His eyes flared yellow as he dropped the towel and slammed into me. His hands roaming over my body greedily as the pulsing warmth in my belly flared to life, until a full-blown fire raged inside of me. This was my other half, my True Mate. So close that we had actually switched life paths, switched animals. There was no one on Earth I could trust more than him. Trust was everything to girls and I trusted him with all of me.
He backed up slowly until we were at the edge of the bed and I placed my hands on each of his tightly wound biceps pushing him lightly back as he pulled me on top of him. Smiling, I pulled my shirt off and threw it on the floor as my mate’s gaze consumed me. I was struck again by the completeness I felt with Gavin. I would never be able to explain this to a human, they would say I was moving too fast, or didn’t know him well enough. That was all insecure human bullshit. My soul, his soul, we were one. I was made for this, I was born to make love to this man and I would. He smiled picking up on that thought and pulled me closer. When his lips were about to brush mine, he stopped. “Thanks for saving me,” he whispered.
I smiled. “No, you saved me.” Because I was starting to see the bigger picture here. The path I was on, was made for me. He may have taken my wolf, my Matefinder gift, but he gave me a whole new life purpose in its place, one I felt destined for. A Keeper. And I didn’t even realize that I had been lonely without him until now.
Mist crept down from the walls and saturated our love making. For the first time in months, the anxiety that had been nagging at me and pushing for space in my brain just completely disappeared. It felt like for once everything was going to be okay.
Chapter Nine
I was snuggled up to Gavin in a deep sleep when my mother’s Alpha command came blaring into my brain, jarring me awake.
‘Foreign wolf, headed your way.’My eyes shot open, heart pounding maniacally in my chest as Gavin jumped up quickly.
She must have sent that to both of us. My whole life it was my dad in my head except for the few times mom took over as Alpha when dad was hurt or she was pissed off and felt like it. I still wasn’t use to it. Turning over, I glanced at the clock. 2AM. Ugh.
‘We’re up. We’re alert,’I told her as I slipped into my clothes and cracked the bedroom window open. Gavin stood shirtless next to me, wearing low slung basketball shorts. I took a whiff of the air and chills ran up my arms.
“No!” The word was half human, half growl. Gavin had patches of fur on his arms as he stood next to me sniffing the air.
“Who is it?” His voice could cut paper.
I didn’t want to say it out loud. Maybe then it wouldn’t be real …
‘The Skin Walker,’I told him through our matebond.
A howl rose from his throat as he shifted into wolf form.
‘It’s the Skin Walker,’I told my mom.
‘The one who raped Gavin’s young mother? Oh good. I’ll wake Max and Anna and we will tear him to bits,’she assured me.
I sighed. If what Lina and Nahuel said was right, then he couldn’t be so easily killed. He knew that and that’s why he came into a mountain crawling with werewolves. To taunt me, because he could.
Suddenly, I felt a spike of grief from my mom. It was so strong the entire pack must have felt it. My mother was very good at controlling her emotions, nothing but the death of a pack member would make her so saddened.
I threw the window open fully and leaped through it as Gavin jumped out in wolf form and we pounded the ground together, running to my mom’s house. If that Skin Walker had touched any of the pack members I would rip him in two! Blasting through the thick trees and into the clearing, I stopped suddenly as the smell hit me.
Death.
My stomach clenched in fear as I ran the last few feet to the scene of the crime.
“No!” I sobbed when I saw the mangled form of Luna, my family cat of twenty years. My mother knelt on her knees, trying to control the grief and rage ripping through her.
“Luna,” she whimpered.
Mother-effer. This cat was a family member! My mother got her when she was pregnant with us and she did hilarious stuff like hide in drawers and scare the crap out of my dad. No. Inhaling, I could smell the Walker all over the scene. Rage blasted through me and my bear pushed to the surface as my clothes tore and fur flared out on my arms and legs. My form bulked up as I went through the change until finally I was standing on all fours. Rising up on my hind legs, I let the fury blast out of my mouth in a deafening roar. The ground shook slightly as Gavin howled in tandem next to me.
Turning around, wide eyed, my mother stared at me in shock.
“Jesus Christ, Anya, you’re terrifying.” It was pride in her voice and something else. Admiration.
Jaxon, Mason, and Avery burst out of the house. Jaxon was in wolf form, Avery and Mason looked half asleep but ready to fight. When they saw Luna, they stumbled to a stop. Jaxon bent low and growled, then he raised his head, sniffed the air, and took off running.
Jaxon was the best tracker in our pack, he had a magical nose and if the Walker was still on our mountain, Jax would find him. I took off after him, Gavin on my right, and in seconds my mother was on my left, she was vampire fast in her ability to run and she blasted past all of us and took a left up the mountain. We followed.
‘Raping thirteen year olds and killing kittens. There is a special place in hell for people like that,’Jaxon told me.
‘Agreed,’I fired back.
