I can’t let this happen. It’s against our laws to interfere in the business of wolves, and vice versa, but I cannot stand here and bear witness to this without doing something.
That’s why I lunge forward, taking him down before he can pull the trigger. The little female goes after the girl while I claw at the boy as I did at his father. It’s almost a relief to cut off his high-pitched screams when I tear out his throat.
I recognize the alpha wolf attacking the woman. Declan. The threat is over, though I’m in danger if I stay here a minute more. I can go, knowing my mate will be safe with her family.
Not that her being my mate matters. The weight of reality hangs on me, crushing me with the truth that I can never be with a wolf shifter.
I’ve always known there was no mate in the world for me. Tonight confirms it.
Chapter 1
Tara
“My appetite is raging.”Nora, my brother’s fated mate, reaches across the table to snag another two thick slices of garlic bread. For someone who spent her first days with us locked in Cole’s room for fear of facing us, she’s certainly made herself at home. “I don’t know what it is. I guess it’s all the time I spent not being allowed to eat very much. My body wants to make up for lost time.”
Normally, even that casual reminder of the hell she went through for so long would make me cringe and struggle against a powerful wave of guilt. It’s something I’ve thought about for weeks, ever since we learned the truth about how she ended up in the woods alone all those years ago, the night Dad died protecting her. We spent the years since going out of our way to torment her, like it was our vocation or something. And all the time, she was as much a victim as our parents.
I’ve spent weeks flinching and cringing under the weight of my guilt, especially now that we know she’s Cole’s mate. I’ve wracked my brain to find ways to make it up to her, though I know it won’t be that easy. She has to be the one to accept my efforts. It’s not exactly that she hasn’t. There’s still a lot ofawkwardness between us, is all. We’re kind to each other; we don’t avoid speaking, but there’s no warmth yet.
When I see the way Cole looks at her, like she hung the moon and the whole world revolves around her, I wish we could be best friends for his sake.
Tonight, though? I have bigger things on my mind.
“What’s up with you?” Zeke gives me a kick under the table. “You haven’t stopped fidgeting since you sat down.” Declan, our older brother and pack alpha, raises an eyebrow from across the table.
“Is that true?” Do I sound casual? Probably not, but I’m trying my best. The fact is, I’m about as close to screaming out loud as I’ve ever been. I’m burning up inside, heart pounding, blood pumping. Now that Zeke’s brought my attention to it, I realize I’ve been bouncing my knee up and down all throughout dinner. When I force myself to stop, my fingers tap against the table. Sort of like plugging up a hole in a bucket just for another hole to pop open. The storm brewing in me needs a way of being released.
This isn’t the first time I’ve felt this way, either. In fact, the past three weeks have been a constant struggle. Ever since the night Cole and I wound up drugged by Nora’s so-called family, there’s been this pull inside me that’s impossible to deny. This longing, this silent demand that I go back to the place where the attack happened, then to keep going until I’ve crossed the border between our territory and the lands designated for the bear clan. Zeke and Declan explained a bear helped us the night of the attack. We were that close to the border.
Now, my wolf is ready to run there, the way she’s wanted to all this time. Every day it’s gotten a little harder to resist the pull, but I have to. There’s no choice. The law is clear: step foot over the border, and you’re as good as dead.
So why am I being drawn there? It can’t be the pull of my mate… can it? Why would my mate be a bear and not a wolf?
“I’m going for a run.” I’m out of my chair before I know what I’m doing, and my wolf purrs in my head, relieved that she’s finally getting what she wants.
“Want me to come with?” Zeke asks, wiping his mouth on a napkin as I push my chair into position.
“No, I just want a little alone time.” I can’t miss the way Nora winces at my sharp tone. She’s working on feeling more comfortable around us, and the same goes double from my side, but this isn’t about her. If I didn’t feel so much like I’m about to burst out of my skin, I would explain that. Instead, I waste no more time heading out the back door and stripping down on the porch. The sky is moonlit and star-spangled—it’s under that light I shift, letting my wolf run free. I’m not strong enough to fight anymore. I can’t control this.
She knows where she’s going and moves quickly, efficiently, tearing through the woods. It’s like all of the energy used to hold her back was stored up and now bursts free, pushing me faster. My lungs burn and my legs ache from the effort of getting there as quickly as I can, but it isn’t long until the familiar scent of my fellow wolves turns into something different. Something almost overpowering but not enough to keep me away.
There’s no going back now once I’m over the border and moving deeper into bear territory. I know I should turn back, but there’s no hope of that. It’s too late.
I know that once I hear the heavy footfalls against the packed earth. When the scent of bear gets so strong, it drowns out the sweet, familiar scents of the woods around me. The hair on the back of my neck rises and my body tenses, my muscles poised, ready for whatever is about to happen.
At least, I tell myself I’m ready before the bears emerge from the deep shadow of the tree canopy. One, two, four, six—eventually, I lose count as they surround me. Their heavy breathing is almost as loud as the pounding of my heart. Aggression fills the air, hitting me in waves.
I’m going to die here. What was I thinking? I’ve broken the oldest and most highly held of all of our laws. The penalty is death. It doesn’t matter the reason.
Amazing how many thoughts can fly through a brain in only a few seconds. I see Cole, Declan. Zeke. I see the pain they’ll go through. I’m responsible for our family getting even smaller, and all because I wasn’t strong enough to fight this impulse.
My heart is about to break for them when the largest bear of all steps out of the circle formed around me. He is enormous, with dark brown fur and eyes that are almost black, glittering under the light of the moon. His paws are massive, easily capable of shredding my body if he decides to.
My heart is going to burst out of my chest when the realization hits. My mate. This is him. My reason for living, the soul my soul is inextricably bound to for all eternity. There is a sense of growing excitement mixed with the certainty that this is all wrong. Like cream after it’s poured into coffee, swirling around.
His deep, authoritative voice trickles into my awareness, fainter than the voices of my brothers and the other wolves, but still present.“Shift. Show yourself to me.”
Does he know who I am to him? The way he’s looking at me, I don’t think so. Could it be possible I’m the only one feeling this? Even though it will mean standing naked in front of a bunch of bloodthirsty bears, there is no denying my mate’s command.
