A Prideful Mate (2 page)

As the only surviving cub of his litter, Payce was truly alone in the world. In the cat world you didn’t get to move back in with Mommy and Daddy if things got rough. You sucked it up and tried not to get your ass killed.

Groaning as he settled on his couch, Payce grabbed his laptop from the coffee table and logged into his Were Wanted account.

“Let’s see what kind of loser wants to get to know me today.” Ever since he’d joined the matchmaking site he’d been besieged by emails from prospective mates. None of which he’d A PRIDEFUL MATE

Amber Kell

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piss on if they were on fire. Checking his inbox, he wasn’t surprised to see there were thirty-five new emails.

He deleted the first five that were from men he’d heard from previously. He opened the next ten, deleting them as he viewed their pictures. He wasn’t going to waste time replying to men who weren’t what he was looking for.

Randomly opening the next email, his mouth dropped open when he saw the picture.

“Must be touched up. No one’s that beautiful.” The picture showed a man with golden hair, gold eyes and lightly golden skin. He checked the species. “Figures,” he said with a snort.

He moved to delete the email, but something stopped him. The guy had a nice smile.

Not the kind of ‘look, I’m handsome’ smile some of the pictures had. There was a kindness in his eyes, as if he sincerely wanted to find his mate.

Reading his portfolio made Payce laugh. It listed that Kevin was looking for someone to sleep with, eat with and go for long romantic walks in the forest so they could fuck against trees, because he was ‘a man who appreciated nature’.

A quick check showed the man lived a few hours away from Seattle in the Cascade Mountains.

“A mountain man, huh?”

Payce clicked on the email to respond. He wanted to meet the man.

His email pinged seconds later with an invitation to come to Kevin’s home for the weekend.

“Shit, I have to work.” The idea of spending a weekend in the mountains appealed to Payce, but they were on a tight deadline to get this building up and he couldn’t take time off for a few more weeks.

Payce emailed back.

Have to work this weekend. Call me.

He included his phone number and sent his reply. Payce waited, and waited. Shaking his head at his stupidity, he stood up to get a beer. It’s not like the guy was waiting by his email for Payce’s response.

Two steps towards the kitchen, his cell phone rang.

Payce snatched it off the clip on his belt.

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“Hello.”

“Hello there, darlin’.” A deep, sexy, southern drawl rolled across the line and straight to his cock. “This is Kevin.”

“Umm, hi.”

“I’m sorry to hear you have to work, what is it you do and when are you gettin’ off?” If the guy kept talking to him like that Payce would be getting off in a few minutes. His cock was harder than the marble he was installing at work.

“I work in construction.” Payce hoped the man wasn’t one of those snobs who sneered at blue collar workers.

“I bet you have all kinds of interesting calluses,” the southerner purred.

For the first time in his life, Payce wanted to toss his responsibilities out the window and go play a little. “I suppose so, what do you do?” He continued into the kitchen to get his beer as the smooth voice purred in his ear.

“I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about you. Are you as pretty as your picture?”

Payce choked on his beer. “Me! What about you, Mr. Golden Cat?”

“Yep, I’m just as pretty as my picture,” the man said. Payce could hear the smile in his voice. “We need to get together and make a pretty two-headed cat.” Laughing, Payce set down the beer before he spilled it all over the kitchen. “I’d love to do that, but, like I said, it will be a few weeks.”

“I’m not the patient sort. What if I came to you? Do you have a few hours to spare for lunch?”

“You take a long lunch,” Payce teased.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get the mayo jar open.”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

“I don’t care what you call it. You fuck me, I fuck you, but somehow one of us is fucking the other one. I’ve been hard since I saw your picture, and from what I can tell you’re interested.”

He really should just tell the guy off, but there was something irresistible about that voice.

“I’m not a ‘jump into bed with a stranger’ kind of guy.” A PRIDEFUL MATE

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“Well, honey, I’m willin’ to woo you, if it’ll make you feel better, but we both know your goin’ to be ass up beneath me.” The man’s voice was confident without sounding smarmy.

