Shifting Love's Hunger Read online

  “What do the Vampires say about such a rushed timeline? Does Chloe have a say in what should be her special day?”

  “Greta has already signed off on the plan. Your mating ceremony doesn’t matter to them. It only needs to be legal and binding between you both. The ceremony is going to be informal and only the Pack will be there. If someday you fall in love with her, you can have a normal Human wedding. Right now, there’s not time to waste for what is a merger of Packs. The sooner you gain an understanding of Vamps and their culture, the sooner we can start branching into more Clan businesses. Long term, this will grow us into a billion-dollar company. Don’t screw it up!”

  “I’ll call Chloe and get the license done today.”

  “Don’t take too long on that task. We have a lot of work to get ready for Monday. I expect you back after lunch, ready to work.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  Sam stood and clapped Mark on the back. “Hey, it’s not all bad. This is your chance to prove your worth in business and you get the bonus of having a beautiful mate. Here are the keys to your new cottage. It’s the one Father has been rebuilding next door to his. He can’t have you living at his house any more. Besides, it will help keep Chloe busy nesting and making it a home. Get you both moved in today.”

  “Thanks, brother.”

  Now what? There was no way he was going to stop this train. His only choice was to follow orders to the best of his ability. He hoped Chloe would be fine with the decision. Time to make the call.

  Mark’s phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Mark.”

  “Chloe, I was just pulling out my phone to call you.”

  “I guess we are already in sync with each other.”

  “Since you called me, why don’t you go first. What can I do for you?”

  “You forgot your jacket yesterday. I thought you might want it back. Your turn.”

  “I was calling to see if you would like to go with me to get the marriage license this morning?”

  “Sure! I’m available now. I’ll text you my address.”

  “See you in twenty minutes.”

  ***

  It was happening just like Greta said it would. It was good Chloe had started packing last night. By the end of the week, she would be married and past the point of no return on this assignment.

  She heard a knock on the door. Show time.

  She opened the door to find Mark. “Welcome to my home. Please forgive the mess. I have been packing my stuff to move.”

  “You’re all in on this?”

  She nodded. “I have to follow Greta’s orders, the same as you have to follow your Alpha.”

  “Is it all about duty?”

  She shook her head. “Unlike you, I could have turned this down.”

  “No second thoughts?”

  Chloe grinned and took his arm. “After meeting you, I know I made the right decision.”

  “Why don’t we sit down and talk about this?”

  “Let me clean off some space on the couch.” Chloe moved some boxes so there was barely enough room for them both to it down. She sat and patted the space next to her. “Come sit with me.”

  Mark looked a little uncomfortable pressed up against her.

  She grinned. “You really need to work on your shyness. So, what’s the plan?”

  “I was ordered to get the marriage license taken care of today, and then on Friday, my father, as Alpha, will present us to the Pack as a mated pair.”

  “Does that mean we have to consummate the wedding before then?”

  Mark made a nervous laugh. “I said it wrong. He will hold a ceremony that binds us together in front of the Pack. It’s somewhat like Human weddings in a way.”

  “Tell me more.”

  Mark looked down at his hands. “It’s mostly a ceremony that tells the Pack you should be given the same respect I would be afforded. It doesn’t mean you will be given the same access or power, but Pack members lower than me need to defer to you as well. Right now, I am third in the Pack. The only women above you will be Sam’s wife and my mother. Reality is only my mother has any standing to the men of the Pack. Things are not going to be easy for you; the Pack is going to resent you being there and will not trust you. You will need to earn their respect. I will also need to re-earn their respect for taking you as my mate.”

  She touched his arm. “I am so sorry! I didn’t know I would cause you harm in the situation.”

  “I can handle it.”

  She looked him deep in the eyes. “I expect you can. I will make it up to you and be a good wife.” She kissed him. He returned it with a passion Chloe did not expect. Her hunger drank it in.

  “How can I help this week?”

  “First we need to get that license taken care of. There is a three-day waiting period and Father will be pissed if I screw up his timetable. Then we can stop by our new home. You can get it set up while I’m at work this week. I need to be back at the office after lunch though. Sam has a lot that he wants to go over related to the Clan businesses.”

  “I can help you with that. I could take you on a tour of them tomorrow, so you can see first-hand what things are like.”

  “You would do that?”

  “It’s why you are taking me as a mate. I am to teach you about Vampires and how we want our businesses supported. Did you think I was only a beautiful bed warmer?”

  Mark shook his head. “I didn’t know what to think. This is all new to me.”

  “Then it’s good I am the brains of this operation and you are the brawn.”

  Mark growled. “Are you calling me stupid? I will have you know, I have a degree in computer science.”

  Chloe laughed and punched him in the arm. “You’re smarter than you look, wolf boy.”

  He showed her an evil grin. “I’ll show you wolf boy.”

  “You going to hump my leg?”

  Mark burst out laughing. “Chloe, you’re more fun than I expected.”

