by R. E. Butler
The woman smiled suddenly, her eyes returning to normal. She held out her hand, a necklace dangling from her fingers. “I apologize if I made you angry, that was never my intention. I just hate to see what Wrath and the Blood Wolves are doing to the other packs. He’s so tortured.”
“That’s the point,” Trinity said. She didn’t move to take the beads from the woman.
“I made this for you,” the woman said, giving the beads a little shake. “I apologize for my bad behavior; I simply was curious. I understand now, though. You love him.”
“I love who?” Trinity asked, taking the beads. It turned out to be a beautiful necklace, the gold strand woven with wooden beads and gemstones, with a medallion dangling from it. She got another jolt up her arm from the necklace, and she looked at the medallion, finding it was a replica of the Alpha Mate series logo, a complicated pattern of swirls and points that was the first mating tattoo she’d drawn for her series.
“Wrath,” the woman said.
Trinity almost agreed. Almost said that yes, in fact she did love Wrath, but he was fiction. A figment of her imagination. Just like the rest of the world she’d created in the Alpha Mates series, where people could change into wolves, vampires were haughty, and humans just hoped to survive. And then there were the Blood Wolves, the hybrids of a mating between a wolf and a vampire, producing children with both traits. Wrath was their alpha, the biggest asshole on the entire continent, who only wanted everyone else to be as miserable as he was.
She set the necklace on the table and smiled politely at the woman, still wondering where she’d seen her. “If there’s nothing else? There’s a line behind you.”
“Just remember what’s in your heart,” the woman said. “Remember who you love and what that means for everything you’ve built.”
Confused, Trinity said, “Oh-kay. Thanks.”
The woman nodded and walked away, her long, colorful patchwork skirt swishing with the motion. There was a soft tinkling sound, and Trinity realized the woman was wearing a belt with tiny bells on it, something that she was sure was part of one of her books.
“That was weird,” Gloria said.
“Yeah.”
“Did you know her?”
“No.” She turned her attention to the woman standing on the other side of the table, holding a ten-dollar bill and grinning. “Sorry for the wait.”
“No problem, I can’t believe you’re here! I love the Alpha Mates. Veltris and Gemma are my favorite couple ever.”
Pushing aside the nagging thoughts that the odd woman’s visit had brought to her mind, she focused on the reader in front of her. “I’m so glad you enjoyed their story.”
Trinity signed the book for the reader and gave her some bookmarks and postcards. “Can I ask you a question?” the reader said.
“Sure,” Trinity said.
“In Veltris’s story, you said the alphas were going to get together to end Wrath. I mean, I know he’s a bad guy, but you’re not really going to kill him off, right? I like Cael, but he’s not ready to be alpha.”
Trinity smiled at the excited young woman. “Well, I can’t really discuss future plot lines, but trust that I’ve got it all under control.”
“Okay awesome,” she said. “I used to read a series about mermaids and the author killed off the main bad guy and brought in a new one, and it just wasn’t the same. I don’t want that to happen to Alpha Mates. I want you to keep on writing forever.”
“I plan to,” Trinity said with a smile. She thanked the woman for stopping by and turned her attention to the next in line. A handful of readers later, something caught her eye, and she realized that the strange woman from before hadn’t left the room but was standing near the door and staring at Trinity. She frowned and was tempted to walk over and ask her what her problem was, but she didn’t really want to talk to her again. There was something unsettling about her. If only she could figure out where she’d seen her before.
Someone cleared a throat and Trinity startled. “Sorry,” she said to the woman standing in front of her. “I can’t figure out where I know that woman from.”
“What woman?”
Trinity glanced toward the door. The odd woman was gone.
Humming, Trinity said, “No one. Thanks so much for stopping by. How have you enjoyed the conference?”
“It’s been so much fun!” The woman launched into how much she enjoyed the Alpha Mates, and had been a fan since book one, where Alpha Gregor found his mate in a human female named Starr.
