Jaded Hearts
Chapter 17

Kade

After Matt got up and left the table, I sat back and looked around the room. Xander, Alaia, and Alexi were happily matched up and married with three kids. They had everything they wanted. Matt was probably balls deep in Taylor that very moment, so I’m pretty sure his life wasn’t lacking for anything either.

Here it was, my birthday, and I was all alone with just my friends and family.

I played it cool most of the time, but I did want a mate. I wanted what these guys had. I was tired of sleeping with random chicks that never fully satisfied my needs. That s**t was getting old; I was getting old.

“Kade, do you want anything in particular as a gift for your birthday?” Alaia asked me.

“Nah, what I want you can’t replace in stores. Having this quiet time with you guys is more than enough. Well, that and the cake that’s on the way.”

She gave me a sad smile and placed her hand in mine. She knew what I was missing, so being the person she was, she tried to offer me some comfort. “You’ll replace her, Kade. Just be patient.”

“Yeah.”

I picked up my glass of werewine and tossed it back before filling it up again. I had to at least catch a small buzz—it was my birthday, after all. The appetizers were delivered to the table, and the four of us dug in. Matt and Taylor were still missing, but they’d just have to order something else for themselves.

After a while, I smelled a sweet, intoxicating scent. At first, I thought it was my cake finally arriving, but that wasn’t quite right. This was like freshly baked apple pie. It made my mouth water immediately.

“Is this the birthday party for Kade? I’m Morgan, Taylor’s friend and roommate.”

An angel had just said my name. I had never heard it sound so beautiful, pure, and melodic before. I looked up and into the most alluring eyes I’d ever seen. One was a deep chocolate brown, the other a light hazel. I was mesmerized.

She stood maybe 5’5 and had an adorable heart-shaped face with thick, kissable lips. Her chestnut hair was cut in a long angular bob that brushed over her shoulders, which were exposed to the light and revealed themselves to be a perfect olive shade.

How had I never seen her before? How could such a creature have existed and never crossed paths with me?

“Hi, Morgan! I’m Alaia. It’s really nice to meet you. This is Kade; he’s the birthday boy.” Alaia pointed to me, and when Morgan’s eyes finally locked with mine, the world stopped.

“Mine!” I growled. Before I knew what had happened, I’d launched myself from my chair and had her pinned against the wall.

“Uhm, hi?” she whispered, clearly confused as to what was going on. But she didn’t push me away. I ran my nose up her neck, filling my lungs with her smell and committing it to memory.

She had a sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks and nose, and I promised myself that by the end of the night, I’d know where every single one was with my eyes shut.

“What the f**k is this?!” Taylor yelled behind me.

I couldn’t move, not until I had touched her. I grabbed her hands and held them up over her head, then took a small step back and ran my free hand up and down the sides of her emerald green dress.

When I touched her skin, I felt electric shocks that immediately made my d**k twitch in my pants. I growled low and deep before burying my face in her neck again.

“Uh, T-Taylor? Could you get him off me for a second, please?”

Instead of Taylor, it was Matt who stepped up and tried to pull me back. I growled a warning at him to back off and leave me alone, but he ignored it. “Kade, I’ve done this before, just trust me. Give her a little space.”

He was right, one hundred percent. I was coming on way too strong, and I needed to cool it. I let her hands go and placed my hands on her h**s instead. I took in her scent once more before stepping back and allowing Taylor to rush in front of me.

“Just go take a seat and let Taylor talk to her. She’ll be fine,” Matt said.

I stormed back over to the table and picked up the entire bottle of wine before tipping it up and guzzling it all down. I couldn’t believe it. I’d finally found her, and I had to take my time like Matt. Six f*****g months?

“Looks like the gangs all here now,” Xander said with a smirk.

“Oh, f**k off, Xan.”

He laughed, then slapped me on the back. “Congratulations, and welcome to the club, man. We’re glad you finally made it…”

* * *

Taylor

Oh, shit.

That was all I could think.

Oh. f*****g. Shit.

Morgan didn’t know that Matt and the rest of the crew were wolves. Just like me, she thought werewolves were fairytales, and now she was one’s mate. And a Beta at that.

Oh. Shit.

“Hey, sweetie, are you alright?” I asked, trying to figure out how to explain this to her.

“Uhhhhh, yeah, but what kind of freaky-a*s party is this? You two are f*****g in the bathroom, and then the sinfully delicious birthday boy dry humps me as soon as I walk in? You’ve got some serious explaining to do, girl.”

