Page 116 of Fated Obsessions
He glanced over his shoulder before turning and facing me, a rag in his hands as he cleaned them off.
“Have you ever thought about leaving?”
His dark brows pulled low. “What do you mean? Like for a trip?”
I shook my head. “Like to find your mate.”
His body tensed. I saw the muscles contract at my question. He glanced down, staring at his hands as he ran the red rag over them. “This is my home. The pack is my life.” He glanced up at me. “The pack is our home, Tucker.”
I nodded. It was now, but it hadn't felt that way before Mia had become my mate. I didn't tell him that, but the look in his eyes told me Felix already knew. Why wouldn't he? We didn’t become interested in the opposite sex for the hell of it. And me watching Mia as intently as I had been for a while now was obvious as hell.
We were silent for a long moment, Felix watching me intently.
“When did you find out?” he asked slowly.
Now it was my turn to look away. I ran a hand over my jaw, the scruff underneath scratching along my palm. I stared out the large window at the cabin, needing to see Mia again like I needed to breathe.
“The moment she turned nineteen.”
Felix was so silent that I glanced at him again. I stared at the male I’d known my whole life. We’d been close as hell as pups, more like brothers than friends. Despite Felix—and every other male in the pack for that matter—being a big fucker, he had an easygoing personality. He let shit roll off his back, never took anything seriously, and was always smiling. But how did he not feel that bone-deep need to find his female?
Or did he, but he just hid it better than most?
I ran a hand over the back of my neck and shrugged. “It doesn't matter how he’ll react. He can’t change the truth. She’s mine.” I said those last two words with a growl in my voice. My wolf was very pleased by this fact, knowing Mia was ours.
“Yeah, I know. And he’ll know, but he won’t make it easy.”
No, I didn't suspect he would.
“He’s protective of Mia,” Felix said seriously, softly. “Ever since she was born and Fawn passed away.”
A long moment of silence passed as that memory consumed the space between us. When Aidan found his mate in a fellow Black Wolf pack member, it had been a huge celebration. As Aidan was the son of the Alpha, his future had already been carved out. He couldn’t have left to find his mate even if he wanted, not with the obligations and responsibilities he’d inherit. So it was pure luck, maybe fate, that he found his female within the same pack.
They’d been so happy together. Inseparable.
And then she’d gotten pregnant, and there had been more celebrating.
But when Fawn died after giving birth, and for a very long time, Aidan had been broken. The only reason he hadn’t followed his mate in death was because he had a little girl who needed him. So to say he was protective of Mia was a big fucking understatement.
But there was no one who would protect Mia, who would put her above all else, like I would. Her mate. I was born to worship her, to keep her safe and make sure she was happy. And I’d ensure Aidan knew that.
I may have a big fight on my hands where he was concerned, but he couldn’t deny or keep me from her. A fated mate was sacred and held above all others.
“If he wants a war, I’ll deliver.” I stared at Felix. “I won’t give her up, not even if it means going against the Alpha.”
Chapter 2
Mia
Iwas trying to listen to what my dad was saying, but I was too focused on the feeling of being watched.
By him.
Tucker.
The one male who’d always fascinated me since the moment I first saw him. It hadn't been any kind of sexual feeling until I turned nineteen—the year of maturity for shifters. And once that happened, I felt this kind of awakening move through me. But he never noticed me in any way but as the Alpha’s daughter. He didn’t look at me with any kind of curiosity or desire or anything like that… until the day I turned nineteen, and I felt this massive internal shift within me.
It was like someone or something poured gasoline on my desire, and I was burning alive with thisneed.