*Adam's POV*

I heard her open the door of her bedroom and I put my book away, almost being blown away when I saw the girl in front of me. She was wearing a beautiful black dress that hugged all her curves. And the cleavage it was showing made my pants feel tighter.

I suddenly had to fight with Cade for control. He wanted his mate, and he wanted him now. I managed to hold him back, "Damn, you look good Anna." I spoke.

She twirled for me, and I felt like I could die peacefully, "Thanks." She spoke with a soft smile on her face.

Shit, "Now I wished I could have come along." I spoke. She's going clubbing, where a lot of males will be looking at her. Dancing with her. Cade tried to give another push for me to mark her.

'Cade no. We can't mark her without her consent.' I growled at him.

'What if she meets another guy?' he shot back.

'Then we'll accept it for now!'

'Why haven't you told her about mates yet? This is ridiculous!' Cade snarled.

'I don't want to scare her off you mutt!'

"I can always take you along on the leash." Annabelle teased, making Cade shoot forward again.

I clenched my jaw as I fought with him for control.

'Just let me mark her!' Cade begged.

'No! Stop fighting!' I responded.

"I swear Anna one of these days I won't be able to hold him back." I managed to get out.

She giggled, "Sorry, he's too easy to tease."

I was about to tell her that she was playing a dangerous game when the doorbell rang. She looked at me, "Shift, now!"

I took off my sweatpants and boxers, glad that Annabelle was looking away. This way she wouldn't see the clear boner I had for her. I shifted as I saw her walk over to the front door.

'Behave Cade.' I warned him as I gave him control.

'Whatever.' Was his dry reply.

I heard our mate greet her friends. I had found out that their names were Robin and Fred. I had panicked at Fred, but she told me her name is French and no one can pronounce it. And I was glad to hear the pronoun 'she'.

I looked up when a short girl walked into the room. Her hair was a fiery red and she had a crazy grin on her face.

Fuck.

"Oh my goodness. He is adorable!" she squealed as she saw me. she started jumping up and down and got closer with her hand extended.

Cade growled from the comment and the proximity. Damn mutt has been in the forest for too long and is now not happy with human contact.

"Oh don't you growl at me big boy. I have wrestles cows in my day, I aint scared of a dog." The girl said.

She isn't the smartest one of the group, I figured. I fought with Cade to keep him from biting the girl's head off. It wasn't an easy fight.

"The pet shelter said that he doesn't really like people." Our mate explained and her voice calmed Cade slightly.

"Awww, is our baby boy shy?"

Scratch that calmness he's full on rogue now. Fucking hell this girl should know how badly Cade wants to bite her. He gave another growl.

"How about I get the glasses out." our mate said as she clearly tried to steer the conversation away from me. It worked, as magically, the girl ran towards the dining table and sat down. She was holding a bottle of vodka, which worried me to say the least.

I watched our mate return with the glasses and her other friend, who had been silent before all this, asked how I - the dog - had been so far. Her skin tone was darker than our mate's and the other girl's. Her hair was long and brown, and her eyes were also brown. She smelled slightly weird. Like a werewolf had been close to her recently. Maybe she's friends with one without knowing? She's human for sure, the scent just surrounds her slightly. Maybe she has a mate, she's not marked though.

'Well neither is our mate' Cade pointed out.

'Shut it'

I could see Annabelle smirk. Oh no. "No, he's a good boy. A sweetheart really." She glanced at me and Cade gave her a glare which the minx just returned with a grin, "At the pet shelter they said it was weird that he was so kind to me. We don't really know why he likes me so much over anyone else."

Halfway through her sentence I stopped listening as I saw one of her friends mix her a drink with way too much alcohol in it. Anna seemed to have noticed it too, "Excuse me?"

"Come on hun. You've been teaching all week. Live a little!" her friend said.

Her other friend sighed, "You say that every week Robin."

"Shhh. Usually it works!"

Anna rolled her eyes and took a swig of the glass. Her face scrunched up and I cringed at the sight. "God that doesn't get easier." She spoke.

"Your choice. Just know your dog can't clean up your vomit when you get home tonight." Her brown haired friend spoke.

Oh I could. But did I really want to?

---

Two hours later I was truly panicking. Our mate was clearly tipsy, and her pats have gotten sloppier. Cade had walked over to calm us. Whenever our mate touched us, sparks would follow wherever her skin had been, which felt absolutely amazing. Trying to calm us worked at first, but not so much as the signs of alcohol started showing on her.

What if something happens when she's drunk?

What if a guy comes onto her?

Fuck. I should be the one protecting her.

'Calm down human. You're freaking me out' Cade growled.

'Sorry. I can't help it.'

'Don't you think I don't know that. I would shift and let you hold her back if it wasn't for her friends being here or the fact that she wants to leave.' Cade spoke.

I sighed. This sucks. Maybe I should just introduce myself next week. That way I could join without raising suspicion.

Except for the fact that Anna told me she doesn't want them to know about a guy living in her house. Dammit!

I decided to listen to the conversation again. I had learned who Robin and who Fred was. Robin was the party redhead, and obviously drunk already, while Fred was a lot calmer and took it easy on the alcohol.

"Nah, he didn't have enough stamina." Robin spoke with a slight slur.

"Your standards are way too high." Anna told her with a chuckle.

I swear, all this girl talks about is sex.

"Excuse me, I just expect a man to be able to hold out." Robin defended.

