Hook, Line, and Mated Read Online Free PDF Page B

chair across from him. Easton had never done anything like what he was about to do. He’d always kept his distance, and kept his business his own. He was good at making sure that wall around him was in place, not letting anyone in.
    Once Jason was sitting down the two males looked at each other in the eyes, the air thick. “How are you getting through with not being able to claim your mate?” Easton just came right out and said it, and when Jason lifted a brow, the surprise clear on his face for a second that he’d had balls big enough to just blurt it out, Easton felt like a bastard.
    “Excuse me?” Jason asked, his eyebrow cocked, and the scent of defense coming on strong.
    Easton breathed out, ran a hand over the back of his head, and leaned forward. He rested his forearms on the worn wood, hating that he was prying, but willing to do whatever it took to make this work with his female. And since she didn’t want a mate right now, or maybe she couldn’t emotionally handle it given the scents she threw off, he would go right to the source and ask Jason since the male hadn’t claimed his mate either.
    For several long seconds all Jason did was stare at Easton. The silence was thick, the wall the other male put up strong.
    “Listen,” Easton said and sighed. “I wouldn’t be asking you unless I didn’t know what the fuck to do.” Easton never admitted to being weak, certainly wasn’t physically, but he never showed a chink in the shield he had around him.
    It was safer to make sure people stayed back and kept their distance. It wasn’t as if he’d had a bad childhood, wasn’t as if he’d been beaten or neglected. None of those things had happened. He was just the way he was, and that’s all he would ever be. But after seeing his mate, knowing she was hurting for some reason, he wanted to be there for her, not just claim her, but really be there for her. It was hard to want something so much, to desire someone so much, and not even know her name. But that’s how fate and finding one’s mate worked, and there was no going back.
    “I don’t know how much help I can be, Easton,” Jason said after he inhaled deeply. He knew the clouded leopard was taking in the scents Easton threw off, scents that he didn’t bother hiding.
    “I don’t know what I could tell you to help you out. It’s no secret I’ve found my mate but haven’t claimed her.”
    Easton nodded after Jason spoke. “Yeah, and that’s my problem. My mate basically said she doesn’t want the mating, at least right now. I don’t know why, but she was upset, and not just because of how we met.”
    Jason lifted a brow, but didn’t ask Easton to elaborate.
    “The only advice I can offer is if she needs space give it to her, no matter how painful it is to stay away. If you push it you’ll ruin what you could have with her.”
    “Damn, it’s hard,” Easton said in reply.
    Jason nodded and looked down at the ground. “Yeah, Easton, believe me, I know.” When the clouded leopard lifted his head there was a lot of raw emotion on his face. “But I have to deal with my own shit. Does my animal want my mate? Of course. But will I push her, especially after everything she’s gone through?” He shook his head, and the self-anger came through like a battering ram. “I’d spend my whole fucking life just spending time with her, not even have claimed her, if that’s what she wants. It’s all we can do.”
    Easton knew Jason was right, knew that he couldn’t push his mate, no matter how much he wanted her. He didn’t know if the serval cat shifter had been hurt like Annabelle, Jason’s mate, but it didn’t matter. Pushing her could mean she closed off from him altogether. She may always have the need to be with him, the desire to mate and be claimed, but she was strong enough to say “fuck him” and what he wanted with her.
    “Shit.” He breathed out and leaned back in his chair. “I am on unfamiliar ground here.”
    Jason gave him