“Tylea, you look stunning,” Cbuttandra said as I twirled around for her final approval of the blue dress I had worn for the audition. It had been specifically requested by Ramirez that I return wearing it for the reception. I was in. My plan was formulated, and I was ready to complete this mission once and for all. I’d be in and out before they knew what was happening, and nothing was going to get in my way.
The reception was every bit as opulent as I had come to expect from Carlos, and there were beautiful women everywhere, but I was the lucky one that he had chosen to wear on his arm for the night. That put a slight damper on my evening plans, but I would work with what I’d been handed.
Carlos looked at me quizzically once or twice at the start of the evening. “Are you certain we’ve never met before?” he asked. “I never forget a face, or the eyes.”
I just shrugged and giggled appropriately. As Tyler, he had cI thought I had prepared for every situation imaginable. I had carefully gone through every scenario, except the one that lands me face to face with my one true mate. The way Ramirez had spoken to her and then dismissed her made me want to rip his throat out. I was distracted and wanted to follow her when she left, but I couldn’t find an excuse to leave.Fortunately, Carlos moved on after only a few minutes. I had clearly pbutted his buttessment.“Please enjoy the party, Mendoza,” he had said before moving on. “You’re in,” Painter said through the tiny earpiece we used forcommunication. “Good job, Juan.”I knew I had a mission to complete, and I was torn on what to do. Stay with the mission or follow my mate. I found myself gravitating towards the door I’d seen her leave through. I felt like a moth drawn to a light and I couldn’t stop myself.“Looks like you have company, my man,” T
I was furious that they took my bag. My life was in that bag and something told me that my hidden compartments weren’t going to fool these people one bit. Who were they?I was trying not to freak out. I didn’t know who Juan Mendoza was, but the others called him Tom, so I had already pieced together the fact that I wasn’t the only one undercover in disguise. At first, I nearly smiled as the one guy asked if there was such a thing as gay mates. I didn’t know one way or another, but the way Juan, Tom, whatever his name was had been acting, you’d think these idiots would have realized I was female. But who knew, maybe it could happen and I’d just not heard of such a thing before.Things weren’t so funny though when they mentioned O’Connell. I didn’t know who I was dealing with here, but it was obvious they were shifters. From their smells, they didn’t all smell like wolfs though. It was screwing with my head and I di
I didn’t want to concede, but john’s power was too strong. I was pissed that they’d brought john in on this, but when I settled down and thought about it, I probably couldn’t argue the need for it.As far as my wolf was concerned, my team was a threat to my mate. I could acknowledge the fact that I put her in that situation, but that only made my wolf all the more protective trying to make up for it.“Don’t john,” I warned him as I stood up before them fully naked before my mate.Her scent of arousal spiked in the room and ben smirked. “Yup, definitely a she-wolf.”I growled even though I was no longer in my fur and still maintained my ground to cover and protect her. I could feel the aggression rising within me again.john smacked ben. “Idiot.” Then he addressed my mate. “Look, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to call you, but Tom’s mate, I need you to please touch him
I couldn’t believe I’d landed myself in this mess. I wasn’t even sure what exactly I’d gotten myself into. I was thankful I had cleared out the van thoroughly before this final push. I had planned on leaving the country anyway, just not quite like this.Tom seemed to be calming down now. He was thinking rationally again. I think it was easier when he was acting all feral and unable to communicate beyond “leave her alone”.john seemed very laid back, but young for an Leader. From what I remembered, Pack was one of the biggest, too.“You sound like you’re speaking from experience, but you’re too young for that,” I buttessed.Tom smiled at me. “There were extenuating circumstances, but he fully bonded with his mate quickly. Kelsey’s pretty badbutt and the best Pack Mother in history,” Tom told me proudly.“What sort of extenuating circumstances?” I asked.“It&
“Uh-oh,” beth said. “I know that look all too well.I had thought my mate was safe at the Lodge. I had taken the shower to give her a few minutes alone to snoop around and get settled, sensing she had needed it. Well, it had been that, and the fact that my wolf was still very unsettled. I needed to calm down and relieve myself of the physical pain she was causing.I hadn’t been that long, but apparently it was long enough for her to plan and execute an escape. When I realized what had happened, I’d dressed quickly and started to track her. ben and my team were in the hallway downstairs just past the elevators laughing and carrying on. I could smell that she had been there.I stopped and growled at them. “Where is she?” I had demanded. “Who?” Baine asked. “You talking about that beautiful chickjordan’s screwing?”I roared in anger. There was only one female scent and I knew it was my
I didn’t know what to think. Between Tom and now ben I was on an emotional overload and I wasn’t familiar with having to deal with my own emotions. I was good at pushing them down, allowing me to think rationally and make solid decisions. But now my head was whirling with everything happening.“Wow, cousins,” Elise said. “How long has it been since you last saw each other?”ben shrugged. “Ten or more years.”I nodded surprised he even remembered. I was struggling to trust him, but it was obvious Patty had also changed a lot in that time.The girls rallied around me. It was like I was already fully accepted by them.“Are you set?” Kelsey asked, sounding truly concerned as she hugged me.I shrugged. “It’s a lot,” I admitted.“Do you need another drink?” beth asked.“I think you’ve had enough,” her mate said, but she just brushed him off.
