I stared across the lawn at Kai. Hemet my eyes. The walls deep inside of me, that I had built to keep me safe,crumbled. In that moment, the look he gave me, I could see my future with him.I could see what it truly meant to find your mate. He would never hurt me, morethan that, he would protect me, support me. I had spent so many years learningto protect myself, teaching others to protect themselves. I didn’t realize thatI had been searching for someone to protect me, to make me feel safe.
We held our gaze with each other. Islowly crossed the yard towards him as his lips curled into a smile. He lickedhis lips to wet them and I took stock of his tall muscular physique. His teethwere perfectly straight and bright white; his canines were just a little largerthan a human. The dark brown stubble looked so sexy on his medium brown skin. Ireached him and he lifted me up as I wrapped my legs around his waist, pullinghim in for a kiss. We could hear whistling from the pack as we spun aroundkissing. I laughed as he sat me down.
“Meri Pyari.” He pulled my longblonde hair away from my face.
“What does it mean?” I queried.
“If I told you, then I would have nosecrets.” He gave a devilish smile.
Anna and Jake approached us. “Aurora, I’mgoing to move in with Jake now, so you can have your room back.” She pausedlooking at Kai and I wrapped in each other’s arms. “If you want.” She smiledand they left holding hands.
After the bonfire, Kai and I werecleaning up. “So, I told my parents about you too,” he said with a hint ofnervousness to his voice.
I dropped the plate I was scrubbingin the sink. It landed it a loud thunk but didn’t shatter.
“Your parents are alive?!” I asked inshock. “Oh my God, I feel so selfish. I haven’t asked you anything about yourfamily. I figured they were long gone. Are they werewolves? What did you tellthem about me? Where do they live?”
He laughed. “Slow down. It’s okay. Mymother, father, sister and I were allchangedin a werewolf attack inDelhi.” He paused thinking. “My sister didn’t survive thechange.” Alook of sadness crossed his face and it was gone. “My mother and father turnedout to be mates. They have since given birth to my twelve siblings includingAkash. They still live in India and I told them you were my mate.” He smiled.
My mouth dropped open. “You havetwelve brothers and sisters?”
He smiled. “Eleven rowdy brothers splitbetween six packs and one sister. She is the princess of the family and isstill a member of my father’s pack in Delhi. He’s the Alpha of the New Delhipack.”
“Whoa.” I let that information sinkin. “Isn’t the population of New Delhi like ten million people?”
Kai took a deep breath. “Yes, and my father’spack is about three hundred strong.”
“Three hundred wolves in one pack? Itmust be hard to be an Alpha of a pack that large.” I pondered.
A look crossed Kai’s face as if hecontemplated telling me something. “Fights break out daily and my father spendshis time keeping the peace. There are constant battles for territory as myfather’s pack grows and they fight other packs to open their land. My father isa traditional wolf and a traditional Indian. My sister won’t leave the packuntil she is mated, and even then my father will fight to have her matetransferred so he can keep an eye on her.”
I nodded. “So you left then?Transferred packs?”
Kai ran a hand through his hair.“You’re a dominant wolf, you know that feeling you get when someone tries tohold you down or order you around and you just want to jump out of your skin?”
“Like earlier in your office when youtold me I couldn’t see Sylvia anymore?” I reminded him.
He laughed. “Yeah, like that. Well, Ibattled with more dominate wolves in my father’s pack daily. As I grew older,my dominance grew stronger. Brother wolf didn’t like being told what to do. Ieventually fought my way to becoming my father’s second. That wasn’t highenough for brother wolf. We wanted to be Alpha. I knew I could be Alpha. Mymother could sense my feelings and asked me to leave before it sparked achallenge fight with my father. I agreed. I transferred to a pack in Australiafor a while and then to a pack with Shamus and eventually took over Mount Hood.I didn’t want a huge pack that couldn’t be controlled. I wanted to do thingsdifferently.”
“That must have been hard leavingyour family like that.” I finished the dishes and came to sit on his lap.
“I’m more at peace with the decision thanmy father is. I think he struggles between his human side wanting me to have myown pack, and his wolf wanting to challenge me to prove he could have won afight. He wants to prove I would always be his second in command and neverabove him. Eventually, Akash transferred here and my mother visits twice ayear. So I guess it has worked out.”
He rubbed small circles in my back.
“When is the last time you saw yourfather?” My heart hurt for Kai. I could see that a part of him was just a boywho wanted his father, but another stronger part of him was a werewolf thatneeded to make his own place in the world.
“I see him once a year at the annual Alphaconference. Every year most of the Alphas and their second in commands meet fora conference to discuss pack issues and make laws. My father is on the council.It’s pretty intense and I’m glad every year when it is over.”
I jumped up from his lap. “So you aretelling me that every year you put a bunch of dominant Alphas in one room andexpect them to sit around politically and talk about issues?”
He laughed as he picked me up andwalked me down the hallway. “For the most part, only a few fights break out.There are rules to keep things from getting out of control.”
He stopped at his bedroom door. “So,are you continuing to stay in my room?”
The fact that he asked and gave methe choice brought a smile to my lips. “Of course, as long as you behave,” Ireminded him playfully.
“I make no promises.” His eyes roamedup and down my body.
