Dan's mate - Howl in the Night 3

Chapter 2 - Joachim discovers he has a mate

I changed the picture for the cover.  It is my mental image of Steph.  The other image was Shanna but I realized this chapter was more about Dan and changed it.

Dan had greatly enjoyed the evening with Steph. They had finally gone to bed and he had done his best to pleasure her only to have the tables turned on him. She had taken over much to his surprise and had teased him almost to the point of shifting. If she had taken much longer she might have been somewhat startled... He could see that ending in a bad way since he was enjoying getting to know her. Even now Mari was still giving him the occasional dirty look when Steph's name came up. It amused him though not to the point of hurting Mari or Steph.

At the moment he was about to drift off to sleep. Steph was curled up to his side with an arm across his chest and her head resting on his shoulder. Dan's arm was curled around her with his hand resting on her hip. As he drifted off to sleep there was a satisfied smile on his face. It was rare for a human female to be able to both excite him and push him so close to the edge. The last one had been many years ago.

How long he had been asleep he wasn't sure when he jolted awake. In the back of his mind his wolf was growling slightly. He was sensing other were's nearby and they were getting closer. When Dan rolled out the bags he came up with one of his heavy pistols. He didn't give a damn that he was nude, only that they were were's and he had a human in the tent. If it had been one of his pack he would have known but these weren't. On top of that there were several of them though he knew they weren't anywhere near his dominance level.

When he stepped out of the tent he was growling slightly. Now that he was outside he lifted his nose and scented the air and frowned slightly. They were not rogues but he was scenting several different types of were's. One was definitely a lycan but a second was some sort of cat. The third he wasn't sure of at the moment. "Show yourself or you will regret it." His voice was low since he was trying not to wake Steph. As he spoke he clicked the safety off the pistol. Yes he had human's discover what he was in the past but he preferred to do it in his own time.

It took a few moments for the three to come forward and Dan had to raise an eyebrow. He was right in that one was a wolf. The second was a panther of some sort, and the third looked like it might be some sort of bobcat. What really startled him was that of the three he could tell that only one might be an adult. The other two were too small to be adults and based on the scent they were juveniles as well.

The Panther glanced at the other two and then at Dan. She met his eyes before lowering them. The other two simply looked at his chest. They could feel his power and that was what had drawn them to him.

Dan met the Panther's eyes and was pleased when she looked down. That showed that she had at least some passing familiarity with wolves. The other two were obviously feeling his dominance which was good. He sighed since he couldn't talk to them mentally at the moment since they weren't pack. If he tried to force contact it could cause them problems down the road. With a sigh he spoke quietly again. "Panther shift so I can talk to you. Be quiet since I have a human with me."

Since he didn't know the female he turned and reached into the tent and carefully grabbed his shirt and shorts. He pulled the shorts on and once she was shifted he tossed the shirt at her. His eyes had carefully evaluated her and though she was slender she wasn't nearly as malnourished as Mari had been. He could see her ribs somewhat but other than that she looked to be healthy and in decent shape. He already knew they weren't rogues and wanted to know why they were there. "What are you doing here? This is my territory."

The Panther caught the shirt and pulled it on and almost had to smile since as large as it was it hung down to her knees. Once she had it on she looked at him. "We were coming to see either you or the Pride leader Alpha. We have heard rumors about your taking in young were's. We have also heard good things about the local Pride Leader." She looked down and kept her eyes lowered. "We don't have a pride or pack any longer and came to see if one or the other of you might accept us." She was barely over eighteen and had been responsible for the other two for several months.