All Chapters of Dire Wolf Mates: Alpha Wolf Shifter Fated Mates Romance: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Serious Moonlight was at full capacity by ten o-clock and Lucy’s feet were killing her. Perhaps Derrick was right, and she should have stayed home. Not that she would tell her overprotective mate that. No need to inflate that big head of his. Besides, she could finish out the night. A full moon hung low in the sky outside, and the place was overloaded with Shifters who were feeling the power that came with the change in the lunar phase. Without Thor there to wrangle the customers, who were a bit enthusiastic, the job had been mostly left up to Derrick. She watched him when she could and there was no doubt about it, her Alpha was one tough mutt. Still, something was off. She’d been on edge all night. Her thoughts kept drifting to Derrick and his amazing new ink. She took a pic of it with her phone and held it up to him so he could read the glyphs to her. “It says, ‘For each Wolf there is a perfect mate, the road was long and lonely, but the destination complete. Lucy is for Derr

“Leo, come home,” George whined over the phone.The grating sound his younger cousin had perfected at seven years old still made Leo’s Lion hiss in annoyance. His inner animal seriously did not care for George’s manners or attitude.It’s not that he was blatantly disrespectful, but George was a bothersome prat. A pest. An annoyance. An irritation. But he was still his cousin—something Leo would very much like to forget.His beast chuffed in response to the whining imbecile on the other end of his smart phone. If he were here, Leo would have already shifted and played a little game of cat and mouse with the much smaller male.Grrr.As it was, he had to count to three before replying. A little technique he’d learned in kindergarten to help him reassert his self-control. After all, it was unseemly for the future King of the Blue Valley Pride to lose his shit at a subordinate. Especially over the phone.“I have a job, George. I cannot just come home when summoned. If you have an issu

The band was playing a rock ballad, and the flow of customers was steady for a weeknight. Food was coming from the kitchen in spades. Their new hires were hustling from table to table, making sure everyone was happy.All in all, Sheila could not complain. It would have been just like any other night if only the volatile moron at the end of the bar had used his brain and walked away. Leo was perhaps the most gallant and chivalrous male she knew. There was no way he would walk away from Al the asshat, leaving that female alone with the man who’d been ripping her a new butthole in front of everyone.Sheila inched closer to the trio and listened intently as Leo flashed one of his patented, panty-melting smiles of his. Al was shaking, frowning hard at Leo’s invasion, but the woman, his girlfriend or whatever, seemed happy at the intrusion. Who wouldn’t be? She was blushing a bright, pretty pink under Leo’s attention—as any red-blooded female would.Sexy, hot, golden boy. Kissable lips, h

Sheila huffed out a breath and sat down at the booth with him. Leo the lunatic Lion.You mean Leo the luscious, lip-smacking, long-tongued, lengthy if the bulge in his pants can be trusted, loquacious because yes, she had heard the man speak, limber, lithe, lusty, and lucky sonovabitch who made her panties wet, her heart race, and her she-Wolf howl like a banshee.Shit.She couldn’t think straight. That kiss had certainly thrown her for a loop. Loopy for a certain loveable Lion. Dammit to hell. Sheila was turning into Motherfucking Goose with all this rhyming and alliteration.Grrrr.She’d vowed to steer clear of the man, but here she was, sitting in a cozy little booth with him. After she’d spent the last fifteen minutes making out and letting him feel her up like they were a couple of horny teenagers. The man had moves. She would give him that. And yeah, maybe this was long overdue. Sheila listened to him order, and with surprising ease, she gave herself permission to enjoy this

Leo growled softly. His Lion snapped his jaws inside his mind’s eye. The beast was on edge. He’d been that way since the second he’d stepped over the threshold of his ancestral home.Five generations of Crowleys had lived and ruled under this roof. Five Lion Kings born within these walls. Inside the Palace was duty, obligation, resignation, and responsibility.I am not ready yet.Leo had his own life to live. His own mate to claim. A career waiting for him. This was not his time to rule. Not yet.His grandfather had ruled for sixty years. His father had sat on the throne for only half that. Of course, after his mother’s death, his father had experienced a tremendous suffering. Their people had expected a slight change, but not this. Something was wrong.For the King, the pain of losing a mate was unimaginable, but Leo would never have anticipated this. The Palace was empty. The King absent. For his father, the mighty Donovan Crowley, to simply give up, was completely out of charac