Never His Mate: a Rejected Mates Shifter Romance (Claws and Fangs Book 1)

Aleks had my necklace made especially for me last year, right after I decided to give staying in Muncie a try. He insisted I wear it, and though the wounded wolf I was back then flinched at the idea of accepting jewelry from any male, I eventually relented.

The chain gleams in the moonlight as I pat it. I don’t like to make it so obvious that I’m wearing it, but sometimes that can’t be helped.

As a shifter, I can’t wear anything made of silver, so the chain is pure gold. The links are tiny. Dainty. The shade is darker than I like, considering it reminds me of Ryker’s eyes, but beggars can’t be choosers. Aleks assured me it best served the charm hanging off the chain, and it was a vampire tradition to use a necklace that suited its intended.

I’m sure he knows best. Because the charm? It’s a fang, and, like the gold links, it’s very, very real.

It’s also one of his.

The first night we met—after he sent the Nightmare Trio scurrying, and I picked my jaw up out of the dirt—my future roommate snapped off both of his canine fangs. It was his way of assuring me he was harmless. It was also completely unnecessary. Despite the way he claimed me with that hissed ‘mine’, I could sense he was no danger to me. I went along with it anyway since it obviously made my gallant knight in fang-y armor feel better.

By the time I accepted his gracious offer to stay in his apartment permanently—be platonic roommates with our own space and no expectations—his fangs had already grown back. He’d only been without them for three days which was more than I needed to get a decent read on him.

He was a good guy and, it turns out, a good friend.

So I agreed, and he commemorated my staying in Muncie by taking one of his fangs and turning it into a necklace. At first, I thought it was creepy, but it didn’t take long before I understood the meaning behind it.

In Muncie, anyone wearing a charmed fang is protected from any other vampire. It’s a sign that we have one of their kind looking out for us, that we’re not to be messed with. In my case, something that Aleks did to this charm makes it so that my true scent is hidden. It also keeps the other vamps in town from picking up on my shifter nature. So long as I don’t shift in front of them, I seem as human as the next chick.

Because, yeah. He wasn’t kidding when he told the Nightmare Trio—my name for the three female vamps who tried to attack me my first night in town—that I was his.

Of course, he didn’t mean what I initially thought he meant. He didn’t want to drain me, and he didn’t want to fuck me. My roommate has a bit of a savior complex. When he saw Gretchen and her followers ready to attack, it didn’t matter that I was a shifter or a female. I was outnumbered and, to his gentle nature, that just didn’t seem right.

So he claimed me. And, with his fang, he branded me. Any vampire who saw me wearing it knew instinctively that I was under the protection of Aleksander Filan.

Basically, I’m off-limits.

So I wear the necklace because I know it makes him feel better. At first, he wanted to make sure that no one gave me trouble. And, honestly, this sucker has saved me from getting into more fights than I count. When someone looking for trouble sees the fang, they keep on looking.

Of course, I’m not a complete idiot. I know fangs like these have another meaning. It’s why Hailey is desperate to get one of her own. Wearing this fang is a sign that Aleks really does consider me one of his.

And, these days, it’s exactly as it sounds.

A few months into our friendship, Aleks confessed that he had feelings for me. By then, I had told him about as much of my past as I felt comfortable sharing, so he knew all about Ryker and the way he rejected me. Because of that, he told me to take my time, and that if I ever decide to return his feelings, he’d be waiting for me.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Like I said, vamps are really super patient.

For now, he’s my roommate and my closest friend. I’ve never really had one of those before, so it’s nice. He does so much for me, too, that the last thing I want is to get him in trouble with Roman because I got in a scrap with another shifter.

If I can sense them, they’ve got to be near. Which means, if I want to avoid them, I’ve got to be going.

My hand slides up to the fang again, clasping it securely like the pass that it is. I know I’m going to catch the attention of my neighbors if I start jogging the rest of the way so I decide to hold it out, make it noticeable. Humans will think it’s a weird accessory, while vamps will recognize it and let me go on my way undisturbed. It’s a win-win and⁠—

Crap.

The chain hits my hand with a soft slap. I yanked the damn thing right off of my neck.

One downside to shifter strength, I suppose. With my wolf on high alert, warning me away from the unknown shifter scent, I lost a little control. The golden chain is so delicate, so finicky, and… ugh.

That’s the… what? Third time recently that’s happened?

I click my tongue and shove the necklace with Aleks’s fang into my pocket.

It’s one thing to show it off. But if I accidentally drop it, what happens then? I can get the chain repaired—again—no problem, but I don’t want to have to ask my roommate for another one of his chompers.

He’s already done more than enough for me.

I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being followed the whole way back to my apartment.

Technically, it’s Aleks’s, but he insisted that I call it mine after I decided impulsively that I’d take the spare room he was offering me. I countered that it could only really be mine if I was contributing. A gentleman through and through, Aleks refused—which led to him getting his first lesson in dealing with an alpha wolf who was finally free to be herself.

I had a job at Charlie’s by the end of my first week in Muncie, I paid Aleks my portion of the rent with that first paycheck, and I’ve happily considered my room my own personal den ever since.

