as his vision dimmed and he hit the floor, slipping into unconsciousness. His last thought was a single, snarled word: mate.

* * *

Rousing from his…whatever the hell that was, Slade found himself staring at the ceiling of the hotel. Then his bones began to crack as his shift took over.

“Damn it, don’t shift!” Galen yelled.

Slade was too far gone to stop; the cat was taking over because he was determined to find his mate and take care of her. Rolling to his stomach, he rose onto his paws and roared.

“Are you nuts? Don’t go over there,” a male voice Slade didn’t recognize cautioned.

“Tell that to my wolf. She won’t stop growling at me,” a female voice said.

Slade looked toward the voice and found his redheaded angel standing behind two males. Snarling, he bared his teeth, and Lia stepped in front of him.

“You’re freaking the wolves out, knock it off.”

He huffed but sat on his haunches and tried to explain to his sister, mentally, that he was about to go batshit crazy if he didn’t get his mate away from the males and somewhere safe.

Lia blinked at him, and he wasn’t sure if she really could hear his thoughts or not, although he hoped like hell she could. It would be handy if he could speak in his shifted form. Lia planted her hands firmly on her hips. “I think he’s calm.”

“He doesn’t look that way to me,” one of the males sniffed.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Galen said. “You can come out from behind the wall of wolf. You know he won’t hurt you.”

The redhead slipped quickly away from the wolves. “I know.”

Galen said, “Slade, this is Gretchen Havers. She’s Aubrey’s best friend.”

“How’s that for a weird coincidence?” Lia asked.

One of the males said, “He needs to get out of the lobby. It’s against regulations for weres to be in their shifts down here.”

“Give us a fucking second,” Galen groused. Looking at Slade, he said, “We have rooms on the eighth floor.”

“He can come to my room. It’s on the twelfth floor,” Gretchen said. “Give me your cell, and I’ll text you my number so you can get in touch.”

“We told our brother and Aubrey that we’d meet them for dinner tomorrow night. You and Slade can join us.”

Hell the fuck no. Slade was stuck in his shift for three hours. He wasn’t going to give up a second of his time with his mate.

Yowling, Slade shook his head.

Gretchen smiled. “I think he doesn’t want to. How about breakfast on Sunday in the hotel’s restaurant?”

“Sounds good to me,” Galen said.