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The trunk to my car barely closed, which meant I had a lot of trips in the house to make when I pulled in a few minutes later. The cousins would be good for something—they could help carry the food if they were going to eat it all.
Only as I parked the car, my mom stood in the open doorway, her eyes glistening with tears.
Well, fuck. What had happened? I’d only been gone an hour.
I parked and got out of the car, jogging over to her.
“Mom, tell me what’s wrong?”
She went on to tell me how my brother and cousins were having some sort of power struggle and shifted. They ran out of the house and into the woods. They must’ve been terrified of shifting in the house or something. Or maybe they were going to challenge each other. Neither was good.
Goddess save me from the misdirected power balances between wolves.
“Please, go see to them and tell them dinner is ready.” As if dinner would be the first thing on their minds once they came to their senses.
“Sure, Mom. Want me to unload the groceries first?”
“No. Just go.” She patted my cheek. “You’ve always been my good boy.”
I shifted and went around back, scenting the air, looking for what direction they went in. Their path was easy to follow. Although, to be fair, they probably hadn’t even planned on being followed. They probably thought the boring adults would be… boring, and that they’d wait them out.
They were in the clearing dubbed “make-out central” by my brother’s friend from high school. Had I come there and found them all making out, I’d have been much happier than what I did waltz in on.
Their snarls reached my ears before I saw them. The tone told me it was more a serious fight than a simple dominance display. When I finally stepped into the clearing, the three of them were in challenge formation. Worse than that, they were about to lunge at a man. A veryhumanman.
His scent hit me and I stumbled backwards. His dark hair was disheveled, and his eyes wide with fear. The salty hint of his tears still lingered in the air.
He hadn’t aged a day, and I was thrown back in time to when I’d seen him for the last time.
Christopher.
Why was he even here?
He was crouched on the ground, still, wide-eyed. His gaze flicked from the three wolves and back to me.
I stepped toward him, but kept my gaze on my cousins. I bared my teeth and growled, letting them know not to come near him.
Mate, my wolf shouted. If I’d been in human form, I would have yelled it out loud.
Mine. Mine. Christopher is mine.
I knew it as sure as I knew myself. All my instincts had been right. The pining for him, the sadness at our separation, it all made sense now. He was made for me by the Goddess herself. And now we’d never be apart again.
He had to have sensed it too, because he shifted closer to me and let me stand over him. My shoulders were at his. He was on all fours like I was. I nudged his cheek with my snout and I swore he relaxed at the touch.
I looked to my cousins, yipped, and growled, nodding my head back toward my house so that they would get the hint to leave. Once they were gone, I could change to my human form. It might scare Christopher, but hopefully once he saw it was me, he would be able to listen. I could explain everything. And with us being mates, we could be together. No one was going to separate fated mates. As long as he was willing, we’d never be apart.
First I had to show him. Convince him that I wasn’t crazy.
Bradford, the youngest of my cousins, stepped toward me. His gaze was curious and his nose in the air as he scented. I bared my teeth and let out a threatening growl.
Claim. Mark. Claim.
There was one sure way to stop these wolves from scenting toward my mate—something that would leave no questions to who he belonged to. A mating bite.
My canines ached to sink into Christopher’s neck and mingle our scents together so all would know that we were claimed.
Bradford was always a little slow on the pick up. He lingered too long, his steps coming too close to me. Too close to my mate.
