Steel: Blue Collar Wolves #3 (Mating Season Collection) by Ronin Winters, Mating Season Collection Page A

well, the screen door slamming shut behind him.
    Steel collapsed back on the couch, his head tilting back to rest on the cushion, eyes closed against the world. In a few more hours, he’d get to sleep, hopefully to dream about her by his side again.
    That was his world right now, surviving the waking hours by taking care of his pack but really only living for nighttime dreams and memories.
    Fuck, Iron really did deserve to be alpha. Twenty years of this and the man hadn’t gone insane.
    The door swung open, and Steel sighed. He loved Iron like a brother, but the wolf needed to back off – and if he said anything about payback, fuck yeah Steel was going to deck him. “Iron, give it up.”
    “Is he trying to collect a debt or something?”
    Steel’s head whipped up, his eyelids popping open. In front of him was five-ten of gorgeous female, long red hair hanging behind her, hand on hip, smelling too fucking good to be a hallucination.
    Steel rose, wary somehow. There were no other noises, no other smells, but it felt like he was about to be jumped.
    Regan crossed her arms in front of her, narrowing her eyes slightly. “That’s the greeting I get? Maybe I should just leave–”
    “No!” Steel leapt the several feet that separated them, his arm reaching for her before he pulled back, still unsure. If he touched her, like hell he’d let her go again, and he promised her the choice. He couldn’t touch her until he knew where her head was.
    After several long moments, she nodded, her eyes leaving his and landing on a large picture of his great-grandparents, taken the day of their wedding. Her voice was stripped down, devoid of emotion. “I called the number. You were right, it was my mom. She left us. Can you believe such an ordinary story began all this? She left her family for her boyfriend. Of course, since her boyfriend was a wolf, she had to do things a bit different, but it all boils down to, she left us for a lover.”
    She was so brave, bearing up under the weight of what she discovered. He ached to hold her, but not until he knew it was what she wanted. “He was her true mate.” Steel kept his voice quiet, so she had the perfect excuse if she wanted to ignore him.
    She snorted, her eyes bright as they rested on his great-grandmother’s face. “She chose the easy way out. She chose the pitiful way out. Instead of being a grown-up and figuring how to make it all work, she poured kerosene over everything and then had the nerve to pretend she wasn’t leaving an inferno in her wake.”
    He couldn’t argue with the truth of that, so he waited for his mate to come to her own peace within herself, at least enough that she could move on with whatever she wanted to pursue today. True peace would take longer, but he’d be here for her each step of the way.
    Finally, she looked at him, her green eyes clear and bright, not with tears but high emotion. “Will you still want me, even if I never take the mating mark? Would you always call me your mate, or would you find someone else?”
    His chest went tight, warmth flooding through it. “I notice you didn’t mention anything about forcing you.”
    The look she gave him from under her brows was exasperated. “Because that’d never happen. Please give me enough credit to acknowledge I know that much about you.”
    “I hoped you did.” The smile grew on his face, because though she acted like it was nothing, the fact Regan treated it so matter-of-factly showed how much had changed in their short time together. “And I hope you do, take the bite. I won’t ever lie about that. But if you won’t, I still want you beside me always. I want you to be my right hand. Guide the pack with me. Protect them with me. There’s no one I’d trust their safety to more.”
    “I’m not saying I won’t.” Her voice held a pleading note within it, though her words were strong and sure. “I’m saying I can’t, not right now. I have to work through some things first.”
    “I