Payce couldn’t believe he was doing this. “I’m off Sunday,” he blurted out. “My boss is too cheap to pay extra to work on Sunday.”

“I’ll be there, give me an address.” The man lost some of his twang when he was in commanding mode…good to know.

Payce blurted out his address to the confident lion on the other end of the phone. His mind was torn about meeting the stranger, but his body had other ideas. Payce rubbed his erection through his jeans. Shit, never had three days felt like an eternity.

The lion’s voice gentled as if he could feel Payce’s sudden attack of nerves over the telephone. “We don’t have to do anything but have lunch, hon. Don’t let me pressure ya into doing something you’re not ready for.”

With that one sentence, Payce felt the tight knot of tension in his stomach dissolve.

“Thanks, Kevin. I’ll see you Sunday.”

Smiling like a loon, Payce disconnected the call before he begged his southern-sounding lion to come visit him sooner. He had a feeling he’d need his full energy to deal with Kevin.

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Amber Kell

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Chapter Two

Kevin’s nerves rattled as much as his truck, as he drove down to meet his mate in Seattle. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous even at the birth of his sons.

He hoped the clothes Tia picked out would do the trick. She assured him that the stretchy blue shirt brought out his gold eyes, but Kevin thought it wasn’t him. He wore it, though, because Tia told him torn concert T-shirts from high school weren’t a fashion statement he wanted to share with his new mate.

“Break him in gently, honey,” she said, kissing his cheek.

Kevin took her advice about the shirt, but rebelled in his footwear when she brought him loafers.

Loafers, what kind of pansy ass wore loafers?

He decided to wear his favourite pair of cowboy boots and ignored her knowing smirk.

They both knew he wore them like a kid clutched his favourite blankie whenever he needed reassurance. They were soft, worn and he’d gone through more with them than most people did in a ten-year marriage. He was going to be buried in those boots.

Of course, if he didn’t pay attention to the road, it was going to be sooner than expected.

He let out a sigh of relief when he found Payce’s apartment without too much trouble.

Who really needed a left tail light anyway?

The building was made out of brown brick and sat in a nice neighbourhood, nothing fancy but it had a solid working class feel. Kevin bet there wasn’t a fancy coffee shop within three blocks.

Letting out a long slow breath to calm his nerves, Kevin locked up his truck and all but bounced up the steps. He left his small suitcase in the cab of the truck. He didn’t want Payce to think he presumed too much.

He had every intention of spending the day and most of the night with his mate, but he didn’t want to tell Payce yet, the man sounded skittish. Tia had already talked him out of bringing his daddy’s ring.

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He wondered how hard he’d have to tug to drag the werecat to the mountains with him. Shit, he hoped Payce liked kids.

Buzzing Payce’s apartment door button, Kevin shifted from foot to foot trying to control his nerves. He felt more excited than when he was a lion cub at Christmas and Daddy gave him a toy cow that screamed when he bit it.

That random memory made him wonder where he could get one of those for his boys.

“Hello,” a scratchy voice said over the speakers.

“Payce, hon, it’s Kevin. Let me in.”

There was a buzz, a click, and Kevin snatched the door open. Payce was on the fifth floor but Kevin was too impatient to wait for the elevator. Within minutes he dashed up the stairs and pounded on Payce’s door.

The door opened and Kevin stared. “Wow, you’re even prettier than Adrian.” Payce was as tall as Kevin and bigger, with the muscled build of someone who worked with his body for a living. Kevin hadn’t expected that. In his mind his mate was smaller, more delicate, this was so much better than his dream match.

Black hair, black eyes and a lush, suck-me mouth set in a sculpted, masculine face, made Kevin harder than he’d ever been before. Pretty didn’t cover the guy, he was beautiful.

He hoped his drool didn’t form a puddle on the wood floor.

“Who the fuck is Adrian?” A scowl crossed those amazing features.

“Umm. Who?”

“Adrian, the guy I’m prettier than?” He said ‘prettier’ like it was an insult.

“Oh, my alpha’s mate, wanna see?”

“Come in first.” Payce grabbed Kevin’s wrist and pulled him inside.

