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Sated and blissfully happy, Salem lay in Cullen’s arms. Jinx said she and Cullen were fated mates, yet Cullen had said nothing. Was he unaware that according to shifter lore they were destined to be together? From what both Dani and Jinx had said, she found it unlikely.
“What disturbs you?” asked Cullen, who was spooned behind her.
She’d been wrestling with what Jinx had discovered all night. She tried to tell herself that her sense of being right where she belonged for the first time emanated from the fact that Cullen was well-endowed and knew how to use his body to maximize a woman’s pleasure. The problem with that argument was that it fell flat in the face of her growing acknowledgement that if she wasn’t already, she was falling in love with the enigmatic wolf-shifter. She’d always wondered if she would know when she was in love, as she’d never felt that way about any man, but she did about Cullen.
Her boss had warned her off shifters, saying they were dangerous and not to be trusted, and yet she’d seen more honor in Cullen and his pack in the past few days here at Ghost Moon Manor than she’d seen in the entire length and breadth of her career with the FBI and certainly with the SPU.
He kissed the back of her neck. “What is it, Salem?”
Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door. Cullen growled low in his throat, which only made Salem smile.
“Come in,” she called.
Shaw stuck his head in. “Alpha?”
Cullen sat up, scowling at her. “You see? Shaw knows I’m the one who tells people who can and can’t enter my room.”
“According to you, this is our room, which gives me the right to tell someone to come in,” she said, trying to scowl back and failing miserably. He didn’t really care who told whom they could come in. He just wanted to get laid again. “What is it, Shaw?”
“Jinx wants to talk to you, Salem. She says it’s important.”
“Tell her to give me a couple of minutes to throw some clothes on, and I’ll be right down. Why don’t you wait and take grumpy guts here down to join the pack for breakfast?”
Shaw grinned at her. “Yes, Mist…” Cullen’s growl cut him off. “… Salem.”
He left the room before she could question him, so she turned to Cullen. “What was he going to call me?”
Cullen groaned and flopped back on the bed. Salem rolled out of bed and headed into the walk-in closet she now shared with Cullen.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just ask Shaw, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll ask Jinx,” she said as she walked out, pulling on a pair of black denim leggings and the cobalt blue sweater. She fluffed her hair as she pulled it free from the sweater and secured it in a high ponytail.
“I don’t doubt that for a minute, and I won’t have you putting Shaw between us, especially as I know Jinx would answer you.”
“Which begs the question, Cullen. What did he almost call me?”
“Mistress. He almost called you mistress, and before you blow up at that, you should know that for wolf-shifters, mistress does not have the same connotation that it does for humans.”
“What connotation does it have?”
“The mate to the alpha of the pack is called mistress. It is a sign of respect.”
Well, there it was. The elephant in the room had now been named.
“And do you think I am your mate?”
“How much have your friends Dani and Jinx shared with you? And never doubt Jinx considers you to be her friend.”
“I don’t. I consider her to be my friend, as well. As to what they’ve shared, I know that humans can be turned into shifters by a variety of methods, depending on the species. I know that alphas, such as yourself, are the undisputed leaders of their respective clan, clowder, or pack. If an alpha’s leadership is challenged, the matter is settled in a variety of ways, although most species favor combat. I know there are varying degrees of independence among female shifters.”
“But what about the alpha’s mate?”
Taking a deep breath, Salem looked at him. She expected him to look arrogant and as if the matter was settled. And, she supposed, in his mind it was. There was an air of determination and his right to claim what he considered his, but there was also a raw vulnerability that reminded her while he might be a proud alpha wolf, he was also a man.
“I know that some believe our lives are guided by some greater power, and that a shifter’s mate is often called by destiny, regardless of whether one or both of them want it. Both Dani and Jinx called it a ‘fated mate.’”
“You are remarkably well-informed,” he said, shaking his head. “Are you happy here with me, Salem?”
“It’s certainly not dull—vampires, shifters, angry alphas, the Shadow League, the Shadow Sisters—pretty dramatic stuff.”
