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She stared at Kodiak, fighting to get air into her lungs, struggling to keep her heart from breaking ribs, and her blood pressure zoomed up. She swallowed. “I don’t?”
He took her hand and led her into the ring where the fight had started. He let her go and gazed down at her, and she was utterly lost.
“No. Not as my mate, you don’t.”
This time she swallowed hard. A lump, hot and burning, had taken up residence in her throat. “What do you mean?”
“The alpha needs to choose a mate. He’s chosen you,” said Ash, stepping forward while still remaining outside the ring.
The shifters all murmured. Some shook their heads. Some gave her stormy looks, and she shivered. Not all of them approved of their alpha’s decision. They might not challenge him as Shota had, but they weren’t happy.
But some, like Ash, smiled. Not many. But it would hopefully be enough.
“I…”
“Don’t worry about them,” whispered Kodiak, so low that only she could hear. “My title will protect you, and I’ll always be there to keep you safe. They won’t hurt you. They know I will kill them if they do.”
She looked back at Shota’s still form and shivered. “No…no killing, like you said.”
“A figure of speech. But they know they’ll be ejected from the pack.”
“Your mate? But I’m human. So how does that work?”
“It can be done. I know it.”
“Ash said—”
“She didn’t tell you everything, and I suspect you’re more than human, Tamaska. But even if you’re not. We’ll do it. Make it happen.”
She swallowed hard yet again. “What does this mean for me?” she asked. “Do you have to bite me, or something?”
“Only if you want me to.”
It was then that Tamaska truly knew in her heart what she wanted.
She wanted Kodiak’s bite. She wanted to become a wolf, to be part of the pack, no matter what. Her phobia of regular dogs seemed to pale into nothing when it came down to having him. And she didn’t have that same fear about shifters. They were something else entirely.
He’d said she might be more than human, but she didn’t think so. She didn’t feel like anything other than a person. She didn’t heal fast or have super strength.
The only thing that made her different somehow was what that mark did to her. And maybe being turned into a shifter could help combat it. That alone was worth changing. When she countered Kodiak into it…there wasn’t even an argument.
Except one.
What if it didn’t work?
“But I’m human. Will you be able to turn me?”
“It will be risky. It might not work.”
She nodded slowly. Because there was something else. “If it doesn’t?”
He swallowed hard but didn’t look away from her. “You’ll die.”
The bottom fell out of her world. Her breath caught in her throat.
She’d…die?
But what was life holding for her if she didn’t try? Being turned by vampires. Dying slowly, agonizingly in misery because Kodiak who was, she knew, her other half had been ripped away from her.
The stakes were more than high, but they didn’t deter her. She reached up and kissed him, hard and sweet, before his strong arms wrapped around her. She would take the risk because of the love building between them. She couldn’t bear to be away from him, and being together only in human forms wouldn’t be enough.
Even more than her love for Kodiak, if she changed, she could actually help to get the Blood Opal back. To reclaim the gem, she was ready to kill every vampire in the city—especially Amdis.
The End
