Mate of Her Heart by R. E. Butler Read Free Book Online

was safe.
    He left his apartment and opened the back door to the bar.  He could hear some sounds from inside the bar, which told him that some of the wolves were still there.  For a moment he considered finding Acksel and telling him what was going on, but he knew that Acksel would never believe him.  Acksel detested humans, and he’d always hated Luke’s friendship with Eveny.  If he tried to tell Acksel that one of his wolves was arranging a gang-rape of Eveny, Acksel would most likely not believe him and then beat him all to hell.  And that would leave Eveny defenseless.
    He walked past the office and into one of the storage rooms where Teddy kept some items that most people in the bar didn’t know about.  Sometimes, wolves caused trouble, and if Acksel wasn’t in the bar to keep a lid on things, then it was only Teddy and Luke.  Opening a storage locker, Luke filled up the bag with two stun batons, two canisters of pepper spray, and an aluminum baseball bat.  After some consideration, he shoved some flares into the bag, too.
    He had seen Teddy use the stun baton on a rowdy wolf when Luke first started tending bar.  Even with the wolf’s enhanced strength, he still hit the ground when Teddy zapped him and made him think twice about acting up in the bar again.
    The best option would be for Luke to get to Eveny first and get her out of the cabin, into his truck, and safely on the way home before Vince and his buddies showed up.  He didn’t believe in luck, but Luke sure hoped to fuck that luck was on his side as he raced out of the bar and jumped into his truck, slamming his foot onto the gas and roaring out of the parking lot like the devil was on his tail.
    But it wasn’t his tail that he was worried about it.  It was Ev’s.  If anyone laid a hand on her, he’d never forgive himself.
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
     
    When Eveny saw Luke’s truck turn off towards the bar, she almost turned around and followed him.  Doing that, though, would mean seeing him again, and she wasn’t sure she could keep her hands off him if she did.  The heat was almost upon her, and the desire to touch and hold someone was already creeping into her subconscious.  But more than that, she was feeling unsure of her decision to go things alone and she knew that Luke would help her in a heartbeat.  With one word, he’d take her to the cabin and do whatever she needed.  Then she’d be making love to her best friend and they’d end up mated and she’d be pregnant within a week.  Which was all fine and good for her, but she couldn’t saddle Luke with that without a thorough discussion.
    Which was why leaving and being alone was best.  When the heat was over, she’d tell him everything about what being a human mated to a werewolf meant, not only for her, but for him.
    Not for the first time in her life, she cursed being a wolf shifter.  Although she loved prowling and hunting in her wolf form, she hated the shifting process, which cracked and shifted bones around in her body and hurt more often than not.  She hated the hierarchy bullshit that meant that, as alpha, Acksel was in control of her destiny and would kick her out of the pack - and her family - for being with the man that she loved.
    By the time she got to the cabin and parked around back, she knew that waiting out the heat and then talking to Luke about mating with her was the right thing to do.  She would even make a list of the pros and cons for him so that he could see what they both had the potential to gain and lose with the mating.  She never wanted him to say that she hadn’t told him everything.  If he walked away because it was too much for him, she still wouldn’t want to mate with a wolf, but she had a feeling that Acksel would push her during next year’s heat-cycle and she’d end up mated.  But that would be a mate only in title.  Luke was the mate of her heart.  Her perfect match.
    After filling up the generator with