Lone Wolf Pack 04.1 - Bonded to His Werewolf Lover Read Online Free PDF Page A

childish. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. Could we maybe talk about this someplace else? I have a feeling I already ruined our date."
    His mate had obviously been more stressed about this than Nate had even realized. He mentally kicked himself for dealing with the issue so poorly. Already this was going far worse than he'd expected—and that was quite a performance indeed.
    "Okay. Maybe we should talk first, and celebrate later. How does that sound?"
    Val shot him a weak smile. "Better. Makes me think there will be something to celebrate."
    Nate suppressed a wince, since he had no idea if that was the case or not. Truth be told, their relationship was in Val's hands, not his own. But he couldn't debate this here, and while he'd originally wanted to prepare Val for the conversation with gentle reassurances, that had obviously not worked.
    "Give me a moment. I'll be right back."
    He went to see the maître d' and made their apologies for having to cancel their dinner. Since this was a very fancy restaurant—nothing but the best for Val—it wasn't actually very nice of them to depart just like that, but Nate left a generous tip as compensation. Hopefully, they'd return a different time, in a different mood.
    A few minutes later, they were on their way. Since they'd arrived in their respective cars, they had to go their separate ways, which was painful, especially under the circumstances. Nate wished he hadn't chickened out and just met with Val at his place from the very beginning.
    Val was the one to drive off first. Thankfully, his mate headed to his house, which was good for two reasons—it would provide them with the privacy they needed for this conversation, and it meant his mate still wanted Nate close.
    Nate parked in his now familiar spot, down the road from Val's own car. This wasn't the first time he'd visited Val's townhouse, and he'd always liked it. It was spacious, without being ostentatious, and it had a very distinctive lived-in feel. Everywhere he looked, there were signs of Val's presence, of his interests and life.
    When Val guided him inside, Nate's wolf stopped pacing so restlessly, reassured by the comfort of their familiar surroundings. But then, Val turned toward him, fixing Nate with piercing, unrelenting eyes. "All right. You've been hiding something. I can tell. No more beating around the bush. Whatever you want to tell me, I can take it."
    Despite his previous resolve, Nate didn't immediately leap into the conversation. "You know I love you, right?" he asked instead.
    Val's breath caught. "I... I... Uh..." He shook off his obvious surprise and said, "Then I take it you don't want to break up with me."
    "Of course not. There's just something I haven't told you about myself, and it's pretty serious." Nate stepped back and braced himself. "Just promise you'll hear me out and not panic."
    Val's face went studiously blank, but he nodded. Perhaps after the scene at the restaurant, he'd decided to give Nate the benefit of the doubt. Taking comfort in that, Nate toed off his shoes and started to take his clothes off.
    Val cleared his throat. "Not that I don't appreciate the free show, but I thought we were going to talk?"
    His voice came out a little breathy and squeaky toward the end, since Nate chose that exact moment to shove his jeans down. His cock was half-hard simply because of Val's presence, and it was only the seriousness of the circumstances that kept him from going completely erect under Val's gaze.
    "We are," he said. "After I show you this. The thing is, baby, I'm a werewolf."
    His mate eyed him skeptically. "A werewolf. Is this some kind of joke, Nate? If it is, you're going to have to work on your sense of humor."
    "No joke. I'm a werewolf, and this is strongly connected to why I've held back from taking things further. You deserve to know."
    Val looked like he wanted to say something else—possibly another argument about the impossibility of a werewolf's existence—but Nate