Page 35 of Israel

“Yeah,” he said softly. He went quiet, and she let the silence hang there, hoping he’d say more. After a moment, he said, “The Second of my pack, Rafe, is a black wolf, and his mate, Terin, is pure white. They’re crazy in love with each other. True mates.”

Ashley smiled. “And this reminds you of them?”

He shook his head. “It is them,” he said. “Terin is an artist, and this is one of her paintings.” He reached out a hand towards the lower right corner, where a scrawled “TWhitney” was barely visible.

“For real?” Ashley asked. “That’s awesome.” She looked at the painting with new eyes. “She put the way they feel about each other right on the canvas,” she said. “You can see it.”

Israel nodded.

Ashley hesitated. “So why does that make you sad?” she asked.

“It doesn’t,” he said. “Not sad. It’s just…”

She waited again. He looked at her, then looked away.

“What?” she asked softly.

“All the leaders of our pack have found their true mates in the last six months,” he said. “Rafe; our alpha, Jace; Jesse, our Negotiator; and my brother Kane. They all have…that.” He reached out to the painting again, as if touching it would bring that kind of love into his own life.

Her heart went out to him. “And you don’t,” she said.

“I always thought I would,” he said.

“And you don’t think so now?” She wondered if something had happened, if someone had broken his heart. The thought of Israel with a broken heart made her feel brokenhearted too.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope so.” But he wouldn’t look at her. Instead, he glanced at the clock on the wall. “We should go soon,” he said. “Want a soda first?”

“Sure,” she said. She walked with him to the café near the entrance, and waited while he bought the sodas. His face was neutral again, but she could still feel the sadness inside him. It almost made her stomach hurt, knowing he was unhappy, and not knowing why. He was young—there was no reason why he shouldn’t find a mate like the others had.

“So a true mate is like a special bond?” she asked, as they sat at a wrought-iron table drinking their sodas.

“A magical bond,” Israel clarified. He looked directly in her eyes. “A true, soul-deep, once-in-a-lifetime love.”

The look in his eyes stopped her cold. He was completely serious.

Smart-ass comments went through her head, about virgins and dicks and saving himself for marriage, but none of them managed to come out of her mouth.

Because the sincerity in his words made her chest ache. A true, soul-deep, once-in-a-lifetime love. That’s what she’d always wanted, what she thought she had with Maximilian—until she realized he just wanted an entrée to her family and the political power they wielded.

Ironically, it had worked. Her father had taken Maximilian under his wing—and hadn’t even objected when the prick had dumped Ashley.

She guessed both men thought Maximilian deserved better than her.

“Do you really think that kind of bond exists?” she asked.

“It does for wolves,” he said. “It’s how a new pack is formed. The alpha finds his true mate and bonds with her, and the magic bonds the whole pack together, and binds them to their territory. When the alpha of my pack found his true mate, it was…” His gaze grew faraway. “Epic,” he said.

She wanted to make fun, to make an Epic Grizzly Dick joke, but again, she couldn’t. Because the ache in her chest was getting deeper. “But you said it happened to other wolves, too,” she said. “Not just the alpha. So it could happen to you.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Before Kane found Rachelle, he was…broken inside. From all that stuff I told you about that happened to him. But his mate healed him. And…she loves him so much.”

She could hear the wistfulness in his voice. “It’s what I’ve always wanted,” he said simply. “I’m not the kind of person that needs a whole lot of people in my life. Just one forever love. Like them.”

Ashley shivered. Forever was a long time, especially to her people. With their lifespan, forever was a real thing. And a long time to be committed to one person.

“How do they know it’s the right person?” she asked.

Israel shrugged, playing with the straw wrapper from his soda, drawing shapes on the glass tabletop. Hearts, she realized. He was drawing hearts.

“They just know,” he said. “They feel it. Here.” He put his hand on his chest. “It makes them want to protect and care for each other. Make each other happy. Fix whatever is hurting the other person, or making them unhappy.”

“It sounds intense,” Ashley said. And beautiful. And scary. A big responsibility. But amazing, too, if it felt like those wolves in the painting looked.

“I guess it is,” Israel said. “I don’t mind. I’m kind of an intense person.”

She could see that. It showed in his eyes, in the way he took his job so seriously, in the way he talked about forever love.

Ashley reached out and put her hand on his arm. “You’ll find her,” she said. “And you’ll protect her and give her stuffed animals, and you’ll be ridiculously happy.”

“Yeah,” he said, picking up the singing jackalope and making it kiss her nose. “Maybe I will.”