She glanced between me and Embry several times. “Uh, sure?” she replied, even though there really hadn’t been a question in my statement.

  I cradled her cheek once more and squeezed gently. “See you in a couple hours then.”

  Deciding it was better for me to leave first, I nodded at Embry and took off. I wasn’t sure where I was going until I heard Vaughn’s deep laughter and changed directions.

  He was sitting on his front porch when I ran up. He nodded at me before lifting a glass of water to his mouth. “What’s up, boss?”

  “I told Cait she’s my mate,” I said and took a step back as Vaughn spit his drink everywhere.

  “Come again? She’s your what?”

  “My. Mate,” I said slower.

  He ran a hand over his thick beard. “Well, I’ll be damned. I knew I liked her. She was interesting during the car ride. Seems just the right amount of scared of our kind. The ones who are too eager to know about us tend to cause problems.”

  “Yeah, well, hopefully that fear goes away soon,” I said, taking a seat beside him.

  “Not to get all deep on you, but how are you feeling about a human mate?” he asked.

  I knew Vaughn didn’t really care about the details. He just wanted to make sure I was right in the head, which was a proper question as my beta. If Cait was going to be a distraction, Vaughn needed to be aware.

  “At first, I was furious, as you saw. For so many reasons, but mostly because it scared the hell out of me. She’s not like us. The pack. What if they don’t accept her? The mark either hurt Blake today, or more likely took him by surprise. I’m sure that will make things more difficult.”

  “What do you mean hurt him?” Vaughn asked.

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t wait around long enough to ask questions before tossing Cait over my shoulder and getting her away from everyone else.”

  He whistled. “This could be a problem if the mark attracts the wrong kind of attention and word gets out. We already have enough to deal with from the west.”

  I glared at him. “I know that, but it’s not like I can take it away from her. According to history books, the Moon Goddess ‘blessed her’ with it.”

  I’d never been so annoyed with lack of information about our wolf history. I’d searched through the library tower and there were only three books so far that mentioned the Moon Goddess. Two were just passing entries that meant nothing, and the third was in an ancient language that I hadn’t had enough time to translate yet. I’d spend however long it took to figure out what Cait’s mark meant.

  “With the higher temperatures, I’ve got the super squads off duty from training. I have free time. Tell me how I can help,” Vaughn said.

  I sighed at his ridiculous name for wolves that were our pack’s primary protectors, but let it go.

  “We need to make sure nobody is talking. Even innocent words can have negative effects. Until we know more about this mark and what it means for Cait, we can’t have the other packs finding out,” I said.

  “You know there’s an easy way to do that as alpha, right?” Vaughn asked.

  “Of course, I know. I just hate to use it. I don’t want the pack to think I don’t trust them when they’ve never given me reason not to.” As alpha, I could force all of my wolves to keep the knowledge of Cait to themselves, but neither my father nor I had ever used that particular power. The thought of taking someone’s will away never sat well with me.

  Vaughn jumped up from his seat. “Well, it’s time for me to go socialize.”

  “What?”

  “If you want them to like Cait, someone has to campaign for her. Are you going to do it?” he asked.

  I loved our pack, but I tried not to get too close. There was a fine line between keeping their respect and being their friend. I’d found a good balance between the two and had no desire to change the dynamics by talking up my mate.

  “Exactly. I’ve spent the most time with her outside of Embry, so let me do it. The people adore me.” Vaughn grinned, and I knew he was right.

  “Fine. Go. And come see me when you’re done. Unless it’s dinner time. I’ll be busy.”

  His brows waggled. “Going to be with your lady?”

  “That’s none of your business.” I got up and walked away, keeping my smile hidden until he could no longer see my face.

  “Just because I can’t see it, doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re happy as a tween at a boy band concert!” he called after me. I just shook my head, stuffing down my laughter.

  I had more important things to concern myself with, like winning Cait over. I knew nothing about her, but I was going to do whatever it took to learn everything I could.

  10

  Cait

  What in the ever-loving hell had just happened?

  Roman had held me in some sort of trance. He’d called me a witch when we first met, but I was pretty sure he was packing some juju of his own, because my blood burned with a need I’d never known, and my heart was about ready to give out.

  The ride back to Embry’s was filled with awkward silence. I tried to process what had transpired with Roman, but none of it was making sense.

  When Embry parked the UTV in front of her door, I stayed in my seat, wrapped in the towel she’d given me.

  She turned back to me, raising a brow. “Are you getting out?”

  “Tell me I’m dreaming, Em. Tell me none of this is real,” I said, hating to sound weak, but I couldn’t deny how scared I was after what went down with Roman. With every new piece of information, I felt like I was losing control, and that didn’t sit well with me.

  After losing my mom the way I did and not being able to do a damned thing about it, I’d avoided situations where there was too much out of my control. Yet, somehow, I’d ended up in the worst possible scenario that left me spiraling.

  Embry was at my side in an instant, picking me up like I weighed nothing even though we were nearly the same size. “Come on, Cait. I’ve got something to help.”

