Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 108: Chapter 108

Fuck.
Weylin winced as the sound of her shout did some serious damage to his supernaturally enhanced eardrums. He shook his head, waiting for her to continue with her freakout. Hell. She’d earned it.
But, to his surprise, Gwendolyn’s face went from scared to pissed. She slapped his chest, turning on a dime with her hands on her hips and began talking so fast he could hardly catch up.
“You jerk! Here, I thought you were just some he-slut, trying to get into my pants and I was working damn hard to keep you firmly friend-zoned, but really, you were just trying to keep me from learning about this supernatural secret? I am such an idiot!”
“I was forbidden to tell you by my Alpha. He gave a command! Never mind the fact the Shifter Council would have my head if I told a human we existed without claiming her. But, I mean, if it helps, I do want to get into your pants,” he mumbled, utterly confused.
“What? Hang on, we will circle back to that,” she said, blinking slowly.
Her brown eyes seemed to darken at his words, and the Wolf in him rumbled appreciatively. Damn, she really was a knockout. Sassy as all hell, too, but he found that just as attractive.
“So, what you are saying is Werewolves exist?” she asked, moving away from him.
One minute he had his arms full of wiggling, sexy, curvy woman. The next they were cold and empty, and she was pointing and screaming names at him. Now, she was asking him questions when all he wanted to do was kiss her stupid.
“No. Yes. Sort of. We don’t really call ourselves that,” Weylin tried miserably to explain.
“Dude, what did you do to her?” Cole Mingan, his Pack mate, asked from the doorway.
The others had left, but this fuckhead had come running the second he heard Gwen’s scream. Now the ponytail wearing asshat wouldn’t leave. He’d been growing his hair out, and right then Weylin hated it.
“Why don’t you get out of here? I got this,” Weylin grunted.
“He can stay, maybe he can answer some stuff too,” Gwen replied.
Well, damn. That was not what Weylin wanted at all. The thought dawned on him that maybe she was afraid of him. Like his Wolf would ever hurt her! Hell no. The monster inside him was loyal to her now. She had him, she did, mind, body, heart, and soul. He would do terrible things to make sure this woman felt safe and sound.
Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe she was right to fear him. He was a monster, and apparently, he had no scruples when it came to her. What kind of man would put one woman’s needs above all others?
Him. He would. Gwen above all else. Always.
Grrrr.
“I think you better start from the beginning,” Gwen said, head high, even if he could hear her heart hammering inside her chest.
“Okay. Well, the world is bigger than you think. Everything is not all black and white, Gwendolyn.”
“I know all about religion and the soul. I was raised by a deacon, remember?”
“Yeah, but you see, that’s the human world, the human soul, Gwen. I live in the supernatural world.”
“The supernatural world?”
“Weylin! The fuck, man?” Cole hissed.
“Shut up, Cole. She is my mate. She has to hear the truth from me. I never should have tried to hide it! For days, man, I have watched on the fringes, waiting for the ideal time to try to talk to this woman, and it has been eating me alive.”
“Shut up, man,” Cole warned, grabbing him by the collar, but Weylin grabbed him right back.
“Do you know what happens to a Wolf who doesn’t claim his fated mate? He loses his fucking mind, Cole. I can’t take not knowing. Gwen deserves to know what she is to me, and I deserve to know if I have a shot at this,” Weylin snarled, rejecting everything Derrick and all the rest of them had told him from the beginning.
“Stop! Wait! Is this all true?” Gwen asked, interrupting the two snarling Wolves.
Cole was still in Weylin’s face, and he was growling at him. The bastard was at the same dominance level as him, and if he didn’t back off, they were bound to scuffle.
Stop. Dangerous.
“You can’t tell her about us man!”
“She’s already seen, Cole! It’s not a fucking secret anymore. Now, let’s take it outside or you need to walk the fuck away,” he grunted.
Weylin’s Wolf was pissed off. Here was this asshole, grabbing onto his t-shirt collar and starting all kinds of shit just inches away from Weylin’s mate. He could smell her anxiety and emotions, and it was making him even madder. He wrapped both hands around Cole’s wrists and shoved the man away.
“Weylin, think man,” Cole growled.
“I am thinking.”
“You are threatening to out us all over some human, man⁠—”
That was as far as Cole got. Weylin had enough of that fucking word, he punched his friend right in the jaw, just as the sound of glass smashing and the scent of whiskey filling the air.
“Stop it! Both of you!”
What the fuck? Weylin and Cole both turned to see petite and curvy Gwen waving a broken bottle at the two of them. Eyebrows raised, the two males separated, hands in the air. Shit. He didn’t mean to scare her, but his Wolf was out of sorts, and Cole was pushing him too far.
