Just the Way You Are Read online

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2017 Angelique Voisen

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-362-9

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To my readers, I hope you enjoy the first book in my new series.

  JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

  Determined Mates, 1

  Angelique Voisen

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  After pressing the elevator button to Mac’s floor, Abel King gave himself a once over through the reflective surfaces. He let out a heavy sigh. Even the suit he’d recently bought with a portion of his salary couldn’t successfully hide he’d gained a couple of pounds. Mac kept dropping hints he preferred Abel more buffed up, but Abel didn’t exactly have the time to hit the gym lately.

  He stared at himself a little, wishing he was … well, more everything. Abel wished he was better looking, although he looked mediocre. Perhaps he could have more ambition. Mac kept pushing at him to try for promotion in the pack, instead of settling with being one of the pack’s common soldiers. Enforcer status maybe, but Abel never liked unnecessary violence and besides, he didn’t think he had what it took.

  Well, he could make an entire list of what Mac wanted in an ideal mate, but way to go to deflate his ego. At least the bouquet of flowers and box of pricey Swiss chocolates helped. Last week, Mac had seen the chocolates at a recently opened chocolate specialty shop at the mall.

  When Abel had seen the price tag, it nearly gave him a heart attack. One box could fund a week’s worth of lunches, but he got them all the same, because he wanted the best for Mac. As the dominant wolf in their relationship, Abel was the protector and provider. At least in theory anyway.

  The other werewolves in the pack constantly made hurtful jokes that wounded his pride, making his wolf wanted to tear out their throats. They didn’t understand him and Mac. Mac didn’t string him along, and he wasn’t a sucker. They loved each other, and tonight, he planned on asking Mac to accept his mate mark.

  Abel had a feeling Mac would accept this time around. Things were going good. Abel was on his way to a promotion, at his day job at the security firm anyway, and he’d already been in contact with an agent about a place in a nice neighborhood.

  The elevator doors pinged open. He strolled out, inserting confidence in his gait. Mac would like that. Reaching Mac’s door, he rang the doorbell. Mac opened it minutes later. For some reason, he had a nagging feeling Mac liked making him wait sometimes. Probably a figment of his imagination.

  “Oh, hi, Abel.”

  Mac could, at the very least, sound more enthusiastic seeing him.

  Abel’s heart sank, seeing Mac was still in his boxers and nothing else. “You haven’t dressed yet?”

  Mac frowned. “What? Why? Are we going somewhere?”

  Abel shoved his angry wolf aside. Lately, the beast seemed unhappy with Mac, and Abel had to remind the wolf that he was one lucky bastard. If Abel was mediocre, Mac was a catch, an attractive Omega who could’ve picked any handsome, more high-ranking wolf of the pack. Instead, Mac had settled on Abel. Sometimes, Abel wondered if he was dreaming, because never in his wildest imagination did he imagine attracting someone like Mac.

  Mac was so put together and knew exactly what he wanted.

  Abel tried for patience because he had serious plans for tonight. Mac and he had been together for a year now, and it was time to move forward. After a little romance in the bedroom, Abel intended to give Mac his mating mark—given Mac would accept.

  He could already see their amazing future playing out. Maybe after few months, they’d get married. Put some kids in the picture, although Mac claimed he didn’t like kids, that as a male model, he didn’t want to have any stretch marks from pregnancy.

  Abel knew he could change Mac’s mind. No one said no to pups. They really could create amazing offspring together.

  “Our date. I told you, remember? We have a reservation at that fancy French place that recently opened in town.”

  Mac turned up his nose. “That place was popular a month ago. It’s no longer hip. Are those for me?”

  Before Abel could answer him, Mac snatched the box of chocolates. Mac yanked at the ribbon, tossed the cover away, took a bite, sighed and then set it down. “I don’t see what’s the big deal about these chocolates. You can have the rest of them, or give them out to your coworkers at the security firm.”

  Mac’s flippant attitude was too much sometimes. Abel’s good mood deflated. “What’s wrong with you? Did you forget today’s our one year anniversary?”

  Mac crossed his arms to regard him. Mac certainly looked like a gorgeous male model cut-out from a fashion magazine, blond, blue-eyed and slender, but Abel was starting to realized it was all plastic. The outside didn’t equate to the cotton inside.

  Maybe Abel known that for a while now, but he’d kept quiet, told himself Mac had settled for him, that at least, he no longer spent his nights lonely. That wasn’t true either. Mac had begun to lose interest, and fast. Instead of spending most of their time together, they saw each other once, twice a month. Even during pack meetings, Mac made it a point not to sit together and chose to sit with the other Omegas instead.

  “You know, keep complaining like that and we’re not having sex.”

  Abel stared, stupefied, and yet the pathetic part of him wanted to apologize and beg Mac to reconsider. Mac looked him up and down and sneered.

  “Actually, I’m certain no one’s getting any tonight. Didn’t I tell you that you need to lose a little weight, Abel?”

  Abel gritted his teeth and tossed the flowers aside. “Does it give you pleasure to keep giving me deprecating comments?”

  “Since when did you grow a spine? It’s actually kind of hot.” Mac licked his lips.

