The Friendly Girl's Guide to Mating with a Werewolf

Book 4: Mate Hunted

by Lola Glass

Genres: Romantic Fantasy; Urban Fantasy; Shifters

Synopsis

I brought my friend's housewarming present to the wrong place. A grumpy werewolf answered the door, and shifted into a massive wolf.

Apparently, we're mates.

And apparently, my mate doesn't like cake.

Who doesn't like cake?

Sugary goodness aside, he's bitter and jaded.

I'm... well, the opposite.

So when he says he doesn't want to be with me, I give him space.

But for some reason, he can't stay away.

He wants me more than he wants to, and as long as he's treating me right, I'm not going to turn him away.

Because he says he doesn't want a partner, but honestly?

I think he's lying to both of us.


*This is a short, spicy romantic novella with a happily ever after

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Release date: December 10, 2025

Print pages: 143

Sample

one

EMMY

“I’m not going to see a werewolf,” I told Zoe through my car’s speaker, slowing to a crawl as I peered down the dirt road. It looked like I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but I was headed toward the map pin Stella had sent me. My phone was in the pocket of my pink lounge pants, but I’d already checked to make sure I was going to the right place five times. I was. It was just in the middle of nowhere. “You might not see them, but they’re going to see you,” my best friend said. She was at home, grading some of her students’ work. Unlike me, she had more than a full load of classes. Her department head seemed to be testing her with the sheer amount of work he gave her. She was up for it, but it meant she was much busier than I was. I didn’t mind. I was a sucker for free time, and didn’t particularly like teaching college students. The overly-decorated congratulations cake on my passenger seat proved that point. It kind of looked like a wedding cake. Which fit, because Zoe and I were pretty sure that on top of Jade’s new job, she’d gotten herself paired up with one of Moon Ridge’s many werewolves. We weren’t positive they existed, of course. We hadn’t actually seen anyone change forms. But there didn’t seem to be any other explanation for what had been going on with our friends for the past few months. The werewolf rumors around campus were pretty detailed about how women got abducted by wolfy guys and fell in love with them, too. “I guess there’s always a chance I’ll get lucky and one of them will shift in front of me while I’m out here,” I said, reaching a fork in the dirt road. I looked both ways. “Do you remember if Stella said it was the third house after turning right, or left?” “I wasn’t there for that conversation, Em.” “Oh yeah.” Crap. “I definitely remember her mentioning a fork, though.” “Did you find it?” “Yes.” “There can’t be that many houses out there, right?” “I don’t know. I don’t have werewolf connections.” I pushed my tangled blonde curls out of my face. It had been raining all day, so my hair was frizzier than usual. No amount of product helped tame it when it got like that. Then again, I didn’t really try that hard. There were better things to do. Like making not-wedding cakes. “Just pick one. If you go to the wrong house somehow, I’m sure whoever answers the door will know where to send you,” Zoe said. “True. And I might get lucky. They might be a werewolf.” “Yeah, this could be your chance,” Zoe teased. I debated for another few seconds and finally turned right. “If a sexy werewolf guy answers the door, I should probably pretend to faint or something to get his attention.” Zoe snorted. “You’ll have his attention, Em. You’ll be on his porch, with a cake.” “Good point. Maybe I should offer the cake in exchange for him making me his werewolfy bride or whatever.” “I think the word you’re looking for is mate.” “Assuming werewolf books are accurate.” “It’s not a safe assumption,” Zoe agreed. I silently counted the houses as I passed them. One… Two… They were cute, in a rustic way. Raw wood, green paint, and lots of windows. Not my style, but I could see werewolves enjoying the look of them. “What do the houses look like?” Zoe asked. I’d figured she would be curious. She’d wanted to come with me, but she was swamped with work. “Cabin chic.” “Is that really a design style?” I laughed. “I don’t know.” It had been a minute since I passed the last house. My gaze swept the barely-lit forest, until⁠— There. House three. I slammed on my brakes, throwing a hand out to hold the cake dome in place on my passenger seat. My big, fuzzy cardigan-style sweater moved with my arm. Like my pants and the bralette I was wearing instead of a top to keep the nips from breaking free, it was pink. They were three different shades, too. “What the hell was that?” Zoe demanded. Oh, nothing. I just accidentally passed the house.” “You are a truly horrible driver.” She’d always hated the way I drove. That was probably another reason she had turned down coming with me. I threw my little SUV into reverse and backed up, before pulling into the driveway of the house. “That’s rude. Anyway, I’m here. Send sexy werewolf wishes in my direction.” “I’ll send the wolf dust through the phone.” “As you should. Love you.” “Love you too. Good luck. Tell Jade the cake’s from me too.” “You wish.” She laughed as I hung up. We both knew I’d tell her the cake was from both of us, even though Jade and the rest of our friends would know I was the one who’d made it. My congratulations cakes were legendary. I checked my eye makeup in the mirror. Jade wasn’t going to care if my eyeliner was smeared—which it always was—but I didn’t want to meet her possible werewolf mate looking like complete shit. What if he had hot friends and one of them was looking for a mate? Sign me up. He wouldn’t want to introduce me to them if I looked like a crazy person. So, unsmeared eyeliner was a must. There was a smudge of hot pink frosting on the side of my cheek. Whoops. How long had that been there? Good thing I rarely bothered with foundation. The food coloring probably would’ve turned it pink or something. My hair was a frizzy mess, and my eyeliner was officially beyond repair, so I grabbed a makeup remover wipe from my center console before I picked up the cake. It was a long drive out to the middle of nowhere, so I hoped Jade would be cool with me staying for a little while before I drove home. I hadn’t planned on getting there so late, and I wasn’t really looking forward to inching down the dirt road in the dark on my way back. I cleaned makeup off one of my eyes with one hand while I carried the cake dome in the other. It was kind of a balancing act.

