The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 188: Chapter 188

A few minutes earlier…
Cole fidgeted with his t-shirt and growled in frustration. What the actual fuck was wrong with him? He was going on a date. Big fucking deal.
“Dude, are you nervous?” Weylin asked.
Cole’s newly mated Pack mate was just passing by, strolling through the hallway outside of Derrick’s office with a couple of cases of beer in his hands. Everyone in the Dire Wolf MC worked at Serious Moonlight in one capacity or another. As they should, seeing how they all owned a share of the business and property. Derrick was a good Alpha like that. He made sure they all got paid and had an investment in seeing the success of this endeavor.
Dire Wolves rarely settled down. Their kind were known as nomads, forming motorcycle clubs as early as eighty years back to disguise themselves and their lifestyles so the normals around them didn’t grow suspicious. But like the rest of them, Cole was tired of riding around with no roots. That didn’t mean he wanted a mate, though. Even if the condition was catching as fuck. Hell, it seemed every single one of his brethren had gotten themselves paired up. Mates were spreading like hives.
“Fuck off,” Cole growled.
“Ohmygah! You are nervous. Look, buddy, I heard about Derrick and that old matchmaker setting their sights on you for a blind date, but don’t let that worry you. I mean, how bad can it be?”
Weylin cocked his head, the redhead too damn curious for his own good. Goofy fucker. Cole wondered if Gwen would mind if he gave him a black eye for being annoying. He tried not to disappoint the females of the Pack. But sometimes it was unavoidable.
“What part of fuck off did you not understand?” Cole asked, closing his eyes, and praying for a calm he sure as fuck did not feel.
There was a reason he stayed away from women. A part of his past he kept secret and hidden. After all, a thing could only grow if you fed it, right? Cole had tried to keep his hurt and disappointment in the dark, hoping it would die a quiet death. Only, it hadn’t.
Now, here he was, doubting himself for the millionth time since Derrick had made him face that most uncomfortable truth that Carly had never been his. Cole had been living in a forced isolation from the fairer sex all because of this idea he had that he was not strong enough, or good enough, for a woman. And all because Carly had been a cheater and a user.
He'd spent the last week coming to grips with that. There was nothing wrong with Cole. He was not to blame for his failed relationship. Sometimes, shit just didn’t work out. What a fucking load that was off his mind! He had no idea he’d been living under the burden of such a heavy weight until it had been lifted.
So, where did that leave him now? Fiddling with his t-shirt outside of Derrick’s fucking office like some green, wet behind the ears cub who’d never talked to a woman before.
Shiiiit.
“Look, buddy. I got you. I can be your wingman. Well, me and Gwen, of course⁠—”
That was about all Cole could take. He palmed Weylin’s face and shoved the shorter man into the wall, grinning as the cases of beer crashed onto the floor, dousing the asshole in a frothy mess he would now have to clean.
“What the hell, man?”
“Weylin? Cole! Did you push him into the wall?” Gwen asked and came rushing to her mate’s side.
“Yep,” he admitted, just as Derrick opened the door to his office.
“You’re paying for the beer,” he admonished, and Cole nodded.
It was worth it. Even if Gwen was glaring at him while she baby-talked her mate and helped him stand up. Cole ignored the annoyingly cute couple and walked beside Derrick to the main part of the roadhouse.
Fridays were always busy at Serious Moonlight. His Dire Wolf watched the crowd, picking out the supes from the normals, and making mental notes to share with Thor on who would need extra watching tonight. He was good at spotting trouble before it happened. It was sort of a sixth sense of his.
For example, Cole watched the crowd, but his gaze kept turning back to a strange female sitting at Lucy’s bar. She had long, sandy blonde hair, sporting a couple of pink highlights down her back. She was dressed in black jeans and a belly shirt, beneath that was a sheer long sleeved number that he secretly hoped was a bodysuit.
Fuck, the woman was stacked. Big tits. Big ass. Tall enough for him to meet her eyes without hurting his neck. Cole was a big fucking Wolf. Six foot seven and almost three hundred pounds of rock hard muscle. He did not do petite. No worries on that count. This female had curves on her curves, and if his senses were right, she was Shifter too.
Good, his Wolf growled. Get closer. Sniff.
She stood up and leaned over the counter, slipping a bill into the tip jar, and he grinned. Generous, too. That was nice. But it was the way those jeans clung to her perfectly round bottom that had his cock hard and ready at the merest thought of peeling those layers off her. What wouldn’t he give to be the man who got to do that?
