CHAPTER TEN

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• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ELEVEN

  My jaw falls open. Caleb has just reversed my banishment, using his powers as the Alpha to undo what the pack just did.Chaos erupts in the pack house, snarls and shouts and arguments, and I shrink close to Caleb’s side, worried that a fight will break out any minute.“Quiet!” A loud, gravelly voice silences everyone. I see that the man who was speaking up on my behalf has stepped into the center of the room. He’s really old, with a reddish beard and thick, square glasses. “Caleb,” he says, “you know that I was close with your father. I’ve been with this pack since long before your dad was a little cub, and I have always helped to advise Alphas. You have a lot of power here, but according to pack laws, an Alpha cannot simply reverse a banishment.”“I know, Arnold,” Caleb says. “I looked it up.”“Ah.” The older wolf raises one bushy eyebrow. “I had noticed that some of my older books on ancient pack laws were missing. I wondered whether our young Alpha was seeking to

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWELVE

  Caleb takes the stairs of the pack house two at a time, loping up on long legs toward the main bedroom.“Now that you’re not banished anymore, you can live here, with me!” He turns to me with a big smile, opening the door to his room.It’s gorgeously decorated, with a wooden four poster bed in the center, its posts carved intricately with scenes of wolves hunting together. The curtains are slate gray and the carpet is a deep blue, which is soft and plush under my feet. “Arnold wants his books,” Caleb grumbles, looking around on various shelves to see if he can find them. “I think they’re back at the cabin, though. So is your stuff. I should head back and get them.”“I’ll go with you,” I offer. I want to spend more time with Caleb, and I definitely don’t want to be alone in the house with a bunch of werewolves who just voted to kill me.He shifts, and again I ride on his back, but the journey through the woods isn’t the same as it was earlier, when we chased Miranda. We

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Caleb promised to take me on more dates after the picnic was interrupted, and he keeps his promise. A few days after the ritual to reverse my banishment, Caleb tells me to get dressed up and meet him outside by his Jeep. I pick out a slinky black dress with silver fringe, making sure the amulet I wear so proudly is displayed against its fabric. Caleb is waiting for me, looking sharp in a black jacket with silver buttons.“You look nice,” I say, climbing into the passenger seat.He smiles, looking me up and down. “We match.”“Where are we going?”“You’ll see.” Caleb drives me into the center of town, the downtown area that most of us shifters tend to avoid. It’s packed with humans, and we prefer the open air and wild spaces of the woods. That’s why our pack house is out on the edge of the city, in the forests.But Caleb parks outside a cool concrete warehouse type building, then turns to me with a grin. “Do you like live music?”I shrug. “I’ve never actually been t

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The restaurant, called Big Belly, serves massive sandwiches, piled high with meat. It’s werewolf heaven. The waitress seems impressed at my order, and even more impressed when I finish it all. “You were right,” I tell Caleb. “This place is amazing.”“To humans, these are huge portions,” Caleb laughs. “The first time I came here, I didn’t quite realize that they put so much meat on them, so I ordered three sandwiches like I usually do.”I nod. We wolves eat differently than humans, and we need large amounts of meat and other proteins.“I finished all three of them, and they took a picture of me to put on their wall!” Caleb points, and sure enough, there’s a picture of him looking somewhat confused and sitting next to three empty plates. Above it, someone has written BIG BELLY’S WORLD RECORD HOLDER.I laugh. “Caleb, we’re supposed to keep a low profile among humans, not go around setting world records!”He shrugs. “Between you and me, I think the chef might be a shifte

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I show the note to Caleb later that evening, once I’m back home at the pack house. He sits down on the bed next to me, sighing and running a hand through those gorgeous dark curls.“Most of the pack has started to accept you, especially now that you’re my Luna, but there’s something dangerous about how much Malcolm and Miranda still hate you.”“I’ll be okay as long as I wear your amulet, though, right?” I ask.“It’s your amulet,” Caleb corrects me. “I gifted it to you - you’re not borrowing it, it belongs to you. That’s important for the ritual.”“Right, right.” I remember how Caleb had to sacrifice something of his own in order to reverse my banishment, and I know it’s important to the werewolf magic of the ritual that it remains mine. “But it should protect me from them.”“Hopefully. But the amulet’s spell is very specific - it protects you from being betrayed. Since you already don’t trust Miranda and Malcolm, there’s nothing there to betray. Someone could still attac

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I have known all my life that when a werewolf finds their mate, they join their bodies and become fully one another’s. But I never knew just how incredible the actual experience was.Caleb carries me into our bedroom, and soon our snow gear and ski clothes are in a pile on the floor, and he’s kissing me, holding me, and his Alpha musk is stronger than I’ve ever smelled it. It wraps around me, my body, my head, my heart, and makes me want to dissolve completely in it.He takes deep breaths, scenting me, drawing in whatever pheromones I’m putting out, and I feel wanted, desired, cherished. Our bodies entangle, and when we finally mate, his teeth sink into the flesh of my shoulder and I feel his mark enter me, a brilliant flash of love and claiming and connection.When it’s over, we lay next to each other, panting, basking in the hazy glow that seems to be surrounding us. Through the windows, the clear white light of the moon shines onto our bare skin. When it touches my clai

