Chapter 7

(Isabella’s POV)

I felt my body freeze. Contract mate?

“I’m willing to work with you, Isabella, but only if you agree to become my contract mate and appear whenever I need you,” Santiago says.

Nausea hits my still frozen form as the anxiety rolls through my body like waves at high tide.

I don’t understand what he means. He seems disgusted by me, but yet he wants me to meet his sexual needs? But he just said no physical contact.

And then there’s these butterflies that appear to move into my stomach every time he gets near me. I..I can’t. Jesse betrayed me. It’s too soon…I’m not ready.

“No. I’m sorry. I’m willing to work with you, but not as a contact mate.”

“His scent is divine,” my wolf argues in my mind. “If he wants sex…agree!”

Calm down horn dog, I scold her.

“All I need is a contract mate. If you’re not willing, then there will be no cooperation at all,” Santiago says.

At that moment, I look up at the giant screen by the street. It’s livestreaming the engagement ceremony.

I didn’t expect Jesse to go through with it in that much pain from the rejection. But he pushed himself through the event despite it all.

There’s no time left to stop it.

Tears sting the corners of my eyes as I move my gaze away from the screen back to Santiago’s icy blue orbs. “I’ll agree to be your contract mate. Can you help stop this engagement ceremony?”

Santiago pulls out his phone and calls the priest and the hotel. He tells them to stop providing any services to Jesse.

Everything on the livestream stops, almost instantly. “I didn’t expect you to be able to resolve this with one phone call,” I say looking back at him wide eyed.

Santiago’s lips curve upward into a genuine smile.

Just when I thought this man couldn’t get sexier. Lines form beneath his stubbled skin with just a trace of dimples. The icy blue hued eyes almost shine, like Christmas tree tinsel in the light.

“Don’t be surprised. You said yourself…I’m better than Jesse. Now, can we talk about the contract?”

We walk over to a coffee shop. He surprises me yet again by asking what I’d like. He then orders and pays for our drinks. I follow him to a table off in the corner, where he pulls my chair out for me.

I say nothing, just quietly sit and stare at him as he sits down across from me.

He furrows his eyebrows as he scoots up to the table, “What, why are you looking at me like that,” he says.

“Mixed signals is all,” I say.

With a raised eyebrow he sits back in his chair and asks, “Mixed signals?”

“Well, first you reject me by dumping your beer on my head. Then you reject my proposal to work together and throw me out of your office. Yet you showed up here, rescued me? Only to shed my hand once no one could see us, like I have leprosy. And here we are, where you buy me coffee and pull out my chair…like a gentleman. Sorry, guess I am just processing.”

“I am a gentleman. Listen, Bella…I do apologize for being rough with you. And, we have both been hurt, by the same people. I know the pain they’ve caused you…because I have felt it too…every single time they cheated through the mate bond, we endured the same stabbing, throbbing pain.”

He called me Bella. Only my wolf calls me that. Anyone else, I correct instantly. But I…I don’t even mind.

My wolf whispers, “Let him call you Bella.”

He looks across at me straight in the eye as he speaks. His words are true.

I instinctively reach for his hand resting on the table. The moment my fingers touch his, a jolt of electricity pulses through me.

We both jump. Our eyes meet.

His scent wraps around me. Touching his hand sends electric currents through me. The butterflies flutter like mad. This is bad. He is trouble.

My wolf paces and howls. She wants more. She wants to shift. She wants him to shift.

His eyes widen…He laces our fingers and holds my gaze for just a couple of heartbeats…before yanking his hand back and looking away.

He clears his throat, changing the subject. “Let’s finalize the terms.”

After a few heartbeats he brings his stare back to mine.

I smile, “Okay. What terms do you have in mind…oh, before you tell me, you should know…sex cannot be a term. I’m not the type of woman you thought at the hotel.”

Drugs or not, that man had you plenty aroused at the hotel. You and I both know what could have happened if he hadn’t stopped things, my wolf chastises…and you should admit he could have us now, if he were to try…

Shut up, I tell her.

“There is no expectation of sex. In fact, there will be no sexual relationship at all. We will live separately. You must agree to appear whenever I need you,” Santiago says.

Vague…

He tilts his head smiling slightly as his gaze sets on my lips. He grabs a napkin and dabs it at the corner of my mouth, wiping away foam left there from my latte.

“And in return I will provide convenience for your investigation. I’ll help you take back your pack,” he says/

The butterflies calm down after he touched my face, thank the Moon Goddess.

I nod, “I agree to these terms.”

“Great. I’ll prepare the contract. You cannot continue to stay in the forest in rogue territory. I texted a contact from the Elder Council. You have permission to stay on your pack’s grounds temporarily. Can I drive you home?”

“Jesse and Layla have already moved into my pack house. I can stay with my friend, Ariana. I’ll give you her address.”

“Can you trust this Ariana?” Santiago asks with if I didn’t know better I’d say concern on his face.

“Yes. Ariana’s parents were my parents’ Betas. We have been best friends since we were babies. When I can take my place as Alpha, she will be able to claim her birthright to the Beta position of the pack.”

“Okay. Text her to let her know.”

He takes his phone out and my card which I can’t help but notice is bent and cracked.

He’s still carrying that around….

I text Ariana.

“There, I texted you as well. Please save my number. Let’s get you to Ariana’s,” he says.

As we walk to his car, he rests his hand on the small of my back. I’m barely able to keep from squirming under his touch as my wolf howls and claws in excitement in my mind.

Will you please relax. He’s putting on a show for onlookers, I tell her.

On the way, I ask “Do you have any evidence of Jesse and Layla’s affair?”

He straightens his arms and clutches the wheel, “No.”

“I just thought since you and Layla divorced because of infidelity that you might…”

“I don’t keep dirty things like that. Look, I will provide you with investigative support for your case to help you regain your status and pack back, but I won’t waste energy in helping you gather evidence.

I knew going into this that he isn’t going to help me easily. I just nod and drop the conversation.

We pull up in front of Ariana’s house and I get out of the car. Santiago doesn’t even undo his belt. The second my door closes, he drives off without hesitation at all.

I cough as the exhaust hits me in the face.

“Self-centered prick,” I curse under my breath.

Ariana greets me with a hug. She made a big dinner, and we caught each other up to speed on all the shit going on.

I tell her I’d like a shower and ask if she has any pajamas I can borrow, since Jesse and Layla took all my stuff.

“Oh, sure you can,” she tells me, “but your guy’s Beta stopped by with a ton of clothes for you just before you got here.”

“He’s not ‘my guy,’” I remind her.

She shows me to my room and sure enough, he sent me clothes.

How’d he guess my size?

I take a hot shower and wash my hair. As the water runs down my body it relieves all the tension my muscles have been carrying.

Around midnight I am ready to sleep. I fall quite literally into the delightful cushy memory foam and the world goes black instantly.

I’m awakened to my phone ringing. Through blurry vision I read the time… 2:00 AM.

I see six notifications that I missed phone calls…All from Santiago. I guess I slept so hard it took me that long to hear my phone ring.

My voice sounds like gravel vibrating in my throat as I answer, “Hello?”

“Come to my place. Now.”