“Mates?” I asked breathlessly. He nodded. “Like… a couple?”
“A pair,” he said quickly, wetting his lips with his tongue. “Among wolves it means that we’re always regarded as being a unit… Loyal. Committed. We belong to each other. That’s what you’re feeling, Cara. That’s what I’ve been feeling. I was so dumb—I didn’t want to accept it at first because of everything it could mean. But I couldn’t deny it. Once I realized…” He trailed off, clearing his throat. “When… when we accept each other and complete the bond it will get even stronger. Can you imagine it, Cara?” His hand was still extended towards me. It trembled slightly. He wanted me to take it. Even though he hadn’t said anything, it felt significant somehow. Like taking his hand was some kind of declaration.
I wanted to touch him so badly I twitche
~ RIG ~“Thank God,” I whispered, then, unable to resist, I kissed her hair. “Don’t ever let go, Cara. I won’t. Just please… don’t ever let go.” I doubt I’d ever spoken a more genuine plea. It felt like I’d cracked my ribs and bared my heart and left it there, at her mercy.Cara trembled in my arms, but I could feel the tension in her fading as I held her. Then she nodded. “I won’t.” The whispered words fluttered against my chest and I wanted to howl with joy.Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.Relief washed through me like a wave. Even though I knew her acceptance would ultimately only increase the danger, I couldn’t find it in myself to care. In that moment all I could feel was joy and re
~ CARA ~Nothing seemed real.I stood just inside the door at Rig’s house, Rig right behind me, his warmth pressed against my shoulder. Mack was standing in the doorway into the kitchen, talking to Rig. Jack and Charlie had arrived right behind us. Apparently Natalie was on her way.I stood there, uncertain what to say.When Charlie edged past me, I flinched. Rig’s hand appeared on my arm and he leaned into my ear. “You’re safe here.”
~ CARA ~ The skin on the back of my neck prickled. Rig put a hand to my back, but I leaned around him to look at Natalie who’d just walked into the room looking gorgeous as usual, unwinding a scarf from around her neck, her cheeks pinked by the cold outside. The guys greeted her casually, which made me feel even tenser, but I swallowed it back. She’d been out in the forest with them—apparently completely unfazed by them being naked. She’d known them since they were kids. She was… one of them.
~ CARA ~Rig cleared his throat and I waited, holding my breath.“I’ll explain better later, but just think of… an old-boys system. The guys in power do everything they can to keep their power—they hold prejudice against anyone different, they exploit weaker wolves, they use their strength to hurt or even kill anyone who stands against them. It’s all about power-plays and—”“And won’t they do that to you, then?!” I asked, suddenly panicked. I hadn’t realized I’d grabbed his arm, until he turned his hand and entwined our fingers.&nb
~ RIG ~We were all in the living room, my brothers laughing and joking, emotions running high after the rush of becoming a true pack.On a normal night it would have been a rush for me as well, to suddenly feel even more connected, even more certain of them. As a pack, this was a milestone night.It was unfair to them that my attention was so completely divided. But as everyone relaxed and sprawled around the living room with their drinks or snacks, I had only half an ear on the conversation, and even less of my mind.Cara was here. She was touchi
~ RIG ~Natalie and Mack glared at each other, while Jack watched them like a tennis match, waiting to see who’d serve the ball next.Charlie shifted in his seat and glanced at me. ‘Do you want me to handle this?’I shook my head. I was about to open my mouth and order them both to calm down, when Cara leaned forward.“It’s so weird now, finally understanding what keeps you all close to each other. I mean, I’ve always seen that, you know? How tight-knit you are. You
~ CARA ~Something happened. Rig changed his mind suddenly about needing to stay with the others. But I couldn't complain. I was desperate to have him to myself and just figure this out.He drew me out of the living room and up the old, banistered stairway in the hall, ushering me ahead of him like he was afraid someone might come for my back. He... hovered, right behind me. One hand on my hip, just one step below me as we climbed so his body shadowed my back.I was suddenly washed in the same feeling I'd always had when Ralf showed up outside the library.
~ CARA ~Rig blew out a breath like a balloon that had been deflated and he raked a hand through his hair. “You scared me,” he murmured, then took a deep breath, holding my gaze. “We do have a power… it’s called the Allure. But you need to know, Cara, I never used it on you after that first day. Even before I knew who you were… what you were going to be to me… I wasn’t using it. Mack was, the fucker. But I wasn’t. The draw… that tugging inside, I feel it too. It’s the matebond.” A shadow passed behind his eyes, but then he offered his hand, much like he had back in the forest, palm up. “I’m telling you the truth. Touch me. Feel me. Feel how our bodies pull for each other. That draw we’re feeling, it’s never going to go away. That’s not the Allure. That’
~ RIG ~ I let my upper lip curl up and bare my teeth. Let him see that he was dealing with a helluva lot more than a spoiled rich kid. His instincts were dulled by humanity and alcohol, but even his dimwitted senses caught the flash of my teeth. He stiffened. I smiled. “My wife wants to share her wedding with her Mom—we eloped, but we’ve just watched some friends getting married and it’s making her think about what we missed, so we’re going to do it properly. Make another memory. And Cara wants to share that with her mom. So, we’re going to renew our vows in front of everyone we care about. Which, sadly, includes you.” He smiled and I wanted to bite his face off. “You are invited,” I growled. “But you
SOUNDTRACK: “Your Daughter” by Chase McDaniel. ***** ~ RIG (Three weeks later) ~ Getting out of my jeep in the driveway of the house that was the site of Cara’s torture turned my stomach. My Alpha power—still difficult to contain at times, making me itchy and prone to aggression—surged as I took in the cracked cement with weeds and grass growing up, the overgrown flower beds now little jungles of three foot weeds, and the grass that was thin and patchy, and mostly dead. This was the place that her fucking father had made her believe no one could love her. This was the place she’d been hurt. This was the place I wanted to burn to the fucking ground. But for today, at least, that wasn’t the assig
SOUNDTRACK: “Unbearable” by Nathan Wagner. ***** ~ CHARLIE ~ Watching Mack salivate over Natalie as she walked up the aisle was a very specific kind of torment. Because even though I was supposed to be watching our friends publicly vow themselves, my eyes kept drifting back to Meg who, alongside Cara and Tessa, was standing with Natalie today. She looked… stunning. Natalie, always with the impeccable taste that I didn’t understand, but could fully appreciate, had draped all the girls in floor-length, light-green, figure-hugging-but-not-clinging dresses that revealed flesh without being suggestive. It was fucking torture.