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  As I get dressed, making sure I have warm clothes and sturdy boots for my sojourn into the forest, Caleb continues to explain some things about my shift.“I’ve been reading more of Arnold’s books, learning about what happens when an Alpha mates to an Omega, and what it means for a werewolf to have their first after they’re mated and marked. Both are pretty rare.”I feel my face grow hot with the reminder of how weird and unusual I am. Sometimes I feel sorry for Caleb, being stuck with me as a mate.“I’m sorry,” I mutter, stuffing my feet into my warm winter boots. I know I won’t need any of these warm winter clothes after I shift, since a wolf’s thick fur and heavy paw pads protect them, but part of me worries that I might be stuck in human form forever. “It’s nothing to be sorry for,” Caleb insists. “It means there’s something special about you - and about us, about our bond. It also means that this shift is about more than you discovering your wolf. It means something to

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I hear a hawk cry somewhere above me and turn my face up. When the moonlight catches my eyes, something happens. Everything starts to look different - sharper, more in focus.The shadows all around me are no longer dark, blurry shapes. I can make out each individual one, can tell which branches are swaying in the woods and which are moving because an animal just leapt through them.It’s happening. I could cry with joy, but my eyes no longer feel human. The delicate lashes and tear ducts have given way to rounded eyes that let me see clearly even in the dark.My muscles ripple beneath my skin, and I feel my body changing form. Soon I have four feet on the ground, bare, touching the stones and snowy patches directly. No more heavy soled boots separating me from the world around me. I feel everything.A thrill runs through me, and I lift my head and howl. My wolf’s voice is clear as crystal, piercing the night sky, and I hear animals all through the forest respond, crying out

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• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED

  Damian is a healthy baby, well loved, and by the time he’s a few months old, it’s obvious that Jasper and I don’t need to stick around in Serpent’s Creek. The mansion is nearly full to bursting with wolf and bear shifters excited to be part of this new family and to dote on the precious baby whose existence symbolizes a fresh start for everyone.Jasper mentions going home to Santa Cruz a few times before I’m happy about it, though. I tell him that Orsina could still use my help, or that there’s still some magic I want to learn from Clara. He sees right through my excuses, though. “Are you nervous and going back to live somewhere with those guys in the basement?” Jasper asks me one evening, sliding his hands around my waist to nibble at my earlobes as he asks. “Maybe,” I say. “Now that he’s not a rabbit anymore, and he’s seen me and spoken to me, and he’s already gotten out once -”“He didn’t get out,” Jasper reminds me. “We let him think he escaped.”“I know, but he th

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE

  My eyes fall shut easily, after such a long day. But I don’t sleep very deeply. Instead, I get caught up in a long, complex dream.In the dream, I’m back in the celestial realm, standing in the same dungeon cage that Coello used to keep me in. Sterling is there, too, walking up to me with those piercing gray eyes and that familiar smile. “Hello,” he says. He leans in to kiss me, and I think that the bars will prevent him from being able to, but he just passes right through. I feel his hands on my face, his lips on mine, and he kisses me for a long time.When I open my eyes after the kiss, I’m no longer in the cage. Now, Sterling and I are standing on top of the massive tower where we found him, high up above the rest of the celestial realm. But when I look out, I don’t see the rolling, starlit darkness of the celestial realm. I see the golden yellow plains of Montana, the valley that stretches out around Serpent’s Creek.“Where are we?” I ask, feeling strangely dizzy.

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT

  Clara and Zach arrive soon enough, and we all go careening up the mountain. With Clara behind the wheel, we get back to the house in record time. Orsina is sweating now, her breaths coming heavy and hard, and Zach has to help her out of the truck and into her room.“Can you shift?” Clara asks her, gently lowering the laboring mother down into her bed. “It’s so much easier if you shift.”“I think so,” Orsina says. She squeezes her eyes shut, holding her breath. It takes a few tries, but soon she’s a bear, curled up on top of the quilts in her bedroom.“Perfect, perfect,” Clara coos. “There you go, mama bear.”“Could that cause a problem for the baby?” Zach asks, hovering in the doorway. Clara asked him to bring towels, and he’s already brought twice as many as we’ll need, but he has yet another armful. I don’t even know where he’s getting them from, at this point. Even a mansion like this can only hold so many towels.“What do you mean?” Clara asks, her voice calm and unf

