"There's been an accident." I yelled. "Please help Roman."
As her eyes widened and she got on her radio for assistance while running into our room, I ran in the other direction. Out down the stairs and out of the hotel. I'd like to say I followed the scent of my mate all the way to her house, but the actual truth was that I'd got Zak to spill the area she lived in last night while we were drinking. Once in the vicinity, I would be able to scent her to her door.
I could have run, but I hailed a cab instead. If she was awake, I didn't want to be a sweaty mess on her doorstep, that wouldn't make a good impression.
Forest Gate seemed a nice place. I'd never been here before. I took in my surroundings as I followed my nose to Freya's place. I went via a cafe and got myself a coffee and a couple of bacon sarnies for while I did my stakeout. That name made me crave an actual steak. Looked like I needed to hunt soon, or order a take-out steak-out. There was a passageway at the side of Freya's house and I slipped down there and round to her back yard. There was the tiniest postage stamp sized grassed area at the back if it could be termed that, with one of those leylandii conifers in it that had grown to a ridiculous size, but it did mean you couldn't be seen from the back-to-back neighbours property. I sat down next to it as I could detect no movement or smell in the air that would indicate Freya was awake yet. That and the fact that all week she'd not managed to appear until mid-morning at the earliest. I may have taken note, even if she had got on my nerves before my mate gene kicked in.
Now, as I sat eating my sandwiches and drinking my coffee, I felt mean and almost broken-hearted that I'd treated my mate this way. I had to make it up to her starting immediately.
I remembered I'd turned my phone off, and so I grabbed it from my pocket and turned it back on. Voicemails and messages came immediately. Unlucky for them I had tracking turned off. They weren't finding me unless I wanted them to.
I dialled into my messages.
"Rex. It's Noah. Look, my friend. You need to come back so we can get an expert in and deal with this mating thing properly. You running away all the time is not the answer and now we've another problem because Roman is having to see a therapist this morning because of you."
Huh, was it my fault he had a drinking problem? Erm, no, it was the satyr way.
Noah continued. "I don't think you realised, but you covered him in earth, laid flowers on him, and pulled the sofa over him. He thought he'd been buried alive, Rex. It's only the fact that you'd panicked Harriet that meant her and Steve could pull the sofa off him quickly, but he's been in a state ever since. He won't even drink right now. That's how bad it is. You need to come back because you caused this mess, so you should help him recover from it. What on earth were you doing anyway? I suggest you drink less for sure."
I didn't hear the rest of his message. I was too busy lying on the ground behind the conifer and laughing. Proper belly laughs that hurt my stomach. As I sat up, I realised how much I'd needed that giggle. I'd make it up to my friend, but just not now. I replayed the message and this time held in my laughter until after it had all played. All Noah had said at the end was for me to please at least text to let him know I was okay. No chance. I didn't know how good vamp hearing was, maybe he could detect the text coming down the phone or something. He was a lovely but conniving sod. It was a shame cos I wanted to text Roman with did you rest in peace?
Eventually, I saw Freya's bathroom window open and I smiled, realising that she was up. I decided to give her a chance to come around and get ready. That was until I heard her begin to choke. My mate was potentially dying.
I kicked through her back door with all my might and thundered up the stairs to find she was perfectly all right. Well, she had been until I'd broken in. Oops.
So now, I was in a local supermarket buying bacon, eggs, and anything else I could think of including some flowers. Freya hadn't seemed very impressed that I'd set out to rescue her. In fact, she'd shouted at me. She had however asked me to take her out for breakfast, which in my book was almost asking me on a date, right? It was another thing I needed clarification on. After finally making my way back to Freya's house, she opened the door to me, and said for me to follow her into the kitchen and take a seat. She looked different. Her hair was in a ponytail and she was dressed in a casual t-shirt and jeans, and unusually there wasn't even a smidgen of make-up on her face. She was Freya unplugged and I loved it. She also smelled heavenly, of mate and toiletries.
"Do you think you could sit back in the seat?" Freya sighed and I realised I'd got up and was sniffing her hair.
"Sorry. This mate thing is very strange to me and I'm trying to behave but it's my inbuilt nature."
She cocked a hip. "I get that and I know it's going to take time to figure things out, but before we talk about any of that, your wolf rules give me a headache. Basically is it right that if I ask you to come out for food, or you make me food, we're basically boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself. Yes, if I cook for you it means I'm showing you I can take care of you and any future babies, but unless we go out on a proper date I think we're okay."
"Hmmm, but then you might say that anyway to trick me."
"Freya. It's taking every ounce of strength I have not to drag you to bed, fuck you senseless and get ready to bite you on the full moon and make you mine. But I want you to want me too; so no, I will not trick you into being my mate. Because you are anyway, you just need to accept it." I sighed. "I don't know what your issue is anyway, you were all over me last week."
"And there is my issue, because you didn't want to know." Freya scowled. "Now your weird mojo has kicked in and you want me. But what if it's some chemical imbalance and when it's corrected you're all 'oh no, I changed my mind, you're a clinger, back off'."
"I'm sorry. I realise I wasn't very nice to you, but Freya, we could have only been a shag, as wolves are destined for mates. The band would have killed me if I'd fucked you given you're Erica's friend, and then dumped you."
"But I wanted fucking, and was more than prepared for being dumped. I just wanted a night with Rex Colton, you dipshit."
"Oh."
Freya started to go through the bag of shopping I'd brought. "So if I cook this food and we eat it, there's no dating going on? We'll not be engaged or anything?"
"You're safe to make me a full English breakfast." And I might have already eaten bacon sandwiches, but I was a wolf with a very hearty appetite.
While she was cooking, the workmen I'd contacted to repair her doors had turned up. I made sure to ask that they gave me a spare key for the back door I'd kicked in. You know, just in case.
And so eating our lunch was accompanied by a man showing his arse crack as he bent down to fix hinges on her new back door. It was okay for Freya, she had her back to him. The guy's arse was almost as hairy as me in wolf form.
"So what job do you do?" I asked her in polite conversation. I should get to know my mate better after all.
"I'm a sales assistant in a jewellery store. I love it. I get to help people find their perfect piece. It could be engagement rings, wedding rings, or they've been left some money by a loved one who's passed and they want a piece to remember them by. It's very sociable, as you need to get to know the client to make sure they get the right jewellery. That way they'll return. They know you're not trying to rip them off just to get a sale."