Cade and I let out a snort, which was punished by a pinch in our ear. She did that whenever we did something that wasn't dog-like. It didn't hurt, and it was actually kind of cute.

'Our mate is perfect.' Cade spoke.

'That she is.' I agreed.

"Well then what about you girlfriend? I don't see any guys running around your apartment?" Robin asked my mate, making me stiffen. Anna choked on her drink. Yeah, guys running around her apartment huh? What a concept.

"I'm not looking for a guy, you know that." Anna explained, making Cade whimper in my head.

'Maybe she's just telling her this to keep her off her back?' I tried to cheer him up.

'What if she's serious? What if our mate doesn't want us?' Cade mumbled.

'She doesn't know what we are to her yet. She'll understand once we explain it to her.' I told him.

'Well go ahead and actually explain it then.' Cade snarled at me. He has been trying to force me to tell her, but I don't want to pressure her. She's human, we can't rush this. I might have to do this the human way entirely, the last thing I want is for her to push us away because we forced this on her.

She clearly responds to the mate bond. She feels safe and relaxed around us, I can see it. Even right now, while she's casually petting us, she's relaxed.

I was shot from my thought process when I heard Anna tell the girls it was time to head out. Fred agreed and I heard Robin chug her glass.

"We are not carrying you back to your apartment." Fred warned her.

"Oh you know you love me," Robin responded before I heard her stand up.

Anna gave us a pat on the head and we opened our eyes to look at her. "I've gotta go." She mumbled, her words were slurring too.

We whimpered, but moved our head from her lap. She stood up and stumbled slightly, regaining balance by placing her hand on the table. God she really shouldn't be going out while she's already this intoxicated.

Cade nudged her side and she giggled and looked down at us. "I'll be fine Cade. Don't you worry about me I'm a tough mama!"

It didn't reassure us.

Fred and our mate started to talk about pets and she eventually made her way to the coat rack. I reluctantly watched her put on her coat and open the door. She turned around to look at me and smiled, "Protect the house for me. I'll be back!" she told me.

Cade gave a snort and she waved before closing the door.

We waited a minute to make sure none of the girls forgot anything before we shifted back. I grabbed my phone and texted her.

We'll protect it with our life. Be careful.

She took a while to respond.

Thanks! I will br.

Great. She can't even type properly.

---

We were awakened by the sound of the door opening. I shot up and checked the time. It was 4AM. I must have fallen asleep somehow. Cade and I were set on waiting for her to get home, but we must have dozed off.

Mate of the year award.

I stood up and carefully looked into the hallway, making sure it was actually our mate that came in. Her scent hit me, but it was mixed with alcohol and sweat. She was trying to take off her coat, but she didn't seem too successful in completing the task. I wonder how much she drank after she left.

"Hey." I spoke, making her scream in response.

"Jesus!" she spoke as she held a hand on her heart, "Don't scare me like that." She slurred as she held herself up with the door.

"Sorry." I walked over to her, "Need help?"

She nodded and held her hands out. I chuckled as I took her jacket off.

"I'm home." She slurred as I helped her take off her shoes.

"Welcome home." I replied with a smile.

She gave me a lopsided grin in return.

When she managed to take her shoes of she made her way over to the bathroom and started to remove her make-up. I was impressed she remembered.

"How was it?" I asked. I tried to make out more of her scent, specifically to see if other guys had been close to her. For now, we were all clear.

"Fun. Robin took a guy home. Fred and I just danced and had fun. Basically how all our nights out go." She mumbled as she checked her face to see if all her make-up was gone. She did a good job at it, considering she was drunk.

"That's great."

She nodded, "Yup. Now bye bye. I need to pee." She said as she waved me out the door.

I chuckled and closed it behind me. A full 10 minutes later she emerged from the bathroom again. Only wearing her bra and panties.

"Shit." I mumbled as I looked away from her, trying to reign in Cade and my own desires to mark and mate her right then and there.

"It's not like you haven't seen it before." She giggled. I felt her touch my back, making sparks spread through my skin and making me shiver, "Besides, I've seen you naked too." She spoke, the slurring words a reminder that she was drunk. Drunk means no consent.

"Let's get you to bed." I spoke in a strained voice. She giggled but thankfully followed my suggestion. Keeping my eyes on her face, I helped her put on her PJ's and into bed, relaxing slightly when she was fully under the covers.

"You're really handsome." Anna blurted out.

I grinned, "Am I now?"

She nodded and pulled her covers up over her face to hide her blush. "Yes." She mumbled.

I chuckled, "Well, we think you're beautiful."

She beamed, "Really?"

"Yes. Absolutely stunning." I whispered the final part.

Anna yawned and I shook my head. "Go to sleep Anna."

She smiled at me, "Goodnight Adam and Cady."

"Cady?" I asked with a smirk.

"Cade is cute. So he's Cady." She mumbled.

I chuckled as Cade was grumbling in the back of my mind. I could feel he secretly liked it though. A nickname she made specifically for him. "Goodnight Anna."

She nodded, and not a few seconds later she was asleep.

I smiled at her and lowered myself to her. I gave her a soft kiss on the head, "Goodnight mate." I whispered. She responded to my touch and snuggled against my cheek, making me smile.

I moved back and stood up, giving our mate one last glance before heading to the couch.

She's perfect.

'That she is' Cade agreed.

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Thanks for reading!