Ryan's Protector - Lupinville 3.3

Ryan's Protector

A Lupinville Quick Bite Story

Copyright 2014 Alice Cain

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

All Romance
Edition
October 2014

All Romance Edition, License Notes

This ebook is for your personal use only.
This ebook remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be
re-sold or given away to other people. If you wish to recommend this ebook to a
friend, please forward them the link to buy their own copy or use the gift
function available on your All Romance account. Thank you for respecting the
hard work of all authors.

~ Alice

This is a fictional story from the author’s
imagination and is not to be confused with fact. It is not advice or
suggestion. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is purely
coincidental.

Blurb:

Two happy werewolves are about to learn the
delicious meaning of "alpha and omega."

Ryan's mate has been protecting him for more
than thirty years, but when he finally does come face-to-face with the man,
they discover more than either of them expected.

Warning
:
Gay erotic romance. This fictional
story contains explicit adult content and coarse language and is intended for
mature readers only. All characters involved in sexual behavior in this story
are adults capable of consent, are over the age of twenty-one, and are willing
participants.

5,600 words

Table of Contents

Ryan's Protector - A
Lupinville Quick Bite Story

About the Author

Other titles by Alice
Cain

Ryan's Protector

A
Lupinville Quick Bite Story

Alice Cain

Copyright 2014

~*~

"Don't laugh too hard, pup. You're
next."

Ryan knew he was staring rudely at the
oldest member of their pack, but he was still trying to decide if he'd heard
the woman correctly.

Next?
How could he be her next matchmaking target? He was only
fifty-eight.

Most wolves waited at least until their
one-hundredth birthday before seriously considering settling down and finding
someone else when they failed to find their true mate. Ryan hadn't planned on
being any different.

"I have a true mate?" he asked,
because surely that was what Maggie meant. He couldn't imagine her trying to
urge him into giving up that hope at such a young age.

"Yes, pup," she said
affectionately. "Your true mate is part of this pack."

"How is it possible that I've never met
her?"

He'd come across many people in the past few
years that he hadn't realized were part of the Lupinville pack, but none of
them had been his true mate.

Too many werewolves had lived in fear under
the previous alphas, but under Noah's leadership they were slowly filtering
back into the community that werewolves needed to be happy. Without their pack
surrounding them, few werewolves lived full and happy lives. It was a quirk of
their species. They needed that contact, that sense of belonging to make them
whole. Without it, many gave into despair, and despite an average species
lifespan of six centuries, lone werewolves died much younger than their
pack-involved contemporaries.

"He's been protecting you for decades,
Ryan. The last pack gathering your mate attended was nearly thirty years
ago."

"Thirty? That would have made me barely
twenty-eight."
Old enough to claim a true mate—even if
he hadn't been a particularly mature man at the time.

"
Which is why your
mate has stayed away.
Under the previous alphas he was protecting
you." Maggie shook her head. "I'm not sure why he continues to stay
away from the pack now, but I can't imagine it's easy for him."

"Wait...
Him?
"
Ryan asked, again
unsure he'd heard correctly.

"Yes, pup. Your true mate is male. Do
you have a problem with that?"

The words were asked mildly, but it was well
known that Maggie wouldn't put up with prejudice in the pack any longer. Having
a gay alpha certainly helped influence the thinking of those who'd been
subjected to intolerance and hatred their entire lives, but accepting others
was a lot easier when it wasn't him directly involved.

Did
he have a problem knowing he had a male mate? He didn't think so,
but right at this moment he honestly didn't know.

"Are you sure he's my true mate?"

Maggie searched his face, but she must have
sensed the hope behind his words. He'd spent the past few years alone, not
dating, not really paying that kind of attention to anyone he'd met—female or
male, werewolf or human. None of them had stirred his interest. Maybe he'd just
been waiting for his true mate to arrive.

