Once Mated Twice Shy (2 page)

Lettie shifted
back into herself when she got to the back porch.  She found the key under the
flower pot and went inside the dark house.  Lettie went to the bathroom and
stripped down.  She needed a hot shower, this day had completely sucked. 
Jordan.  She regretted ever meeting him.  She regretted ever looking at him, at
ever kissing him and she regretted his being born most of all.  Lettie stood
under water as hot as she could stand and scrubbed her skin until it was red. 
Her boss, Mister Thompson, offered her the apartment over the store when he’d
caught her crying in the stock room the second time today.  It was small but it
would be quiet once the store closed at night.  At least she wouldn’t have far
to go for groceries.  Her head shook of its own accord.  She’d take her
clothes, her Grandmother’s dishes and…nothing else was solely hers.  Wow. 
Nothing
was hers.  Well that made it easy.  She would box her dishes and carry them to
the apartment tomorrow, on Friday she would take her clothes.  It would be a
long walk as a human.  But what choice did she have?  Maybe Lucas would take
pity on her and would let her beg a ride with her box and suitcase.  She would
ask him tomorrow if she could find him.  Lettie pulled her shorts and tank top
on then went to the bedroom. 

“You didn’t eat
dinner.”  Jordan sat in the wing chair in the corner of her bedroom. 

“Get out of my
house.”  Her eyes flashed with anger.

“It belongs to the
pack.”  Her shoulders slumped in defeat.  He was right, technically speaking
this house belonged more to him than her.

“What do you want
Jordan?”  His eyes flashed amber at her.  If she didn’t know better, she would
swear that was desire.  He didn’t desire her, not that way, not anymore.  His
only desire now was to stomp her heart and soul into the ground.

“I always loved
this chair.”  His voice was deep and dominating.  She submitted.  What choice
did she have?  They may have fought before when they were true mates but now
she had no rights, she was a pack member and expected to bow to the alpha.  It
didn’t matter that she’d nursed him back to health after fights or that he’d
taken her virginity.  He was the alpha now and she was the omega.  Omegas
submit to alphas.

“Take it.”  Lettie
turned and left the bedroom shifting as she went to the back door.  She ran as
fast and far as she could before she collapsed under a tree far into the woods.
 The ground was soft and cold.  It was covered in pine needles but she should
be safe enough here.  She lay panting until she shifted and then cried until
she fell asleep there.  Lettie was beginning to understand why some women
swallowed a bottle of pills. 

Jordan sat in the antique
green velvet wingchair waiting for her to come back but she didn’t.  He
wondered where she went after a few hours when he woke with a stiff neck from
his nap in the chair.  He’d screwed the pooch again.  He needed to tie her down
and make her listen to him until he could say the right words.  He needed to
make her understand that he wanted her back and that he didn’t want her to
leave.  That he was a stupid jackass and that he loved her.  She’d said that
she would be gone by the weekend but it seemed to him that she was already
gone.  She didn’t want to have anything to do with him.  He swallowed hard
missing his mate.  Why couldn’t they have a civil conversation?  Jordan snarled
at the empty room.  She wasn’t going to return until he left her house and it
was cold outside tonight.  For the safety of his mate Jordan headed home.

Lettie woke up
freezing.  Her teeth chattered and goose bumps covered her chilled skin.  She’d
cried herself to sleep last night and had spent the night in the woods.  Damn
Jordan anyway.  She thought as she shifted into her wolf and trotted to the
house.  Her nose twitched and scented the air for him as she crept closer to
the house.  He’d gone a few hours before.  Good.  Lucas loped by and glanced at
her.  She turned toward him and shifted.  He stopped then started away from
her.  “Lucas?”  He turned and shifted.  “Can I ask a favor?”

“Sure, I guess.” 
He was watching her suspiciously.  Lucas had a look in his eyes that she’d
never seen there before.  Even though she wasn’t sure what it was, she didn’t
like it. 

“Um…never mind,
I’ll take care of it.  Thanks anyway.”  Lettie nibbled her lip.

“Whatever.”  He
shifted back into his wolf and hurried off like he wanted nothing to do with
her. 

