“When I was a boy, I would play chase and tag for hours with Lukyan and Mylo. Our friendship felt like the easiest thing in the world.”
Cate turned toward him on the bench, pulling up her leg so that it rested against his thigh. He stopped himself from touching her. He needed her to make the first move for once. “So you are the same age as Mylo and Lukyan?” she asked.
Dimitris nodded. “Yes. That’s the way of wolves. When the alpha female goes into heat, she triggers the same in all her female pack members. When my mother’s heat began, the rest of the females did too. Lukyan, Mylo, and I were born only a few days apart.”
“And Alek?”
“Alek is younger than I am. There is about eighty years between us. My family was in Scotland by that time. There were about fifty pups born that year.”
“So many? Where is everyone now? There were not that many at our mating ceremony.” Cate edged closer. Dimitris wondered if she craved the contact or was simply cold. He thought the cool air felt invigorating, but perhaps her wolf was not yet warming her.
“The pack split. The Volkov pack originated in Russia, as you know. Russia is a hard place for many reasons, but it has been especially difficult for shifters. There were some in government who learned of our abilities and took advantage of it. In order to get us to do their bidding, they would threaten to expose us to the villagers. It is not easy to kill a shifter, but it is possible. The old stories you hear about silver are true. A slice from a silver blade will scar us and heal slowly, but silver in our bodies will kill us if it is left too long. Aside from that, it pretty much takes bodily removal of organs to kill us. The Russian agents discovered this and used it to their advantage.
“For years my father and the other pack alphas played nice with the Russian agents. They loved their country and didn’t want to leave it. But the agents grew ever more demanding. When my father refused to assist them with a request to annihilate a peasant village, they retaliated. Two female mates were captured and killed. Their heads were left in boxes just outside of the pack territory. The females’ mates were devastated. In their rage they sought out and killed more than twenty agents before they, too, gave their lives. My father feared that more mates would be taken. A wolf shifter can take a lot, but the loss of a mate is more than our males can stand. He refused to allow his pack to be subjected to the whims of the Russian government. So we left. We sneaked from the country with nothing, not even clothing. It was easier to move quickly as wolves.
“Eventually, we found our way to Scotland, my mother’s home land. Many males found their mates along the way, and the pack prospered. We grew larger when my mother went into heat. Alek was born along with about fifty pack mates. But our growth worried my father. It is difficult to keep a large pack secret. He also worried about me and my older brother Gregory. It was clear from a very early age that we were both destined to be alphas. About thirty years ago he suggested that the pack split. I would take some members to a new territory, my brother would stay and take over for my father’s pack when the time was right. That’s when we came to America.”
“So your friends came with you? And Alek chose to come with you instead of staying close to his parents and Gregory?”
Dimitris nodded. “Alek craved adventure and he was sure he would find it in America. Most of the pack you saw came willingly, though some came at the request of my father and mother. Mikaela and Yerik came because my mother asked it of them. My mother worried that Alek and I would need a motherly figure so she sent Mikaela, her closest and dearest friend. That is why I asked Mikaela to prepare you for the ceremony last night. If my mother could not be here, I wanted the female who was closest to her.”
Cate’s heart warmed at the admission. The small gesture went a long way in thawing her anger with her mate. She looked out at the two boys, now taking turns on the merry-go-round. She should have brought Mikaela’s son, Connor, with them. He would have had fun playing with Peter and Carlos. She wondered if there were any other young shifters in the pack. She hadn’t seen any near Peter’s age. “So if the females go into heat at the same time, why is there only Connor? I haven’t seen any other young boys.”
Dimitris smiled. “They go into heat when the alpha does. If there is no alpha, the heat comes on its own cycle. For Mikaela, that happened about seven years ago. Connor is our pack’s only young child, aside from Peter. We have a few other youth, but they are older. Heat is slow for our females. It can be as long as one-hundred years between cycles. It could be that long before you go into heat.”
Cate looked from Dimitris to Peter. She had always longed to give him a sibling. One-hundred years was a long time to wait for one. Would two brothers even know one another with so many years between them? Alek and Dimitris seemed to be fine, but was that normal? She watched as the two boys raced from the merry-go-round back to the swings. A young couple was there now, pushing their small daughter in the belted swing. She was a plump baby, made bigger by the many layers of clothes she had on. The weather was chilly, but Cate thought the young parents had gone a bit overboard. She smiled as she watched the little girl giggle each time her face swung close to her mother’s.