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN

  When we call home to let Regan and Isaac know what’s going on, they’re thrilled to hear that Barrett is okay and that Zach and Orsina have a safe place to land. They tell us that Howling Wolf is doing amazingly well - after so many volunteers and friends came to help us with the battle, we’ve gotten tons more clients in the shifter world, and we’ve been able to hire a handful of new employees.Since they seem to have things well in hand, Jasper and I decide to stay in Montana. We set up in one of the westward facing bedrooms, next door to Zach and Orsina. Clara and Bennett take an upstairs bedroom, smaller but cozier and with more privacy. With Weston defeated and his supporters scattered after our Santa Cruz victory, the rest of the bear clan needs a leader and a place to stay. Through a peaceful process, Clara and Barrett become the Alpha and Luna for the bear clan. Bear clans don’t typically refer to their Alpha’s mates as a “Luna,” but Clara is a wolf, and the title just see

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX

  “Barrett!” Orsina rushes to his side, laying a hand over his forehead. He lifts his head weakly at her voice, then his eyes spark with recognition.“Orsina…” he croaks, his eyes fluttering shut again. “Help…”Everything then happens in a flurry of activity. Clara sends everyone but Orsina out of the room, giving each of us specific directions. Jasper is sent to get a bowl of hot water and towels, I’m supposed to find a medicine kit under the sink in the kitchen, and Zach is told to go secure the perimeter of the house, especially the rear door.I return with the medicine chest in my arms. It smells familiar, full of the healing herbs and magical potions Layla often uses. It’s also got modern medical stuff like clean white bandages and stitching kits.Clara instantly sets about getting Barrett to sit up. She holds a glass of water to his lips, encouraging him to drink and take a handful of pills and capsules she’s picked out of the medicine chest. She works on Barrett fo

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE

  We barely have time to process everything Clara has told us before she’s packing us a picnic dinner and ushering us out the door. We pile into her battered, ancient Jeep, which is almost definitely running more on shifter magic than gasoline at this point, and she heads out toward the mountains. “So, uh,” Orsina asks, after a bit of silence, “does that mean this is, like…you?” She rolls up her sleeve to show the tattoo mark of the wolf that appeared on her arm after the spirits from the carving gave their blessing.“It is perhaps an image of me,” Clara says in her cryptic way as she careens up the switchbacking roads. “Or, perhaps it is another manifestation of my spirit. There have been many over the years.”“What about your beloved?” Orsina asks. “The bear shifter you fell in love with. Where is he?”“That is a lovely question,” Clara says softly. “At times, we have found each other. At other times, our spirits have been far from one another. Since the curse took a deep

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR

  It takes Malcolm and Coello a little while to accept the reality of their new situation - that Malcolm is irreversibly bound to Coello, and that Coello is bound to us by virtue of some very powerful magic Layla cooked up for us. They snarl and fight, argue and wheedle, and even try to bust out of their chains by brute force. But nothing works. We’ve won. Malcolm and Weston are both banished to cells in the basement, very far apart to prevent them trying to scheme together. Maybe someday we’ll have another use for them, but for now, it’s a breath of fresh air to know that my biggest enemy, and the biggest enemy of my pack, are both completely neutralized. I had hoped that we would be able to relax and settle down for a bit now that this problem has been solved. In fact, we had a lovely day after the battle, with all our friends and volunteers and former trainees lounging on the beach and splashing around in the cool water.But something is bothering Orsina. She paces, agitate

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE

  The Moon Rabbit doesn’t waste any time once Malcolm agrees to the binding spell. With quick, almost spider like hands, Coello spreads the stalks and herbs out on the rocky beach, fluttering them into complex shapes. I stand on my tiptoes, peering out from behind my hiding place. Coello’s form of magic is rough and brutish, nothing like the delicate work Layla does. But it does the job. Malcolm steps over the edges of the intricate shape Coello has created on the ground, and even I can feel the burst of intense magic that snaps through the air as the spell takes effect. “I look forward to having you in my service,” Coello says with a low bow. “For now, however, I must depart. Do enjoy your newfound power.”Malcolm smiles, flexing his hands like he can somehow feel himself getting stronger. Then the two separate, Coello sneaking back into the tree house before anyone catches him outside.I’m surprised, but not entirely so. Some of us thought Coello would try to get as far a

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO

  The various wolf shifters staying with us to help out have been instructed not to speak with the Moon Rabbit, but to keep a close eye on him. Coello soon gives up trying to draw them into conversation and instead just wanders around the busy tree house, doing what he clearly thinks is subtle reconnaissance in preparation for his escape attempt. What he doesn’t know is that his ability to slip out of here isn’t going to be the result of his own careful cleverness. It will be perfectly engineered by me and my team, right down to the very moment. It’s early afternoon when we get the signal. We’ve had scouts placed in inconspicuous locations all around the forest and the town of Santa Cruz watching for any sigh of Malcolm or Weston. Sure enough, they roll into town with a huge entourage of bear shifters and werewolves. Our scouts say that they’ve set up a campsite near the beach about a mile south from our location, and that Malcolm is heading our way on his own, apparently to chec