  I fought against her hold, but her grip only tightened as we approached the door. She managed to hold me with one arm and open the door without missing a step, then kicked it closed as she dropped me on her couch. “Don’t move,” Embry demanded.

  I landed with a thud, my teeth rattling as my head hit the back of the couch. I muttered a few choice words and straightened myself. I was a hot mess from being pulled out of the lake and not having done anything with my long strands. I leaned forward to go to the bathroom, but Embry growled at me.

  “I said don’t move!” Her voice echoed from the kitchen.

  “I’m still in my swimsuit. I just need dry clothes and a brush,” I yelled back, even though she wasn’t that far from me.

  Instead of responding, she leaped over the couch, holding two glasses and a dark bottle. “Your suit isn’t wet anymore, and your hair is beyond help without a shower. You can wait. Now, tell me everything that happened, and not just today. I want you to repeat every moment with Roman since Australia.”

  Embry’s eyes bored into me, and I sighed. She was like a dog with a bone. Except I was the bone, and I didn’t like it.

  Instead of wasting time arguing with her, I repeated what she wanted to know. This time, she asked more questions about the mark as I spoke and was intrigued from the first word to the last.

  “I can’t freaking believe it,” she said when I finished.

  “Believe what? What is happening to me, and how do I make it stop?” I asked, only slightly calmer than before.

  “You’re mated to the pack alpha. My best friend is mated to my alpha. This is the most awesome thing ever.” Her grin was too big, and her excitement was too much for my panic.

  “Embry, you’re out of your damned mind. This is… I don’t know what it is, but I’m not okay.” My words finally registered with her, and she handed me a glass of amber liquid.

  “Don’t drink it too fast. It doesn’t get wolves drunk, but it does loosen us up. It might put you on your ass,” she added with a wink.

  I took a sip and spit it out, just barely missing Embry’s face. “That’s horrid.”

  She laughed. “I guess it’s an acquired taste.”

  “Seriously, Embry. Being told I have a mate is beyond anything I’m comfortable with. It was one thing to accept that my best friend turns into a wolf, but whatever happened back at the lake is a whole different scenario. One I’m no longer okay with.” I held my wrist up. “This mark. Whatever it means. I don’t want it.”

  Embry reached for me with one hand as the other set her drink down. “I know we don’t have a lot of answers for you, but I promise you’re safe here. Roman is a good man. He won’t force anything on you that you don’t want. Being mated doesn’t mean… well, it doesn’t mean anything bad.”

  I jerked my hand from her grip and stood, pacing in front of the couch and feeling exposed in so little clothing while having this emotional conversation. “Then, what the hell does it mean? I’m not a wolf. I’m human.”

  She stood and grabbed both of my shoulders, shaking me. “Calm down, Cait. I’m going to tell you something and I need you to hear it. No, not just hear, but really understand the words I say.” She paused, and I took a deep breath. “You’re not human. The moment that mark appeared on your wrist, your destiny changed. I know this is hard to accept, but it’s the truth and I’ll keep repeating it until the words stick.”

  Mother freaking hell. Tears pricked at my eyes, and my frustration was beyond controllable. My emotions were all over the place. As I held the stare of my best friend, I did my best to calm down as she requested.

  “How is any of this even possible? Am I only mated to him because of the mark? What does it actually mean, other than I’m going crazy?” I asked once the tears dried up.

  She tugged me toward the bathroom. “The how isn’t easily explainable. You’re new to our world, but some things don’t have explanations. They just are what they are. Magic works in ways we can’t always control.”

  “Magic? What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

  Embry turned on the shower. “We can’t do spells or produce magic, but turning from human to wolf isn’t natural. It’s a power gifted to us by the Moon Goddess. Much like your mark.”

  I snorted and pointed at my wrist. “I wouldn’t call this a gift.”

  Her face softened. “You say that now, but give it time. I believe I was drawn to you for a reason. I think you were meant for this world, and I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you. I promise you, Cait. You’re my best friend. Now, get your ass in the shower.”

  She sat on the counter and waited.

  “You’re going to stay?” I asked with a grin I couldn’t hold back.

  “It’s not like I don’t have all the same stuff you’ve got going on under there. Plus, nudity isn’t a big thing for shifters, and if I stay, we can kill two birds with one stone. You can quit smelling like fish water, and we can keep talking.”

  I shook my head at her, considering she’d been swimming in the same water, but let the slight go. Steam was already billowing from the water, so I undressed and pulled the curtain back.

  After I rinsed my hair and began to wash up, I peeked at Embry. “What happened to the talking?”

  She rolled her eyes, flicking back her rose-gold hair. “Well, I was waiting for you to ask more questions.”

  “You didn’t answer all the ones from before. This thing with Roman. Why did I want him so badly when he was around, but now that feeling is gone?” I asked. Well, it was mostly gone. The memory of his touch seemed to be burned into my brain.

  I stood under the spray of water, pulling at the knots in my hair as I waited for a reply.

