Mr. Red Riding Hoode: Poconos Pack, Book 2 by Dana Marie Bell Page B

be the death of her. “No, silly. Even if Ben changed you, he can’t mate you. The enzyme for mating only releases with the person who is our mate. No one else. You can’t force someone to mate.”
    “So if I said no?”
    She winced. Ouch. The last thing she wanted to hear was that he was thinking of denying her. “I would walk away, and Rick or Ben would bite you.” She’d die inside a little every day until she went feral, but she would give him what he needed.
    His eyes narrowed. “So you’re saying that either way I’m going to wind up wolfing out.”
    She nodded. She didn’t want to lie to him, not about something as important as this. “Rick accepted you. It’s inevitable. The only thing that isn’t is our mating.”
    He contemplated her for a moment, and she just knew he was turning everything over in his head. “Will it hurt?”
    “The bite, you mean?”
    “No. Wolfing out.”
    She smiled. That was an easy question to answer. “It’s more like flowing into something new. It’s…indescribable. There’s no screaming agony, no crunching of bones. Just a pleasant tingle.”
    That seemed to ease Steve. “Anything else I should know?”
    “You’d be under Rick, subject to his commands, like every other Wolf in the Pack.”
    “I figured. Anything else?”
    “Ah.” She tugged on the end of her ponytail. “There’s a mild side effect of the mating bite.”
    He sagged. “I knew it.”
    “You’ll get so horny you’ll be blind with it.”
    He cleared his throat and sat up straight again. “So…I’ll jump anything that moves and hump it like a dog.”
    Chela growled. “No. You’ll only hump me.”
    “If Ben bites me?”
    “That bite would be different. It’s only a changing bite, not a mating bite.” She shrugged. “It will hurt, but you won’t wind up chock-full of lust either.” And if that was the route he wanted to go, she’d allow it. He’d feel the pull once his wolf woke up, and they’d be mated later rather than sooner.
    Now that the mate dreams had started, she didn’t think she’d be able to keep away from him. She just prayed he didn’t want Ben to change him, that he accepted she was the one who was going to give him the bite. So she played her last card and hoped it worked. “Do you want Ben kissing your neck?”
    The way his eyes went wide would have made her laugh again if this weren’t the moment she’d been waiting for. She held her breath, praying with everything in her that Steve chose her.
    He stared down at his half-eaten steak, his expression grim. His emotions were all over the place, making her dizzy. But when they finally settled down, when his blue eyes finally met hers again, she nearly sagged in relief. He’d made his decision.
    Steven nodded once. “If you’re telling me the truth, then I’d rather you bite me.”
    Chela stood. She could barely keep the smile off her face. “You won’t regret this.”
    He grimaced. “There’s a lot of questions I still have, but…” He sighed. “Ben has never once hurt me. I have to trust in that, if nothing else.”
    That wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped to hear, but she’d take it. She’d work on winning his heart after he’d accepted the bite.
    She was patient.
    She opened her mouth so he could watch her fangs grow in. She wanted him a part of this, to see everything that was about to happen. Her eyes changed, going over to her wolf’s. Her vision changed as she lost the red-green spectrum. His red shirt now appeared to be deep mustard yellow, but his blue eyes darkened, sharpened. His blond hair appeared lighter, almost white.
    He looked ethereal yet strong, a fairy warrior come to life just for her.
    “Holy shit. What big teeth you have, Grandma.”
    She wasn’t fooled. The sight of her fangs had made him fearful again. “This won’t hurt, I swear.”
    “You can say that, but you aren’t the one facing the fangs.”
    She tried for humor once more. She shook her head and tsked. “Just