  “I’m sick of this, Mac. We have issues to fix. We should sit down, talk things through.”

  “Assuming there’s things to talk about,” Mac said drily. “I’m bored, Abel. I’ve stuck with you for twelve months, and I think I’m done.”

  Those words felt like a direct punch to his gut.

  “Done?” he whispered, as if he couldn’t quite believe the words. Something had snapped inside of him, and his wolf surged to the surface. He held the beast back, even those he was certain his eyes had bled to yellow.

  “Yeah. You can get your things during the weekend. I have a job at Portland.”

  He growled, unable to help himself. For most of his life, Abel held onto his control, prided himself on it. His deceased parents had raised him to be a respectful, but firm man. Always in control of the animal in him. His mother would have been appalled to know what he let himself become.

  Abel had let himself go, had become consumed by his obsession to keep this facade with Mac running, because calling this a relationship was a joke.

  “That’s a sexy sound, Abel. If you keep your clothes on, want to have one last goodbye fuck?”

  Abel should have walked away, should tell Mac to go screw himself. Yet all those lonely nights he’d spent alone haunted him. In the pack, none of the submissive wolves gave him a second look. Abel wasn’t as aggressive like the others, and his boring looks and di
sinterest in rising up the pack ranks didn’t help.

  Some would even say he hadn’t been alpha enough. He looked at Mac’s smirking face with open hatred, but he didn’t know when the next time he’d have sex either. Shifters needed touch to survive, and his inner wolf had been denied of touch and affection for long.

  Even though Abel knew he’d hate himself the next morning, he said, “Fine.”

  ****

  Abel woke with the sun on his face. He opened his eyes, feeling groggy. Rubbing at his eyes, he wondered where he was. Had last night gone well? He reached for his wolf, but the beast remained alone, not tethered to anyone else. Then it hit him. Nothing had gone as planned, and Mac had revealed his true colors, told Abel they were done.

  He clutched at the bedsheets, Mac’s sheets. He growled under his breath. Mac’s scent still lingered in the room, in the bed, on his skin, but he could sense the Omega had left. Abel dragged himself out of bed. He couldn’t even recall what happened last night.

  Abel had gotten himself drunk, and so did Mac. Then they’d fallen onto each other and the bed. The sex wasn’t even that good, just more of the same drunken pawing at each other. It didn’t help that his head hurt and he was still wearing the stupid expensive and crumpled suit. Without Mac there, he didn’t need to contain his temper, or fear he’d hurt the Omega. Growling, Abel tore at his clothes.

  How fucked was he, that he’d even agreed to sex last night, even after the shitty way Mac treated him, had been treating him for months?

  “I’m fucking pathetic,” he whispered, staring at the tattered remains of his clothes.

  One thing was certain. Abel needed to get out of there. Memories swam at him, and he knew for a certainty that in the next few days, depression would drown him. For now, he let anger ride him. He got off the bed, rummaged through Mac’s drawers. Mac usually reserved one drawer for him and yet none of his spare clothes were there.

  “Fuck.”

  Abel checked the others, but they contained only Mac’s things. Mac kept some of his clothes at his place, too, but Abel couldn’t recall the last time Mac had spent the night there. Pissed, he looked thorough Mac’s clothes and found all his clothes dumped into a supermarket bag at the foot of Mac’s closet.

  “What the hell?”

  He ripped it open and put on a pair of jeans and a shirt. They were a little snug, tighter than he last remembered. How long had Mac being planning on ending their relationship? For a while now, it seemed, because his nose also caught an unfamiliar but distinctively male scent in the closet.

  Abel pawed through the hangers, finally halting at an unrecognizable, checkered, buttoned-down shirt two sizes too big for Mac. He sniffed, snarling. The shirt smelled faintly of pack. Christ. Was Mac cheating on him, too? He took the shirt and tore it for good measure, too, before leaving the room.

  Abel had to leave, get some fresh air before he did something else he would regret. He didn’t want to see Mac for a long time and then remembered there was weekly pack meeting this Sunday. Abel silently seethed. In the living room, he found the flowers he’d dropped and the box of uneaten chocolates. Since Mac didn’t appreciate them, he swiped them before slamming the door shut behind him.

  He stormed out of Mac’s apartment building, still furious. The flowers went to the trash, but he gave the chocolates to the homeless guy living by the building.

  “What the fuck is this shit?” the guy asked.

  Apparently, no one appreciated good chocolates anymore. Abel took a ten out of his wallet, passed it to the homeless man, and walked away.

  Anger sustained him for another ten blocks, until he finally reached his own place. He took the stairs all to the way to the tenth floor, although he stopped several times. By the time he reached his door, Abel panted and sweat covered his front and back. God, he was so unfit. When he’d told Mac he worked at a security firm, Mac was disappointed to learn he worked at the firm’s accounting division.

  He was so pathetic, no wonder Mac left him.

  Abel knew feeling sorry for himself wasn’t helping anyone, but he’d had his heart broken. Abel had the right of it. He entered his apartment, looking at the place. How many times had he imagined moving into a bigger place with Mac, a place to fit a family?