  “Really? The pull is gone? That’s interesting. Normally when you find your mate, the attraction is hard to fight even when you’re apart. At least from what I’ve been told.”

  I nearly choked on air as she seemed to confirm my earlier fear. “So, I’m going to be forced to be with him?”

  That wasn’t going to work for me. I would do whatever it took to prevent my life from being chosen for me. It didn’t matter that Roman was delicious to look at. Or that his hands made my heart race like nothing before. Or how I noticed that the silver flecks in his eyes grew brighter when he stared at me.

  Shit, I was in so much trouble.

  “We don’t think of it like that. It’s all about perception. You can either see the bond as a gift or you can think of it negatively. Wolves live long lives, and being able to spend those decades with someone created just for you is rather appealing to most of us.”

  I listened to Embry speak, and there was a longing in her words. I tried to understand where she was coming from, but that wasn’t me. I might not be human anymore, but I wasn’t a wolf. I still had very human and stubborn thoughts.

  I wasn’t born into this life. I shouldn’t have even known it existed.

  Except I did, and no matter how much I wished for a reset button, there was no going back to what I knew before.

  Embry continued, “We’re going to find out what all of this means. For now, you’re in one of the safest places you could be, and you’re the future mate to a fierce alpha. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  I laughed as I finished rinsing the conditioner from my hair. “Why isn’t that comforting?”

  She yanked the curtain back, scaring the hell out of me. “Because you’ve only been here a couple days. It will get easier to adjust as time goes by.”

  “And if I don’t?” I asked, watching her face closely.

  She shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about that. Everything about you is new territory for most of us. Let’s just hope I can convince you how badass being in the pack with me is, because I really am glad that you’re here.”

  Embry walked out as I turned the water off. I was even more confused than when my head cleared after being around Roman. She mentioned the bond was a gift, which struck a chord with me while making my stomach churn.

  Nothing was as simple as just accepting things as they came.

  The mark, the bond, learning the things I always believed to be fiction were real… I needed to take it all in stride. As much as I wanted to run away because this was a lot, I was adult enough to understand the mark on my wrist wasn’t going to go away on its own.

  Sure, I could pass it off as a tattoo and move on, but there was more to my situation than that. There was an energy within it that not only I’d felt, but others, too.

  For now, I was going to trust Embry was right and I was in the safest place I could be until we knew more.

  When I exited the bathroom, Embry was humming in the kitchen and I headed to my room. The window was open. Heat from outside coated my skin like an unwelcome blanket. I shut the window and closed the blinds before getting dressed in another pair of jean shorts and a soft grey tee.

  The knots were easy to pull from my hair after being washed, and I wrapped the strands into a loose bun on top of my head. Once I was ready, I went to the kitchen to find Embry making caramel brownies.

  “Are you trying to bribe me?” I asked teasingly.

  “Why ever would I be trying to do that?” she countered.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe to sway me into staying here and not losing my damn mind.”

  She tapped her finger against her chin. “Possibly. Or maybe it’s an apology. I know this isn’t easy on you, and I don’t mean to make light of your situation, but I hope you can see this as a blessing instead of a curse. I know it’s not my life being directly affected, but I can’t say I’m unhappy about anything that’s happened. I’m a selfish bitch, and I won’t apologize for it.”

  I took three steps and met her in the middle of the kitchen. Our arms wrapped around each other, and I held on tightly. With everything going on, I’d overlooked how exciting it was to meet Embry in person and not be having these conversations by video chat. This was a good thing, and I needed to be better at focusing on the positive things when they showed themselves.

  We pulled apart, and I felt heaps better. “Thank you, Em.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I’m going to make you go to dinner with Roman still, but that’s not until later. For now, we’re going to wait for these brownies to be done and watch a chick flick. We can make fun of the mishaps in other people’s lives while ignoring everything going on around here.”

  As much as I wanted to argue with going to dinner with Roman, I decided to have a human-type afternoon with my bestie instead. It had already been a hellish day, and some normalcy sounded like just what I needed.

  11

  Cait

  One thing was certain: I did not have a shifter metabolism. After two glasses, my vision blurred around the edges, and my skin tingled against the soft fabric of my shirt as I moved around on the couch. Embry enjoyed pointing out the flush in my cheeks as well.

  “This is the most fun I’ve had in ages.” She threw her head back and laughed as I giggle-snorted at nothing.

  I was a hot mess but enjoying the hell out of it after the last few days.

  “I hate to admit it considering you’re laughing at my expense, but this really is great,” I said with a sigh.

  Embry choked from laughing so hard. “Oh, it gets even better.”

  My face heated as I checked myself over to make sure I didn’t have anything on display that shouldn’t be. “What?”

  “Roman just reached out and wanted to know if you were ready for dinner,” she said.

  “Son of a bitch. I forgot about that.” I hiccupped, covering my face. “I can’t go to dinner with him. Tell him I’m sick and we can raincheck for… how about never?”

  Embry shook her head at me and stayed quiet for a moment longer. As her silence stretched, my nerves shot up and I sobered some.