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Leo was thinking of their parents. She knew because his words had made her think of them too. She wished that they could be here, to see them all like this, grown up and pairing off. They would have been so happy for their children as they found their fated mates and built lives of their own.
But the thought of her parents didn’t soften Maya’s heart like she knew it did her brothers and sisters. Instead, when she thought of them now, thought of what they were missing, thought about the hole that had been gouged into her life, she felt nothing but anger.
Fate had taken her parents from her. Fate had left her bound and tortured when she was only a weak teenage girl. Fate had ruined her life once and she wasn’t about to let it happen again.
“Love you, sis.” Leo gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze but dropped the conversation.
“Love you too.” she muttered as she said her goodbyes.
Her brother reminded her to call if she needed anything. Darius promised that everything would work out in the end. Even Rafe gave her a pat on the back and told her that fate always had a plan and to see it through. Each of the men had dealt with their own hardships in dealing with fate and finding their happily ever after but she wasn’t like them.
She controlled her life, not some mysterious and all-knowing force. She made her own decisions. And one as big as who she would spend the rest of her life bound to wasn’t a choice she would let anyone or anything else dictate for her, certainly not the mating heat.
She returned to the living room with the others but kept her distance and refused to look at where Zander Leery stood to say his goodbyes. She kept space between them. She didn’t want to even accidentally touch him and spark something that she couldn’t control.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she shut the door behind all of their guests and locked it. She leaned her forehead against the cool wood and closed her eyes. Already her wolf whined at the distance as Zander moved further away from them. She itched to open the door and go after him but she locked those thoughts down before they could spur action and instead slowly turned back to find her sister watching her.
“You okay?” Nova asked, dark eyes full of concern.
“No.” Maya shook her head, “No, I don’t think I am.”
“I know you don’t believe fate could possibly be right about this, about him…” Nova began but Maya held up a hand.
“I’m too tired to argue with you anymore tonight. I’m going back to bed. Fate can wait.”
She headed towards her bedroom and pretended that she didn’t hear Nova muttering behind her. Her sister’s words rang in her head as she flipped the lights off and crawled back beneath her covers. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing but a vision of an auburn haired, tattooed, god of a man, was the only thing she could see and Nova’s words wouldn’t leave her.
Her fate had been on the other side of that door… and she had stupidly let it in.
Chapter Six
Zander was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming. But somehow, it still felt real.
In the dream he was walking through the forest. It was dark and the trees were dense. The branches overhead blocked the light of the moon. He heard a wolf howl in the distance and turned in the direction the sound had come from, but instead of an animal Maya DeLuca stood on a hill just out of reach. He smiled at the sight of her and in the blink of an eye she was in his arms. They were kissing and running their hands over one another. His skin felt hot and sensitive. Everywhere Maya touched him ached with a renewed vengeance. They pulled at one another’s clothes and went to the forest floor, still kissing, skin on skin, his pale and hers dark, so different but so perfect. She wrapped her legs around him and…
Zander jolted awake at the sound of a shrill scream, sitting up in bed. It took him a moment to place his surroundings and remember where he was. It wasn’t the apartment he shared with two others guys on his crew in Oklahoma. It wasn’t the couch in Zenia’s apartment in Boulder where he’d crashed for weeks before deciding to hit the road. No, he was finally at the end of his journey and what felt, strangely enough, like the start of something important.
He had found Zoey last night and now he was in a guest room in her house. His baby sister owned a house, a big one from what he’d seen last night. She was married to a man that he had seen for himself was protective but also doting and gentle. And, from the sounds of the childish screams of joy and laughter that had woken him, she had children who were happy.
Zoey’s life was everything he had hoped it would be and more, yet, as his strange dream lingered in the back of his mind, he knew that his plan to simply drop Violet off with Zoey and walk away was out of the question now.
In the bright light of morning, he knew that the plan had been ridiculous to begin with. Zenia had left Violet with him. She had trusted him with her daughter. He couldn’t simply abandon her because the idea of parenting a seven-year-old girl scared the holy bejesus out of him.
And, now that he’d found Zoey, talked to her even just a little last night, he found that he wanted to know more about her, about the life she had lived and who she had turned out to be.
Zander had never considered himself someone that could be tied down by family. Of course, he’d never really had family so that was probably why. He hadn’t thought about how knowing someone had the same blood running through their veins as him would create a connection but now that he was here, with Violet and in Zoey’s house, he couldn’t imagine leaving without exploring more of that connection he’d felt last night.
When he thought about the connections he’d felt last night though, it wasn’t Zoey’s face that slipped into his thoughts. It was Maya DeLuca. The beautiful, mysterious woman who had answered that door for him when he’d been expecting someone else. Maya with her wary eyes and cautious distance had invaded his mind even in his sleep.
He wanted to know more about her too. He didn’t think there was any way the sparks he’d felt when he looked at her was one sided. He was attracted to her but something inside of him said it went deeper than that. He wanted, needed, to see her again but before he could do that, he needed to check on Violet and spend some time talking with Zoey some more.
With a sigh, he pushed himself out of the large bed with the soft sheets and stumbled to his bag. He’d dropped it in the corner last night after Zoey showed him to this room. He’d barely taken the trouble to shuck his dirty clothes before falling into the comfortable bed but now he searched through his scarce belongings to find his shaving kit and bathroom essentials.
The room Zoey had given him had an attached bathroom and when he flipped the lights on he shook his head in wonder. The bedroom itself was twice the size of his room at the apartment and now that he was well-rested he couldn’t help but wonder if Zoey’s adoptive family had money or if she’d married into it. This bathroom though, with the oversized jacuzzi tub and separate glass encased shower, two sinks and another door that led to a private toilet, told him that the answer just might be both.
He’d never lived anywhere this nice.
Pushing that thought aside, he quickly showered, shaved and brushed his teeth. He pulled a pair of faded jeans and a basic gray t-shirt out of his bag and then he pulled the dog tags that he always wore back over his head and tucked them beneath his clothes. With no other reason to remain holed up in the bedroom a moment longer he opened the door and followed the sound of voices and laughter until he found the kitchen.