“Jordan.”  She
spat, tears welled in her eyes.  He was poisoning the other pack members
against her.  “Gah!”  Lettie went inside the house and boxed the dishes that
her Grandmother left her then packed her clothes.  She would take her clothes
today and hopefully Mister Thompson would let her either let her borrow his car
or would give her dishes a ride.  Lettie showered and got ready for work.  Her
stomach grumbled but the thought of a peanut butter sandwich was not
appetizing.  It was all that she had left in the pantry.  Since she didn’t have
a vehicle anymore and she couldn’t carry grocery sacks in her wolf form, she
would go hungry.  He always knew how to hurt her.  He’d taken the truck on
shopping day.  She decided that Jordan probably planned it all along.  He was
devious when he wanted to be.  She put the duffle across her back and left for
work.  It was about three miles and she needed to get an early start. 

Jordan watched her
from the office window.  He saw her glance his way and watched her speed her
pace.  He punched a hole into the drywall with his fist.  That was his mate and
she hated his guts.  It would’ve been less painful if she’d just put a bullet
in his heart.  He would be waiting when she came home tonight and they were
going to have a very long and very honest conversation.  She was going to
listen to him.  She was going to bring that duffle bag up here and she was
going to hang her clothes in his closet.  This bullshit was going to end,
tonight. 

Jordan sat on her back
porch waiting.  Lettie would be home soon and he was ready for her.  They were
going out to dinner because there was no damned food in her house.  They would
talk and then they were going to bed.  He’d be damned if he spent another night
without his mate.  Yes he’d rejected her, he’d said it, but he didn’t mean it
and she knew he didn’t.  Didn’t she?  Couldn’t she feel him anymore?  She
didn’t act like it.  Lately she just acted like a cowering omega.  Lettie was
not the omega of this pack.  Was she?  Did he make her feel like she was? 
Where the hell was she anyway?  It was after ten.  He looked at his watch.  Why
the hell hadn’t she come home?

Lettie lay down on
the musty mattress on the iron-framed bed in the corner.  Mister Thompson had
let her spend the biggest part of the day cleaning the apartment.  He’d brought
her a refrigerator, made sure that the stove, and plumbing worked then filled
her cabinets and fridge with groceries.  He’d made her feel welcome and at
home.  She hadn’t felt those two things in a long time.  The keys to his car
were hanging on a hook beside the door.  He lived less than a block away.  Why
didn’t she know that until today?  Mister Thompson was a widow, once married to
a wolf that died in a nasty car accident.  He knew what she was the minute she
walked into his store and told her so.  She was accepted, welcomed, and treated
like family, something else she hadn’t felt in forever.  Lettie drifted off to
sleep finally at peace for the first time in years.

Jordan paced the
yard, front to back, back to front.  It was after four in the morning and she
wasn’t home.  Was that it?  Was she gone?  Or was she sleeping somewhere else? 
With someone else?  Jordan froze.  His eyes flashed. 
Lucas.
  It had to
be.  Lucas just asked about courting Lettie earlier.  Maybe he hadn’t turned
him off the scent at all.  Jordan stomped to Lucas’ house and up the steps.  He
banged on the door with his fist.  By the time a sleepy Lucas opened the door,
Jordan was snarling and having a hard time not shifting.  His nose twitched
scenting the air.  Lucas showed him his throat in submission.  Jordan backed
away shaking his head.  “She’s not here.”  Jordan finally calmed.

“Sir, there’s no
one here.  Aimee stopped by but I sent her away, I know that she belongs to you
sir, I didn’t…”  Jordan shook his head again.

“She doesn’t belong
to me.  I don’t want her so please help yourself to Aimee.”  Jordan blew out a
breath.  Aimee was trying to make everyone believe that she had some sort of
claim on him.  She never would.  He couldn’t stand her.

“Who are you
looking for then?  Maybe I can help.”  Lucas was always ready to make a good
impression on the alpha.

“Lettie.”  Jordan
looked around at the surrounding houses, all were dark.

“Oh, she’s at the
grocery sir, I saw her earlier.”  Lucas smiled, so glad he could help.  He was
such a sniveling ass kisser.

“She never came
home, I was worried.”  Jordan’s eyes flashed.  Actually, he was more than
worried.  He feared that he’d lost her forever. 

“Oh well, I heard
someone say that she lived there now but that didn’t make any sense to me when
she lives over there.”  He pointed to the small green bungalow across the way. 