The front porch light was off, so I lowered the wipe while I carefully made my way up the three steps that led onto the porch. It was sturdy, even if the raw wood and complete darkness made the house seem a little unfriendly. Maybe Jade and her wolf dude were just really cozy? I could hardly make out the shape of the door, but there was a tiny bit of light on the doorbell, so I rang it with my elbow. Hopefully Jade had some lights on inside the house. I probably should’ve been concerned with the possibility of being murdered, but I didn’t think werewolves were murderous. People at the university only talked about them looking for love. There was probably more to them than that, but still. No one answered, so I hit the bell with my elbow again. I was going to have to call Jade if she didn’t open the door soon, because my cake wasn’t going to taste as good if we waited until the morning. She still didn’t answer. I hit the doorbell again just for the hell of it, then started reaching for my phone with the hand holding my wipe. My other eye’s makeup was just going to have to wait. The door opened before I grabbed my phone, letting out a small amount of light from inside the house. My lips parted when I saw who was on the other side. A werewolf. Probably. He was insanely tall. At least a foot above my five feet and three inches. His hair was shaved completely on the side and in short locs on the top. His dark brown skin was smooth, and his body was so chiseled it was ridiculous. Especially his chest. It was bare, and I was staring at it like a total creep. “Who the fuck are you?” the guy growled. Oh, dear. He was pissed. “Emmy,” I squeaked. Wow, I sounded like an idiot. “What the fuck are you doing here? Is that a cake?” I cleared my throat, trying to seem slightly less pervy even though I still hadn’t managed to look away from his abs. “It’s for Jade. She was supposed to live here. Are you her… boyfriend?” “No. You went the wrong way at the fork.” The guy stepped back and started to close the door. I hurried forward, putting my makeup-wipe-clad hand on the door to stop him as I looked up at his face. Holy shit, he was even more stunning when I stopped objectifying his chest. “Wait, don’t—” I began. Our eyes met. The moment they did, his turned red. An angry snarl tore through his chest. It almost sounded like a word. “Mate.” It was probably something else though, right? Hate? Date? Kate? …probably not Kate. My jaw literally dropped as the man’s body started to change. Fur broke out on his skin as he shifted, and it strained against the fabric of the sweatpants that remained around his middle as a strong wolf replaced an insanely-muscular man. “Holy fuck, we were right,” I breathed, clutching the cake dome against my chest while my heart pounded wildly. I’d been joking with Zoe, but a werewolf guy legitimately answered the door and shifted. What did that mean? Why did he say mate? And why did he sound so angry about it? The wolf’s chest was heaving, and the beast was absolutely glaring at me “It’s okay,” I whispered to him. “I like wolves.” That was bullshit. I had no idea if I liked wolves. But I liked the idea of being abducted by a hot werewolf and falling in love, which was exactly what happened according to the stories people whispered around campus. I didn’t know if it could technically apply to a professor. Usually, students were the ones having those experiences. But why couldn’t it work for me too? The wolf growled at me. I took a few small steps backward—and accidentally managed to find the stairs. My foot slipped out from underneath me, and I squeaked again as I went down. My ass hit the dirt so hard that my cake flopped sideways against the dome in my arms. Tears stung my eyes as pain radiated up my tailbone. Oh, dear lord. I was going to cry in front of an angry, sexy werewolf. That definitely wasn’t going to win him over. The wolf was snarling at me a moment later, poking me with his nose as he sniffed my arms, abdomen, and legs. He was obviously angry, but also seemed to be making sure I was okay. “I’m fine,” I said weakly, trying to wipe my tears away discreetly. He nudged my back a few times, still growling. “I’ll stand up in a minute.” He nudged me a little harder. “Okay, fine, I’m moving.” I clutched the cake dome to my chest with one hand and braced myself on the dirt with the other. Ow. Crap. Shit. Fuck.