Unlike the baby, the mother was thin, too thin, Cate noticed. Her cheeks were sunken and her face was drawn. She was wearing a knit hat, but she could tell the mother had no hair underneath.Cancer, Cate thought. The realization sobered her. She continued to watch the family, careful to notice more. The baby’s father laughed when the girl did, but his smile did not reach his eyes. His eyes rested on his wife’s face. Cate could see a sadness there. Her eyes began to well and she sniffed back the tears. A fetid smell filled her nose. “What’s that smell?” she asked Dimitris. He hesitated, opening his mouth and then closing it. “What is it?” she whispered. “There’s something wrong. I can sense it.”
“It’s death,” he admitted. “What you smell is death.”
Cate turned back to the woman, knowing instinctively that the scent originated from her. “We can smell death?”
He nodded. “We can when it comes from an illness or disease.” He placed his hand across her back and rubbed his thumb in slow circles on her shoulder. The contact comforted her. “You smell her. She doesn’t have much longer.”
Sadness ate at Cate. The child was so young. Would she remember her mother? Would she remember the love her mother clearly had for her? Would the father find love again? His heart appeared to already be breaking. Could he survive it? Cate had so many questions. “Can we help her?”
She turned her big fawn colored eyes on Dimitris and in that moment he felt powerless. “I’m sorry, Cate. Our power only works on fated mates.”
“But, that can’t be,” she stammered. “What about Peter?”
“Peter was your son. As a male child of a fated mate I could gift him my power. If he had been a female I would not have been able to do that. Just as I can’t for anyone else.”
Cate’s sadness overtook her. She wiped at her eyes with her fingers. Now, because of nothing more than fate she would get to spend hundreds of years loving her mate and child. Goddess willing she would have more children to love over the years. She would see them grow and prosper, find their mates, have children of their own. This poor woman would never even see her child walk into kindergarten. The fates were unfair. Cate felt burdened by her blessings.
She turned her eyes back to Peter. Only three days ago he was sick and now he was happy and healthy, running from one station to the next on the playground. Dimitris had done that. The other children that had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis were still in the hospital. Although each child had been given a good prognosis, Cate knew the fear and worry their parents must be feeling. She sniffed again, struggling to control her tears. The woman’s scent permeated the air. Cate looked from the woman back to Peter. Shifters can smell death. A question tugged at her.Did Dimitris smell death when he was in the emergency room with her and Peter?Could that have been the reason he bit her child?
She struggled to remember what he had said.This was not as he had planned it. Peter needed to be healed.Suddenly it made sense. Dimitris had not bitten Peter to force Cate’s hand in mating, he had bitten him to save his life. He had smelled the scent of death in the room and acted quickly.Oh god, I was angry with him for saving my child!Cate’s wolf howled inside her head, the sad sound filled her mind. She began to think of other moments with Dimitris. He had given her so many choices. He had said that together the two would find a solution to the queen situation. He was allowing her to choose when and if he left a mating mark. All along he had been the partner she so wanted, but in her stubbornness she had refused to see it.
Cate looked at Dimitris. He was watching the boys. The had moved to the teeter totters. Peter threw his legs up allowing his side of the bench to fall to the ground unimpeded, causing both boys to jerk forward on their seats. Both children’s heads fell back in laughter as if they had just discovered the most wonderful game. Dimitris laughed with them. Cate took his hand in hers and he turned to look at her. “Thank you,” she said softly, lifting his hand to her mouth for a kiss. He cupped her cheek with his free hand. “You should have told me.”
“I needed you to trust me.” He lifted her chin and kissed her softly. She crushed her body to his, needing to touch him. Dimitris took advantage of the contact and pulled her into his lap. “Cate,” he whispered as he kissed her. His mind told him to set her back on the bench, but his wolf would not relinquish his hold. Cate didn’t seem to mind that they were kissing in the middle of a park. She leaned in closer, eliminating any space between their bodies.
“I do trust you. I should have known that you would not force me. I just -” She struggled to find the right words. She sat back and looked fully into his golden eyes. “I jumped to conclusions. When I was married to Mike, he left me out of so many important decisions. We were never partners, I was simply just the woman he married. I was an accessory more than anything. Instead of seeing you for who you are, I saw you for what I expected you to be. It’s hard to leave behind the baggage, even when you love someone.”
Dimitris’ eyes widened. “You love me?”
“Of course I love you! How could I not? I wanted to believe it was the mating pull that you mentioned, but I see now that it is more than that. The Goddess gave me the person I most need in my life. You challenge me and don’t back down. But you also accept me and let me be a part of the process. I needed you, Dimitris. And I love you for it.”