"As sure as I can be, pup," Maggie
admitted with a grimace. "I saw the way he reacted the day he first caught
your scent. And he has avoided contact with the pack ever since." She gave
him a sad smile. "Maybe you could simply drive out to his home and check
on him."

Ryan nodded quickly, anxious to help a pack
member who'd been cut off from them all for so long, but also nervous about
what it might mean if they really were true mates. It wasn't that he would
refuse his true mate when he met him. It was mainly the idea of not being the
dominant partner in the relationship that bothered him. He'd always pictured
himself as the protector and provider when he finally settled into mated bliss,
so the news that his mate was male and older had really thrown him.

"He lives on the edge of pack lands in
the cabin at the end of the old mill road."

Ryan knew the area pretty well, but he'd
never followed that road to its end. Even in wolf form he'd never caught a
scent that suggested his true mate lived there. Maybe Maggie was mistaken. The
mixture of relief and disappointment was strange and unexpected, so he shoved
the feeling aside and tried to think logically.

He stared up at the full moon. It was a
beautiful night for a run.

And the old mill road wasn't that far away.

"Will you be okay by yourself,
Maggie?"

The old woman grinned and shooed him away.

~*~

Wesley Noel lay on his back in the grass and
stared up at the moon. Nights like this one were the hardest. At least when the
alphas had been cruel and dangerous he'd been able to strengthen his resolve
and stay hidden away, but since Noah had taken over the pack, it was nights
like this one that truly tested Wesley's love for his mate.

But Ryan was just a pup, and okay, thirty
years had passed since he'd met the wolf, so he was a pup no longer, but he
still deserved a chance to live life on his terms for a while. Wesley was more
than a century older. He'd lived a little. Before Ryan had even been born,
Wesley had bedded his share of females, and had even fathered a couple of pups.
At the very least he needed to give Ryan a chance to experience the same.

His heart ached at the thought of waiting
another thirty years or maybe even forever for his true mate, but he dragged
the memories of his son and daughter closer. They were both good kids and happy
to split their time with both him and their mother. Of course, they were well
into their eighties now. Hell, older even than the mate he yearned for.

Wesley rolled onto all fours, changing into
his werewolf shape as he did so. Lying here, staring at the moon like some
tragic romantic was not his style. He'd come out here to run under the
moonlight, not mourn for things he couldn't have. Determination filled him, and
he pushed off his hind legs, leaping into the forest bordering his backyard.
He'd run and he'd hunt and he'd set aside all the things bothering him as he
enjoyed his own very lonely version of a moonlight run.

And he'd ignore his own needs because that's
what his true mate needed from him right now.

~*~

Ryan ran faster, enjoying the clear, crisp
night. Tiny critters fled and hid as he approached, but he didn't slow down. He
wasn't tempted to hunt. His only thought was to meet his true mate.

Or at least to offer his friendship to a man
who continued to stay isolated from the pack.
If they weren't
true mates…
Ryan let that thought trail away, surprised by the ache in
his heart. He'd given the matter so little thought over the years that it was
very surprising that he didn't want to be disappointed now.

A scent suddenly came to him, the most
delicious one he'd ever smelled. He skidded to a stop and howled instinctively.
The lack of an answering howl was annoying, but if what Maggie had observed was
true, then it was unlikely his mate would answer him.

Ryan had the advantage of being downwind, so
he turned and followed the scent, running faster as he got closer, growling low
in his throat when he realized his mate was moving away from him.

But he was quicker. He'd put on a lot of
muscle as he'd matured. He was no longer the young, inexperienced pup he'd been
thirty years ago. He dropped his head lower and sprinted after his recalcitrant
mate.

~*~

Wesley could hear the other wolf behind him,
but he couldn't scent who it was. He needed to double back, maybe run in a wide
circle before he'd be able to catch the wolf's scent, but anything like that meant
he risked coming face-to-face with a Lupinville pack member.