Trinity smiled and pushed away the thoughts of the strange woman and focused on the people in line. This was why she’d come—to meet and talk with readers. She absolutely wasn’t going to obsess over the strange woman.
Not even a little bit.
* * *
By the time the last reader had bought a copy of her latest Alpha Mates book, Trinity was worn out from head to toe. Gloria yawned next to her as they closed down their tables, boxing up the remaining swag items and rolling up the banners. She was one hundred percent ready for bed.
“A few of us are going for drinks,” Gloria said as she swiped a tape dispenser over a box lid.
“Hard pass, babe,” Trinity said. “I’m so wiped out I can hardly keep my eyes open.”
“Aw. I’ll be quiet when I come to bed.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’ll put in my noise canceling earbuds, so I won’t hear you one way or the other.”
“Wake me for breakfast,” Gloria said. “But not, like, too early.”
“Promise.”
Trinity put her boxes on a small dolly and pulled it behind her, saying goodnight to the authors and staff she passed on her way out. She rode to the fourth floor in the elevator and made her way to the room. Putting her dolly in the corner, she set her things on the desk and grabbed her suitcase, rolling it into the bathroom. She put the water on as hot as she could make it, letting it cascade over her aching shoulders. After drying her hair, she put on a cotton tank and shorts and climbed under the covers. She noticed the necklace the demanding woman had given her. Trinity had set it on the nightstand next to the outdated alarm clock with the bright red numbers. The small lamp on the table illuminated the gemstones.
She couldn’t get over how pretty the logo looked as a medallion.
Picking it up, she felt the urge to put it on. Normally she didn’t wear jewelry to bed, but she was feeling compelled. Yawning, she put the necklace on, feeling the cool medallion as it rested against her skin. Turning off the lamp, she settled deeper under the covers, putting her earbuds in her ears, and turning her phone’s music app to a loop of white noise that was certain to ensure she wasn’t woken when Gloria came to bed.
Her mind drifted to the woman who’d given her the necklace. She’d seemed so familiar. And how had she guessed that Trinity actually did love her character Wrath? Shaking the thoughts away with another jaw-cracking yawn, she felt herself falling to sleep swiftly, Wrath the last thing on her mind.
Chapter Three
Wrath Valentine lifted his dark muzzle and inhaled, sorting through the scents that the night breeze brought. He was hungry, and the human female he’d compelled earlier that day to provide blood for him hadn’t sated his need. So he was on the hunt with his pack for something else to devour. His beta—Cael—stood next to him, muzzle lifted the same way, whole body tense and quiet. Their pack of twelve males was considered small, but there weren’t a whole lot of their kind around in general.
There were plenty of wolf shifters. Plenty of vampires.
But not Blood Wolves—the hybrid child of a wolf and vampire union. Wolf packs tended to kill the hybrid babies when they were born. Vampires just turned them away and hoped they died on their own. Wrath’s mother—a vampiress—had been exiled from her kiss after he was born, and his biological father died protecting them from his pack. She’d raised him until he was old enough to shift and then attempted to return to her people without him. Her father had killed
her on sight.
Wrath had gotten his revenge for his mother’s death. The male’s fangs were sitting on a ledge in the cavern he and his pack called home.
He caught the sound of a cracking branch and suspected it was a deer or antelope. He let out a soft bark of instruction to his pack and then charged silently toward the creature that had made the mistake of not watching where it was going. Their black coats allowed them to slip unseen through the trees, their eyesight attuned to the darkness in which they could see almost as well as during the daylight.
A buck stood at a creek with two does nearby. Wrath and his pack descended on them as one, taking down the three deer before they even realized they were about to die. With a swift shake of his head to break the neck, Wrath killed the huge buck then feasted on the warm flesh and blood. When he was full, he moved away, letting the ones who waited respectfully for their turn to have a go.
He lapped at the creek, the cool water cascading over his lips and tongue, and then he lifted his head and howled the victory to the heavens.
