Amanda's Wolves(15)

On top of everything going through his mind and the boisterous insanity that was dinner with two huge families, Sawyer spent the majority of the meal glancing around the room, wondering if she was in the restaurant. Maybe she was another customer… Maybe she was a waitress… He prayed she was a shifter.

The last thing he needed was a human woman who knew nothing about his kind. It happened. Hell, Rebecca was human. Some of his cousins had mated with humans. But it was never easy. Explaining the ways of wolf shifters to someone who wasn’t raised knowing about their kind was always a challenge. Doing so while fighting the driving need to mate with her was damn near impossible.

No one in the restaurant stood out, however. And he would know. Mates could scent their intended immediately. Both he and Logan would have instantly been aware of her presence if she had been there.

Insanity. He had fully expected to find her immediately as soon as he entered normal society, especially in the presence of Logan. It was unbelievable they’d managed to escape the restaurant without meeting her.

As much as he dragged his feet over the concept, part of him was growing impatient. In part because he simply wanted it over with so he could move on and in part because he had to admit he had grown increasingly more restless since meeting Logan. His skin crawled with something indescribable.

Reluctantly, he’d been led back to Laurie’s house for the night. He’d left his truck there in the first place and headed to the restaurant with his parents, who were elated he’d moved to town.

Of course they were. They knew what his arrival meant. And now that he’d attended this giant family gathering, everyone knew. They’d all spent the evening walking on eggshells, silently acknowledging the peculiar arrangement that left two men without the woman they were destined to claim.

Now that they were back at the house, Sawyer had no desire to enter the mayhem. All he wanted was to enjoy another beer on the porch and try to relax. Another day had ended without him finding his mate. Of course, except for dinner, he’d had no other opportunity. She certainly wasn’t at Laurie’s house. The only person inside was the babysitter. He could finally let his guard down and loosen his shoulders.

Trace Masters stepped inside and returned a minute later with an armful of beer. He handed one to his mate Keegan and the other two to Logan and Sawyer. Trace’s other mate, Melinda, who was also Sawyer’s half sister, shook her head and disappeared quickly, claiming the level of testosterone on the porch was more than she could bear.

Sawyer took a long draw on the bottle and closed his eyes as Trace made yet another reference to Sawyer and Logan’s unknown mate. “Maybe she’s some other type of shifter, and she’s going to come bounding out of the woods in tiger form or something.”

Logan faked a laugh. “Ha ha. Funny. I think if there were other shifters, we’d know it by now. Our ancestors have been running through the forest all over this planet for several centuries.”

“Totally kidding,” Trace added. “But I am curious. It isn’t normal for two parts of the three to go very many hours without meeting the last piece of the puzzle. You met each other yesterday. I would have thought by tonight you’d be sequestered off somewhere not coming up for air.”

Sawyer cringed. He still hadn’t wrapped his head around fucking someone with another naked man in the room, let alone a man who would also have his dick inside their woman. It was crude, but he was beyond uncomfortable. He lowered himself onto one of the fancy wooden porch chairs and leaned back.

Logan did the same next to him. “Sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. It was uncalled for. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Nah. You were right. It was inconsiderate of me to draw up plans and start building before we met, especially since I knew with relative certainty who you would be to me. Don’t worry. Nothing’s set in stone. I haven’t poured any concrete.”

“The plans looked awesome, by the way. You seem to know what you’re doing. I’m sure it’s perfect.” He turned to the side and held out a hand. “Truce.”

Sawyer took his firm grip and shook. “Truce.”

“Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m crawling out of my skin.”

“That’s about how I would describe it.”

“We have to find her.”

“Yes,” Sawyer agreed. “And soon.”

“You think we should go back out tonight? Maybe hit a club or something?”

“No. I think we’ve both had a few beers, and we don’t need to be driving. Tomorrow’s Saturday. Unless there’s a fire, I’m free. You?”