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“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”
Dad started his speech, and as usual, the howls and calls of people finding their mates started before he could finish.
In all the years since I’d been allowed to join him out here, he’d never been able to finish his speech before the moon’s peak. It was a running joke at this point. I stared out at the crowd as I watched wolves finding their mates. I looked over at Cory, and he kept trying to sniff the air. Was he smelling his future luna? After a few minutes, though, he seemed to deflate with disappointment.
I stopped looking at him when I suddenly smelled something amazing. It was like…chocolate and cherries. I inhaled deeply, trying to fill my lungs with it. It smelled familiar, but not. I started looking around until I met the eyes of a man I hadn’t seen in a few years. I smiled at him, but then a man approaching the front captured my attention. When his eyes met mine, I felt the sizzle of the mate bond snap in place, and I gasped.
“Mate,” I whispered. The man smiled and began walking towards me faster. He jumped the last step and placed his forehead on mine.
“Mine,” he growled low in his chest.
“Bells?” Dad’s voice brought me out of my trance.
“Alpha Markus, my name is Alpha Brandon of the Redmon Moon Pack.” My mate said, extending his hand to shake Dad’s. Dad took his hand with a smile, but there was a pain visible in his eyes as well. I scoured my memory for the pack he mentioned, and my heart sank. Redmon Moon was in Montana.
‘It’s okay, Bells. We’ll make it work. I promise.’ Cory’s mind-link did little to minimize my heartache. I was going to leave this weekend, and I was going to be so far away. I tried to smile and remember that he was probably really disappointed that he hadn’t found his mate, but as usual, Cory could guess my every thought.
‘Don’t even think about that. This is an amazing night. You found your mate. It’s a happy night,’ he assured me.
I shivered as Brandon touched my arm, sparks traveling lightly through my entire body. I looked up at him and smiled. This was my mate. I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.
Chapter One
Cory
-Seven Years Later-
‘She’s gone around the building. Cut her off before she runs into the next one!’ Uncle Theo mind-linked everyone. I shouldn’t be able to hear him, considering I wasn’t part of his pack, Guardian Moon, but with the help of a witch my mother knew, we were able to temporarily mind-link thanks to a potion we drank before we got here.
I’m closest to the building, I thought, so I ran towards it. We were trying to catch one of Uncle Helios’ siblings to help her, but she was slippery. She had the ability to turn into water and kept finding a way to ditch them.
That’s why I was here in Southern Mexico with Uncle Theo, his mate, Uncle Sebastian, and a host of their warriors. They were hoping my ability to manipulate water would ensure she didn’t get away this time. We needed to find her before the others did. We would help her and protect her. The others would not.
Around the time I was one, Uncle Gonzalo, Uncle Lalo to me, and Aunt Kassia, or Aunt Kassie, came across a seer that predicted that there would be a major showdown with Tezcatlipoca (tez·kuht·luh·pow·kuh), a dark Aztec god who was hunting my Uncle Helios, the Alpha of Guardian Moon, and his siblings.
Uncle Helios’ original name was Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec God of the sun and war, and his sister was the Moon Goddess Selene, also known as Coyolxauhqui. She was every shifter’s Goddess.
Tezcatlipoca had been after them since an epic fight at the pyramids where Selene freed their mother from his evil influence the only way she could, by killing her.
At the time, Uncle Helios thought Selene and his siblings coldly murdered his mother and he spent over millennia hunting them down and killing them under the full moon to punish Selene, unaware that Tezcatlipoca had corrupted his mother. Tezcatlipoca influenced her the entire time they fought, using Uncle’s love for her against them.
Mom’s wolf was one of those siblings, and when Uncle Helios came to kill her while she was pregnant with my twin and me, Mom used her gift of sight to help him see the truth. Since then, Uncle Helios spent years redeeming himself, helping all of Selene’s children in any way he could. When Selene thought that Uncle Helios was on the right path once again, she offered him a choice: he and his warriors could remain as they were and help fight the evil after them, or become shifters and merge with the spirits of the siblings he’d kill and fight evil together.
Uncle Helios chose to become a shifter to allow his siblings to live once more, and because becoming shifters made them stronger for the battles ahead. Uncle Sebastian, Uncle Theo, and Uncle Gonzalo were his most trusted jaguar warriors and became his ranked pack officers. Their history, the wolves’ relation to each other and their loyal friendship made them family, which made them mine.
Uncle Helios had since spent his life preparing for this big fight, finding the rest of his siblings, and running the neighboring pack. His pack was made up of the remainder of his jaguar warriors, people he’d rescued from some labs that had been experimenting on them, and good people looking for a second chance. On the side, he helped shifter packs in peril of being decimated by rogues, other magical entities, or tyrannical alphas abusing their power. He did all of this with Aunt Natalia, his mate and legendary white wolf with healing abilities.
I grew up surrounded by power couples. No pressure.
‘I’m on my way,’ I linked back to my uncle, hurrying towards the building.
‘Warriors, remain at your post. We can’t let her get away this time. We might not find her again. She can’t move in liquid form unless there’s drainage. This is our only chance,’ Uncle Theo’s instructions rang out.
I rounded the corner to see a very pretty, copper-skinned, short Mexican woman heading toward me. She skidded to a stop, her eyes widening as she looked up at me, no doubt finding me intimidating at my six foot two to her five foot nothing.
Without a single word, she turned to water, and I held it in place with my gift, not allowing her to leave. She reformed her shape, her eyes wide and full of fear. I had no doubt she used her gift as her main form of defense for hundreds of years, and now it was not effective.
“No tenga miedo!” (Don’t be afraid!) I told her in Spanish, lifting my hands to show her I didn’t mean her harm. “La estan buscando unos hombres malos. Mis tios y yo la queremos ayudar.” (Some bad men are looking for you. My uncles and I are trying to help you.)