  “You don’t know the half of it, but we better get going. I don’t want to be your excuse for being to work late.”

  Mark stood and offered her his hand to help her up. Chloe used it to pull herself up into a big hug. It looked like Mark was as shy as he let on. This could really be a fun assignment!

  ***

  They made quick work of getting the marriage license. Mark was one step closer to losing his freedom. No, that was not the right word for it. Being part of a Shapeshifter Pack meant he was not free to start with. It was something different. He couldn’t put his finger on what he was feeling.

  “Do you want to see your new home, or find lunch?”

  Chloe rested her hand on his leg. “Take me to our new home.”

  “You sure? We may not have time for lunch if we do that.”

  Mark could feel her eyes on him. “I need to see it.”

  The cottage looked beautiful from the street. His Father had been fixing it up for a while and Mark had suspected it might someday be his. This would his first time inside.

  “This is it, what do you think?”

  Chloe’s face was positively glowing. “Mark, I love it and can’t wait to see inside.”

  Mark unlocked the door but paused a moment. Chloe’s soft brown eyes looked up into his and he knew what he had to do. It felt good when he scooped her off her feet and she wrapped her arms around his neck. The door pushed open and he carried her across the threshold.

  “Welcome to your new home, Chloe.”

  Chloe kissed him with a passion that made his knees go weak, her body melted into his, like she did his soul. He lowered her back to her feet and kicked the door closed behind him.

  “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

  She tilted her head and asked, “For what?”

  Marks shoulders sank as he looked at the floor. “This place is empty! It was stupid of me to bring my mate into a place so barren. It’s like I can’t provide for you.”

  Chloe touched his face. “Look at
me. Do I look disappointed?”

  He looked deep into her eyes and saw happiness. “No.”

  “Then believe me when I say, I am happy. This way we can make it ours. I have never had a chance like this. Let’s look around and dream of the possibilities.”

  She took his hand and they looked though the small house. It had two bedrooms, two baths, a nice living room. An island separated the kitchen and dining area. The kitchen was a good size for one person with modern utilities and granite counters. The refrigerator was large with double doors.

  “Chloe, what do you think?”

  “Mark, I love this place. I think we could be very happy here. It just needs the right furniture and decorating. Most of all, we need a nice bed! The rest we can add as we go, but I don’t want to sleep on the floor.”

  Mark could feel the heat rising in his face.

  “Do we have time for lunch?”

  Mark checked his watch. “I’m sorry. We should have made lunch the priority. I need to get back to work. I didn’t think this through. Now would have been a good time for two cars.”

  “I don’t own a car. Where I was in Seattle, I didn’t need one.”

  “You can drive, right?”

  “Sure, I can. It didn’t make sense to have one before.”

  Mark tossed her the keys. “Drop me off at work and you can use mine today.”

  “Sure, and that way, I can use your car to bring over the stuff I boxed up.”

  “You don’t need any help moving in?”

  “I don’t have much; mostly clothes and a few personal items.”

  They arrived at the office.

  “I will call you later and make arrangements.”

  He started to get out of the car when Chloe curled her finger at him. “Give me a kiss.”

  Matt leaned over and gave her a quick kiss and ran into the office. He could get used to this, but it felt strange kissing someone he didn’t know.

  Sam was waiting inside. “Get your paperwork done?”

  “We took care of it. I also showed her the cottage.”

  “What did she think?”

  “She loved it. I think you are right. She wants to spend a lot of time making it a nice home for us. I do need to arrange for a second car. She doesn’t own one. I think she will also be a big help to me as I learn their businesses.”

  “Then we better get to work.”

  ***

  Chloe dropped Mark off at his office. Now what?

  Her apartment had been furnished and none of that could be moved to the new place. She could go to the store and stock the kitchen, but she had no idea what Mark liked to eat. They had never actually been on a date. Did he like modern or traditional furniture? Chloe knew Mark would understand her situation, but she wanted to impress him and keep things moving forward. It would have been so great to welcome him back to a place he could feel at home.

  She stopped by her apartment and gathered her clothes and things. She wanted to do as Greta had requested and move right in so Mark couldn’t object or push things off. She took the boxes back to her new home and set them in the master bedroom closet. She checked out the master bath. The tub was big enough for her and Mark together. It also had double sinks set into a granite counter top. She could get used to this! The bedroom had French doors that opened to the backyard. The houses here did not seem to have fences. There was a nice patio that could host a small party in good weather. She went back in and locked the door.

  Her heels clicked as she walked on the hardwood flooring. It would be cold on her feet in the mornings; they’d have to get some areas rugs. She stepped out of her shoes to walk on the bare floor and was surprised to find it was heated! Now she, could imagine dogs curled up on the warm wood, napping. Do Wolves keep dogs as pets? She giggled, thinking they sure wouldn’t have cats.

