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The door to his bedroom opened and hissister, Lia, looked at him in concern. “Another one?”
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he nodded.“What are you doing up?”
“I could hear you tossing and turning, so Icame to check on you.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault you’re havingmating dreams and can’t find your mate.”
“I think we’re close to her. The dreams havebeen more intense the last few days since we came to BelleTerra.”
She smiled. “Maybe she’ll be there for thefirst fight on Friday and you can impress her with your ability tobeat people up.”
He chuckled. “It is one of my betterqualities. Thanks for checking on me.”
“It’s what sisters do.” Blowing him a kiss,she shut the door, and he heard her soft footsteps as they driftedaway.
His pride, comprised of his only family—hisyounger brothers Slade and Galen, and Lia—were the last known sabershifters in the world. It was hard as hell being the last few of ashifter species, because the fate of the future of their peoplerested on their shoulders. Unfortunately, only truemates producedsaber shifters. While it would have been nice if he and his familycould have populated the earth with saber shifter kids producedthrough mating with random humans or other shifters, sabers wereunable to procreate with anyone but their truemates.
If he and his family were going to havefamilies of their own and keep the saber shifter lines going, thenhe needed to find his truemate. Wherever the hell she was. Once hefound his truemate, then Slade, the next oldest family member,would begin having mating dreams of his own. It was the way oftheir kind—mating dreams occurred from oldest to youngest. Hisbrothers and sister were anxious for him to find his mate so theycould find theirs.
Dropping back onto his pillow, he closed hiseyes and willed himself to sleep as thoughts of his truemate filledhis mind.
* * *
Friday night, Alaric stood with his family inthe fighting arena’s training center. At one time, it had been aprivate high school’s football field. When the school closed, adeveloper had renovated it for semi-professional football, and wheninterest had faded in that sport, another developer bought it andrented it out for various activities, such as the NWFA battles.
Lia didn’t fight. She could—she had a hell ofa right hook—but females usually didn’t fight in the NWFA. Call itsexist or anti-feminist, but the humans didn’t want to see femalesbeating each other all to hell. While Alaric and his brothers woreonly linen shorts, Lia was dressed in a dark blue sparkly gown andwould be Jonathon’s date for the night. Alaric didn’t particularlycare for the way the wolf looked at his sister, but Lia couldhandle herself, and she was content with her role as arm candy.
Galen cracked his neck. “What’s the pottonight?”
“Five grand for each win. First place infinal gets fifteen grand, second gets seven,” Slade said.
Between the three of them, he and hisbrothers would make a lot of money tonight. They were unrivaled inthe arena. He and his brothers never fought each other in thefinals, they were engineered by Jonathon so that only one of themmade it to the battle. Jonathon knew that while Alaric and hisbrothers liked to fight, they would never actually hurt eachother.
“If I make it to the final this time, I’mgoing to get my car painted,” Galen said.
“If you’d stop being an asshole and parkingacross two spaces, people wouldn’t purposely scratch your car,” Liapointed out.
Galen loved his BMW convertible more thananything else. And he was definitely an asshole about it.
Galen rolled his eyes.
Lia said, “Here come the humans.”
Steel doors opened and a large group ofhumans wearing VIP badges walked in. They were led by members ofJonathon’s pack. The human males wore suits, the females wore fancydresses, and they all reeked of money and privilege. Alaric wouldbet his left fang that they’d never had to hunt a meal or fight fortheir lives.
Focusing on the fights ahead of him, he zonedout and ignored the humans who walked by slowly, several yardsaway, and stared at them as if they were freaks in a side show.
An alluring scent caught his attention, andhe snapped from his revelry, scanning the crowd.
“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Lia asked.
He scented the air, sifting through thescents until he found the one that called to him. Even withoutknowing what she smelled like in his dreams, he knew he was in thepresence of his truemate. The scent strengthened as the crowdpassed by, and then he saw her. Long, dark brown hair like meltedchocolate. Skin like fresh cream. A body to die for—this timetrapped behind satin and sequins. She walked between Jonathon andanother male, who had his hand on her elbow.
Everything within him focused on her. Hisbeast roared for him to shift and go to her, and the sound spilledout of his mouth. The deafening roar silenced the humans for abrief moment, and then they panicked.
As his family tried to hold him back,Jonathon rushed Alaric’s truemate from the training center alongwith the other humans and pack members, and when the doors had shutand her scent was gone, his beast roared in anguish.