Yet... he wasn’t satisfied. He still felt something within him that was yearning for more.
The only time he ever really felt like this was when he dreamed about his true mate. A gorgeous brunette with eyes like sapphires and lips made for pleasure and wicked things. He was almost positive she was real, but a tiny part of him thought she might be a figment of his imagination. The only thing he knew for certain was that he had no idea where she was. Only Cael knew about her, and his second-in-command wasn’t certain she was real either.
The idea of true mates was something unique to wolf shifters, and Blood Wolves would go insane if they didn’t find theirs. When a true mate couple was near each other for the first time, a matching mating tattoo would appear on their skin, usually on the biceps or forearm, where it was visible by any and all. Wolf true mates had black mating tattoos made up of lines and swirls. It identified them as mated to any other wolf.
Blood Wolf true mates had red tattoos.
No wolf in Wrath’s pack had found his true mate. He was the oldest at twenty-eight and could already feel the edge of madness that would permanently take him over once he hit thirty. He might be able to stave off his wolf going full-blown crazy for a year or two. The alpha before him had been thirty-one and a half when he’d gone berserk and Wrath had to put him down.
He’d hated it, even though it was necessary—to break the neck of his mentor and friend to save the pack.
He wondered who would be forced to kill him? Probably Cael.
If only Wrath could find his true mate. Goddess of his dreams.
He was simultaneously certain she was real and imaginary. He’d been dreaming about her since his sixteenth birthday. Twelve years was a fucking long time to dream about the same person.
Shaking the dark thoughts from his past to his present, he watched the males finish their meal. When the carcasses were stripped, they were dragged back to the caves so the bones could be utilized for tools and weapons. The cavern and its system of underground caves had been his home since he’d stumbled upon it after his first shift. He’d taken cover in the first cave he came to. The shift had taken so much out of him that he was afraid he’d be killed if someone found him; he was too weak to defend himself.
That was the first night he’d dreamed of her. That first year the dreams had been infrequent, every few months. It wasn’t until his seventeenth birthday that he discovered her name—Trinity. Usually the dreams were just glimpses of her life, and that’s how he was certain she wasn’t anywhere near him. Her world seemed populated entirely by humans, and in his world, humans were not the majority. She couldn’t shift into anything and didn’t appear to have any powers, although he would consider her beauty a power all on its own. Her world seemed far beyond his, filled with mechanical wagons and glowing boxes.
Once more he shook his thoughts back to the present then returned to his human form. He directed his males to prepare the carcasses and stalked deeper into the cavern to the cave he utilized as his personal room. The sleeping pallet in the corner was large enough for two. He’d built it that way, so in the event he and Trinity ever crossed paths, there would be room for her.
He was exhausted to the core, but he didn’t drop onto the pallet to sleep.
Detouring to the communal bathing cave, he grabbed a towel and stepped into the pool that was fed from a hot spring. The deep, hot water was soothing to weary skin and bones, and the natural pool had ledges for sitting and soaking. He stepped down into the steaming water and stifled a groan. He grabbed a soap leaf from a clay pot and dunked himself under the water. Then he cracked the leaf and scooped the clean-smelling gel from inside. After washing his hair and body, he rinsed and then stretched out on one of the carved ledges, submerged to his chin.
His sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of his pack. The eleven males under him were ranked according to their strengths. The weakest—the omega—was a young male of seventeen named Creek, and he was tasked with cooking for the pack. While Wrath expected that the male would eventually fight for higher rank, he seemed content with his place. Wrath had a soft spot for the male, and figured it was most likely because in one of the shared dreams, Trinity told him there was a young male needing rescue. Creek had been held captive by the kiss of his vampire father and drained of blood repeatedly. Only because he was part shifter and had fast healing abilities had he survived the repeated abuse.
