Sniff-sniff.Am I your mate?No?Next!
The Alpha pairing could form at any time.Once one wolf recognized a power that matched his own in another wolf, they bonded.From there they either formed a new pack or took over another.She was sure there was more secret furball mumbo jumbo involved, but that was the extent of her non-mated knowledge.Oh, she’d asked, and her mother had said: “You’ll find out when you’re mated, dear.”
Great.
The problems with Alpha pairs arose from the fact that both were controlling and dominant as hell.Which is where the Marked came in.The ladies acted as the balance, the one who kept the two calm.Sure, the guys could rule without one; the world was just better if they had a mate at their side.Less bloody, too.
She took a deep breath.She’d have to travel and meet some wolves.If she found her Alphas, group sex would occur, one male in her pussy and the other in her ass, some scar-inducing biting, and voila, mates.She’d never had sex with two men at once.So, yeah, that was scary as hell.But then again, two men pleasuring her at the same time had…possibilities.
“Scarlet?I don’t think I can keep two men happy.”A sniffle reached her.
“Oh, honey.”She sighed.Poor Gabby.She’d been through hell the past few years.She’d been dating, regardless of the fact that she was Marked, and had fallen in love several times.Only the men had torn her heart to shreds and left a broken Gabriella in their wake.“You know none of that is your fault.It’s theirs.We’ve talked about this.”
Another sniffle.“But Allen said—”
“No.Allen said a lot of things.He also put his dick in other women.His cheating had nothing to do with you.”Part of her wished she were a wolf.Then she could have gone and torn that sorry excuse for a man apart.“Good sex takes two people, and Gabby, I’ve seen you on the dance floor.Your crappy sex life is so not your fault.Hips don’t lie.”
“I know, it’s just—”
A low beep interrupted her sister and Scarlet glanced at the caller ID.Whitney.“Hold on a sec.”
Her gaze shot to the microwave clock.8:36 A.M.
Scarlet flashed over to her other sister.“Whit?”
“It’s a mistake.Scarlet, it has to be.Has to.”She heard the tears in her sister’s voice, the heartbreak that filled every word.“Why are they doing this to me?I’m not Marked, Scarlet.Isn’t that enough?I finally got over not having the stupid Mark and now they’re messing with me like this?”Whitney sobbed.
“You got an invitation?From the Ruling Alphas?”
“Yes.”Her poor sister was such a sensitive soul.
Anger bubbled in her chest, churned and grew until she felt as if she’d explode beneath the feelings coursing through her veins.Scarlet and Gabby had always viewed the Marks as a sort of death sentence, seeing them as something that stole their free will.Finding a mate was biological and had nothing to do with emotions.No gentle “getting to know each other” period like with human men.Relationships between a Marked and wolves were more along the lines of:You’re our mate.Bend over.We mate you now.That’d be followed by a grunt.
At least, that’s what she’d gotten from her mother’s explanations.Scarlet and Gabriella had agreed that they’d put off mating as long as possible.The wolves that claimed them could be total assholes, and they’d be stuck with them for life.They’d decided to enjoy a little freedom before the ax finally fell.And then they’d sort of forgotten about the whole Gathering thing.Oops.
Geez, even when she’d adopted her cat from the shelter, she’d gotten a trial run.
Go to a Gathering voluntarily?Nu uh.Over their dead bodies.
The only one who’d craved a Mark was Whitney.Sweet, delicate Whitney.From the moment they began playing dress-up, Whit was the gorgeous bride who married not one, but two men.Two werewolves.She just didn’t carry a Mark.
And through a weird twist of nature, Alpha wolves didn’t mate with human women unless there was a Mark.Single, non-Alphas only mated female furballs.It was two for a human or nada.It had something to do with the way a girl wolf interacted with two boy wolves and yada, yada… She’d sort of tuned her mom’s voice out after that.
“Scarlet?”
“Shh… It’s okay.We’ll figure it out.If it’s a mistake, I’ll beat the shit out of the Ruling Alphas for upsetting you.”She would.Without a doubt.“If—” She licked her lips, mouth dry.“If they’ve somehow changed things, we’ll find you the best set of furries out there.”Scarlet took a deep breath.“Or, we can try and hide you.Whatever you decide, Whit.”
Her sister sniffled.“It says I have to go.Have to.There’s punishments and stuff.”Just like there were punishments for exposing werewolves to the general public, there were consequences for refusing an order from the Ruling Alphas.
Scarlet sighed, ran a hand over her face and pinched the bridge of her nose.“I hadn’t read that far yet.I sort of tried burning it once I got past the first line.”Whitney giggled.“The damn things found us, so there is probably a lovely bunch of witches involved in the whole thing.Which means that if we don’t show, the punishment will probably kick in.”Scarlet swallowed past the lump in her throat.“So, yeah, we gotta go.But I’ll take care of you Whitney.No matter what, nothing is gonna happen that you don’t want.I promise.”
She stroked her cat, taking comfort in his gentle purr.“Okay, I’ve got Gabby on the other line.Lemme do a three-way call, and we can make plans.We’re going to the damned Gathering whether we like it or not, so we might as well go all-out.”
ChapterTwo
If Scarlet had known wolves were chock full-o-hotness, she would have hunted them up long ago.Or, at least, she wouldn’t have been so cranky about attending the Gathering.Yum.
With her sisters huddled against her back, she led them through the growing throng.Male wolves meandered amongst the women, and she saw more than one set of Alphas lean toward a female for a discreet sniff.Based on what she’d been told at check-in, their “conference” consisted of four thousand attendees from around the world.That was a lot of Marked chicks and Alpha pairs.