I stay on alert as I quicken my pace, but if someone is following me, they’re good. The unfamiliar shifter scent always stays just out of reach, and maybe if I were anywhere but in Muncie, I’d follow it back to its source. I can’t, though. I’ve worked too hard to make a life here, hiding in plain sight of the pack’s mountain, and I’m not going to let some unknown wolf mess it up for me.

Just in case they’re closer than I think, I pass the front of our building, cut through an alley, and approach it from the back. There’s a long, steel fire escape that connects the balconies on each level of the twenty-floor building. Each tenant—nearly all of them vamps—owns their own floor. The twelfth floor is Aleks’s, and he’s lived here for the last forty years.

I try not to think about that. Like, logically I know my vampire roomie is centuries old, but it makes my head spin when I focus on that tidbit too closely. I’m only twenty-six, a mere baby compared to him, and I get that I’m a fully mature adult, but it’s still a little… weird to me that my bi-centennial buddy is interested in fucking me.

If I didn’t think it would ruin our friendship when I can’t quite reciprocate his feelings for me, I might take him up on that. But since I’d much rather have a true friend instead of just a friend with benefits, I purposely shove that idea out of my head.

It’s eleven flights from the ground level to our balcony. I scurry up them, hoping that no one is watching me go, leaping when I reach the last stair.

Aleks leaves the balcony door open for occasions just like this. Considering this is a vamp building and everyone on our block knows Aleks, we don’t have to worry about anyone breaking in. It… it’s just not done in a Fang City. But on the few occasions I shift and need to get back inside of the apartment and he’s not here, he keeps the balcony door set so even a blonde wolf can shove her way inside.

Since I’m still in my skin, I use my hand to push the door open.

Aleks is sitting on the couch, glasses slipping down his nose as he reads his book.

I wave in greeting. “Hey.”

I know for sure that Aleks picked up on my arrival as soon as I set foot on the first rung of the fire escape. Not because of me, but because of his fang. He’s in tune with it, and even with it stuffed in my pocket, he can sense it and know where it is. He’s not rude, though. Instead of staring at the balcony, waiting for me to pop up, he continued to finish his page until I made my presence known with a greeting.

Once I did, he sets his book aside, lips curving in a welcoming grin that has my stomach going tight—and it has nothing to do with the hint of his fangs biting into the lush bottom one.

I have to brace myself whenever I look at him straight on. He’s too pretty and, even after knowing him for a year, I tend to get a little drool-ly when he catches me unaware. Between his flawless pale skin, his carelessly tousled caramel-colored curls, and a stunning pair of light green eyes, he’s otherworldly.

It’s not his fault. He’s a vampire. Snaring his prey is part of the job description. When Aleks turns his attention on you, you feel like the only person in the whole damn world. He can talk you into anything.

A sip of blood? Anything you say, Aleksander…

Good thing he’s never tried that on me. I mean, I’d probably let him feed, but when I came around again? I’d rip his dick right off, and since he’s hopeful that he’ll get to stick it inside of me sooner or later, I’m pretty safe from his vampire lure.

One good thing about being myself with Aleks? He knows I’m a wolf, and he knows I don’t bluff. When I threaten his dick, I mean it, and maybe it’ll regenerate like his fangs do, but he’s not about to test that theory.

I don’t blame him.

“Evening, Gem,” he says, a smile that’s charm-free but still pretty fucking irresistible. I’m glad I braced myself. “Tea’s in the kitchen for you. I’m glad you’ll get to drink it hot tonight.”

His voice is cultured. Relaxed. Now that I know him, I catch a hint of his accent—Polish, I’ve discovered—in even the simplest of sentences; around those he trusts, he lets down his guard enough not to consciously work to cover it.

He’s in a good mood, I notice, though that’s nothing new. On nights that I make it back before he has to go out and patrol for the Cadre, he’s always pleased.

I try not to read too much into it. “You’re the best.”

“Mm.” He pauses for a moment. “I noticed you forgot to drink it last night.”

Oops.

“I meant to, but I passed out while watching my show,” I tell him. “I guess I didn’t need it, but I’m looking forward to some tonight.”

Aleks’s tea is one of the traditions we’ve built together since I moved in. It’s technically a chamomile tea, and the first few times he made it for me, he said it was to help me relax so that I could sleep. Having spent my whole life living in a pack—the Western Pack, Lakeview, Mountainside—I was used to the quiet of a rural setting. Living in a city was a huge adjustment for me. If he thought the tea would help, I was willing to try anything—after he swallowed it first, of course.

Even though Aleks has always been honest with me, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling me about the tea. He brushed me off when I asked, and that just pissed me off to the point that I refused to take another sip.

And that’s when he admitted that it was a chamomile blend. And that blend? It was designed to help hide my scent so that the other vamps didn’t figure out that I was a shifter.

Of course I freaked the fuck out. He said scent, and I started to think he was doing something to my wolf. I shifted right in the middle of the kitchen just to prove to myself that I still could, then shifted back to test that ability next. I forgot that non-shifters treated nudity differently than we did in the pack, and I showed Aleks all of my goods in the heat of the moment.

