The Wolf's Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel by R.E. Butler

grandmother for
it then that she would have meant it when she said no. No one had
understood why he married her and he’d given up trying to explain
himself. This was something he could do that was just for Karly. He
could honestly say he’d never given anyone else the family ring. He
could give her this one thing that was untainted by his past.
    “Who the hell is making you all these amazing
lunches?” Bo asked, leaning over from his own seat and making eyes
at the spread in front of him. Compared to Bo’s fast food, Linus
was dining on five-star quality food. Today she’d packed
from-scratch mac and cheese, two barbecue chicken sandwiches with a
sauce she made herself, a plastic container of steamed veggies with
cheese sauce, and a dozen peanut butter cookies. He swore she was
getting up in the middle of the night to cook for him. He had no
idea how she did it all.
    He smiled at Bo and picked up a sandwich. He
savored the bite of perfectly tender chicken and tangy, sweet sauce
and swallowed. “The girl that was in my bedroom on Sunday morning,”
he lowered his voice even though they were currently the only ones
in the break room, “she’s my true mate. She’s the one that has been
cooking for me.”
    Bo gave him a critical look. “Is this the
human that Jason was giving you a hard time about?”
    He nodded.
    Bo was very quiet, so he went back to eating.
With every bite it was like he could feel his connection to Karly
growing, as if he could taste her love for him in the food she
prepared. He couldn’t wait to mark her. His plan was to get the
ring on Friday and then take her out to dinner somewhere very nice
on Saturday and propose and then mark her at home later. The
thought of her teeth sinking into his flesh, too, as she returned
the marks to him, made his heart thud in his chest.
    “What’s that like?” Bo asked quietly and
startled him from his musings and erotic thoughts of the sweetheart
back home.
    “What’s what like?”
    “Finding your true mate?”
    He finished the last bite of the second
sandwich and took a long drink of iced tea from a thermos. It was
peach this time. She’d added the juice from a can of sliced peaches
after she made a crumble the night before. Clever little angel.
    He couldn’t stop his smile. “It’s amazing. I
don’t even know if that’s a strong enough word.” He told him about
finding her near death in the snow by the creek, and how he’d felt
instantly connected to her but didn’t realize what it was until
they were together the first time. He skipped the part about her
being his supernaturally perfect mate, because he wasn’t sure that
Bo would understand and he didn’t want rumors flying around about
her.
    “So I asked her to move in with me and she
packed up Monday night.” Ah, could the mac and cheese be any
better? Damn she was a great cook.
    “Just like that?”
    He shrugged. “I couldn’t stand to know she
wasn’t with me. If I’d had to leave her there Monday night, too, I
think I would have camped out on her doorstep all night just to
make sure she was safe.”
    Bo went quiet again and turned back to his
greasy burger and fries. Linus dove into the veggies and finished
off the pasta before turning his attention to the cookies. How she
knew exactly the amount of food he could eat, he wasn’t sure, but
it was clearly from practice. He always had plenty to eat with no
leftovers. While he chewed on the cookies, he looked at Bo who
didn’t look happy. Bo had problems, but he wasn’t the chatty sort
and although they had grown up together, Bo was a year older than
he and Jason. He had been struck by a car when he was 14 and the
damage to one leg was very severe. If he’d been hit after he was 16
and had the ability to shift, he would have healed most of the
damage, but even the change hadn’t helped him. He walked with a
limp and he always wore jeans, even in the hottest part of the
summer. He’d never had a serious relationship. Bo was one of