His Imperfect Mate 26

Chapter One

Sloane stood in front of the white-painted country house, hands shoved in his back pockets and chewing on his bottom lip as he wondered if this was the right move to make. Ever since he discovered who his mate was, nothing ever seemed like the right thing to do.

As a man, he felt he should have done something more, something different along the way, and maybe his mate wouldn’t have feared him so much. But as much as Sloane turned the problem over in his mind, no easy solution ever came to him.

Fate had put him on this strange path, and it was a path that Sloane would follow. He only wished he knew where it would lead him. He knew moving away from the pack was the right thing to do, fate seemed to be guiding Sloane in that direction, but the house didn’t seem welcoming, not when it was just him moving in.

He would be away from his pack, but he would also have the solitude he was looking for. Living in the Den was anything but quiet.

Although he had grown to like the people living there, most of them anyway, he needed his own place. Sloane was used to living on his own. He had lived on his own in his birth pack, and he missed the peace and quiet.

“I like it,” Taylor said as he walked past Sloane with a box in his arms, heading into the house.

“It looks homey,” Steven replied as he trailed behind Taylor.

He hoped so.

Sloane walked up the front steps of his new home and into the living room, taking a look around. There were bookcases built into the wall on the far side of the living room, a fireplace in between. The floors could use a good buffing, but they weren’t bad. The wood was still in pretty good shape.

He knew when he bought this place that the house would need some work. But it wasn’t anything extensive. Sloane could handle the repairs on his own.

Crash.

Sloane headed toward the kitchen when he heard the noise, only to run right into Steven as the man ran from the room. “Rat!” Steven screamed as he clutched the front of Sloane’s shirt. His face was pasty white. “I just saw a rat!”

Sloane rolled his eyes at the squeamish man as he pried Steven’s clawing hands from the front of his T-shirt. “There’s a field behind the house. There’s bound to be one or two mice running around here.”

“Did you hear me? I didn’t say mouse. I said rat!” Steven said as he hurried over to Taylor. “You better get rid of them, or you’ll wake up in the morning and they’ll be having coffee at your kitchen table.”

Sloane chuckled at the image of four rats sitting at his kitchen table sipping coffee and reading the morning paper. He moved aside as the other men started bringing in the furniture. “Then I’ll have some company.”

“That’s just gross.” Steven did an allover body shudder as he walked outside to help with the boxes.

“You’re, uh, not really going to keep them, are you?” Taylor looked at him skeptically like Sloane was seriously contemplating the idea.

“Sure,” Sloane said as he shrugged. “A leash, some bowls, they’ll work out fine as pets.”

Taylor gaped at him, and then a smile appeared on his face. “You had me going.”

Sloane smiled as he went outside to help, but he didn’t feel it inside his hollowed chest. None of the furniture was his. It was all borrowed from the Den. The only things that he owned were his clothes. A table was set up in the kitchen. A couch, coffee table, and end tables in the living room. He glanced at the bookshelves standing there naked, imagining what they would look like filled with books and knickknacks. Sloane loved to read, and he knew a trip to Murphy’s bookstore was going to be on his list.

A bedroom set was carried upstairs, and the mates brought in all the small things Sloane would need, towels, kitchenware, and a welcome mat.

Sloane wouldn’t need the last one.

There was no sense in him getting his own place if everyone was going to be over here. Not that he minded company, but he was looking for solitude, not video games and shouting. This was not going to turn into a guy’s hangout pad.

“Do you need help unpacking?” Steven frowned as he looked around at the multitudes of boxes littering the downstairs. Sloane had no idea what any of the stuff was. The mates had gone shopping, stating that they were buying everything Sloane would need to make his house a home.

There was only one thing that would make his house a home, but Sloane knew that it couldn’t be found in any store.

His mate.

Maybe he did need help unpacking. Maybe he needed the company right now, but Sloane wasn’t going to tell anyone that. They just might try to stay, and that would defeat the purpose of him moving away.

“All the heavy furniture is inside now,” Remi said from the bottom of the stairs, sweat soaking his T-shirt, “nothing for us to do now.”

Kota, Micah, and Ludo walked down the steps from the upstairs, glancing around Sloane’s new home.
My new home.
Bought and paid for. “The guys want to help me unpack.”

Remi nodded, glancing around until he spotted Drew and then smiled. “We’ll be outside setting up the porch swing.”

Sloane didn’t bother answering. The wolf was probably talking to Drew anyway. He glanced at a few boxes and wondered where to begin. He’d never moved before, not like this. There were so many boxes that he just didn’t know which one to open first.

“Why don’t you go take care of your pets while we do the unpacking?” Taylor suggested as he pulled towels from one box and then headed upstairs.

Sloane trudged down the basement steps, wondering what he was going to do with the vermin when he found them. He didn’t have any traps. Maybe a shovel? Could he kill them by knocking them over the head?

Looking around the basement, Sloane saw that it was empty. The floors were concrete, and there was a boiler off to one side, some storage rooms, but no boxes or anything else to clutter it up and make it look like a real, lived-in home.

There was a utility sink and some hookups for a washer and dryer.

The basement wasn’t a finished basement, so no pool table or bar down here. Not until he put the work in. Maybe sometime in the spring. Or maybe this fall.

He climbed back upstairs. There really wasn’t much he could do down there. Not until he bought some traps. He stood in the kitchen, watching as Tangee and Keata unpacked and put everything away.

Sloane didn’t have a clue what he should be doing. As he stood there, the familiar ache in his chest returned, making his heart feel as though it were being squeezed with an iron fist. It made breathing a labored job instead of instinctual. He knew what was missing in his new home.

His mate.

Too bad that was never going to happen. Sloane rubbed his chest with the palm of his hand as he crossed the room and headed into the backyard. This was exactly why he needed his own place. He needed headspace, and he couldn’t get that living with so many people.

He also needed to learn how to breathe without his heart.

The Den was crowded, full of happily mated couples and cubs running around underfoot, reminding Sloane of every single, miserable day of what he didn’t have.

“You okay?” Taylor pushed the screen door open, taking a step out onto the back porch.

“I’m cool. Just tired.” Sloane looked at the field behind the house, trying his best to make the pain in his hollow chest go away. The backyard was large enough for a house this size. It wasn’t as big as the one behind the Den, but he didn’t need anything that big.