I could feel Jasmine’s nerves washing over her. I had tried to help her relax before going inside. The water seemed to have a similar calming effect on her that it had on me. She had opened up some and I thought things were going well, but I could feel her shutting me out the moment I mentioned going inside.She was hesitant going in, but relaxed a little once inside, likely overwhelmed by my scent. I knew hers was soothing me and I hoped it was the same for her.“Wow, this is nice, Tom,” she said. My wolf stirred in excitement when she said my name. I liked hearing it roll easily off her tongue.“I’ve never required much,” I confessed.She shrugged. “I live out of this bag,” she told me.“That’s it? That’s all your belongings?” I asked unable to believe what she was telling me.“Well, no, and yes. I do own more clothes than this. This is my minimalist pack.”&l
Sleeping next to Jasmine wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I was usually a light sleeper. Comes with the job, but I crashed hard with her next to me.When I awoke the next morning, I was holding her in my arms as she used my chest as her personal pillow. I looked down at the beautiful creature next to me, so full of mystery and strength. I’d never met anyone quite like her before and having her there next to me, touching me in an intimate way, made me feel calmer and more at peace than I’d ever experienced in my entire life. It also made me hard, but there was no way I was going to be able to hide that fact.I laid as still as I could, not wanting to disturb her, but watching her gently wake was the sexiest thing I’d ever experienced in my entire life. She moved slowly like a sultry goddess. I didn’t think she realized it, but she was rubbing herself against me. When she started to moan, I wasn’t sure how much longer I co
I thought when I bonded with Jasmine that we were complete, somehow, I had been wrong. I don’t know why we waited to introduce our wolfes, but somehow that had made a world of difference. I felt whole now, stronger somehow and closer to my mate than ever.We’d gotten back from a short mission where the only real excitement had been the cat Alex had rescued, and insisted on bringing back home. Who knew the big person had such a soft spot? He was now a proud, crazy, cat owner.On the drive back from the airfield he’d made us stop off at a pet store where he bought everything he could think of that the damn cat might need. I was convinced that he had lost his mind, and we were getting close to needing to do an intervention. He was the last single person on the team, and I feared that was weighing on him more than he let on.Then, when we got back to the Lodge, all hell broke loose. The second we stepped out of the vehicles we w
I’d had some weird dreams and didn’t know what to make of them. I awoke with a sense of doom lingering in the air.I rolled over in bed and hit a brick wall.“ Tom?” I asked. “You’re back?”He was already awake and staring at me with a look of utter confusion on his face. “Uh, okay. You don’t remember?”He looked truly horrified. I had to pee badly though, so I climbed over him then froze halfway.He had a heated look in his eyes, and it brought back vivid memories from my dream.His hands found my hips and I gasped. My hand flew to my mouth. “Did I seduce you in my sleep?” I blurted out.My cheeks were on fire with embarrassment as I recalled just how aggressive and turned on I’d been. It had felt like a dream. And then we’d talked, and I had gotten upset and rolled over and went to bed angry.I groaned and covered m
When Alex changed our plans and sent us on an emergency mission, I was not pleased. Jasmine had been gone when I went home to tell her. I was a little grateful for it. I hadn’t called her because of that. Instead, I’d left a stupid note. I did feel bad for that.I’d never had to worry about anyone else before. As a courtesy I would call Leslie to let her know when I got called out on a mission. Mostly that was just because I knew she’d give me shit if I didn’t. I hadn’t called her this time either.I had thought the mission was taking us back to Colorado bear country to extract Sonnet, but this one wasn’t about that. The team was being sent down to New Mexico to rendezvous with Echo team.Alex hadn’t come with us. He was acting a little stranger than usual and was determined to have a clean extraction. He was working closely with Jake and being hush-hush on why we were being delayed. The rest of