Kevin growled at the spike of desire that jolted through him like a lightning bolt. He let the door slam behind him before he yanked at his wrist, pulling Payce towards him. Their bodies slammed together carrying them against the front door.

Gripping Payce’s shirt, Kevin growled, “Kiss me.” Payce didn’t argue. Gold sparks flickered in his dark eyes as his mouth came down on Kevin’s, like a man who was going to take what he wanted and Kevin better like it.

Kevin moaned, letting the other man know how much he enjoyed his kiss and the hard body crushing him against the wooden door.

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Payce didn’t know what came over him. It was like he wanted to devour the golden werelion. When the name of another man crossed Kevin’s lips, aggression he didn’t know he had rushed through his body. The thought that this man would even think of someone else while looking at Payce, made him uncontrollably angry, which was stupid since they’d just met.

Kissing Kevin was better than anything he’d ever felt before. The man’s lips were soft but firm, as if they were made for Payce’s mouth. When Kevin groaned against him, Payce almost came in his pants from the sensation. Any doubt that he might not find the lion attractive in person disappeared as soon as he saw Kevin. He wanted to wrap the other man around him and wallow in his scent.

Fuck.

Payce yanked away from Kevin.

“Y-you’re my mate,” he said, panting.

Kevin leaned against the door and gave him a lazy smile. His eyes a dark, dark gold, a colour Payce knew he would always associate as the colour of lust. “Yep.” The lion’s lack of surprise at Payce’s earth shattering revelation said more than any words. “You knew. How could you know?”

Shrugging, the lion reached for him again. “I saw your picture.” Payce stepped back. “I saw your picture too, but I didn’t get any revelations.”

“Maybe it’s a lion thing.” Kevin stepped forward again.

Payce learned for the first time how it felt to be stalked. For each step he made backwards, Kevin took one forward. The teasing expression disappeared to be replaced by a chilling intensity that told Payce he was about to be claimed whether he wanted to be or not.

He held up his hand feeling like a ridiculous virgin in a bad romance and was surprised when it worked.

Kevin stopped. “What!” he said, exasperation crossing his handsome features.

Payce refused to be distracted by his mate’s obvious beauty. The man was like a golden god and he wanted to climb him like Mt. Olympus, but he wasn’t going to be dragged into a rushed mating with a guy he barely knew.

“I’m not ready to be mated.”

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“You’re ready,” Kevin said, taking a baby step towards Payce.

“Stop.”

“What!” Kevin’s tone was taking on a distinctive whine that Payce found hysterically funny. He was like a child refused his favourite toy. “Don’t you want to be my mate?” The hurt in those gold eyes was his undoing. Sighing, Payce flopped down on his couch, patting the spot beside him.

“That’s more like it,” Kevin said, sitting as close to Payce as possible without sitting in his lap.

Kevin leaned over to kiss him.

Payce planted his hand in the middle of Kevin’s chest. “No.” Groaning, Kevin threw himself back on the couch pillows. “Why don’t ya just stab me in the heart and get it over with?”

“You’re kind of the dramatic type, aren’t you?” Payce asked, amused. The lion went from one wild emotion to the other without stopping at calm in between.

“I’m an all or nothin’ kinda guy,” Kevin admitted, peeking at him through his golden lashes.

“Don’t think you’re going to tempt me with your sexy looks.” Payce shook a finger at the lion. “We need to have a serious conversation.”

“No, we don’t.”

Before he could object, he found himself with a lapful of lion.

“We don’t ever hafta have a serious conversation. Let’s just fuck like horny cats, move you up to my pride and live happily ever after.” The look in Kevin’s eyes was scarily serious. For a man who didn’t like to be serious, his expression said it all. This wasn’t a kidding moment for Kevin. He meant everything he just said.

“Why would I want to move from Seattle, I have everything I need here? We don’t even know if we’re compatible yet.” Payce felt a blush burn his cheeks as soon as those words left his mouth. The fact they were both hard and wanting said everything was right and fine with their sexual attraction.

“Just because our bodies are compatible doesn’t mean our minds are.”
There, that
sounded like a reasonable statement, didn’t it?

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Amber Kell

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