~ MACK ~ When Natalie and Cara finally reached us on the stage, I knew that there was an exchange with the officiant. Cara and Rig said something, but I didn’t hear it. I just took Natalie’s hands and pulled her up to stand in front of me. I was aware of people speaking after that. The officiant—a wolf who’d been among the rebels, whose aunt was human, and had become ordained—spoke for a few minutes about marriage and what it meant, but all I could think about was the deep pools of her eyes, that hollow in her throat that she’d offered me the night before last, and how my entire blood hummed with love and desire and— There was a ripple of laughter. “Oh, what?” I asked. Someone had asked me something. Oh, right. “I do!”
SOUNDTRACK: “Don’t Give Up on Me” by Andy Grammar ***** ~ MACK ~ I had been shitting myself. Absolutely, one hundred percent, about-to-claw-my-own-hair-off, crapping my pants. When Cara told me about the human traditions around a wedding, and what she was planning to do with Rig for their vow renewal—which included not seeing or sleeping with each other the day before the ceremony, which sounded crazy—I’d joked with Natalie that we should do that too. I’d thought it would be cute and maybe increase anticipation for when we did come back together after the ceremony. I hadn’t banked on my mate getting cold feet about doing this in front of the packs, and how her nerves would kick my insecurities into gear—and that the whole damn thing would b
SOUNDTRACK: “Break Your Fall” by UNSECRET and Marc Scibilia. ***** ~ NATALIE ~ “This is stupid and… and indulgent and it doesn’t matter! I should never have agreed to this. It’s nothing but a dumb, human tradition and… it means nothing. I’m not doing it.” I stood in the bedroom that we’d made into a bridal suite—complete with three-way mirror—and folded my arms. I’d been staring at myself and all I could see were the imperfections. Tessa had done a beautiful job on my make up, but everything else just felt… sticky. My dress was a touch too tight around my breasts. There were too many people here and they were all going to be staring. I could feel Mack out there panting with nerves, but what if he didn’t like the dress? I should have shown it to him! Why had I let Cara talk me into all this traditional nonsense? “Natalie, you get your gorgeous ass out there and marry that man before he sweats through his Armani suit,” Cara growled. “Seriously, don’t make me turn it into an orde
~ RIG ~I started towards her, but was halted almost immediately as I watched in awe while my mate carved through lines of wolves as if they were butter.Claws, teeth, whirling body—despite her bulk, she moved like liquid, tail lashing and claws like wicked hooks designed to tear through fur and flesh.I shook and trembled because my father’s power was shifting to me and my veins were boiling with it—while the rest of me simmered in the rising rage and terror of the wolves around us.The transfer of Alpha should have been peaceful. There was an established hierarchy waiting, swelling with the newfound power. But my father was a liar and cheat, and he’d encouraged his wolves towards the same.The hierarchy, the elders, his advisors, every pack and family of power rolled towards us, howling in rage and fear.And my wolves, newly risen and brimming with the triumph of victory and the added confidence of success, tore right back to meet them.Mack, Charlie, Jack, and Natalie tore for me,
SOUNDTRACK: “Legendz” by AG and Devvon Terrell ***** ~ RIG ~ Everything slowed to a crawl, time seemed almost not to move at all as I watched my father go for my mate and I turned, twisting, pushing my body in ways I never had, panic screaming in my head, frantic to reach him before he got her. I couldn’t move fast enough. He was going to land at her feet before I did and his power would carry him right to her throat. She wasn’t equipped for this… It all washed through me in that second—the rage for what he’d done, the fury about his injustices, the anger that he would still cheat, even before the witnesses, and the shocking weight of grief because that was my mate. But then the second wave arrived that left me desperate, panicked, humiliated and hating myself. If she died right now it was my fault. My side screamed in pain as I launched myself after him, but my father seemed to hang in mid-air. I had time to see Cara bare her teeth and crouch. Everything moved so slowly I could
~ RIG ~My father saw the opening he’d been waiting for, gathered himself on his haunches and launched at me, the light of victory in his eyes.Instinctively, I didn’t even try to meet the attack, just leaped straight into the air in an attempt to deflect, dropping my chin, trying to hide my throat as my father snaked in—and to my horror, he would have taken me, except that was the moment Stephen howled in the link, then sent images to us both:Himself. Head bowed. Shoulders rolled forward. His human form submitted.To me.It was a boom of thunder right over my head. In any context, the submission of an Alpha brought al