The look on Derek’s face told him just how much those words stung the other man.
Wham, bam, thank you, man. Ugh. Mason wanted to hide his face from ever being seen again. Derek knew all about werewolves, but Mason had never gotten around to telling him about a wolf’s mating rituals.
He’d thought he was just having some fun. Just sex with someone he happened to like very much.
He never expected to figure out that Derek was actually his mate, and when he lost that fight for control over the pack against his brother, his wolf wanted satisfaction, so it had gone to the one person he knew he could get it from.
Derek hadn’t stood a chance. Mason had been in human form, but
it was all animal instinct that drove him to do what he’d done. Derek
had passed out when Mason had finished with him, and when Mason woke up from his haze, animal urgings satisfied with Derek beneath him and out like a light, long scratch marks marring the beautiful skin of his back and even bruises on his neck and face …well, Mason had
to go.
Just like he had to go now. Clearly Derek hadn’t done that to try and get back at Mason. Was it repressed memories? Was that why he was able to stand in the same room with him? Kiss him?
A lot of things were certainly different about Derek now compared to back then. Christ, he even smelled different. Mason had known someone was behind him but hadn’t guessed it was Derek, and he never would’ve guessed the other man would be looking like that.
16 Marcy Jacks
He was a supermodel now.
What the hell was he still doing in this small town? Last Mason knew, Derek had been saving up to move to the city.
It was none of his business to ask, and he still had to think about
the possibility of Derek blocking out their last time together. Was something like that possible even after all these years?
Maybe. Mason didn’t want to be around if that was the case and any supposed repressed memories came hurtling back to him.
“I’m sorry, I need to go.”
Mason pushed past Derek and went out the door to the front of the shop. He pulled on the glass door once before remembering that it was locked. He unlocked it and exited the store, power walking to his truck. He opened the door and slammed it again when he was inside.
Derek hadn’t looked at him when Mason left. He just stood there, fists clenched and muscles tight with suppressed rage.
Mason was feeling a little rage right now. He couldn’t hit anything in the truck. He’d destroy it and then piss himself off even more. His wolf itched to be let out, to get running and hunting and tear through some trees and maybe pick a fight with a mountain lion or something.
That was probably the better choice and the one that would cost less money.
Mason still had the Rolex in his pocket. He’d quickly stuck it there when he realized it was Derek he was looking at. Mason had thought he was ready to part with it, but clearly he wasn’t, and now he still had no money.
He started the truck and pulled away from the curb, driving down
the two-lane highway that was paved in the middle of the small town until he found a good place to pull over.
Highway 22 was where he needed to pull off, where his brother and the rest of the pack were hidden, but he didn’t want to see them just now. He wanted to let his wolf out.
Mason locked the doors and stepped out of his clothes, folding
Mason Returns to His Mate 17
them neatly and sticking them in the back with the few other packed possessions he’d brought with him for the journey. He would have to make this quick. He didn’t want any humans sniffing around here thinking they could take something.
Mason’s transformation was always relatively fast, usually taking no more than ten seconds, but now he was so worked up that the rearranging of his bones and sudden growth of hair was almost instantaneous.
The next thing he knew, Mason was shaking out his brown coat
and kicking up dirt as he charged into the woods at full speed.
18 Marcy Jacks
Chapter Two
He left again. Derek couldn’t fucking believe the gall Mason had, even after all these years, and Derek was a complete idiot.
The second he realized that Mason was leaving him again, after fucking him again, sort of if head counted, all the pent-up anger he’d felt over the years returned like it was still fresh from when he was twenty years old and he woke up to Mason’s disappearance without so much as a note.
He hadn’t thought to be worried until three days had passed, and Derek had gone to speak with Mason’s brother for the first and last time.
“He’s not coming back. He was shamed,” James had said.
Every time Derek thought about it, he cringed. Mason had left him because, somehow, his family had found out what the two of them were doing, and apparently, even though they hadn’t been keeping in touch, those old family connections were still strong enough to dictate who Mason spent his time with even ten years later.
Whatever. He was done. Fuck him, Derek thought as he furiously wiped down the glass casing that held all the more valuable electronics and jewelry. If Derek never saw Mason again, he’d be just dandy.
Except that he could hardly take the high road after he’d given the other man head.
Fuck.
The bell to the door chimed, and Derek looked up as three men entered his shop.
He was shocked to see anyone this time of day, but whatever, he
Mason Returns to His Mate 19
needed the business, and maybe some customers would take his mind
off this shit.
They were all dressed in hunting gear. Derek wouldn’t doubt that they had a couple of rifles and shotguns in whatever car or truck they drove up in.
He
