I remember the first time I saw Ruby the day she walked into the bakery wanting to buy it. It was my great-aunt Claire’s for over twenty years, but selling it was the right move. When Ruby opened the door, a warm breeze followed her, bringing her scent right to me. It was then I knew I’d found my mate.

Gray Ridge, Colorado is a small town but an old one. We happen to be situated near a national park that gets a lot of tourists throughout the year, but normally outsiders don’t move here. We never give them the chance to own property, only selling to other shifters. My family along with a few others have been here for generations. I know everyone who has ever lived here, and if I don’t know them, I make it my business to find out who they are. Most people think we’re just a tightly knit community, but in reality we are a commune of shifters living as a family pack.

The day I smelled Ruby, I knew she was mine. That’s how it works with our kind. Mother Nature brings you your fated one, the one person meant to be yours forever. My father told me I would know it when I smelled the one. She would be mine the second I looked at her; a part of me I didn’t know was missing would click into place, and he was right. My wolf knew instantly that Ruby was the one. I sat at the table in the bakery with three lawyers from our pack as she bounced in with her red hair and thick curves. I’d seen her get out of her car, and it made my wolf sit up and take notice. I was interested before I even knew she was the one, but once the door opened, my wolf went crazy, clawing to get out. It was something that had never happened to me before. Sure, when I was young my wolf would sometimes strive to get out for a fight but never like this. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I had control of him, probably because I didn’t.

I knew I had to get out of there as fast as I could. My wolf wanted out, and every second I was close to her was another second closer to my wolf breaking free. It wasn’t the full moon for another three weeks, and if I was with her and couldn’t mate with her, the pain would be excruciating. Just that brief encounter had my stomach cramping, and the ache in my cock was crippling. I felt as if I’d been punched all over my body all at once, but at the same time I was horny as fuck.

It’s not unusual for my kind to mate with a human, but it sure could make things a whole lot harder. My great-aunt Claire was a human, but for some reason I never thought my mate would be one. Another shifter would understand the pull and understand what was happening to them. A human couldn't fathom some of their body’s reactions to someone they didn't even know. I’m told humans still feel a pull, just not as acute as a shifter. They will if you take them, but until the mating, it’s not as intense. Releasing semen inside a human female will make them go into heat and crave to be mated, something that can’t be done until a full moon.

What I really didn’t expect was to feel so protective and possessive of a human I’d barely spoken ten words to. Ruby is weaker than our kind, and she wouldn't be able to protect herself like a female wolf could. At least not until after the mating and she took on some of my shifter traits. She’d never fully shift, but she wouldn’t be completely human anymore. No, she’d be part me, and that thought only makes my cock harder.

I can’t stand the thought of another male looking at her, so I put the word out among all the locals to keep away until the mating moon. I say that I ‘put the word out’, but really I went door to door, threatening death to anyone who so much as looked at my mate. I may have gone overboard seeing as not only all men but all women have steered clear of the bakery. Soon, I tell myself, soon.

I step out of the shadows and walk across the street. I enter the bakery, hearing the bell ring above the door. I see Gwen smiling brightly at me out of the corner of my eye, but my eyes are on Ruby. The moon is almost full, and the painful need to mate with her is running through my body. But how do you tell someone who isn’t a shifter and who isn’t aware of our world what’s going to happen to them?

She scowls at me, and my wolf rises in my chest, loving the challenge. I want to dominate her, take her to the ground and hold her with my teeth until she submits. My beastly urges are pressing forward, but I have to rein them in. I can’t do this out in the open.

“Coffee,” I manage to get out, watching as Ruby comes up to the counter. The little red apron she has on doesn’t cover up the curves behind it. She’s got on a knit dress that molds to her shape, and it makes me lick my lips. I wonder if she’s wearing underwear under her dress.

“Sheriff Wolfe.” She says my name as if she’s mad at me, and maybe she is, but her body isn’t. I can tell by the way she leans towards me, trying to reduce the distance between us. She probably doesn’t even realize she’s doing it, but her body knows she belongs to my wolf and me. The subconscious desire probably pisses her off too. She wants me but doesn’t understand why.

She turns to grab a to-go coffee cup and fills it up. When she passes it to me across the counter, I’m careful not to touch her. If I touch her, I’m not sure what will happen. I wouldn’t be able to fuck her because it could trigger her heat, but my wolf would love to bite her and mark her. Now. Maybe just a taste wouldn’t hurt. I could lick her pussy. My wolf growls at the idea of finally finding out what pussy tastes like. I bet hers would be as sweet as she smells.

The shifter males have it the worst. Your dick can’t get hard until it finds its mate, so until then your body has all these urges and wants, but you can’t do a goddamn thing about it. It’s why male shifters are always looking for their mates. When you find her, your cock finally gets hard for the first time. But then it’s even worse because you can’t cum. No matter how many times I stroked my hard cock nothing would come out.