“Oh good, you brought more meat. Nice to see you’re finally settled into your place here after so many years skulking around when your father was put down,” he croons.
My grip tightens when he tries to take it. I hold on a moment longer because it’s mine. He uses his height and broad stature to intimidate me, flashing his fangs lengthening in his mouth. His posturing doesn’t scare me, but it will draw everyone else’s attention if he makes a big scene.
I release it, holding my hands up. My chin juts out and my gaze cuts to the side.
“There’s a good little bitch,” Lorne says with a satisfied snicker.
Asshole.
He takes my chin, wrenching my head to the side to sniff at my throat. Bile rises from my stomach in a rush. I shove against his chest to break free. His cruel blue eyes glint. They’re like Caden’s, but dark and shadowy.
“Just making sure you know to respect your superiors. One day things will change around here and you’d better fall in line. Disobedient females will learn the hard way that it’s better to bend the neck.”
He’s always spouting the same opinions as his father about how this pack should be run. About how we’d be better off living in the old ways—females silent, pushing out pups, and at the beck and call of the males.
No matter how much I want to shout and scream in his face for his vile opinions, I don’t respond. It’s the best way I’ve learned to get out of interacting with him as quickly as possible. I hate myself for it, but I bow my head the barest amount to show my submission. Best I get out of this now rather than have him drag me to Caden and claim I’m a problem for taking a hunk of flesh from his hide with my bare nails.
Lorne frowns, sloshing the rest of his drink into his mouth and sauntering off. I guess he’s grown bored of me without any reaction on my part. If my situation was different, if I wasn’t a pack outcast, then I’d feel safe enough to challenge him.
Because men like him don’t want the demure women they go on about. He wants to goad me into exploding before he puts me in my place.
My chest expands with a pissed off rumble stronger than anything I should be able to produce with my vocal chords. I blink, touching my throat.
Lorne turns back. I hurry away and write off the growl as a figment of my imagination.
My plan to steal what I could of the leftover food goes up in flames before my eyes. With Lorne tracking every move I make, I won’t be able to go unnoticed. He’ll make sure of it.
The weird hunger pangs return. I eye the tables of food and none of it appeals to me.
I’m ready to leave. There’s no reason to stick around to watch them all shift. It’s foolish of me to spend more time than I have to amongst a pack that looks down on—
A scent hits me, strong and intense and delicious. I whip my head around, lifting my nose to catch it again, greedily inhaling more. I immediately want to be enveloped in it.
The earthy musk of cedar and oakmoss is so comforting, so right. It’s the feeling of walking barefoot in my favorite meadow. The taste of the mists coming off the falls.
What is this? Who smells this amazing?
The scent leads me closer. At first I have no idea what’s come over me, or why I’m being pulled hard by this instinctive need to track the scent.
Mate.
Oh. That makes sense.
Wait—no it doesn’t. How can I have a mate?
It doesn’t matter. My thoughts slip away. I’m driving purely on instinct.
I need to get over there, need to claim him—my mate.
6AVERY
After a few steps under the hypnotic lure tugging me forward, I falter to a stop, trying to make sense of what’s happening. The pause doesn’t last long as every fiber of my being begs for him to feel complete.
I pant, rushing through the grass towards the bonfire.
Someone’s in my way. I elbow them aside with a grunt. Another person yells something at me. I growl in their direction, stalking across the lawn, jumping over an empty bench. I search the crowd, baring my teeth at their open disdain.
My hearing stretches farther than I’m used to. I hear him. Deep tones making a dulcet melody. Then another voice—female, too inviting.
Another wild noise tears from my chest. No! He’s mine. No one else can claim him but me. I’ll attack anyone who tries.
There’s a crash across the fire pit, followed by a growled, “Get out of my way.”
My knees threaten to buckle at his voice. I shove past the group in my way, then freeze at the male several feet from me.
Caden stares back at me, equally shocked.
My heart rises in my throat as I watch his scorn towards me melt away. I gasp as his features soften and his gaze flares with reverence.
How can I have a mate? How can it be Caden after everything that’s come between us?
I hate him, yet…I don’t.
Not right now. I can’t hate him now. He’s my mate. He’s made for me. To love me. To protect me. He’s perfect, as he should be.
He’s so handsome. Strong. It’ll feel good to be wrapped in those huge arms at last. Tuck my nose in the crook of his neck to inhale more of his divine woodsy scent. Lick—yes, licking every carved muscle when I tear off his shirt and mark him all over.
Reason flits in and out of my head, fighting with another presence unfurling there.
Mate. Go now.
The inner force drives me forward, pacing behind my ribcage until I give in. I feel drunk out of my mind, releasing a delirious laugh.
The pull drawing me to Caden is so strong I stagger, eyes wide and locked on him. He’s my mate. My heart’s True match.
I mouth his name and a breath punches from his lungs. He holds an arm outstretched to me, striding for me at the same time I start running.
We don’t stop until we collide. His arms circle my body and I press my face into his firm chest, dragging in deep lungfuls. He grips the back of my coverall dress, tugging me closer to press against the rapid thud of his heart.
It’s still not enough to burn away the throbbing sensation in me that I mistook for hunger. Now I understand it was the mate bond forming to tie our souls together. The magic fills me, twining around my heart, reaching out to connect me to his. If I focus on the intangible threads of the bond, I recognize him at the other end.
I meet his fixed stare in wonder, lips parted. His blue eyes swallow me in their stormy depths ringed with gold.
Yes, mate. Handsome, perfect mate. Yes, yes, yes, yesyesyes—
Everything in me chants a celebration in a curious voice that isn’t quite my own, matching the speed of my racing pulse as our bond lights me up from within. It drowns out my stunned surprise that I’ve found my fated match and the old, trampled wish I used to cling to, secretly hoping Caden Blackburn would be my mate.
Caden’s fingertips graze the edge of my cheek, sending a tremor through my body that leaves me shivering. He emits a low rumble tinged with pride in response. My heart drums faster, warmth spreading outward from the glow emanating around it until my entire being is enveloped in it.
His chest rises and falls with ragged breaths as he tilts my face up, gaze roving greedily over every inch like this is the first time he’s seen me, truly seen me, in years and he’s making up for lost time.
Every inhale tinged with his delicious scent is so intense, I’m swooning, intoxicated by the sensation of the newly formed mate bond threading us together.
I want to say so much—his name, a plea, mate—yet all of it sticks in my throat. With a thick swallow, I rest my hand on his chest, hoping the bond will convey the rushing swell of emotions overwhelming me. His large, rough hand covers my wrist. His touch is gentle at first, as if he’s worried I’ll break.