Two

Ridge’s Pov

When I first saw her, I didn’t like the instant, burning ache I felt low in my gut and lower. But I told myself it was because I hadn’t gotten laid in a while. Simple biology. That was all.

I had been busy. Pack work. Business work. Real work. The kind that didn’t leave room for naked bodies or warm beds or soft moans in the dark.

And tonight was supposed to be about business, too. Signing the papers. Acquiring yet another small-town spot to add to the growing portfolio of places I owned; clubs, bars, shops, bakeries, diners, properties that made good money and kept good people employed. That was what tonight was about.

But then she happened.

Blake.

Unexpected. Inconvenient. And a goddamn walking problem

My wolf stirred in me as she walked towards us, and I felt the snap of something strong pulling at me, a sweet flowery smell following that feeling, and I instantly knew what it was.

The snap. The cosmic pull. That wild tug low in my gut that I knew, bone-deep, wasn’t just lust or loneliness.

It was the Mate Bond.

My wolf practically sat up and begged like a damn Labrador.

And I had barely been able to stop myself from losing it right there in the middle of Salvo’s Diner like some kind of feral beast with no self-control.

Mark her. Claim her. Take her

I could only ask her to get away from me because I was so worked up, and could have marked her right there and then in the diner. Finding my mate… my wolf growled in my head again, and I rolled my eyes, then corrected myself… our mate, had been so out of the blue that I wasn’t prepared and unable to hold myself off, but now, I was calm, and I was parked outside the dump… building, Mr. Salvo said she lived.

There was light shining from her bedroom window, but I didn’t know if she was awake or just hated sleeping in the darkness. 

“You’re a goddamn idiot,” I muttered to myself.

Sighing, I finally got out of my car, and walked to the building. Thankfully, her apartment was on the second floor, so it was easy for me to climb up to her window, then I pushed up the glass and looked around. She’s wasn’t in the room. She was in the bathroom.

Now, I could hear the water, and my wolf stirred again. “Damn it, Wolfie. Calm down. We’re civilized, and I’m not letting you charge into a lady's bathroom.” I whispered, looking around again, properly this time.

A big crack was on the wall, a small sized bed that could barely be enough for two people, a dresser and a closet with a small chair against it, that was all there was to it.

This was how my mate was living?

I knew I shouldn’t be here, because right now, I wasn’t acting like I should. I was acting like a creep with no sense, but I really had no choice, especially with the way I had acted in the diner. I wanted to apologize.

Soon, the water was turned off, and here I was, standing here and praying to the moon goddess that she wasn’t one of those women that loved to walk out of the bathroom stark naked, or I might lose it again.

A few moments later, and the door opened, Blake stepped out, only for her to yelp, her eyes widening.

“Don’t scream,” I said, pushing up my hands to let her know I wasn't there to harm her. “It's me.”

“I can freaking see, man. What the heck are you doing here?” She asked me, but my eyes were already roaming her towel-cladded body.

“I’m asking you a question. What are you doing here?” she asked again.

“Huh, I came to apologize.” I said, my voice getting thicker.

She furrowed her brows like I had just confused her more. “And you couldn’t use the front door like normal people?” she asked me, and I shrugged. Now that she put it that way, I realized maybe that would have been better.

“I’m sorry, about coming in here like this, about the way I acted back at the diner.” I started.

I was a good guy, but I also wasn’t the calm guy I was trying to be right now. If this woman was my kind, I wouldn’t be here right now, restraining myself. I would be marking her mine already, but I got stuck with a freaking human.

Moon goddess- 1, Ridge, 0

Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with this woman. She was nice looking shape wise, beautiful in a unique kind of way, with those flaming red hair of hers. Speaking of her hair, I wondered if it was from a bottle, or natural.

“Focus, Ridge.” Wolfie said with impatient, like I was literally the only thing stopping him from claiming this woman.

She narrowed her eyes like she was trying to figure out if I was dangerous or just incredibly stupid.

Plot twist… I was both for sure, no arguments needed at all.

“Look, like I said, I shouldn’t have acted like that back at the diner,” I told her. “Wasn’t about you. Wasn’t your fault. I was… surprised.”

“Surprised?” she echoed. “That I exist?” she asked with her brows pushed up.

More like surprised the universe had a sick sense of humor and decided to tie me… an alpha werewolf who didn’t have time for shit like this… to a human waitress with tired eyes and smart-ass comebacks.

“Something like that,” I said.

She crossed her arms… which only pressed her breasts tighter against that towel… and glared at me like I was the biggest pain in her ass she had seen all year.

Good. I planned on being exactly that.

“You said you were here to apologize,” she said. “So… you did. Now what?”

Now what? Now I climbed back out the window like a gentleman? Or now I told her the truth that she was mine, whether she knew it or not?

Or maybe now I kissed her until that sharp mouth went soft?

Instead, I shrugged. “Now I’m gonna stand here for exactly thirty more seconds, memorize the way you look, and then I’m gonna leave before I do something stupid.”

Like drop to my knees and beg her to let me stay.

Her eyes softened. Just for a second and that almost made me take a step forward, but then I stopped myself. Before it would be late and I wouldn’t be able to do so anymore, I decided to leave. “Goodnight, Blake,” I said, voice low.

And because I’m a goddamn disaster, I  looked her dead in the eye. “And lock your goddamn window next time.”

Then I left. Because I might be a wolf… but I still had a little control left.