It was a relief.
All wolves ever wanted was to find their soulmate. The one person destined to be theirs for all eternity, and she’d been tutoring his son for months. Whenever he talked with Tyson, he listened to his son drone on about how unfair his life was. He rarely talked about his beautiful siren of a tutor.
He should have gotten his son to talk more. Yet, how could he have known?
“How can that even happen? Won’t you, like, break her?”
Xander growled. “I would never hurt my mate.”
“My mother would be pissed if she could see you now,” Tyson said.
“Son, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but your mother and I were never mates. We shared a moment together, that is all. Neither of us loved one another in that way.” He’d never lied to his son about what he shared with his mother. They were not a love match.
She’d been extremely competitive, and at the time, Xander had thought that was fun. It took him raising a baby to realize there were many more things to do with life than have fun.
“Has Willa not proven herself to you to be a good person?” Xander asked.
“Yeah.”
“Has anyone else in your … life or circle not shown that not all humans are bad?”
“They killed my mother.”
Xander laughed. “You foolish boy. Do you really think over seven billion people all crowded around your mother and killed her? Hunted her down?”
Tyson’s lips pursed.
He shook his head. There was no point in arguing with his son. “Maybe you’re right. Higher education is not worth yourtime, but then, neither is being an alpha, because you sure don’t have any qualities.”
“What?” Tyson stood up. “How can you say that?”
“If you cannot take your judgment and resentment and deal with it by not hating every human because they’re not of wolf blood, then you are not fit to take my place as alpha.”
Xander was tired of arguing with his son. It was a constant conflict between them.
“Dad, you don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly. You don’t have what it takes to be an alpha, to be a leader. People look up to and depend on someone to lead fairly and justly, and that’s not you. You’re right. Quit. That’s not what a leader does. Run away. Stew in your own bitter resentment that has been bred for eighteen years, that has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you. I never pointed the finger. I always told you clearly what happened. I hold no anger toward the whole human race. That is reserved for the men who killed your mother, that is all.” Xander shook his head.
He was done with this conversation. Without another word, he grabbed his keys and headed out of the hotel room. He had to meet Willa at the restaurant, which he didn’t like doing.
Wooing her was going to take time, which he didn’t have. Being around a mate was a volatile experience, and he’d need to constantly keep himself in total control. He doubted Willa would appreciate him tearing her clothes off and fucking her body all day and night.
She was a human.
He was essentially a stranger to her.
By her scent, he could tell she hadn’t been with a human in a long time, if at all, but his senses had been messed with as there were so many humans around.
Willa could be a virgin. He doubted it but fantasized nonetheless. Her body was made to be taken, to be fucked. He couldn’t wait to get her naked, to spread her out across his bed, and to feast on every single inch of her lush body.
Xander arrived at the restaurant in record time. He spoke to the maître d’, who saw him to his table.
She hadn’t arrived yet. He arranged for the most expensive bottle of wine. The lighting was low, and he had made sure to call ahead to arrange for this to be the perfect romantic setting.
Glancing at the time, he saw he still had ten minutes to wait.
The moment she entered the restaurant, he scented her. He closed his eyes and sighed, breathing her in. His wolf was on high alert. The maître d’ escorted her over and he immediately stood, wishing everyone in the restaurant disappeared.