“Whoa! Easy now, baby, why don’t you set that down on the desk, so no one gets hurt,” Weylin suggested.
“Call me crazy, but I feel better with it in my hand. Now, excuse me for being some human, but someone better tell me what the fuck is going on!” Gwendolyn shouted.
“Language,” Cole growled.
Weylin went to elbow him in the stomach, but the fucker dodged it. This was not at all how he’d imagined telling his mate about all this, but it looked like he had no choice.
“Cole, get the fuck out of here! Me and my mate need to talk.”
“But I think⁠—”
“Stop thinking and go,” he growled.
“Weylin. Explain. Now.” Gwendolyn’s chest was heaving, but she was lowering her hand. That was progress.
“Shifters, that is what we are called, not Werewolves, exist, Gwen. I am one,” he said, eyeing the broken glass in her hand.
Her shoulders slumped as she absorbed his words, and with a shrug she threw the thing on the floor. Thank fuck. he was worried she would hurt herself.
“Okay. So, you are a Wolf Shifter?”
“Dire Wolf Shifter, actually. Our beasts are bigger, more powerful, older,” he murmured, carefully observing her as he spoke.
“So, Shifters exist. Dire Wolf Shifters. Are you alone? Are there others?”
“Like me? Derrick, of course, he is our Alpha. Sheila, Cole, Thor, and Phoenix.”
“Not Lucy?”
“Lucy is a Shifter, but not a Dire Wolf. She can tell you about that someday, maybe,” he explained.
Gwen just nodded. He had to hand it to her. She was taking this all really well. Any other woman might have broken down, needed a drink, a pill, a week’s paid vacation—but not Gwen. She just asked her questions and listened to his replies.
Not demanding. No hysterics. Yeah, she smashed a bottle, but he had a feeling that was more because he and Cole were seconds away from brawling at the time. Not now. Now she was almost eerily calm.
“So, there are other kinds of Shifters?”
“Yes. Shifters, supes, heck, there are many creatures in this world, Gwendolyn. Many levels of reality in the universe, or multiverse, even.”
“Okay, hang on, I don’t know if I can take all that right now,” she said, biting her lip. “Ugh. It stinks in here like whiskey. I made such a mess,” she mumbled.
“Don’t worry about it. Someone will clean it. Did you want me to take you somewhere?”
“Home. Take me home, I need to think.”
“Alright,” he murmured, walking carefully behind her to his big SUV.
Worry gnawed at him. She seemed to be in a state of shock, all docile and quiet, which was hardly her norm. The drive to the motel took minutes, but Gwendolyn didn’t speak during that time. She just looked out the window, her brown eyes clear but withdrawn.
Weylin cut the engine, pleased to see the usual group of shady characters were nowhere to be seen. Gwen remained seated, her eyes on the small concrete patio outside her front door.
“You’ve been here, haven’t you? At night,” she said.
“Yeah.”
There was no point lying now. Fuck, his heart was breaking. Was this it? Would she say goodbye to him forever before he even got to know her?
“The, uh, manager told me my dog had to go. I was confused, but now it makes sense. He meant you,” she said, turning to face him.
Weylin nodded, words failed him. The moon was almost full, its light shining in from the passenger window seemed to cast her in an ethereal glow. His mouth went dry, body straining, heart pumping as he stared helplessly at her.
He had never seen such raw, unspoiled beauty in a woman. So pure and with so much unrealized potential. Gwendolyn held all the cards here. She could end him with her rejection. Did she know that? He wondered, but kept the words to himself.
“Why? You never said why,” she whispered.
“Why what?”
“Why me?”
“A million reasons, Gwen. The Fates paired us, for one thing. But more than that. I’ve been watching you since that first day and I’ve never seen anything like you,” he murmured.
“You mean, you’ve never seen an old maid like me,” she said with a self-deprecating snort.
“You choosing to wait is nothing to scoff at, baby. It means something, the value you placed on yourself. Your body is yours to share with who you choose when you’re ready. I admire you so much for your choice, Gwen, I mean that,” he told her, sincerity ringing in his words.
If only she could hear the truth as he spoke, he mused. Bodies were cheap these days, but not Gwen. She knew her value, and he wanted to honor her for it. What a woman to stand against the current of what was popular and trending. She was an enigma. A wonder. A marvel.
Mine.
Not yet.
Hell, if he was ever lucky enough to have Gwendolyn choose him, he wanted it to be on her terms. Not his. He wanted her to pick him of her own free will. That would really be something.
Earning her love and trust? Fuck yeah.
That would be everything.