Wolf or Love

Resisting the urge to grip him by the throat, Gio took a threatening step toward him and cocked his head. It pleased his wolf when the other male backed up a little. “You know what pisses me off most about what you just said? That you think you have the right to act the caring uncle now. Where

were you when she was growing up? Like you just said, Carrick was always a bastard to her and yet you left her there with him believing that there would never be a true mate to come along and take her away. You didn’t even keep in touch with her, did you? No. So don’t think you get to stand here and be all high and mighty with me or that being my mate’s uncle will save you. Danica might care about you, but I don’t, and I sure as shit won’t have anyone saying she’s not my mate.”

“You’re right,” he conceded, surprising Gio, “I wasn’t there for her. I will be from here on out though. I want her to be happy. I want her to have

the kind of mating you’ve seen tonight and I’m not sure you can give her that. I don’t see how you’ll bring anything to her life other than danger and

trouble.”

He was right of course and that only nettled Gio’s agitated state. “As Danica would say, if I wanted to hear from an ass, I’d fart.”

“Gio,” said Danica cautiously as she approached and took in the tension, “everything okay?” Slipping a slender arm between the two male bodies that were almost pressed together, she stroked Gio’s chest. “Fine, baby,” he replied, using her closeness to calm him. “I’m just

getting an idea of what it’s like for you when you have to listen to my grandmother’s shit.”

Rolling her eyes and groaning, Danica looked at James. “I really hope you haven’t just done the man to man talk when you’ve only been back in my life five minutes.”

James sighed. “That’s pretty much what he just said. I just want you to be happy and -”

“Well I was until you put Gio in a bad mood.”RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“I know you, Danica. Beneath that hard exterior you’re not so different from your mom. You want kids and commitment and a happily ever after he can’t give you that.”

“If I was pining for the pitter patter of tiny little feet, I’d buy a kitten and put slippers on it. And what do you know about what Gio can or can’t give me? You don’t even know him.”

“I know this mating isn’t real -”

“Watch what you say,” she snapped. Her wolf growled inside her head, just as incensed as she was by those words. A much louder growl was comingnfrom Gio.

“You deserve better, you can have better plenty of wolves would be happy to mate with you. Hell, there are wolves here who’d be happy to mate

with you.”

Danica wasn’t in the least bit surprised when Gio’s eyes flashed wolf and he made a move toward James. Quickly she placed herself in front of him

and wrapped both arms tightly around his waist. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she whispered. He halted but released a chilling growl.

James was quieter as he said in a shaky voice, “He’s not good for you.”

“If that’s how you feel then I guess we part here.”

“Danica -”

“No. We’re leaving.” Rubbing her chin on Gio’s chest she said,

“Come on, Gio, let’s go.” But his entire focus was on James.

James tried again. “Danica, I -”

“I said no. You insulted my mate. If you were anyone else, I’d go for your throat. Now back off.”

“Let them be, James,” ordered Mike who was walking up behind them. He nodded respectfully at Danica and Gio.

“Thank you for inviting us, Mike, ” she said quietly. Pressing her body weight against Gio, she tried urging him to move. No effect, unsurprisingly.

“Come on. Let’s go home.” The word ‘home’ seemed to penetrate his ‘Must kill James’ haze because a little of the tension left his body and he gave her a very slight nod. When minutes later he showed no signs of calming or becoming less

robotic, she was tempted to try to talk to him. However, she somehow sensed that, for whatever reason, Gio needed to be alone with his thoughts right now. Going with that instinct, she turned her focus to the view ahead and said nothing.

Gio had thought that the further he got from that other pack the more he would calm. That just wasn’t happening. Maybe it should have been James’ claim that Gio wasn’t good for Danica that was agitating him. Or maybe his claim that she wanted things that Gio couldn’t give her. Or maybe

even James’ suggestion that she stay with his pack and mate with another wolf. But no. As much as all that had seriously pissed him off, it wasn’t any of that that was responsible for his mood. What had him as annoyed as fuck right now was that Danica had defended him. No female other than his mother or Lindy had ever defended him. Not only had Danica done that, she had basically chosen him over her uncle. It pissed him off that it meant something to him when it shouldn’t have. What annoyed him more was that he couldn’t be sure if that had been real or she had just been sticking with their true mate act. He tried telling himself that it didn’t matter. Tried telling himself that it wasn’t relevant, but it goddamn was to him. He was sick of her doing things that touched him like that and then left him sitting there wondering if he was looking too deep into things or if she was having the same inner struggle as him.

