“Three years ago, the wolf packs were devastated by an unexpected attack from creatures we’ve never seen before. Malevolent beings, without traces of physical form in our world. Demons…”
Annika gasps, her eyes widening with shock. “Demons?”
“Yes,” I confirm with a nod. “But not the kind from bedtime stories. These are ghastly creatures, with the ability to mimic the form of whatever they’re fighting, and steal our powers, our lifeforce energy.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?” she asks, frowning now.
I pause to take a breath, meeting her eyes with sincerity when I explain, “You are what is considered my fated mate. It was a phenomenon not many believed in, because no one had ever come across their fated mates in the valley. Usually, mates are just chosen to bear children. But because of the issues we’re facing with the demons, our research team dug up an ancient ritual from the scrolls that had been buried in the south of the valley. These scrolls spoke of fated mates and how to find them.”
“So, a fated mate is predetermined? By whom?”
My chest does a gentle puff of pride because Annika is asking the right questions. Of course, she would. She’s worked for me for four years, and knows the ins and outs of the company because she knows what questions to ask—the types of questions I’d ask myself.
It’s no wonder she’s my fated mate. She’s just like me. Although I don’t think it’s something she’d like to hear.
“We believe a fated mate is predetermined by the Moon Goddess—our creator, Lord Selene, whom we pray to.”
Annika continues to nod thoughtfully. “I still don’t understand what you need a fated mate for. Am I supposed to carry your children?”
“Only if you want to,” I muse, and that’s when Annika’s eyes flash with red-hot irritation, giving me a peek of her latent powers still brewing inside her. They’ll only come out when the timing is right, and for now, I need to tread on eggshells if I don’t want to burn.
“I’m joking.” I hold up both hands in surrender. “I’m really only joking, I didn’t mean that. It was stupid of me to say. I apologize. The reason we need our fated mates—well, the alphas, at least—is because they restore our powers, our strength, through the etheric cord that binds our souls together.”
“S-souls…? Like s-soulmates?” Annika whispers, her bottom lip trembling as she says the word, brows furrowing gently as disbelief crosses her eyes. “So, the whole thing about getting out of an arranged marriage for a contract was bullshit?”
I nod slowly, hesitantly. “Yes, Annika. Both things are true. And fated mates are like soulmates. That’s why I needed to marry you, and why I couldn’t tell you what the emergency was. You wouldn’t have understood, and I was running out of time.”
Her frown deepens, and she shakes her head, throwing the duvet off her legs and slipping off the bed. “That’s impossible. There’s no way you’re my soulmate. You’re wrong. You people are wrong.”
Just as she’s about to pass me, I grab her wrist to stop her, instantly feeling the effects of the mate bond pulse through my fingertips and beneath my palm. She gasps, and I look up through my lashes to meet her eyes.
“Tell me you don’t feel this.” I offer it as a challenge, because I can see it in her eyes, in their soft glow like blazing embers, that she does feel it. The electric awareness shouldn’t be there unless she’s my fated mate; my heart wouldn’t feel squeezed so tightly if she weren’t.
Being a werewolf and finding one’s fated mate is a strange concept, as complex as it is simple. We’ve always known about what it was to be mated to another, choosing a mate amongst our packs—another werewolf. But mating with a she-wolf only bonded a werewolf to its mate through the baser act of consummation, and later, the conception of a child—the only real reason a male took a mate in the first place. Even then, both wolves wouldn’t feel this aching desire in their chests; they wouldn’t feel the sensations I can feel pulsing through our touch.
We haven’t even consummated our mate bond, and it already feels like I would die without Annika in my life. It physically pains me to be away from her, like it did last night, and that’s why I had to go after her.
“Tell me, Annika…tell me you don’t feel it.”
She shakes her head, eyes dropping to where I have my hand around her wrist, but she doesn’t attempt to pull her hand away. Instead, she just keeps staring at our hands where they connect, denial written on her pale face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” she whispers, keeping her gaze lowered.
That’s when I stand up, side-stepping the chair, and standing awfully close to her. She still doesn’t look up, so I hitch a finger beneath her chin and lift her face so her eyes meet mine.
There’s a glowing fire in her eyes, as if the mate bond itself is speaking to her dormant powers, unlocking the first lock that keeps it bound behind the metal bars of her subconscious mind.
Her lips part like a blossoming flower, the petals opening up with realization. But she doesn’t say a word, and instead, just keeps staring into my eyes as if our souls are communicating. I’m sure they are, and I just wish she’d listen. I wish she weren’t in so much denial about what we both can feel.
Her inability to speak a word leaves the floor open for me to take a step forward, and I reach up to cup her cheek with one hand. She doesn’t stop me, and she doesn’t flinch from my touch, allowing me to lean in until the warmth of her unsteady breaths fan my face.
“You are a fearless dove, you know that? You are the most beautiful woman I have ever encountered, Annika…”
She gasps, her breath catching in her throat, eyes widening with what appears to be recognition. I’m not sure. All I know is that she doesn’t freeze the way she normally would, and she doesn’t push me away, or retaliate with bitter words of scorn and contempt.
I move in slowly, because it’s the most natural thing to do, and because she makes no protest when her eyes flit to my lips. In those few seconds that it takes for me to swiftly move in, she has every chance to stop me. But she doesn’t.
And when our lips meet, Annika is equally as eager to kiss me back, her hands sliding up my arms, my biceps, and findingpurchase around my neck as she tilts her head and deepens the kiss.