I winced and bit back a few groans of pain as I slowly eased myself back to my feet. The werewolf sniffed my butt, and I pushed his face away. “Stop, please. I’m okay. I just need to call my friend. I was supposed to bring her a cake.” And I had no idea what I was actually supposed to do with a werewolf. Especially now that he was in his wolf form. And not romantically abducting me. He nudged me back onto the porch step by step while I pulled my phone out and called Jade, forcing some of my usual cheer into my voice. The phone rang a few times before she answered. “Hello?” My nose wrinkled a little. Her voice was weird. Almost breathy. Nope, I wasn’t going to ask about that. “Hey, Jade. I heard about your new research job from Stella and brought you a present to say congratulations. She told me your new place is the third house on this little loop in the forest, but when I knocked, a guy answered.” I paused. The guy had already told me I turned the wrong way, but I needed to pretend I hadn’t been hoping that this exact situation would happen, too. Right? Minus the part where I probably broke my ass, of course.

Yeah, I’d better act like I didn’t think werewolves were real when I drove out there. “I think I went the wrong way,” I added. “But the guy sort of… well, turned into a wolf?” “Did he say anything before he shifted?” The breathiness in Jade’s voice was gone. “Yeah. Mate, I think.” “Fuck,” Jade swore. “Did you turn right or left at the fork?” “I’m not sure?” That was a lie. I don’t know why I didn’t just admit the truth. But if her place was third on the left, she must know who was third on the right. Right? Jade didn’t respond immediately. When she did, she said, “I’m in the middle of something, but I’ll send Abby over there right now. Just hang tight. The wolf won’t hurt you.” “Okay.” I sighed quietly. “I’m so sorry, but I definitely squished your present.” My gorgeous cake was definitely not gorgeous now. I didn’t even want to look down and see the damage.

Jade laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in the sound. “That’s the last thing I’m worried about. Just stay right there.” The call ended. I was pretty sure she meant to put me on hold, but she definitely hung up. I stared down at the screen. The wolf continued nudging me toward the cabin in front of us with his nose. The door was still open. “Oh, you want me to close it?” I murmured, walking slowly. “Makes sense. No one likes it when bugs get in.” Every step hurt. I was kind of limping. I hoped I hadn’t actually broken my tailbone. That would really suck. “Okay, I’ve got it,” I told him, grabbing the doorknob. Before I could close the door, he nudged my lower back a little harder. Yet another squeak escaped me. This one was full of pain. He wanted me to go inside the house. Why? That was weird, right? Maybe he was trying to abduct me after all. “You seem angry,” I said. “I don’t think this is a good time to try abduction.” His side met my back, and he walked me slowly through the door. Then closed it with his head. And sat down in front of it. And glared at me. ...