Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“Yes, I know,” I replied. “Because she’s not twenty-one yet.”
It was illegal to mark someone before they were twenty-one, because there was no way to know if that person was your mate. Once both partners were over that age, however, it was fine to mark a chosen mate as long as it was not a forced marking.
It was why Nolan hadn’t marked Rachel yet. He wanted to, was ready to settle down with her as his chosen mate. After Kimberly rejected him, we were worried he’d just give up on a mate altogether, but Rachel helped him find peace. But she wasn’t ready to be marked again yet. Understandably so. And since Nolan respected that, he was willing to wait until she was ready. Even if it was never.
“That, and she’s human,” Dad said. “Marking a human is different, whether or not they’re a fated mate.”
“Shit,” I muttered, scratching at my beard. “Fuck!” I sighed, clenching my fist again but remembering to not punch the chair.
“Exactly,” my dad said, raising his brows and giving me a brief nod. “So if you don’t think you can control your lycan, don’t risk it.”
I wanted to kick myself. I hadn’t even thought about the most important aspect of marking a human mate—that you had to do it under the same moon phase as when they were born. If you tried to mark a human mate under any other moon phase, they likely wouldn’t survive. And that meant potentially waiting even longer to claim her after her birthday.
And it meant holding back from her for longer. The thread on my restraint was already thin, short, and frayed, and I didn’t know how much more of her teasing and scent I could take before it snapped altogether.
“Don’t stress yourself about it right now,” he reassured me, sensing my spiraling thoughts. “There is still some time before her birthday, so we will worry about it when we need to.”
I nodded as I breathed out a sigh, then I stood up. “I need to get ready for the performance tonight,” I said.
“Will you tell Haven? About her parents?”
“Matthew and Melissa, you mean,” I corrected him, then I said with a firm shake of my head, “No. Not yet, anyway. She needs to stay focused on her dancing. I’ll tell her after this weekend is over.”
Dad nodded as he also stood and followed me out of his office. “Thank you, by the way,” he said as he closed his office door behind him.
“For what?”
“For trusting me to look into this and find answers,” he replied. “You could easily have gone ‘behind my back’ and used your own connections and methods to look into the Wainwrights, but you didn’t.”
“I could have,” I agreed, sticking my hands in my pockets. “But you’re still the alpha. And I respect that, and you. Not just as my alpha but as my father. I may not agree with the decisions or like them, but disrespecting you in that manner wouldn’t be showing strength, showing unity to our pack.”
We paused on the landing—him to go up to the alpha suite and me to go to my house. He clapped me on the shoulder. “And that’s how I know you’re ready and will be an effective alpha for our pack when you take over soon.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Will you drive yourself to the ballet tonight, or will you ride with us?”
“I’ll drive myself,” I told him.
“I figured as much.” He laughed. “We will see you there.”
“Where are we going?”
Haven asked me as we walked down the street after her performance.
Mom, Dad, and Maddie had gone ahead of us to save a table at the ice cream parlor. They’d wanted to do a full meal afterwards, but I’d told them Haven wouldn’t want to eat that much this late at night. I think they forgot she was human and didn’t eat like we did. So this was their compromise.
“My family is waiting for us at Scoops Ahoy,” I told her. “Well, Mom, Dad, and Maddie. Seb didn’t come tonight.”
“No Sebby?” She pouted.
I furrowed my brow and turned to her to find her already laughing at me. “I can’t believe he lets you call him that,” I muttered, shaking my head and pulling her to my side.
“Are you jealous?”
“That he lets you call him Sebby?”
“That we have nicknames for each other.”
With my arm around her shoulder, I squeezed her lithe body into mine and pressed my lips to her temple. “No,” I grumbled unconvincingly.
“Liar,” she teased as we stopped near the door to the parlor, and I turned her so she faced me, my hands resting on her hips.
“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” I replied with a shrug, hooking my thumbs into the belt loops on her jeans and tugging her closer. “Because—“”While I love how nauseatingly adorable the two of you are together,” Maddie’s voice said, interrupting our moment, “I REALLY want to order my ice cream, so can you please get your ass inside?”
“Language, Maddie!”
“PDA, Dickhead!” she retorted, then looked at Haven and added, “Nice to see you again, Haven!”
I groaned and grabbed Haven’s hand to follow Maddie through the door of the shop.
The vise grip Haven had on my hand had me pausing as soon as the door shut behind us, and I turned to find her biting her lip. I swallowed and resisted the urge to pull it out of her mouth with my thumb and sink my own teeth into it.
“Hey,” I soothed, standing in front of her to hide her from view. “You don’t need to worry. They already love you.”
“That’s why I’m worried.” She laughed. “They love me, but they don’t even know me. What if, when they do know me, they hate me?”
I wanted to laugh but knew that wouldn’t assuage her fears. But she didn’t need to worry. Not only did they already love her, they also pretty much considered her part of the pack.
I looked over my shoulder to where Maddie was impatiently waiting at the counter to order and at my parents talking quietly in the booth. “Just be yourself,” I murmured to her as I looked back at her, my hand caressing her cheek.
She took in a deep breath and nodded, reached up on her tiptoes to give me a quick kiss, then strode past me to the table.
“Hi, Mr. Stone, Mrs. Stone,” she said, holding her hand out to my dad. “I’m Haven. It’s really lovely to finally meet you.”
“Please, just call me Harrison,” my dad said as he stood up, shaking her hand firmly. “We’ve looked forward to meeting you for a very long time.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?