| B R A D E N|

The door was slammed in Braden's face as soon as the soft-spoken word fell from his lips. His jaw dropped slightly. At first he thought it was his shy little mate who had reached out and closed it. The angered hollers of the mother told him otherwise. He tried knocking again, but no one opened the place up.

     Braden waited an hour on the doorstep, wringing is hands, pacing back and forth, knocking on the door a couple of times.

In fact, he waited there all night in the cold. Waiting for someone to let him in. He couldn't just abandon his mate. He didn't even know he was going to have a mate until a couple hours beforehand, but he did know the basics.

Mates are different between different animals. Some, like wolves, have bonds so strong with their mates that they can not physically go on without one if they lose them. They don't feel these bonds to their mate until after their 18th birthday, usually. Other animals, like many in the feline family, form bonds with their mates after going through with breeding with another. Then there were some weres that didn't have mates. An example of this is animals with only a small amount of males at the head and a multitude of females that they mates with all at once. Like cattle and lions.

There were, of course, many other types of mate interactions, but these were the most common. There was also the whole male were carriers that were able to bear children, but that was complicated. It was a genetic mutation that was quite rare, but ran in families. Braden wasn't too educated on it, but he knew the were pack he was doing business with had a mate who was a carrier.

All that information was besides the point. Braden was mostly in shock, trying to comprehend how he had a mate... He wasn't prepared for it at all.

Throughout the entirety of his life, he knew he would be used to breed with other cattle in herd to make more. It was his main job. He wasn't even supposed to be the so called 'leader'.

He never expected to have an actual soulmate to call his own and to care and love for. He never expected to love one partner and one partner only. Cattle were all closely knit with polyamorous relationships. He had always been okay with it as a young boy, but now things were different.

      How was he supposed to support his herd now? Their population was going on pretty strong, but they only had a handful of males who were fertile. Braden was expected to be the prime contributor to having their population grow. With his new, fresh faced mate in the mix, even the thought of touching another being revolted him.

He wanted Conner. No. He needed Conner. Without him, he just... he didn't even know.

    So he waited until morning, not getting a second of shut eye. He stared up at the house. It looked more like a town home that was being rented, but it was still fairly nice.

    At some point, he contemplated breaking in and just kidnapping Conner. Then he realized he was actually going insane without seeing his mate.

     Members of his herd called him many times, but he never answered. He just sent a quick message in the group chat that he fine, just busy. He didn't want a stampede of angry cows to come tromping through and tear down the small town that mainly consisted of werewolf shifters and humans.

     At approximately 7:20 am the next morning, the woman Braden identified as his mate exited the threshold of her home. When she saw Braden, she let out a frightened scream, clutching her purse to her chest.

     She was dressed in a dark blue dress and a beige trench coat. She had on black heels and a shocking amount of lipstick. Her hair was pinned back as well. Braden assumes she was leaving to go to work.

    He stood in shaky legs, offering a broken smile. "Hello. My name is Braden Strauss. I didn't catch your name before?"

     She sneered at him, spitting at his feet. "Get off my property, you f*ggot! I'm giving you ten minutes before I call the police!" She waved her cellphone in the air as she threatened him.

    Braden was not impressed. "Ma'am, I just want to speak to your son. We are mates. You can call the police all you want, I'm sure they'll side with me."

She fumed. "You are not mates! My son is not some gay cracker that wants to go off with some n*gger!"

Braden tensed. So... she was not only homophobic, but it seemed racist, too. Her horrific slurs were starting to bother Braden. "I would choose your next words wisely."

She squinted at him. "What are you going to do if I don't? Go b*tching to my alpha? I'd like to see you try, f*cking low life."

Braden gave a dry chuckle. "I actually already have a meeting with him planned. It would cause me no trouble to mention to him about members in his pack having no respect for the leader of the Apollo's Cattle. He probably wouldn't be too fond of your sexuality shaming either, considering he himself has a male mate. I'm sure he would deal with you accordingly."

The woman paled considerably. "Liar. You don't know Alpha Emerson."

"Want to test that theory?" Braden challenged. "Or would you move aside so I can go talk to my mate?"

