The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 148: Chapter 148

It’s him. He’s mine. He doesn’t want me.
Annabeth’s heart was pounding double time as she pretended a nonchalance she sure as fuck did not feel. The male was her mate. Her actual, real life, deemed by the Fates themselves mate. But he didn’t want her.
Her cheeks heated and as she stared into the reflection of the laptop she was pretending to work on, she saw herself flush a deep crimson as the painful truth hit her hard.
The word REJECTED went off inside her brain like a flashing road sign. The kind she always wanted to ignore on the side of the road that said things like Sundays are for driving or Road Hogs Make Great Bacon.
Yes, she always read the corny sayings, but still. Talk about distracting. This was why she refused to drive long distances. Annabeth was just no good at paying attention to things like her GPS.
Sure, taking out her laptop was a great cover, but regardless of what she’d told Hank-the-mate-that-never-was, as she’d now dubbed him, Annabeth was not perusing a list of prospective fuck buddies. She knew damn well who attended these events, and Annabeth was not about to boff Judd the Jerk, Archie McCullen’s son from McCullen Cutlery, or Freddy Gennaro, witless heir to the restaurant linens laundering empire known as Gennaro’s Laundromatic. They were the only two people at the event she could recall offhand who were born in the same decade as her. But they were not her type at all.
Hard, hard pass.
But, since she had her laptop open and was using her cell phone as a hotspot, Annabeth enlisted her sisters in a private chat to help come up with a solution. The Golden Lionesses were always involved in one another’s affairs. They were her best friends, her cheerleaders, and, at times, her fiercest critics, and competitors.
Baby brother Georgie stayed out of it—he didn’t really stand a chance against any of them, but they still loved the little butthead.
Truth—all the Goldens were loyal. Annabeth knew she could depend on them, and that counted for everything. It was important that she get their input right now. She needed their support and love, and maybe, if she were lucky, they would know what she should do.
Initiating the private group message, Annabeth waited for someone to answer first. She sat there nervously changing the theme and color of the conversation to broken hearts and purple backgrounds.
Melodramatic? Maybe. But it seemed fitting.
Sad rawr.
Her inner Lioness was slumped on her side, dejected and brokenhearted. Silly feline didn’t even know the man, but that kind of reaction from a fated mate was bound to hurt the beast even more than the human.
Sigh.
A request flashed in the corner of the screen, and Annabeth growled. There was only one person who was never ever allowed in a private Golden sister private messaging chat group, and that was their mother.
Patricia Golden was by far the busiest busybody of busybodydom. The worst tattle tale in the entire Blue Valley Pride. She had caused more trouble by her predilection for telling secrets, and rumor mongering than any other feline in Pride history.
For realz.
The woman could not keep a secret. Even worse, she wasn’t above bribery, blackmail, and drugging her enemies to get her way. Especially if said enemies were trying to pussyblock her little princesses. Annabeth blocked her mother, then wrote in the private sisters only chat.
Annabeth
Mayday Golden Girls! I am in desperate need of your wisdom, and all around awesomeness, for a sudden revelation that has proved devastating.
Toni
‘Sup?
Adrianna
We killin’ or buryin’?
Ariella
I still have the shovel in my car!
Annabeth
Shh! I need you all to listen!
She typed faster than the rest of them, so she was able to get the whole sad story out in record time. And what a fucked up terrible story it was.
Annabeth had run into the infamous Uncle Uzzi. The man had delivered her mate to her door—literally. But the fuckface did not want her. He was sticking to some story that he made a promise to his father and now he was determined to mate one of his own kind.
Toni
A speciesist? No way, AB. I mean, dude who needs that shit?
Annabeth
No, he is not a speciesist. Just confused. Thinks it is his duty to propagate the species.
For some reason, she felt obligated to defend her would-be-mate. After all, Hank could have waited until after they boned to deny what they were to each other. That would have been infinitely worse.
Maybe. But it would have been worth it, her inner kitty replied.
Adrianna
I say you tackle him.
Toni
She’s right, AB. Crap. Where is the crying cat emoji?
Adrianna
I say we dress him up like the turkey he is, then roast his ass over a pit if you can’t get him to change his mind.
Ariella
Ladies, please! Annabeth needs our help, not nutty suggestions. Look honey, you need to talk to him.
She was the first Golden sister who claimed to have met her mate. But like Annabeth, her guy was just not rising to the occasion.
Toni
Fuck that. Get naked and sprinkle sunflowers on your coochie. That should get him down to munching in no time. Then when he’s busy muff diving, pull a 69 and go rocket chomping. Just when he’s about to blow, scratch, and bite his fine ass. Mark him. Then he’ll be all yours.
