He tried again. “What you may not understand is that I’m the alpha. I’m used to making decisions for everyone. That’s part of my role as the pack leader. I guess I’m so used to making decisions for others that I did that with you. I should have consulted you, first. I promise that once we are mated, I will include you in all the major decisions affecting the pack and our family.”
Cate snorted. “Mated? You think I’m going to mate with you.” She didn’t even know what that term meant in the shifter world, but if it meant something like marriage she was out. “I made the mistake of marrying an autocrat once, I won’t do it a second time.”
Dimitris stood and walked around the island. Fear that his mate would reject him clutched his heart. “Cate, you have to mate with me. The pack will soon know that you have seen my shifter nature. It is dangerous to know about shifters. The pack will not like that you know and are not altered. They will demand it of me. If I refuse, one of them will change you himself. You will continue to be drawn to me, but you will bear allegiance to the wolf that is your pater, just as Peter will bear allegiance to me. It will drive a wedge between us. We will be destined to mate and yet not fully mated. Neither of us will ever be fully satisfied. I can’t allow that for either of us.”
Cate’s felt her tears threaten to surface again. She pushed them back. “Tell me what it means to be mated.”
Dimitris could feel her resistance begin to fade. “The Goddess created the shifters. There are more than wolves. Bears, lions, falcons, most all apex predators have shifter forms. Humans began to worry that shifters would take over the world so they appealed to their god, asking him to intervene. The Goddess refused to do away with her shifter creations, but she agreed to slow their population growth. Shifters could not reproduce or marry with any partner, only their fated mates. The Goddess chooses the mate for each shifter, and she chose you for me. I knew it before I even saw you. I could feel you when I was swimming that day. Your scent calls to me. When I’m with you and electric pulse races through my body.”
“But what does mating mean?”
“It means that we will be together for the rest of our lives. And that will be a long time, Cate. Wolf shifters live almost nine hundred years. You worried about our age difference, but you shouldn’t have. I’m over 150 years old. I’ve waited a long time to have you in my life.” He inched closer to her. “When you shift, you will feel the same pull that I feel. You already feel it. That’s why you are so attracted to me, why you can’t seem to resist my advances.”
“I’m attracted to you because you are attractive, Dimitris. It’s lust, that’s all.”
“No, Cate. You know it’s more than lust. You know it and I know it. You can fight it, but eventually you will have to admit that it’s love. You love me and I love you. It’s fast, I know. I expected it, but you were raised to believe these feelings take time. And perhaps for most humans that’s true, but it’s not true in this case. You love me, you just need to allow yourself to accept it.”
Cate’s head fought against the idea of loving Dimitris. It was too soon, yet her heart told her that it was not. He was right, she was more than attracted to him. She had been attracted to many men over the years, but none had made her feel the things he did. None had made her throw away her inhibition. She thought back to the first time they met by the pool. Cate could not imagine losing her control like that with any man but Dimitris.
“So what happens next? Assuming I say yes to this,” she added.
Dimitris’ shoulders relaxed. He could feel her thawing to him. “We would need to do this quickly. There would be a mating ceremony in the woods. All pack members who have come of age would be there. I would shift and bite you, and then you would shift.”
“And that’s it? That’s what it takes to be mated?”
He wondered just how much he should tell her. He decided to share all of it — keeping secrets from his mate would not serve him well in the future. “There’s more. It wouldn’t have to happen right away, but the final step is the mating mark. When you are ready to allow it, I will bite you during love making. As a shifter, you will heal quickly, you won’t get sick, and you won’t scar from most things, but the bite would leave a scar. It would mark you visibly as mine. All shifters would know that you are taken and protected.”
“Do I bite you?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “I mean, you can, but it won’t mark me.”
“That seems a bit misogynistic and a lot unfair,” she snarked. “I get to be advertised as your property and you get the privilege of walking around mark-free so all the ladies can ogle you without repercussion.”
“You will not be my property, Cate. You will be my partner. If you want, you can mark me with silver. A cut with a silver blade would leave a scar. I will gladly wear a mark for you.”
“And Peter? You said he will give you his allegiance?”
“Peter will be drawn to me, though he will not fully understand it until later. You might be able to resist me, but Peter will want to be near me.” He put his hands on her cheeks. “I will be good to him, Cate. I will love him as if he is mine. As far as I’m concerned, he already is. I will play with him, and read to him, and coach his little league teams. I will be the father he’s never had and that he deserves. Please let me.”
The cracks in Cate’s resolve began to widen. Images of Dimitris and Peter laughing together filled her mind. Her child deserved a father, but she deserved a partner. Would Dimitris be that for her? Would he really share his life with her in the way that she desired? “I’ll do it,” she relented. “I’ll go through the first ceremony, but I can’t let you mark me. Not yet.”
Dimitris’ wolf bounced happily. He hugged her to his body, his arms squeezing her ribs uncomfortably. “I will make you happy, Cate. I will spend the rest of my life making you happy. I promise.”
nine
“Sit down, Cate, and let me fix your hair.” Cate fought the temptation to tell Mikala she would do her own hair. The woman had subjected her to scrubbing and prepping for the past hour. She wasn’t sure what else it would take to be ready for the mating ceremony, but she didn’t think she could stand too much more. “Don’t give me that look,” Mikaela chided. “I know you are to be my alpha soon, but you would regret not looking your best for the mating ceremony.”
Cate sighed. She still wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this ceremony. She knew she would get bitten and would go through her first change, but surely there would be more to it than that. Looking across the room she eyed the cream-colored sheathe that hung from the bathroom door. She had mistakenly brought the dress to wear tonight. Mikaela had informed her in no uncertain terms that she would not be wearing a dress for the evening’s ritual.
Tearing her gaze from the dress, she looked back into the mirror. She raised her eyes from her own dark stare and looked into Mikaela’s blue orbs. Before last night, Cate would have never suspected the toned redhead to be a shifter. But in all fairness, she would not have logically guessed anyone to be a shifter, even the most devious looking biker dude. Mikaela appeared to be around Cate’s age, which meant she was probably much older. Cate attempted to do the math in her head. She guessed Mikaela to be around four hundred years old, but with her shaky track record with arithmetic it would surprise her if she were off by a few hundred years in either direction.
“Can I wear my hair up tonight?” Thus far all her requests for adornment had been denied. She had been informed that she could not wear makeup or jewelry for the night. Surely Mikaela would allow her to wear her hair as she pleased.
“Not tonight, Cate,” Mikaela answered. “When you shift, your body sheds all its human adornments. Pins or bands in your hair will pull at your scalp. The first shift is hard enough, there’s no need to add to the discomfort.” Cate wanted to ask more, but she wasn’t sure how to broach the topic. She didn’t know much about being a shifter, but she had learned that her role as alpha required her to be strong for her pack. She didn’t want to jeopardize her position in the pack by allowing Mikaela to see her fear of what was to come this evening.
Mikaela finished brushing Cate’s hair until her natural waves fell softly about her face. “Okay, alpha, time to get you dressed.” Cate watched as Mikaela disappeared into the huge walk-in closet on the other side of the room. When she emerged she was hold a deep red, velvet robe trimmed with what appeared to be rabbit fur. “This is the ceremonial mating robe. Your mate will wear something similar, though not as ornate, when you meet in the circle this evening. This robe is very special. It has been worn by every member of this pack for the last five hundred years.” She held the robe out reverently. Cate smoothed her fingers across the soft trim.
“Did you wear this when you mated with Yerik?”
