Sunshine after months of rain, the sound of small children laughing as they played, and the delight of my wolf running for hours in the mountains after being caged up in my human for weeks. None of those occurrences compared to the miracle that was her smile.
“Mine,” my wolf groaned.
My wolf howled and whimpered to be closer to her. My heart played a rapid beat in my eardrums. I couldn’t believe it, I finally found her. A handful of steps, and I would have my mate in my arms for the first time.
I took another step, only to be confronted by my brother. “What are you doing?” Chance asked, grabbing me by my arm, moving in front of me.
“Move,” I growled at him.
He didn’t budge as he looked me up and down suspiciously. “What is the matter with you?”
“My mate,” I told him telepathically.
His eyes widened from tiny slits to saucers at my declaration. “Where?” He looked around the parking lot and sniffed at the air.
“There.” I nodded in Reese’s direction before I started to push him out of my way.
Again, Chance refused to move. He peered over his shoulder before turning back to me. “She’s a human.”
His words were like throwing cold water on a flame. I realized that Reese wasn’t a shifter from the moment I smelled her. But I didn’t give a shit.
“She’s my mate.” I went to bulldoze through my brother, but he caught me by the arm again. Only the fact that we were brothers saved his life at that moment.
“The Alliance, Alpha,” he said, using my title to remind me of my responsibilities. I knew that’s what he was doing. “She’s human.”
“Fuck!” both my wolf and I said at the same time.
Of course, after all of this time, I found my mate, and I wasn’t free to make her mine.
“This will cause problems,” Chance added when I continued to stare over his shoulder.
I watched as Reese got into a light-blue car across the street from the hospital’s parking lot. My wolf whined when we stood there while she drove off.
I wanted to hate my brother in that instant. And for the first time in my life, I loathed being a shifter. With regret I felt deep in my soul, I snatched my arm from my brother and turned away.
“I will make her mine.”
Chance patted me on my shoulder. “I know. We’ll do whatever we need for you to have your mate. But you will have to be patient,” he said.
I gritted my teeth. Patience was a word I often lived by. As alpha, I knew the patience required to lead a large pack, to bring peace to a people that had lived for generations as raiders and warriors. But this one time, the patience I’d garnered over the past fifty years didn’t feel like enough. I wanted my fucking mate now.
“Soon, brother,” Chance added, probably sensing my desire to shirk my responsibility and find my mate. I suppressed the anger and rage of my wolf and nodded.
“Soon.”
My body tingled from the memory of scenting her for the first time. An electric current, unlike anything I’d experienced, flooded every cell in my body.
After years of waiting and hoping, I knew I’d found my mate, my intended.
The fact that she wasn’t one of us made the situation complicated.
“I’m surprised you haven’t claimed her yet,” Micah said. “Or whatever it is that you do.” He shrugged but peered across his desk at me, a wrinkle between his brows.
My jaw worked in irritation.
Since Micah and his family weren’t part of the pack, the amount of information that I could confide in him was limited. There were contingencies among shifters who were disturbed that I bothered to keep in contact with this side of my family.
“That’ll change soon.” I sat up in the chair and planted my elbows on my knees, leaning forward. “I need you to watch out for her. Make sure she’s okay.”