Surprisingly, he shrugged off his own shirt, giving it to me to cover up since I was in no state of mind to realize why standing in the middle of a stranger’s kitchen butt-naked might be inappropriate. I’d only known him for one week at that point, and I was still licking my wounds from Ryker’s rejection.

I understood why I needed to hide out even more than Aleks did, but still. I refused to pull the shirt on until he fully explained his blend and I understood that he was only trying to help me.

Since then, I’ve had a cup of tea every night almost religiously, and Aleks hasn’t been able to convince me to get naked in front of him ever again. I used to tease him that he wasted his only opportunity, but when he came clean about his feelings for me, it didn’t feel right to joke any more.

Though the fang is supposed to cover me, I’m grateful that the chamomile tea gives it a boost. In case I forget to wear the necklace or—oops—I break it, I’m still protected.

As I head into the kitchen, grabbing the still steaming cup of tea that he has set out for me on the counter, I feel a bit like a dumbass. So what if I thought another wolf was tracking me on my way home? Even if they were, they wouldn’t know I was there; at least, not by scent. If they saw me? Yeah, I’d be screwed, but only if they recognized me. And since I’ve done a total one-eighty since anyone in Accalia has seen me last…

I got spooked for no reason. Worse, I snapped another chain for no reason.

Aleks knows it, too.

He’s wearing a slight frown when I walk back into the living room, carrying my mug.

“Something happened to your necklace.”

He’s blunt, but I don’t think that has anything to do with his being a vamp. Or maybe it does. He’s been alive so long that he doesn’t see the point in wasting time beating around the bush, and he usually doesn’t bother.

The first time he pulled that trick with the fang necklace, I was suspicious. But then Aleks explained that while just showing off the fang acted like my golden ticket, I had to be wearing it next to my heart for it to really work. Some kind of Cadre magic, just like the chamomile blend and the bite bandages. I just went with it because he obviously knows what he’s talking about.

With a wince, I pull it out of my pocket with the hand not clutching the mug. “Snapped another chain. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I just thought you decided to take it off.”

“Nah. It was an accident.”

“I’ll have another one for you by morning,” he promises.

I don’t bother trying to tell him that I’ll take care of it myself. I’d only offend him, and I know he’ll do a better job. Quicker, too. He doesn’t like me going without it for too long, and if that’s the one thing he asks of me—apart from drinking the tea—I’ll do it.

“Thanks,” I say, tipping it into his outstretched palm.

“No worries. As soon as I finish tonight’s patrol, I’ll take care of it.”

Vamps own the night. In Muncie, they own everything, but especially the night. It’s when the more powerful vamps patrol the perimeter, which is why Aleks is on the dark squad.

Unlike what pop culture would have you believe, he can go out in the daylight, too; slather on some SPF 500 and he’s free to step out in the sun. It just weakens him the same way that prolonged exposure to silver does to one of my kind. Without a powerful Cadre-made sunscreen, he’d burn, and it would be a total shame for anything to happen to that beautiful face.

“What about you?” he asks me. “Are you done for the night?”

I nod, blowing on my tea. He must’ve finished brewing it for me right as he sensed the approach of his fang because it’s still too hot to drink. “Yup. Early night because Charlie wants me behind the bar all weekend, but I’m not complaining. I was gonna go make something to eat. You want some?”

Vampires survive on blood, but I’ve seen Aleks eat real food on occasion. Nothing too heavy, and maybe it’s cocky to admit that he seems partial to my cooking, but we usually sit down and eat together when I’m off and he’s not needed to go out on patrol just yet.

It’s so good to have a meal with a male and not have to worry about the meaning behind it. In the pack world, food basically equals sex. The Alpha couple get first kill, or first pick at any meal when we’re in our skin. Courting couples use food to show their interest in one another. I learned from a young age not to accept food from a male in case it meant you were telling him you were into him, too.

With Aleks, dinner is just dinner. I appreciate that.

Not tonight, though.

With an apologetic shake of his head, Aleks says, “I wish I could, but Roman heard from one of the sunset spotters that there might’ve been a break in the border earlier this evening. He has the full overnight patrol coming in early to check it out. I just wanted to wait until I talked to you first before I met him.”

Talk to me? What for?

A break in the border only refers to supes. Humans are free to come and go as they please, but vampires have to be invited.

And, as I discovered last year, shifters never get an invitation.

I try not to look too concerned. “Shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Rival vamps are always trying to sneak into Muncie.”

Aleks reaches out, laying one of his chilled hands on mine. As a vamp, his body temp runs a lot lower than mine does. I must feel like I’m on fire compared to him, but—especially lately—he will take any opportunity to touch me.

I’m… probably going to have to do something about that sooner or later.

And maybe I would, if it wasn’t for the gentle way he pats my hand as if he has terrible news to tell me.

Oh, wait.

He does.

“Dominick didn’t pick up on a rogue vamp, Gem. He found wolf prints leading into Muncie. Big wolf prints.” He waits a moment. “Shifter tracks.”

I close my eyes.

Why am I not surprised?