Wrath had found the young male where Trinity had told him where to find him. The Blood Wolves had slaughtered the male members of the kiss and freed Creek, who was River’s younger brother. That had been a year ago. The male was still twitchy, still frightened at times. Wrath didn’t know how Trinity had known what was happening with Creek, and when he’d pressed her about it, she’d only said she’d seen him in their dreams. But Wrath had never seen Creek in the dreams, so he didn’t know what else she’d had privy to that he didn’t.
“You all right?” Cael asked as he joined Wrath in the pool, sitting on the other side of the steaming water.
Wrath opened his eyes and lifted his head. “Yeah. Tired.”
“Dreams?” Cael moved the water with his hand, the steam swirling with the motion.
Wrath nodded. “I turned twenty-eight two days ago.”
“I know.” Cael’s blue eyes narrowed. “Can I make a suggestion without you biting my head off?”
Wrath chuckled. “You can try.”
Cael blew out a breath. “Have you considered finding a human to fuck? Or a vampiress? I mean, I know purebreds are out of the question—they hate us too much—but you might stave off the beast’s blood lust if you partook of some fleshly pleasures.”
Wrinkling his nose at the phrase “fleshly pleasures,” he shook his head. “I can’t.”
“You mean you won’t.”
“No, I mean the thought of being with anyone but Trinity makes my wolf nuts. I know you think she’s only in my imagination, but she feels so real to me.”
“You know why I’m asking,” Cael said. His gaze moved away from Wrath, as if he couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes.
“I do. It doesn’t change that my wolf is pissed and wants Trinity. To be entirely honest, I don’t think I could even get it up for anyone but her. I’d just end up pissing off the wolf more.”
Silence settled over them, Wrath’s mind slipping to thoughts of his mate.
After a few quiet moments, Cael said, “I don’t want to have to put you down.”
Wrath nodded sharply. If anyone understood the burden of the second-in-command, it was him. He wanted to promise that he would take himself out when the time came, but it was an impossible promise to make. Once the blood lust came and the beast began to take over, he wouldn’t have the faculties to kill himself.
“I still have a few years. I’ll fight as long as I can and keep hoping that she’ll appear to me before it’s too late.”
“That would make her more prophesy than dream,” Cael
mused.
A few males wandered in to soak, and Wrath climbed out. Anchoring the towel around his waist, he wished the males a good rest and stalked away to his private cavern. The sleeping pallet beckoned, and he dried his skin and hung the towel over a rocky outcropping to dry. He sat on the pallet that was placed on a section of bedrock to elevate it off the carved floor. He was about to climb under the furs when he decided to light one of the lanterns. As a Blood Wolf, he had no trouble seeing in the dark, one of the benefits of his vampire genetics. Usually he didn’t bother with a light while he slept, considering it a waste of oil or candles to do so.
But tonight he had the urge to light a nearby lantern. He lifted the hurricane glass of a lantern on a ledge, struck flint and steel together, and lit the wick. He put the glass back in place and turned the lantern down to the lowest setting, just bright enough to illuminate the cavern. He stared at the lantern and then looked around his cavern. It was very masculine, but he knew he could make it homier once Trinity was his. He’d bring her flowers. Hunt the tastiest animals for her to eat, bring her clothes from the human settlement or help her make clothes from animals he hunted. His people wore mostly trousers made of hide from the albino antelopes that roamed the area in the fall months, and he’d hunt a hundred for her, so she’d have everything she needed.
He’d work his ass off to make their private cavern and the system of caves a home for her. A real home for both of them.
He settled under the furs and put his arm behind his head. He stared up at the carved ceiling and wondered where Trinity was and why they weren’t together. Was she as tortured by dreams as he was, or was he the only one who dreamed of them together?
What if he recognized her but she didn’t recognize him? That would be a hell all on its own.
His right arm ached suddenly, and he rolled his shoulder and stretched it a bit, finding his skin feeling prickly and the muscles sore for no reason he could discern. He looked at his skin but saw nothing, and figured it was leftover muscle strain from the long hunt. Closing his eyes, he pushed away the odd sensation and focused on the only thing in the world that made him happy: Trinity.