  She continued to look around; the house had good-sized rooms, just not many of them. It was nice that it was all on one floor. So many houses these days had two stories. Would the spare room be used for a home office or a guest room? The living room looked out to the street and had a nice fireplace. It looked like something that actually could be used for heat, as well as for romance. There was an attached two-car garage. She entered the garage from the house and found storage cabinets along the end and a bench. A pair of garage door remotes rested on the bench.

  She went back inside. Chloe had never lived in a normal house, and had a hard time imagining what living here would be like. Everything was too quiet and she felt very alone. She needed to hear Mark’s voice.

  “Is this a bad time?”

  “Hey Chloe, I’m taking a break. You doing okay?”

  “I brought the boxes of my stuff over to the house. This is an amazing place, but it’s quiet and lonely. I don’t know where to start.”

  “I can understand how you feel. I was talking with Sam and he joked that my father left camping stuff in the garage cabinets. If you look, there should be some camp chairs and an air mattress. If nothing else, you can pull those out and not be stuck sitting on the floor.”

  “Great idea. At least we can be somewhat comfortable while we figure out how we want to set things up.”

  “I would have told you sooner, but Sam brought it up right before you called.”

  “When do you need me to come get you tonight?”

  “Sam said he would drop me off. He lives a couple doors down so it’s not out of his way.”

  “Can we go out for a date tonight? This time alone today drove home the fact that I don’t know anything about you and it would be nice have a quiet dinner and talk.”

  “Great minds think alike. Maybe we can do a little shopping after dinner.”

  “I would love that, Mark!”

  “Set up the camping stuff and I will see you in a few hours.”

  “I will be waiting!”

  It was nice to talk to him; he was so kind and considerate. It took the pressure off everything. She checked the cabinets in the garage and found camp chairs, an air mattress, and some firewood for the fireplace. She put the air mattress in the bedroom and found it was self-inflating. With that going, she set up the camp chairs. It was time for more scouting. She checked every cabinet and drawer in the house. She found a full set of cookware and knives in the kitchen. There were a couple of blankets in the linen closet and some matches for the fireplace in the garage. It seemed like the items that required a sense of style or presence were missing, but general use items had been supplied to get them going. For some people, the brand of kitchen knife might matter, but everything supplied looked like it was of the best quality.

  The camp chairs felt nice after all the standing she had been doing. Looking again at her watch, she discovered not much time had passed. Time moved differently when in a strange, empty place. With time to kill before Mark came home, she thought about taking a walk through the natural setting in the backyard but didn’t own hiking shoes. Not that her trainers wouldn’t work, but she had only used them for working out. They would make do if Mark wanted to take her out back for a walk. If she was going to be hanging out with wolves, she would need to buy some good hiking shoes. She might have to re-evaluate the rest of her wardrobe as well. Chloe selected her clothes for how sexy they made her feel, not for how rugged they would be. Even her workout clothes fit like a second skin. Maybe Mark wasn’t the outdoorsman she imagined wolves to be. She hated not knowing things. She was the type that researched everything before starting something new. That set her apart from the other Vampires. They were of the opinion that if it felt good, do it.

  Hearing a car drive up, she looked out the window and saw Sam drop Mark off and drive away. She went and opened the door for Mark.

  “Mark, you’re home early!”

  “When I heard you on the phone, I could tell you needed me. I convinced Sam I needed to take care of things for the Friday ceremony.”

  “Thank you, Mark. I didn’t mean to drag you away from your job.”

  “I think it’
s important we spend some time today getting to know each other better and talking about the ceremony. I keep forgetting you are not one of us.”

  Ouch. Why was it always us versus them? She needed to make herself one of the Pack. It was her job, but she longed to be in a place where she was wanted for who she was.

  “This house made me understand how little I know you. I never expected our joining to be so hard. In my mind, it was like starting a new job with a sexy roommate. The house made me realize we are going to be married and it’s much more than that.”

  Mark laughed. “You think I am sexy?”

  “Please don’t mock me. I couldn’t even go pick up some food today, because I have no idea what you eat or drink. I hate the feeling of not knowing what to do.”

  Mark pulled her close. “It’s okay, we will work through this together.”

  Chloe hugged him back. “Why are you so good to me? You don’t even know me.”

  “What choice do I have? It’s who I am, and like it or not, we’re starting a life together.”

  She sniffled. “You don’t like me?”

  He stroked her hair. “That’s not want I meant. From what I have seen, you are a sensitive, smart, beautiful woman. What’s not to like? I wish we had developed a relationship first. No matter what, that was never in the cards for me. Being a son of the Alpha meant I was destined for an arranged mating. It’s often done to join great families into larger Packs. I’d hoped I would be able to have a say in the matter and pick one of the women from the yearly gathering of the Packs.”

  He seemed to actually care about her and her feelings.

  She looked away. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to find your love, but maybe you’ll find love with me.”

  Mark smiled. “It could happen. We should talk about the ceremony.”

  “That sounds like a good idea, but I really want to get to know you better.”

  He looked really happy. “It’s okay, Chloe, we can talk more on our dinner date tonight.”