I woke up all alone in a strange bed in a room I didn’t recognize at first. The only thing familiar at all to me was the intoxicating scent of my mate.“ Tom?” I called out but I could tell he wasn’t there. He’s left without even saying a word.I sat up with a huff.Feeling the call of nature, I jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. While there I went ahead and jumped in the shower trying to wash away some of the fears I had as the reality of my situation was starting to sink in.I’d mated a man I didn’t know. I’d sold my business and currently my only source of income. I’d uprooted my sisters and dragged them down this rabbit hole with me. I gulped. I lived with a very large pack of wolves. There had to be hundreds of them if not thousands.My head felt like it had been in a haze since the motherent Tom walked into my life.That veil was slowly lifti
The drive back to San Marco was just as stressful as the drive to Womack. Leslie still wanted to stop every hour to stretch and pee. I even tried banning liquids and that woman still had to pee. I suspected she was doing it just to drive me insane.With three cars our caravan ran at a slower pace than I normally would have driven by myself. We had five drivers to rotate between them, so it wasn’t too bad. Leslie had even taken turns riding in each vehicle.“I just want to get to know my new granddaughters is all,” she insisted.I loved that she was already accepting them into our little family pack. It meant a lot to me, but I suspected it meant a great deal to her too.It was late afternoon before Jasmine finally took a break from behind the wheel and road shotgun with me. I held her hand grateful for a few minutes alone with my mate. I’d missed her even if I did see her at every single stop Leslie insisted on.We were making good
We had no idea where we were going or what to expect. My car was largely packed with all of my stuff. We still had Sapphire’s car to fill with her stuff. Sage’s would have to be dispersed between the three vehicles. Not wanting to pay for a moving truck we all agreed to stop and buy air mattresses. We weren’t going to take any of the furniture or big stuff. Only necessities and important personal items.That proved easier said than done. While I had never really had much, Mother had spoiled the other girls with an over abundance of clothes, shoes, and well, stuff.“If I’m being honest, I don’t even like this stuff. Can I just pick out the things I actually want to wear and just start over buying what I need when I need it and can afford to do so?” Sapphire asked. “I mean look at these?”She pulled on an orange, yellow, and green dress that had the gypsy appeal our mother loved. She fancied herse
“ Tom,” I said as I answered the mobile.“Well at least you’re still alive. We just got back, and I figured I’d check in since I hadn’t heard anything. I’m assuming no news is good news?” Alex asked.“Yup. All good on this end. How was the mission?” “In and out, nothing exciting. Yours too?”I almost smiled. Mine was far from boring.“I identified our attacker.” For some reason I didn’t want to share the fact that she had been my mate, at least not yet.“So he’s been dealt with?”“She, actually.”“Oh really?” he asked, suddenly sounding interested. “Tell me.”“Shifter. She’s looking for her sister. I’m going to need to put an inquiry out on one Sonnet— hold on.” I covered the receiver with my hand even knowing Alex would st
I wasn’t opposed to going with Tom. Despite what he had tried to say, I knew what I had done when I tied myself to him. For me to believe otherwise would take time and examples. Layla had always warned me about it. “Don’t give away your soul and body to a man. Bonding it forever, Jasmine,” she would say.I had done it in a motherent of passion, but Tom appeared to be a good man and for some reason I had no regrets. Logically, I thought I should, but I didn’t.Tom motioned for Sapphire to come back over.“Check please,” he said.“No,” she said.“Look, I need to talk to your sister and not here in the open,” he said as if I weren’t sitting right there between them.“Did you realize you handed me over $800 yesterday?” Sapphire asked him.“I am and you aren’t giving it back.”“ Tom, that&
I awoke to an empty bed. I had reached for my mate with a huge smile on my face, but the bed was cold beside me.I was on full alert as I jumped up from bed and checked the bathroom for her. It was empty. I swept the room for any signs of Jasmine. The only thing I found to show that she had even been there at all, was one shoe peeking out from under the bed. Well, that and the mark she had left on my neck when we had sealed our bond.My heart ached and I was finding it hard to breathe.Had she regretted binding herself to me? Anger erupted within me. It was too late for regrets. What was done was done. As far as I knew, there was absolutely no way to undo a bond. She was stuck with me whether she liked it or not.Logically I knew my thoughts were merely a firewall protecting my heart. It was failing though. She had already breeched that too. I had to find her.I was trying to think through what I knew about my mate when there wa