“Right. So, have you met everyone? Let me introduce you.”

Morgan looked at me and raised an eyebrow, then she walked around me and straight to Kade … and sat in his lap.

“What’s your deal, gorgeous?” she smiled. “Do you like German chocolate cake that much? If so, I’ll make it every damn day if it makes you that excited.”

My jaw dropped.

Morgan, who was proudly single for the last eight months, was openly flirting with Kade while sitting in his lap.

This was some crazy shit.

I heard Kade growl and watched as he wrapped his arms around Morgan and pulled her closer to him. He then pulled her head back and licked her neck, collarbone to jaw.

“Sweet baby Jesus, this is the best party I’ve ever been to,” she whispered.

“Wait! Kade, let her go. I need to explain what’s going on, so she knows before things get too deep. Morgan, look at me. Kade—”

“I’m a werewolf. I’m the Beta of the Blue Moon pack, and the rest of the people here are wolves as well. You’re my mate, and I plan to bury my d**k as deep as I can inside you, as soon as I can,” Kade cut me off.

I couldn’t even speak. Morgan was probably about to run out of here, screaming her f*****g head off. Any second now.

“Okay.”

WHAT?!

“Why did you say, Morgan?” I asked.

“I said okay. I’ve seen Twilight, and you know how I felt about Jacob. There’s no f*****g way these four guys could be anything but werewolves. They’re are too big and muscular and downright sexy as hell. So … okay.” She looked back at Kade and gave him a sly grin. “Kade, Beta of the Blue Moon pack and my supposed mate, let’s do this thing.”

“Uh, T-Taylor? Could you get him off me for a second, please?”

And that was it.

Kade stood up with Morgan in his arms and walked towards the door. “You guys enjoy my party. Sexy eyes and I will see you tomorrow, maybe the day after.”

I couldn’t speak. I just dropped into the nearest chair. “What just happened? And why are none of you freaking out right now?”

Xander shrugged his shoulder and popped a stuffed mushroom in his mouth. “That’s how we do things. You replace your mate, you claim them, then you mate and mark them. Matt’s the only weirdo to wait six months. Most males can’t wait more than six minutes.”

I looked over to Matt, who was grinning ear to ear. “She’s perfectly safe, baby. I can’t say the same for her lady parts, though. Those are about to be destroyed, but the rest of her is in good hands.”

“I really wish I could drink right now.”

The five of us ate our dinner and even had some of the cake Morgan had made.

“Well, even if she wasn’t his mate, after tasting this cake, Kade would’ve made it his mission to get her into bed. This is incredible,” Matt said.

I took a few bites, but I couldn’t enjoy it like everyone else. This was crazy, and nobody seemed to care except me. I literally passed out when I learned that the man I had been dating for six whole months was a wolf, and Morgan just jumped into bed a few minutes after meeting hers. Who does that?

“Taylor, stop worrying. She seemed perfectly happy to leave with him. She wasn’t forced, and she was completely sober and coherent. So, relax, he’d never hurt her. You should know that by now.”

“Fine. But I’m going to need him to climb off her tomorrow morning so that I can make sure she’s alright.”

“That might be a possibility.”

* * *

The next morning, I woke up bright and early to see that Matt had gone to training. That meant Kade was probably gone too, so I threw on my robe and ran over to his side of the floor.

I had no idea which room was his, so I just picked the one at the end of the hall and lightly knocked on the door. I put my ear against it and heard shuffling on the other side, so I was pretty sure I was in the right place.

A few seconds later, Morgan opened the door looking like she’d been screwed in every position imaginable. “Hey, Taylor. What time is it? The sun’s not even up yet.”

Relief flooded me. “Morgan, are you alright? Do you need to talk or anything? I know this is a lot to take in. I wish I had told you about everything before last night.”

She smirked at me, then m****d. I shot up an eyebrow and took a step back. “Hell yes, it was a lot to take it. But I took it; I took all of it.”

Wow.

“What happened to you being happily celibate? Didn’t you say that you didn’t need a man; that you were better off without one?”

She waved a hand in the air dismissively. “That’s old news.”

“Morgan, you do understand that’s he’s a werewolf, right? He can shapeshift into a humongous wolf!”

“By the way he handled me last night, he could shapeshift into an aardvark for all I care. I’m keeping him, and his magic d**k.”

I had to laugh. “What in the hell’s an aardvark?”

“I have no clue, but if it f***s like Kade does, it’s my new best friend. Now take me to the food. I kinda missed dinner.”