The Alpha's Temporary Mate (Fated Match) by Victoria Davies Page A

cared enough to glance over the rail, his eyes would be able to pick out minute details carved into the surrounding buildings, which a human would never see in the dark.
    All his superior senses and he’d still not been able to stop the train wreck this night had turned into. Kieran closed his eyes, his hand tightening on the glass. She’d fit so perfectly in his arms. His witch was an intriguing mix of passion and hesitation. As if she weren’t quite sure how to act but was willing to throw herself whole-heartedly into the exercise. She’d be an eager lover, ready to learn, ready to give.
    He’d taken that desire to want to do her job to the best of her ability and thrown it back in her face.
    Why is hiring a pretend lover easier than finding a real one?
    The words were repeated again and again in his mind. There was only one answer to her question, though he’d be damned if it was a tale he’d share with anyone. Collapsing onto one of the metal chairs, he stared at the dark sky above. He didn’t talk about Lisette if he could help it. Those years had been both the best and worst of all his centuries. When he closed his eyes, he could still picture her bright smile, hear her tinkling laugh. But the good times had never endured.
    As a were herself, Lisette had been dominant enough that their wolves never grew comfortable with each other. For every day they were content, there’d been two where they fought and argued endlessly. But that hadn’t deterred them. A passionate relationship , they’d said. That was all it was. For decades they’d tried to make it work because, while their wolves didn’t like each other, their human hearts loved.
    “Foolish,” he whispered. He should have realized when neither of them felt the urge to declare their relationship under the mating moon that they weren’t meant to be. But every time he’d tried to walk away, they’d end up back in bed. The sex had been explosive, but what he missed all these years later was the way she’d turn so trustingly toward him in her sleep. How it had felt to know when he came home at night the house wouldn’t be empty. The security that any problem could be overcome with enough effort. He’d always thought their relationship was worth fighting for.
    Right up until the night he’d come home to find someone else in his bed.
    The glass cracked in his hand, scotch running over the wounds the shards sliced in his palm. Biting back a roar, he shook the mess from his hand before pulling out the lingering glass from his skin.
    Lisette had been smarter than him. She’d known they would come to no good, and she’d known he’d never be the one to pull away on his own.
    So she gave him a reason to. The only reason he would have accepted.
    Though still technically a member of his pack, she’d left right after their relationship ended. He hadn’t seen her in the century since.
    Like him, she’d never mated in the years they’d been apart. He never learned the identity of her lover, though the man’s face was seared into his memory. Not that he mattered. Only his lover’s betrayal did.
    That had been the start of the one-night stands and the endless parade of women through his life. That was the reason it was easier to hire an actress than to risk trusting another lover the way he had Lisette. Never again would he make the mistakes he’d made with her. He’d been young and foolish in those days, thinking love would solve any problem when all it did was exacerbate them. It wasn’t a weakness he would ever allow twice.
    Except, for the second time a woman was worming her way into his life.
    Chloe had a point, even if he hated to acknowledge it. She would be asked about Lisette eventually, and if he really loved her, he would have confided in her. Her lack of knowledge was a problem.
    But the idea of discussing his past made his wolf long to howl. Lisette was not a topic he liked thinking about, let alone sharing.
    And because of it he’d hurt