Noah may have changed a lot of things, but
there were still members of their pack who preferred the old ways. He'd heard
rumors of the things that had happened when Noah had first taken over, and he'd
known and seen enough in his lifetime to be able to identify several more pack
members unlikely to appreciate Noah's leadership. They were the cowardly types
who'd thrive on attacking a pack member when no one else was around to witness
it. Hell, by refusing to attend pack gatherings and picnics he'd probably made
himself a target. The alpha didn't know him by sight, possibly not even by
name, so his chances of anyone other than his kids noticing he was gone were
negligible. And even then, considering his self-imposed exile and the
unnaturalness of living as a lone wolf, his kids would likely believe he'd
harmed himself like so many others before him.

As long as his pursuer hid the body, nobody
would ever be held accountable for his disappearance.

The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach
grew heavier.

~*~

Ryan skidded to a halt as his mate's fear
reached his nostrils. The man was very literally terrified. Unwilling to scare
his mate, even unintentionally, Ryan changed back into his human shape and
scanned the darkness around him.

"My name is Ryan," he said loudly,
hoping his words wouldn't be lost in the wind. "Ryan Cabot. Maggie sent me
to check on you."

He waited, praying to hear a reply, or at
the very least to notice a change in his mate's scent, but the wind still
carried his mate's fear to him.

"Maggie said you've been protecting
me," he called, turning slightly when his mate's scent seemed to come from
a different direction. "She thinks we might be true mates." He shook
his head, angry now that he hadn't asked Maggie more questions. "I don't
know your name, and I know you're frightened. I just wanted to know if it's
true, and maybe check if you're okay."

"She shouldn't have told you," a
voice said, the sound coming from a spot far closer than Ryan had expected.

"Why not?"
Ryan asked, squinting as he tried to see past the thick foliage
around them. "Maggie's concerned for you. She wanted me to make sure
you're okay."

"She could have sent anyone. Anyone
else," the voice said, the sound moving away instead of toward him.
"I know Maggie's intentions are pure, but she should have respected my
wishes and let you live your life."

"Is that what you want?" Ryan
asked as dread twisted through him. His mate was moving away, ignoring the pull
that should have brought them together. The pain of rejection nearly dragged
him to his knees. Fuck, he hadn't expected this.

"Yes, go away. Tell Maggie I said to
leave me alone."

"Is it because I'm male? You don't want
to claim me because I'm not a woman?"

The silence stretched until Ryan thought his
nerves might snap from the strain. He never would have imagined how physically
painful such rejection would be. He dropped to his knees in the small clearing,
unable to fathom the ache seizing him.

"I just want you to be happy," the
voice finally said.

"But finding my mate makes me happy,"
Ryan said honestly, his emotions raw and transparent. He'd been shocked when
Maggie had mentioned his mate being male, but now that he had the man's scent
in his mind, no one else would ever have a place in his heart. He needed this
man as much as he needed his next breath.

"Maggie should have stayed out of
it," his mate said in a resigned tone. "She doesn't know as much as
she thinks she does."

The words sounded so final, like a death
knell signaling the end of something that had never begun. Ryan closed his eyes
as he fought back tears, his mind completely blank as pain lanced through him.

He had no idea how long he stayed that way,
mourning the loss of something he'd never had, but his heart beat much harder
when he finally realized his mate was coming toward him, no longer moving away.
He stayed still, wary of spooking his mate.

The man who stepped into the clearing was
beautiful. Sad eyes and a tight half-smile were framed with blond curls, longer
than expected, but perfect for the delicate elf-like features. Moonlight
glinted off a torso devoid of hair, the man's sleek, muscular frame much
smaller than Ryan's own.

He gave Ryan a sad smile and moved closer,
eventually reaching out to run a shaking hand over Ryan's close-cropped hair.

"I wanted so much more for you. You
deserve so much better."

Ryan shook his head slightly but stilled
when his mate took his hand away. "I only want my mate," he said forcing
himself to speak calmly.