     They stood there for a moment, glaring at each other. It was a fight for dominance. In the end, Stacie was the first one to look away. She reopened the door to her home, hanging her head in defeat.

     Braden sidestepped her, slowly entering the townhouse. "Where is he?" He asked.

"Upstairs. Second door on the left," she responded quietly before closing the door behind her.

Braden climbed the stairs cautiously, his heart thumping in his chest. What if his mate didn't want him? What if he was rejected? What if his mate just didn't like him at all?

     Wave after wave of anxiety about the whole situation crashed down on Braden, but he persevered, edging closer and closer to his mate.

     The sound of singing could be heard from his room. It was an entire choir of voices, all singing in harmony. It was some doing written by Beyoncé or one of those big artists. Braden thought it was a bit too... cheesy-sounding for his taste. He vastly preferred some nice soothing country music. What? He liked the rough voices and acoustic slices of heaven.

He knocked on the closed door, crossing fingers as he awaited a response. He heard a heavy sigh and the volume of the music was turned down. "What more do you want, mom?! I'm not going to school, I'm not leaving the house, and I'm not going to be stolen away by some big black dude!"

     Braden frowned, cracking the door of his room open. "Are you sure about that?" He said, poking his head in through the door.

    His breath was taken away yet again. His mate was... beautiful in all senses of the word. His body was fit and strong with lean muscles and tanned skin. His dirty blonde hair looked as soft as silk, even thought it was arranged like used mopped sat on his head. His green eyes practically glowed, framed by dark lashes that naturally curled. He had a smattering if freckles across his nose and cheekbones. His lips were a light pink that could have been sculpted by the gods. They just beckoned Braden in for a kiss.

Braden wasn't in control of his body anymore. Some unknown force was pushing him forward. Pushing him to go and claim Conner as his own. He had no restraints. Hell, he was ready to go all the f*cking way. The image of Conner bent over his bed as Braden rammed into him just about made Braden cream his pants.

Conner scrambled back on his mattress. "Oh f*ck, f*ck, f*ck! How the h*ll did you get in here?" He exclaimed, his voice rising an octave.

     Braden didn't respond, just crawling over toward him. He grasped his jaw with one hand and his waist in another before crashing their lips together.

    It was paradise. Nirvana. Heaven on Earth. Elysium. Everything Braden didn't even know he needed.

    Their lips moved together, molding together. The sensation sent shivers down Braden's spine and he couldn't get enough of Conner's magnificent fact. Fun fact: cows have a great sense of smell. They can smell odors from 6 miles away.

    Conner let out an earth shattering whimper as Braden traces the seam of his lips with his skillful tongue, slowly rutting against his thigh. He gasped, his mouth opening for Braden's taking. His tongue flicked along the inside of Conner's inner cheeks and the roof of his mouth as they fought for dominance.

Braden took control without much effort and Conner's head tilted back in submission. Conner moaned and trembled as Braden's hands traveled up and down his body. The kiss lasted for a millennia and only for a handful of seconds at the same time.

When the kiss was finally broken, Conner laid back, panting hard. Braden groaned at the arousing sight as his pants tightened even further. He reached for the edge of Conner's baggy shirt, aiming to tear it from his body.

     "Wait! Stop it, you- you motherf*cker!" Conner wheezed, shrinking away from Braden.

    Braden stopped in his tracks, sliding off of his mate as he stared at him. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I just- I don't know!" He pulled at his hair.

     Tears collected in Conner's eyes. "What are you even doing here? Is this a dream?" His voice cracked, as did Braden's heart.

     "No, I'm real. I just came up here to talk to you, and... I saw you looking like that and lost control..." Braden was so busy freaking out over his actions he didn't notice Conner slowly creeping away from him.

    "Lost control? You just about raped me, you disgusting pedophile! You're lucky I didn't tear your throat out!" Conner spat. He was all bark, no bite, even Braden could see that.

     "Tear my throat out? Baby, what do you mean-" Braden lifted his head to meet Conner's gaze when he stopped.

     Conner was gone. He had slipped out the window while Braden babbled on.

Did I just update twice in a week? What the f*ck. I loved all the comments you guys left me, it makes me so happy! So comment some more if you wish, maybe share with some friends, and vote? It's all up to you.