AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cinched the robe tighter around my waist, feeling exposed to the crowd peering into the bedroom from the hallway. The commotion had grabbed not only the attention of Trace but also Mariam and several others from downstairs, who were now looking on with a great deal of curiosity. My brain was doing mental gymnastics, trying to understand what was happening.
My wolf, on the other hand, had no difficulty putting two and two together. She was howling and thumping her tail with excitement, trying desperately to force a shift and face the crazed werewolf herself. At least now, the stranger seemed to be settling a little, though the fire in his eyes was just as bright as before.
“Mate,” he rumbled again. “I can’t believe you’re here.” The word sent a shiver down my spine. There was no way this man was my mate. Everything about him was the opposite of what I was hoping for. For years, I had pictured a strong, handsome authoritarian whisking me away from Dark Claw. Basically, the same fairy tale that Mariam had with Trace. But the shifter before me had the build of a poet or maybe that of a college professor, not thelinebacker I had conjured up in my dreams. Tall and lean, it was entirely possible that even I weighed more than him, and his clean-shaven baby face left no doubt that he was much younger than me.
The thought made me shutter. I was almost thirty-seven. Mating with a werewolf in his early twenties, or -goddess forbid- his late teens was simply out of the question. The idea alone had the proverbial effect of taking a cold shower, shutting down any argument my wolf might make for how appealing he was.
“I think there’s been a mistake,” I said as gently as possible. I didn’t want to embarrass the young man in front of all these people, the members of his pack that he would have to see every day for the rest of his life. I gave the small crowd in the doorway a pointed look. “Can we have some privacy, please?”
That was enough to free them from their collective trance, and it earned me a few guilty smiles. The group shuffled away, leaving just Mariam and Trace with me and the young man.
He scowled at my words. “There is no mistake. We’re mates.Truemates. Can’t you feel it?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, not wanting to answer that question or even entertain the idea at all. Sure, I felt drawn to him. The scent surrounding him was exactly what Mariam and everyone had described when meeting their true mate. But the moon goddess had to be confused here. This wasn’t romantic. It was horrifying.
“Look,” I said. “I don’t know who you are or even anything about you. I’m just here for the wedding, and then I’m going back home. I’m telling you, there has beensome kind of mix-up.”
Mariam stepped forward and cleared her throat. “Gabe, will you be alright if Trace lets you go? You’re not going to attack Ella or anything, right?”
The man’s -Gabe’s- eyes widened, and he became still enough for Trace to release him from the hold he was in. “You’re Ella? Mariam’s sister?”
I frowned. “You’re Gabe?” Mariam had gone on and on about the werewolf named Gabriel, who had helped her when she first came to the Tumblewild pack. She had been on the run and hiding from Trace, only to discover that he was the alpha of the pack she had grown attached to. Gabe had allowed her to live in his spare room and had even gotten her a job when she had arrived in the pack using an assumed name. Using my name as an assumed name, to be exact.
A smile broke out across Gabe’s youthful features. “Goddess, I love hearing you say my name. It takes on a whole new meaning coming from your lips.”
My cheeks flamed red. He sounded like a kid with a crush. Hewasa kid with a crush, actually. One look at my sister told me that she found the whole thing pretty exciting, a clear contrast to the dread I was feeling.
"Ella, this is perfect! You can stay in Tumblewild, and you won't have to go back home to Dark Claw after the mating ceremony!” She was practically giddy over the idea.
I sighed. "Mariam, believe me. This is a mistake. Gabe is not my true mate. And at the moment, I want nothing more than to put on a pair of pajamas, take a nap, and forget this ever happened."
For a minute, Gabe looked at me like I had kicked his wolf, but then a dangerous glint filled his eyes, and determination set across his face. "Will you two allow me some privacy with Ella? It seems like we have a few things we need to discuss."
Trace hesitated and looked toward Mariam for help on what to do. He had been uncharacteristically quiet for the entire argument. I wondered if the situation reminded him of the first encounter he had with my sister. I hadn't been there to see it for myself, but the gossip around Dark Claw indicated that it hadn't gone very well, either.
“Are you okay with that, Ella?” Mariam asked, looking from me to Gabe and then back to me again.
She was obviously struggling with what to do now that her best friend was looking at me like I was something to eat.That makes two of us, I thought.
“It’s fine,” I lied. It wasn’t fine. But maybe if we were alone, he would be more willing to listen to reason. Maybe some of this bravado was him putting on a show to avoid having his ego bruised.
“Okay, then. We’ll be just down the hall, so if you need anything, just call for us.” She said the last part with a pointed look at Gabe, almost as if it was a warning that they would be able to hear me if I screamed. However unreassuring that was, I was grateful for her attempt to make me feel better.
Gabe nodded, but his eyes remained fixed on me. We stood there staring at each other long after the door had shut, leaving the two of us completely alone in the bedroom.
“Listen, Gabe—“
“You’re just so beautiful,” he interrupted. He took a step closer and reached up so that his thumb grazed my cheek. “I knew you would be amazing and so worth the wait. I just didn’t know you would be… perfect.”
I swallowed hard, refusing to acknowledge the butterflies that were fluttering in my lower stomach. “Seriously, Gabe. You couldn’t have been waiting that long to find a mate. How old are you? Nineteen?”Please say no, please say no. Don’t be a teenager,I begged him silently.
He barked a laugh. “I’m hardly a kid, Ella. I’ll be twenty-eight in a few months.”
The uncomfortable feeling that I was committing a crime by being alone in a room with him dissipated slightly, but twenty-seven was still young.Tooyoung.
“You sure about that? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in dating a twenty-seven-year-old, either,” I said, cringing at the thought. His age put almost an entire decade of difference between us. When I was a little girl, I used to imagine falling in love with my true mate. But at that time, Gabe wouldn’t have even been born yet.
Gabe quirked an eyebrow, his warm brown eyes dancing with humor. “Do you really think a couple of years in age difference matters, Ella? What, when you’re eighty, I’ll be seventy-nine or something? Age isn’t important.”
