Made for the Alpha Shifter (Shifter World - Book Nine) (Series of 13 Short Stories)
Chapter Eight: The Next Fated Mate

Marry-Beth nodded. “Right,” she said, having forgotten that Lyvia had been pregnant with four cubs when she’d left. “So, add three more to that, makes eleven….” Marry-Beth’s eyebrows drew together; something wasn’t adding up. She looked at the male couple and licked her lips. “No, ten….”

“We have a pup.” Josiah grinned.

Gerald pulled his mate closer to his side. “The Goddesses provided.”

Now Marry-Beth was more confused than ever.

Josie and Maddy giggled, getting Marry-Beth’s attention.

“Seven Fated Mates have cubs or pups,” Josie informed the old bar owner. “Maddy and I both had twins.”

Marry-Beth nodded in understanding once she counted them up in her head. “Got it.”

“And Drezden’s mate is expecting their first. So soon, there will be thirteen,” Shar said with a brilliant smile.

Marry-Beth grinned. “A baker’s dozen. I would love to see them.”

“We’ll take you up later,” Dustin said, pointing over their heads.

Marry-Beth looked up and smiled. “At least that apartment is finally getting some use.”

“Saffron should be here soon,” Allora said, looking at her watch.

Marry-Beth looked at her mate. “She shouldn’t be out there alone.”

“A friend?” Shar asked, watching the two women.

Marry-Beth looked at Sharissa. “She’s the reason we came here.”

Shar frowned, and Marry-Beth chuckled. “Don’t be sad, Shar. She was just a good excuse to come home. I’ve missed you all.”

Shar smiled as she leaned forward and hugged the other woman. “We have missed you, too.”

“So why did you bring this Saffron to us?” Dustin asked.

Marry-Beth looked at Dustin. “She’s a Fated Mate.”

The table got quiet.

“How do you know?” Lyvia whispered.

“She activated three days ago. And we knew the safest place for her was with the rest of the Fated Mates until her mate replaces her,” Marry-Beth said as she leaned in closer.

“What is she?” Mara asked as she leaned in closer to the older shifter.

“Human,” Allora whispered.

“She’s a good girl,” Marry-Beth whispered. “We met her eighteen months ago. She was lost, and we took her under our wing. She’s confused and doesn’t understand what is happening to her, except for what we have told her.”

“She’s also the calmest human I have ever met,” Allora said.

Sharissa nodded. “We’ll protect her until she’s claimed.”

“Hell, even after that,” Dustin said.

“Here she comes,” Allora said when she heard the front door open.

Everyone turned to the door when they smelled the activated Fated Mate.

“Why hadn’t the Goddesses contacted you about this one?” Lyvia whispered to Pearl.

Pearl shrugged. “They don’t always tell me everything.”

~🌺~

Saffron Underwood entered the bar. Her friends were waiting for her here. They’d said that the Fated Mates would be found here, and they could protect her.

She felt a pull toward the bar, and her head shot up. Her eyes locked with the bartender’s, and she stood there, staring at the beautiful man behind the bar. She felt something twitter in her body and knew she had found her mate.

Marry-Beth and Allora had told her what she was when she’d been activated three days ago, and they told her what it meant. She hadn’t completely understood what her friends had told her until her eyes locked with this man’s.

She watched him and smiled when she heard him whisper the one word that marked her as his.

“Mine.”

~🌺~

Daryl’s head shot up when he smelled the unclaimed Fated Mate. How had she found them? Her head was down as she entered the bar, and when it shot up to look at him, he felt his body jerk.

“Mine,” he whispered as he stared at the beautiful woman.

He watched as she smiled at him as if she’d heard him. She’s human. He can smell it. Or is she? He could smell that her body had changed. She was in heat now, and not the low heat of a human, the massive heat of a shifter. But she’s human…

He didn’t care.

He pulled himself onto the bar, slid his legs over, and jumped to the floor—never taking his eyes off his mate. She looked calm—as if she’d been expecting this.

“We told you so!” his brothers shouted.

He heard his brothers shout and whoop as he made his way to the woman still standing at the door, watching him.

“Well, I’ll be.” Marry-Beth laughed. “Should have known she belonged to a Kraftman brother.”

Saffron looked at the stranger—who happened to be her mate. He was tall and so fucking sexy she wanted to take him here on one of the tables.

“Mine,” he said once he was in front of her.

She smiled at him. She didn’t say a word or move away from him.

She has been expecting this for three days now. Fuck, maybe her whole life.

Without another word, the shifter lifted her off her feet and held her against his chest. She looked into his silver eyes and continued to smile at him.

Daryl looked into his mate’s grey eyes. They were beautiful and had sparks of silver running through them.

Without a word, he made his way to the door, his mate still against his chest. She didn’t fight him or say a word as he walked out of the bar carrying her.

He wasn’t sure if any of the shifters in the bar had noticed the unclaimed Fated Mate or if Shar’s threats had finally penetrated their fucked-up minds the other times they’d tried to cockblock a Fated Mate.

He’s never going to hear the end of it now. His brothers were right. He had a Fated Mate waiting for him. And she’s the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

He walked to his bike and set her on her feet. She watched him sit on his motorcycle. Without a word, she climbed onto the back of his bike. It was as though she couldn’t wait to fuck him.

He took a deep breath and started his bike. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his back. He closed his eyes and placed his hand over hers on his stomach, then pulled out of the drive and made his way to his house.

Once in his drive, he turned off the motor, and they sat there on his bike, neither of them wanting to lose the contact.

She finally released her grip on him and stepped off his bike.

He followed suit and led her to his front door.