“Thanks Lucas.”  Jordan
turned and shifted then ran toward the alpha house.  She’d moved into the
grocery store.  Where the hell was she going to live?  In the damned frozen
food aisle?  There was a small couch back by the pharmacy where you sat to wait
for pills, not that he ever needed any, because wolves were quick healers. 
“Damn it!”  He roared once he was inside behind closed doors.  The rest of the
pack did not need to know their new alpha was losing control.  An alpha was
always in control, always strong and always dominant.

***

Lettie stretched
in her little musty bed, her nose twitched.  She heard noises from the grocery
store and smiled.  Her apartment was small but it was hers.  She smiled down at
the small rag rug with the mud stains that always lay beside her bed.  Lettie
scrubbed at those stains for hours but the red clay wouldn’t come out. 
Jordan.  He knew how much it meant to her and he’d shit all over it like he did
everything else.  Not anymore.  Lettie went to the fridge and got out fresh
milk and a box of brand new name brand cereal from the cabinet that Mister
Thompson brought up yesterday.  She sat on the one and only chair and ate her
breakfast.  It wasn’t much to look at, but it was hers.  It needed paint and
curtains but it was hers.  It was hers for as long as she wanted Mister
Thompson said and Jordan could not barge in and take it away.  Lettie smiled
for the first time in days.  With her dishes washed, she went to shower.  This
would be great.  A three second commute was better than a three miles run.  She
could sleep in.  Lettie bounded down the steps twenty minutes later, she was
ten minutes early for work.  She got started on the previous days deposit and
the books.  When she finished this, she would order stock.  Mister Thompson
smiled at her when he brought the cash envelopes up the steps to the small
office.

“How was your
first night Lettie?  Was everything okay?”  She nodded.

“Yes sir, thank
you again.”  He put up his hand.  “I mean it sir, that was the best night of
sleep I’ve hand in I don’t know how long.  I actually slept all the way through
till morning.”  He opened the envelopes and laid the cash out on the desk.  They
got started counting and bundling the bills.  Lettie worked until five then
went upstairs to make her dinner.  She couldn’t believe how much she’d
accomplished today without the world sitting on her shoulders or her mind
preoccupied.  She was done with the ordering for the week, two aisles were
completely organized, and then she’d finished the books in record time.  The
corners of her mouth lifted, this was what it felt like to be a person again. 
After dinner, she would take the car Mister Thompson was letting her use and go
get her dishes then she would be done with Jordan and the Summerville pack. 
Good riddance.

Jordan bumped
along the road in his grandfather’s pick up.  How did she drive this thing? 
The alignment was shit.  He’d get it fixed.  Once he arrived at the grocery
store, he would make her hear reason.  She could not live there, it was a
ridiculous notion.  Lettie belonged with him and she was coming home with him. 
He parked the truck and went inside.  Jordan didn’t scent her or see her.  He
found Aiden stocking on the floor and got directions to her apartment.  Aiden
was young but a sweet pup.  He was Lettie’s third cousin or something.  His
parents were good pack members.  They attended meetings and pitched in when
they weren’t working.  They were among the few that continued to hold a job
when Frank sold the cabinet business.  Aiden’s dad was a master carpenter and
it was surprising that Aiden didn’t follow his example.  Aiden didn’t seem
inclined to learn carpentry though.  He did work though and that was more than Jordan
could say for a lot of his pack.

“But she isn’t
here sir.”  Aiden said.  “She left about ten minutes ago.”

“Where did she
go?”  Jordan was about to lose it.  He needed to talk to her and convince her
that she should come back to him before he lost it completely.

“I didn’t ask but
I saw her leave in Mister Thompson’s car, she was headed in the direction of
home sir.”  Jordan nodded.  He’d only passed one car on the way here, a gold
Buick but he didn’t pay any attention to it or the driver.  She’d borrowed a
car to get the rest of her things he guessed.  Jordan went back to the truck
and hurried home.  The Buick passed him in a blur a block from her house.  That
was it.  She was gone.  She probably came back for the pretentious China that
her Grams left her.  He hated those dishes.  You had to be so damned careful
when you touched them and she walked on egg shells if he got within five feet
of them.  They were all so damned fragile and too small for his big clumsy
hands.  He slammed his fist down on the cracked vinyl seat with the frustration
of missing her.  Jordan turned around in the first driveway that he came to. 
Lucas flagged him down.  He rolled the window down so that Lucas could speak to
him.