Ariella
Yes, for the pussy snacking!
Adrianna
Personally, I like a good finger bang simultaneously with clitoral stimulation via glossa.
Ariella
What’s via glossa?
Toni
It means she liked the licky lucky on her kitty’s clitty.
Annabeth
You guys are sick. And that is way TMI, Toni!
“What’s going on? Did someone get back to you already?” Hank asked, and her eyes darted to the rearview mirror only to freeze when she met his cobalt stare.
Did he have to have such gorgeous eyes? Blue was her favorite color. And that particular shade of blue was like the prettiest bit of stained glass from her favorite window at the Blue Valley Non-Denominational Chapel on Prism Street.
Sigh.
“Nunya,” she muttered.
“Really? You’re going to nunya business me?” he scoffed.
“If the shoe fits,” she added, refusing to give him anymore ammo to shoot her with.
Adrianna
What’s he look like, anyway?
Ariella
I bet he’s like this sexy biker.
Toni
That’s your fetish, Ari. (insert wolf emoji- fuck I can’t find any emojis).
Annabeth
Okay. He is hot. But he’s more like hot nerdy with Rhett Butler silver streaked hair.
Adrianna
What about his package?
Fighting her telltale blush, she snapped the screen closed guiltily.
Hubba hubba.
She didn’t really know about his package—okay, that was not entirely true. There had been a whole hugging thing back at her condo where she totally felt his, er, bulging big boy and it sure was promising. Not that Annabeth was a size queen or anything. Still, she appreciated a man who was packing. And so did Miss Kitty, apparently.
Grrrr.
They’d been driving on the parkway for a little while now, and traffic was crawling. Fuck. This was boring. No small talk to make. I mean, what was she going to say—so, is it my fat ass that turns you off or my face?
Ugh. No thank you. She did not even want to know. And fuck that, anyway. Annabeth was pretty awesome, if she did say so herself. Mr. Uptight could fuck right the fuck off.
Hmm. But she was soooo bored. The cars were practically stopped. Like the parkway could basically be called a parking lot. Oooh. She hadn’t even mentioned the whole hydrant thing. Maybe she could ask him.
“So, is it a big scratch?”
“Excuse me?” Hank frowned.
“From the hydrant.”
“Oh. No. It will probably buff right out.”
“Oh, cool. I assume that kind of thing happens all the time.”
“Uh, no. First time, actually,” he replied between gritted teeth.
“Oh,” she said, and tried to hide her grin.
Maybe he wasn’t as immune as he pretended, she mused. After all, the call of a fated mate was intense, and she was about ninety-nine percent certain he was hers.
Maybe her sisters were right, in a roundabout kind of way. Maybe she just had to break through that armor of his. Even if she had to kick through it with her size ten heels.
“Uh, do you know exactly when your heat cycle is going to begin? Like, will you get some kind of warning?” Hank asked, surprising her with the question.
“Are you asking if my hooha will start making some sort of beeping noise, like an alarm?”
“What? No! That’s not what I meant,” he said, and snorted a laugh.
The sound was cute, and he looked surprised he’d made it. She wondered how much he actually laughed out loud if the sound of his own laughter shocked him. Annabeth bit back her own grin.
For some reason, she was proud she’d made him laugh like that. Wondered if she could do it again. Hell, even her animal was greedy for her to try. She liked his laugh. Wanted to hear it some more.
“Um, seriously, by my calculations, I should be in full heat by Friday evening,” she answered honestly.
“At the last rest stop, I did some research. There are pills you could take⁠—”
“I know,” she said. “And I’ve taken them. They get less and less effective as the female ages. Of course, there are some experimental elixirs. Actually, my sisters are trying to contact the Witch and scientist who make it. Their place is in this direction, and they should get back to me soon if they have any availability. I understand it is still in the development stage.”
“I’m sorry, I was just trying to help.”
“No, I get it. You want to make sure I am not trying my feminine wiles, or in this case, the fact of my biological makeup to trap you,” she murmured, and tried not to get her feelings hurt when he didn’t deny it.
This conversation was a tad embarrassing, but Annabeth wanted Hank to know she was not trying to trick him. She wanted him to find her more appealing, not less.
“What do you mean about age? You are not old,” he said.
Smart man.
But the Fates would not dare give her someone dull. Annabeth was smart as a whip. Incidentally, she was also not afraid to use one as one previous boyfriend had found out. Unfortunately, she discovered safe words only after her whole BDSM phase.
But what were a few restraining orders from guys who couldn’t deliver, anyway? She didn’t need them. She finally found her mate. Now, she just had to land him.