They barely made it inside his house before they were all over each other.

Clothes went flying everywhere, and he finally kissed her sweet lips.

She moaned when he slammed her against the wall. She didn’t seem to care how rough he was with her. God, he hoped he didn’t hurt her…

“What’s your name?” he asked, breaking the silence.

She smiled. “Saffron.”

He grinned. “Pretty name. I’m Daryl.”

She nodded as she pulled his head to hers and kissed him.

He groaned as he lifted her off her feet and wrapped her legs around his hips.

“Wait,” she breathed.

He stopped and looked into her eyes.

“I-I’ve never….”

She didn’t have to finish. He grinned as he lowered her feet back to the floor and led her to the couch. He made her sit, then got to his knees in front of her, pushed her back, and pulled her legs toward him.

She squealed when he yanked her pussy to him. He leaned down and buried his face in her, making her cry out in pleasure.

“Fuck,” she cried out of breath.

“You taste like pears,” he said against her.

She giggled. He smiled as he sucked her clit into his mouth.

“Oh, God,” she moaned as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

When her body started vibrating from her orgasm, he lifted his face from her and positioned himself between her legs. He entered her while she was still on her high from her orgasm.

She screamed, and he moaned almost as loud.

He paused and waited for her body to get used to him. When she started to squirm, he took hold of her hips and started pumping in and out of her. Slowly at first, then he picked up speed.

“Fuck,” she moaned. “That feels good.”

He chuckled. “Understated.” He leaned down and kissed her.

She moaned against his mouth. “Daryl.” She whispered.

His name on her lips made his cock twitch inside her.

“I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

He chuckled. “I would hope not.” He leaned down and kissed her sweet pink nipple.

She moaned as she slid her fingers through his hair.

“You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he said, looking up at her.

She smiled at him. “I could say the same for you.”

He snorted, then kissed her.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer, deeper. They moaned when his cock hit her sweet spot.

“You’re going to make me lose my mind here,” he grumbled.

She chuckled, then sucked in a breath when he took her nipple into his mouth again.

Daryl took hold of her hips and lifted her ass off the couch, then started pumping into her harder and deeper. She cried out as an orgasm had her writhing beneath him. Her pussy clamped down on his cock, and he lost all control.

“Fuck,” he growled. “This is going to fucking hurt.”

Saffron looked up at him when he took hold of her hands. He pinned them to the back of the couch, then kissed her. They cried out as he slammed as hard as he could inside her. When his seed exploded inside her, she arched to him as another orgasm made her mind explode with pleasure.

When he knotted inside her, she felt the knot and smiled up at him. When their wrists started burning, she cried out but didn’t pull away from him.

Daryl kissed his mate to distract them both from the searing pain. She whimpered beneath him, and when the pain subsided, they looked at their wrists.

“How the fuck were you able to stay so calm through all this?” he asked, looking from their wrists to her smoldering grey eyes.

She smiled. “Marry-Beth told me everything to expect once I found my mate.”

He chuckled. “Figures. I’m glad you had her to prepare you.”

She nodded as she smiled at him.

“So many Fated Mates aren’t warned beforehand, and they’re scared out of their wits.”

She nodded. “What now?” she whispered.

He smiled and kissed her. “Now we wait thirty minutes. And once the knot has gone, I’m fucking you against that wall over there.”

She looked behind the couch, at said wall, and grinned. “Sounds like fun.”

~🌺~

Daryl held his mate close as she slept peacefully in his arms. They’d finally made it to his bed after they fucked against the wall and on the kitchen counter while he made them something to eat.

He knows he’s her first. He’d taken her virginity. But she moved and acted like she wasn’t new to the sex scene.

Like a shifter in heat.

After their first knotting, he’d smelt that she was no longer in heat. But the way she acted with him, you wouldn’t know it.

He sighed as a smile crept across his face.

He likes her—a lot. And he can see his future with her and their cubs.

But something was nagging at him. Like there’s more to this woman. That maybe she doesn’t even know.

His phone rang, and he grumbled. Who would be calling him at three in the morning? Only an emergency would have his brothers calling him this late.

He gently slid out of bed, trying not to disturb his mate, and searched for his pants and phone.

He found his pants still in the living room, where he’d tossed them when he’d first gotten home.

“What?” he asked as he placed the phone to his ear.

“Family meeting, in twenty.”

Daryl blinked. “Do you know what time it is?”

“I do,” Dustin said.

Daryl could hear movement in his brother’s background and heard Sharissa cooing at Easton when the cub started to cry.

“What’s going on, Dustin?”

“Meeting at Mom and Dad’s in twenty,” Dustin said, then hung up.

Daryl grunted as he stared at his phone.

“Is everything okay?”

Daryl looked up at his mate and smiled. She looked so fucking sexy, all tousled from sleep. He wanted to take her back to bed and fuck her until the sun came up.

“My brother,” he said, shaking the phone in the air. “Family meeting at my parents.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

He grinned as he watched her, then moved over to her and kissed her. She moaned as she melted into him.

He lifted his head from the kiss and kissed her forehead. “You’re coming with. So get dressed.” He kissed her nose and left her standing there, gawking at him as he walked to his bedroom to replace a clean shirt.

Without a word. Daryl got dressed, then helped his mate back into her clothes. He’ll ask Shar to take her shopping sometime. Though, he and the other Alpha Fated Mates will probably want to join them this time, after what happened the last time the women went shopping.

“Are you sure they won’t mind me coming?” Saffron asked as she slipped behind Daryl on the bike.

Daryl smiled as he patted her hands on his stomach.

“It’s a family meeting. And you’re family now.”