  Now, Abel had to bury those dreams and learn to live the rest of his life, miserable and alone.

  Chapter Two

  Tommy Doyle nearly collapsed on his way to the gym’s showers. He practically dragged himself over to the benches and kicked off his shoes.

  “Jesus,” he grumbled under his breath.

  Tommy knew he wasn’t in the best physical shape, but the last thing he wanted was to let down his older brother Steve. Tommy and Steve had only moved into town a few days, after being granted permission by Butch, the Alpha of the River West wolf pack, to be on their land.

  Steve had been a pack soldier in their old pack. The old Alpha of the Blue Mountain pack only let Tommy join the pack because of his brother. He was essentially, dead weight, a male Omega who couldn’t give birth because of a flaw in his genes wasn’t worth much to any pack. Male Omegas were counted on to carry the next generation of shifters, but Tommy had been tested several times—he was barren.

  After the Blue Mountain pack disbanded—there were so few of them anyway, and the Alpha couldn’t hold the territory—he and his brother traveled from place to place, hoping to find a pack to take them in. Werewolves were social creatures by nature, needing a strong pack behind them. No one was willing to take them in either, because Steve insisted Tommy had to come with the package, too.

  Steve was a decent fighter, not dominant enough to challenge enforcers or comprise other wolves in the pack, so the packs who interviewed them showed interest, until it came out Steve came with a crutch—him.

  It was three days since their interview with the local pack. Tommy knew it was futile, trying to work out to seem more capable than he appeared, but he’d always had a slender build since he was a teenager.

  Some might consider Tommy’s blond hair and blue eyes, his looks, an asset, but an Omega who couldn’t do what he was meant for—bear children, wasn’t good for anything but a fuck and goodbye. Steve adamantly refused Tommy to be anyone’s fuck buddy though, telling him often enough he deserved better.

  Tommy knew Steve was only being nice. He was about to head to the shower when he heard two men enter the locker room. His skin prickled, his Omega wolf warning him these strangers were werewolves, dominant males to steer clear of.

  He bit his lip. Steve had told him he was free to walk around town. Instead of sightseeing, Tommy had signed up for a one-time session at the local gym. In hindsight, it was a reckless decision. It was unlikely Tommy would buff up in a span of an hour. All he did was run himself ragged on the treadmill and for what?

  Tommy never liked running, even in high school, and he sure didn’t feel any better. Tomorrow, this pack was going to reject their application again and all thanks to him.

  “Look what we have here. I noticed you on the treadmill, pretty Omega,” said a voice.

  The speaker was a dark-haired man in his thirties. The werewolf flashed white teeth at him, but Tommy was distrustful of strangers. An Omega bore one of the lowest ranks in the pack, and other wolves didn’t think of them much.

  He’d spent most of his life needing Steve to help him fend off unwanted attention. If only he hadn’t been born an Omega, dead weight constantly dragging his brother down. He always insisted to Steve he could protect himself, but Steve was applying for a job interview, far from the gym.

  “You new in town? I understand our Alpha Butch’s been inviting new wolves to town because we’re expanding. What’s your name?” the second werewolf asked.

  “Tommy,” he said, saying nothing else. “Excuse me.” He began to head towards the men’s showers, but the two wolves blocked the way.

  “That’s rude, Tommy. You seem like a pretty little thing. Be nice to us and we’ll make sure you get a place in the
pack,” drawled the first dark-haired werewolf.

  Tommy hesitated. His wolf screamed at him to get away from these two, telling him they were too dangerous to play with and he didn’t exactly have the strength to face down one, let alone two dominant werewolves.

  “Sorry, I appreciate it, but my brother’s waiting for me.”

  “Your brother an Omega, too? Is he as pretty as you?” the second asked, showing teeth.

  He shook his head. “Steve’s a fighter.”

  “Aw. That’s too bad. I don’t think he’ll mind it if we show his cute brother around, won’t he?”

  “I—” He was running out of excuses. Tommy wore no mate mark, so these two knew he wasn’t taken. “I’m sure you guys are nice, but I’m not interested.”

  It was the best he could do, but it seemed his answer was the wrong one, because the dark-haired shifter snarled, losing patience. The dominant male approached him, eyes ringed with yellow, the guy’s animal on the surface. “Listen here, you idiotic little cocksucker. No one says no to me, or my buddy Trent here. You want to join our pack, then prove how willing you are. Suck our dicks.”

  “Didn’t you hear him?” A new voice added. “He’s not interested, so leave him the fuck alone.”

  Tommy turned his head to see his mysterious savior. At six-foot-three, this new werewolf was imposing, another dominant male with short black hair and narrowed brown eyes with flecks of yellow in them. The stranger might not be as buffed as the other two. He was on the slightly chubby side, but even at a glance, Tommy could sense the newcomer’s fierce and powerful wolf. Instinct told him he was more lethal than these two.

  Tommy didn’t understand why he stepped closer to his savior or explain why he felt safe around this stranger.

  “Abel, that you? Fuck, you’ve gotten fat. No wonder we haven’t seen you at the gym lately,” sneered one of the bullies.