Chapter 15

• With a beer in hand, Devin stared at the phone that he’d just hung up. His father had understood and been tactful enough to not rub it in his face that finally he needed dear old dad. He took another long swig of the beer and swallowed quickly. The fact that he didn’t like the answer wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he really hadn’t liked the answers, even though his gut told him that his father was right, and now he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t like it when he wasn’t in control of something and Devin was definitely not in control of this.
• He slid further down on the couch and leaned his head back against it. Closing his eyes, Devin thought of the highlights of the conversation, hoping he’d missed something that would prove he had a choice. “Does she smell like pack, son?” He’d had to confess he had been afraid to get close enough to smell her, that all he could say for sure was Rayne smelled like gardenias. His father had chuckled and told him that was close enough. How the hell did smelling like gardenias come close to smelling like pack? He’d figure that part out later. Devin had asked if he could think of any other reason for her to affect him so completely, other than the reason he didn’t want to hear. His father had chuckled again, not something he’d ever done that often but he told him no, even if he’d been without sex for a decade—not happening—no ordinary woman would get to him that way. That range of emotions was the way he’d tastefully put it. That was an understatement. In a matter of a few hours I wanted to hug and hold her, shelter and protect her, follow her every movement, fuck her and adore every inch of her in a non-sexual way. Those emotions were more than enough to deal with.
• Devin opened his eyes and drank what was left in the bottle in one swallow. “You’ve found your true mate from the sounds of it, Devin, and you can’t change that. Only you can decide if you want to bond with her completely or not… if she’ll have you.” That was not the answer he wanted. “But she’s not one of us.” Had been the only defense he had and it was a weak one at that. “She could be— I’m fairly certain she must be, or you, being who you are, would not react this way.” Again, not even close to what he wanted to hear his father and alpha say. “How can you be sure?” That was when his father had started laughing before he’d regained his composure and cleared his throat to continue. “You couldn’t send her away, could you?” No, had come out of Devin’s mouth, sulky in a way he’d never heard from his own voice. “I’ve never known you to have a soft spot for anyone, son, have you?”