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I knew she was mine without a doubt, knew I wanted to look into those eyes every day for the rest of my life.
There was something strange working in them, something I didn’t understand. But I knew I wanted to learn everything about this quirky mystery girl and that’s exactly what I’d do.
“I know this is highly irregular to someone like you, but it’s not for someone like me. I… know, this fast, that you and I were supposed to meet.”
She looked around us, looking panicked.
“Rikki, I need to talk to you about who I am. About what I am,” I admitted. “You’re gonna think it’s a little crazy, that I’m off meds, but I promise you I’m not.”
She didn’t say a thing.
I held my hand out. She didn’t make a move, so I tagged her hand and tugged, bringing her to a nearby boulder large enough to sit on.
Once she was on my lap sideways, I toyed with one of her long curls.
“I’m a shifter. I can be in this form, and I can be in another form. The other form of mine is a wolf.”
She chewed her lip and stared at her fingers, which twined with one another nervously in her lap.
I covered her hands with one of mine and squeezed reassuringly. “I spend most of my time in this form, though I need to regularly let the other side of me out.”
I stopped talking. I searched her face for a reaction. Panic was rising in her expression.
“Rikki, we identify our fated mates by scent, then set eyes on them and know down to our bones they’re meant to be ours.”
She shook her head.
I ran my hand up and down her back. She was shaking. I didn’t want to frighten her. I didn’t know how else to do this other than to try to explain. The urge to nurture was now stronger than the urge to claim, down to her reaction I guessed.
“There’s a reason we met yesterday. A reason why I was drawn to your scent today. It’s you. You’re the one.”
Her lips parted. She was about to speak.
“I promise you it’s true. I’ll show you. I’ll show you my wolf and you’ll know I’m not lying. I wanna take you home, Rikki. Take you home and make you mine in every way.”
I ran my nose along her throat. She shivered.
I dropped my voice to a low whisper against the ridge of her ear. “It’s a biological urge that’s hard to shake. But I promise, I’ll take good care of you. I’ll undress you. Make love to you. Make you feel good, baby. And I’ll give you my mark and my knot. My mark will be a bitemark right here.” I caressed her throat.
She sank into me instead of retreating, but a tear trickled down her cheek.
“And then,” I whispered against the ridge of her ear, “it’ll be the beginning of our forever.”
“Riley,” she whispered, brokenly.
Our eyes met.
And then I noted her expression wasn’t of lust, or of fear. It was something else. Something stark. Bleak. Grief? I didn’t know.
Did that phone call contain bad news?
She pressed her lips sweetly against mine. And it felt so right. Except that she was crying. She pulled back, swallowed hard and looked directly into my eyes for a beat before abruptly scrambling off my lap. She promptly tripped and fell.
“Whoa. You okay?” I helped her to her feet.
She looked around with a strange, confusing expression.
“Rikki?” I repeated.
“It’s not me.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not me, Riley.”
“It is. I know it is.”
“It’s not me. It’s a mistake. I have to go. Oh God; I’m so sorry. I have to… I have to go.”
She broke into a run, running along the trail that butted the ridge, leading down to the river that fed into Chariot Lake.
“I’m sorry if I scared you. Let me explain. I promise I’m telling you the truth. I…”
She looked over her shoulder with panic in her eyes and kept running. “I’m sorry! I can’t! This was… I made a mistake.”
“I really am a wolf shifter. I’ll show you.” I pulled my button-down shirt off and threw it. “Don’t be afraid. I promise when I’m wolf, you won’t get hurt. I’ll show you and then I’ll look like this again and take you to a place where we can talk. Where I can make you mine. It’ll be okay, Rikki. I promise. I’ll be a good mate.”
“I’m sorry. So sorry. I…” She shook her head, backing away while looking in multiple directions. Then she stumbled and tumbled backwards.
I blinked with confusion and felt frozen, rooted in place for a split second before I could move my limbs.
Horror washed over me as she disappeared from my view.
Finally, I got unstuck and moved as quickly as I could. My vision blurred as I stared over a cliff that overlooked the river. The river was moving fast, like a waterspout and it rippled as I saw a shadow move across the wake.