A commotion began as two shorter, clearly human females faced off with the unwitting object of Cole’s lust. Looked like they were giving Lucy a hard time about paying for their drinks. Thank fuck for Wolf Shifter hearing. He was able to track the entire conversation as he followed Derrick to where the women were causing a scene.
Cole motioned for Thor, and the man nodded, calling on two of the new bouncers to back them up. Derrick did not take kindly to anyone hassling his mate, and for the first time, Cole understood. Glass shattered, and the scent of blood filled the air, and Cole saw red.
He put himself between the two screeching humans and the female who’d not only stood up for Lucy but had caught a shot glass midair and, in her anger, crushed the damn thing in her fist. By the time she became aware of her injury, she was calling her actions dumb and the Wolf in him barked at that.
“Not dumb, lily. But maybe too strong.”
“My name is Megan,” she corrected him, her amber eyes blazing in the dim barroom light.
The other dozen things she said as he took her hand and tended her injury made him curious, and smile, truth be told. Especially when she talked about him. He was flattered and interested. That much was clear by the hard rod in his pants the second he’d spied her. She was a knockout.
Her inner animal was a monster. He felt the beast’s presence in the air surrounding her. She was strong, dominant. And so damn pretty with her big amber eyes and shoulder length hair. She smelled good. Like a field of flowers after the rain. It was his favorite scent.
The woman rendered him speechless. She was stunning. Powerful. Gorgeous. And, for better or worse, she had his attention. Cole doctored her wound, carefully plucking glass bits out of her skin. She didn’t even flinch, but rather she seemed almost embarrassed. That only made him more curious. Cole scented her she-Tiger and had called her lily, a term of endearment she mistook for the actual name Lily. He didn’t correct her. Just savored the sound of her real name in his mind over and over again while he tended her palm.
Megan. Megan the she-Tiger. Rare and pretty as a tiger lily. Sweet smelling too. Lily. My lily. Mine.
No! Not mine. Shiiiit.
His Wolf was so fucked up. Just look at him. Not five seconds after finally believing he was not to blame for the past, his animal was ready to bind himself to a complete stranger. Cole shook his head, barely tuning in to Lucy asking her to hang out for some drinks. It was Megan’s response that brought another growl to his throat.
“I am so sorry, I completely forgot I am meeting someone here. But any other time, I would love to hang out with you.” Megan told Lucy.
“Who?” Cole asked, his voice more Wolf than man.
“What?”
“Who are you meeting?” he asked again.
“Um, I don’t know,” Megan replied.
She glanced at her cell phone and typed something into the text box. He felt Lucy’s eyes on them, but he couldn’t stop his Wolf’s growl. At least, not until his own phone began to vibrate inside his pocket. A slow grin began at the corner of his mouth as Cole read the message he’d just received. Without saying a word, he replied.
Hi. Uncle Uzzi gave me your number. I am inside Serious Moonlight, and I was wondering, are you here yet? -Megan
Yes. I’m right here, lily. -Cole
“You’re him?”
Megan’s lips parted on a soft gasp, and fuck, she was even prettier than he’d thought. Cole nodded, uncertainty making his movements jerky as he waited for her response. She frowned, creasing her forehead, and turning her lips into a pout he found altogether too cute for words.
Shiiiit. When did Cole start using words like cute? He growled and rubbed a hand over his face. This was weird. Uncle Uzzi was a Witch, but how the fuck had he known this woman was the one for Cole? Should he trust it? Was he being stupid? Again.
Well, at least she didn’t run away.
“Okay, like a hundred expressions just raced across your face. So, um, what are you thinking?” Megan asked, biting her lower lip as she watched him closely to gauge his reaction.
Cole didn’t much like being under a microscope, but he liked her attention. It was a most fascinating conundrum. But what was he supposed to say? Probably something. Anything was better than him standing there frozen, like a deer in headlights.
“Um, how about a drink?”
“I have one,” she said, pointing to her club soda or whatever it was.
“Okay, then. How about I get one and join you? Luce, can I get a beer?” He nodded at his Alpha fem, who was staring at them like a Cheshire fucking cat.
“Yep. One beer,” she practically sang it as she danced away from them and grabbed him a cold longneck from one of the coolers behind the bar.
“So,” Megan began, and she hunched her shoulders a bit, as if trying to appear smaller in front of him.
Oh no. He didn’t like that. Cole side-eyed her and nodded when she straightened her shoulders. Whatever she was thinking, she’d gone from self-conscious to confident in thirty seconds.
Good girl.