Mate Set Read online

  “Your uncle and I live together and we’re a couple but we aren’t mated. I don’t want to be mated. I was mated when I was younger and it sucked.” Minnie’s gaze locked on Mika. “Being mated pretty much makes you a damn slave that a mated man thinks he owns lock, stock, and barrel. He orders you around and treats you like property because you are his. It’s in their damn blood when they mate to take it to the extreme. We have sex.” Minnie pointed at herself and then Omar. “He can bite me all he wants but no glove, no love. That’s our motto. We use condoms. It takes more than a bite alone to make a mate. You must have a mix of sperm and saliva at the same time to mate while partially shifted.”

  “She doesn’t want to know that.” Omar sighed. He gave Mika a pained look. “Tell her you don’t want to hear this.”

  Mika ignored him. “Tell me more.”

  “When you don’t use condoms they mark you inside, and the more you smell of them, the stronger the urge is for them to bite you. Once you’re mated your body changes so you smell like their scent, telling all males you belong to someone. Once mated, all these aggressive and dominating asshole genes that are hidden in their blood come screaming out,” Minnie raged. “And then whatever poor woman agreed to the mating finds herself barefoot and pregnant with a dominating jerk issuing orders.”

  “Now Minnie, it’s not that bad,” Omar said.

  “Are you the woman?” Minnie glared at him. “I was mated, Omar. Don’t you tell me it’s not that bad.”

  “Um…” Mika eyed Minnie. “You aren’t mated anymore?”

  Minnie shook her head. “The dumbass got himself killed in a bar fight. It was the best day of my life.”

  “Not a love match, huh?” Mika hid her surprise at Minnie’s outburst.

  “No. I was eighteen and he was hot looking. I just wanted to jump his bones but instead the drunken son of a bitch bit me. He was a lazy jerk who couldn’t keep a job and he was a lousy lay to boot. His mother was a real bitch in every sense of the word so it was the worst year of my life.” Minnie huffed. “And don’t bother asking me why I stayed. You humans have it easy because divorce isn’t allowed with shifters. No man is going to let his mate just walk away. They own you and they are going to give you up about as easy as they are going to allow someone to cut off one of their nuts. It ain’t happening.”

  Omar closed his paper as he frowned at Minnie. “Honey, I’m sorry your friend got bitten during sex. I will never do that to you. Calm down. It’s done. Getting upset over it won’t do any good. Maybe she’ll be happy with him. She wanted him enough to go to bed with him so it might work out. You said yourself that she was really lonely.”

  “Maybe.” Minnie calmed. “We’ll see. At least he has a job and a house.”

  Omar nodded before he looked at Mika. “How is the house? I sent a cleaning woman in to clear out the dust.”

  “Perfect.” She nodded. “Thanks for the food in the fridge too.”

  “Make sure you lock all the doors and windows,” Minnie said softly. “You’ve never been here during mating season. We have a lot of strange men running around Bartock because it’s the largest shifter city within a few hundred miles so they all come here to hook up with women. Some of them aren’t picky if she’s Other or human.”

  That drew a frown from Omar. “I didn’t think of that. I’ve been busy trying to keep the peace and then Mika just showed up so I didn’t register that she might be in danger.”

  “Duh,” Minnie muttered. “She’s good looking. Did you never think one of them might see her and want to jump our girl?”

  Omar stood. “I’ll assign her a guard. Shit. I’m so used to our pack following the rules about leaving humans alone that I didn’t think about all the visitors we have.”

  Mika was half tempted to tell him what had happened last night but she kept her mouth shut, figuring she and Grady were even. He didn’t need to be rewarded by her uncle for saving her ass after that marking stunt he’d pulled. Besides, if she told her uncle what had happened, she’d have to tell him every detail, from the moment she left her house until she’d arrived home. She wasn’t going to share what had happened between her and Grady with him. No way. Her uncle would blow his top. An angry Uncle Omar was a scary Uncle Omar.

  Minnie sighed and stood. “Who can you trust with her? Really? I can’t think of one strong male in the pack who wouldn’t let his dick get the best of him. A young, strong, mated male isn’t going to leave his mate at home when there are randy wolves sniffing around.”

  “She’s human.” Omar frowned. “She’d be safe from our pack.”

  Minnie rolled her eyes. “She’s attractive. That’s all a hard-on sees, love.” She snorted. “A turned-on guy doesn’t care if she’s an alien from space. If she’s good looking, a man would do her. You can handpick one of the best of our single males and maybe they’ll hit it off. No vacation should be complete without a little sex.” Minnie winked at Mika. “It would probably be your best trip here yet. I might hate the idea of a mate but you were ready to get married to a man. Our males don’t cheat.”

  Omar softly cursed. “No. She’s not hooking up with a wolf.”

  Minnie frowned. “You raised her to know about us, Omar. When your sister married a human, you could have kept her oblivious to our kind.”

  “I saw you change from a dog into a naked man.” Mika chuckled. “You had to explain what you were to me at that point.”

  “Dog.” Omar rolled his eyes. “I’m a wolf.”

  Minnie chuckled. “Ruff.”

  Omar growled. “Not funny. It was cute when she called me doggy when she was tiny but it’s not cute anymore.” He puffed up his chest. “I’m a timber wolf. We’re fierce.”

  “You told her for a reason. I thought you wanted her to hook up with one of our males.”

  “I told her so she wouldn’t hook up with one of ours.” Omar sighed and studied Mika. “You were too young to remember how hard your parents had it, being of mixed race. Your mother always had to hide what she was from your father’s family and friends. Our kind gave them shit because your dad was a mere human. I hate to admit it but wolves can be assholes about that. We’re stronger and we can be pretty damn snobbish. I want you to marry a human and avoid wolves. You’ll be happier that way.”

  “Okay. So what’s the plan, fierce wolf?” Minnie asked.

  Omar’s attention fixed on Mika. “You will stay here at the house this visit. We’ll change the bedding in the guestroom.”

  “Oh no,” Mika shook her head. “I’m scarred from the last time I stayed here.”

  Minnie laughed. “We were just having sex.”

  Mika’s eyebrows shot up. “It sounded as though Animal Planet hit wolf land during a dog fight. No thanks. No way.” She frowned at her uncle. “I couldn’t sleep between all the thumping noises and the howling and the growling.”

  Minnie laughed again. “And now it’s mating season. We were tame then. We broke our bed last night.”

  Omar flushed a little. “She’s a child, Minnie.”

  Mika shook her head. “I’m not a virgin at twenty-eight years old. I haven’t broken a bed yet but I’ve sure fallen out of a few of them a time or two when we lost track of where the edge was.”

  Omar growled, narrowing his eyes at Mika. “You’re a damn virgin until you get married. That’s final.”

  Chuckling, Minnie walked over and sat on Omar’s lap. She winked at Mika. “It would probably be impossible for you to hook up with a guy and get laid if you were staying here. Your uncle would kill any guy who wanted to nail you under his roof.”

  “Enough,” Omar growled. He shot Minnie a dirty look but he rubbed her hips with his hands. “She doesn’t get laid. She’s an innocent virgin. That’s how I want it and damned if either of you are going to blow my illusions. I’m much happier this way.”

  Mika laughed and stood, grabbing breakfast dishes. “Okay, Uncle Omar. I’ll remove my virgin ears and go do the dishes since Minnie cooked. I’m not st