Like the way she snapped if anyone questioned their mating as she had with Elsa and her uncle. Was it because her sense of possessiveness now

ran bone deep just as his did, or was it just her wolf? Like how she held back from marking him. Was that because she was already finding it hard to remain detached, or was it only her wolf finding it hard? And like how she had repeatedly tried so hard to help him form so many alliances when he had never asked that of her. Was it because she cared for him in some way and wanted to help him, or was it that she just wanted to help the pack as a whole?

He didn’t want to be going through this weird inner struggle on his own and, as idiotic as it was, he wanted her to care about him. Mostly because he

was afraid that he just might care about her.

And so his bad mood remained with him throughout the long journey home and was still there hours later while he was sat on one of the chairs by the lake soaking up the midday sun. He knew Danica wouldn’t let him brood in peace much longer so it wasn’t a surprise when he heard footsteps. Unfortunately it turned out that those footsteps didn’t belong to Danica.

“Hey,” called out Duda in his usual gruff voice.

“What do you want?”

“Yes I will have a seat, thank you, Alpha.”

“No one likes a smart ass.”

He took the chair opposite Gio’s and straddled it. “I take it things didn’t go well with her uncle.”

Gio sighed. “Actually, he was happy to see her. All of them were pretty hospitable.”

“Well I can understand why that might piss you off since though you’ll never admit it you don’t want her to leave, and nor do you seem ready to face just why that might be. But I don’t see why it would have Danica all irritated.”

He chose to ignore the first half of what Duda had said. “Her uncle didn’t believe we were true mates, said the mating wasn’t real.”

Duda winced. “Ooh, yeah, that’ll do it. She might know this mating’s temporary, but she sure doesn’t like anyone saying it’s not real.”

“He also said I was bad for her. Said I couldn’t give her those things a woman wants. Then he suggested she stay there and mate with another wolf.”

“Prick.”

After a pause, Gio said, “She defended me, you know.”

“Of course she did. You’re her mate. Mates don’t stand for that shit.”

“Yeah. Her wolf wouldn’t want anyone insulting her mate, would she.”

Duda snickered. “You’re one blind bastard.”

“Blind?”

“Or maybe just dumb.” Shaking his head, he looked away and sighed. When he looked at Gio again there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Well…I don’t see what you’ve got to be pissed about. Her uncle’s an ass, but he’s right. You are bad for her. You can’t give her the things a female

wants because the mating’s temporary. And, yeah, there’s a good chance she’ll go and mate with another wolf when she leaves.” When Gio growled

warningly Duda’s face took on a superior, smug, know it all look. “You know, you could just ask her to stay for good.”

At that moment, Gio hated him. Hated him for seeing far more than he should. Hated him for making Gio see exactly how much he wanted that

which seriously scared the shit out of him. He hated his wolf too. Hated him for constantly fighting Gio over the idea of Danica leaving, for being so unreasonably possessive of her. He also hated Chris for wanting Danica, he hated the wolf she might one day mate with, and he hated her uncle for speaking the truth he’d been trying to ignore. Mostly, he hated his fucking self for caring about a female who didn’t even care enough to mark him.

“Why would I do that?”

“The two of you are good together. You actually laugh these days. You behave a lot like true mates do.”

“Look, Duda, I’ll admit I like her, she’s fun to have around and she knows what she’s doing in the bedroom but it wouldn’t have mattered if I hadn’t liked her or if she was someone else, we still would have mated and fucked. This is about a deal, that’s all.” Gio was aware that he’d sounded pretty harsh. He was also aware by the scent that suddenly flavored the air that Danica had heard him. Shit.