by V. Vaughn
I halt and turn back to her. “Oh, honey, no. I’m the one’s who’s sorry. It’s all going to work out. I promise.” I think about how Roman’s order for Dean to be silent rushed through me like something I shouldn’t disobey. Roman’s their alpha. I recall that the Silver Lake wolf pack I belong to needs human females for us to continue on with the next generation. Does his pack have the same problem? I understand the desperation, but it’s always the woman’s choice. Always. We’d never stoop low enough to trick them into something like Roman had planned. I say, “Alex isn’t the bad guy here. It’s Roman.”
Eight
I gaze at my three friends sitting on the couch of our RV. I thought it was hard to tell Alisha what I am, but this is harder. The counter behind me is firm as I push off of it to stand tall. “I’m about to tell you something that might be difficult to believe, and it’s going to be scary too. Please remember the Juliet you know when I do.”
Chelsea and Jayden stare at me with big eyes as they clutch each other’s hands. Alisha says, “They’ll be fine, Juliet. They love you like I do. Tell them.” Her legs are crossed, and she bounces her foot.
I let out the breath I was holding. “I’m a werewolf.”
Jayden blinks. Chelsea laughs and then says, “A werewolf? Good one.”
I shake my head. “This isn’t a joke.”
Jayden still doesn’t speak as she stares in shock, and Alisha says, “It’s true. Juliet can become a wolf when she wants to.”
Chelsea gets up, and her feet thud as she moves toward the front of the RV. She turns and scans my body with her gaze. “Can you prove it?”
Jayden squeaks out, “No!” She scrambles back on the couch as if I’m going to hurt her, and my stomach knots up.
Alisha wraps her arm around her. “Juliet would never hurt us, Jay.”
Jayden nods as she gazes at me, and my heart aches knowing she’s afraid of me.
I say, “I wouldn’t. I know this is hard to comprehend, but werewolves aren’t out to hurt people. Alex would never hurt you either.”
“He’s—”
“Yes. And so are the rest of the firemen. Today we were hiking toward something called a jamboree where wolves from other packs meet and find mates. Alex wants you to be his mate, and the plan was for him to greet you in wolf form to confirm the bond.” I shake my head because I’m sure it’s hard for humans to fathom what exactly that means. “It’s their pack’s ritual when a wolf wants to be with a human.”
“Bond?”
“Claim you as his,” In front of his alpha. I scowl for a moment as I think about the kind of werewolf Roman is and wonder if letting Jayden join his pack is wise. I say. “I think that you and Alex might be true mates, which means you belong together for life.”
“Whoa,” says Chelsea.
“Yeah,” I keep my attention on Jayden to make sure she’s following. “Alex was acting today as a wolf and would never intentionally do something to hurt you. Werewolves grow up knowing that true mates are forever, and it’s easy for our kind to jump in right away. But you’re going to need time to figure out if being a werewolf is right for you, Jayden. Roman didn’t respect your humanity, and that’s why I put a stop to it.”
“Roman?” asks Alisha.
“I think he’s the alpha of their pack and calling the shots.” I gaze at Jayden. “I know every ounce of you can’t help but want to be with Alex, and being apart from him right now might be upsetting in a way you don’t understand. But do you get why I couldn’t let you go to the meadow?”
She lowers her feet back to the floor. “You want me to have a choice.”
“Yes. Alex wants nothing more than to mark you as his. But that means you become a werewolf if you want to stay together. And I’ve got to tell you, it makes me nervous that he has an alpha like Roman, who seems so careless about human safety.”
Chelsea asks, “Was he going to bite her or something?”
I shake my head. “Roman says they were going to go through with the ritual, which would have been Alex as a wolf sniffing Jayden to confirm she’s his. If Jayden were a werewolf, she’d be in wolf form and sniff back to indicate her acceptance. When you’re true mates, you want it, and there’s no question.”
Alisha says, “That’s what the wolf in the woods did to you!” She sighs with satisfaction. “He totally likes you.”
I recall kissing Roman, and even though I’m mad at him, I can’t help the flutter of desire low in my belly. Yes, he does. Chelsea scowls at me, and I think it’s because we lied to them the other night about our adventure with a big dog. “Hold on a minute,” she says. “Back up to you being a werewolf. How does that work? Do you change into one with the full moon?”
I shake my head. “No. I can shift back and forth at will.”
She says, “Well, this whole thing sounds barbaric.” She crosses her arms as she asks, “Don’t the females have any say?”
I bristle at Chelsea’s insinuation. “We do. My pack doesn’t do the ritual, but it’s a lot like getting engaged, and if a female wants to initiate the ceremony, she can.”
Jayden leans forward. “What’s it like to be a werewolf?”
I smile at her because I think she’s moved past her fear to consider changing to be with Alex. “It’s awesome.”
“Can I—" She glances at Chelsea. “Can we see your wolf?”
It warms my heart that she’s no longer afraid of what I am, and I nod. Chelsea frowns at me as I begin to take off my clothes. I say to her, “You’re having a hard time with this, aren’t you?”
“No,” She sighs. “Yes, but it’s not you. I’m just worried about Jay.” She turns to her old roommate. “I feel like I’m losing you to something I don’t understand, and it scares me.”
“Then let me help you get comfortable.” Once I’m completely undressed I close my eyes to bring on the shift. The familiar feeling of muscles contracting and stretching comes as my bones pop. The floor shakes when my front paws hit it, and I blink at my friends cautiously, trying not to scare any of them.
Alisha steps forward. “My god, you’re beautiful, Juliet. Is it okay to touch you?” I nod, and she lays her hand on my head and slides it down and across my back. “So soft.”
Jayden reaches out, and I lean into her touch as she pets me too. I sit down and train my gaze on Chelsea. I don’t sense fear or judgement coming from her, which is good. Instead, I think she’s curious. She asks, “Can I see your teeth?”
I tilt my head at her with my amusement and then open my jaw wide. “Whoa,” she says and lets out a nervous chuckle. “Remind me to never piss you off.”
“My what big teeth you have,” jokes Alisha.
“The better to eat you with!” says Jayden. I let out a very audible sigh, because this joke is almost as bad as the Romeo and Juliet ones they love to torture me with. But I’m not mad, because now I realize Alisha was right—my friends love me and are willing to accept what I am.
After I shift back and answer everyone’s questions, I have no trouble telling my friends that today’s frustrations with Roman have made me want to shift and run. And I take off to let them discuss what they just learned openly, without me around.
My muscles burn with exertion as I race through the woods to release my pent-up energy. The idea that Roman thought it was okay to bring human women to a bonding ritual when they have no idea what it means is either stupid or proof he doesn’t see them as equals. Either way, it’s upsetting because I have a sinking feeling we’re true mates. That means being apart is going to be almost too painful to bear. But standing in his shadow as his subservient mate will be too.
I slow to a walk, and the spongy earth of the forest floor is cool under my feet. The rustling of branches and crack of twigs tells me someone else is out here. I guess it’s another werewolf, considering so many are in the area for the jamboree. I turn toward the noise when it gets closer, and I instantly recognize the scent that comes to me. Roman.
I wait for him t
o approach me as I inhale his intoxicating musk. My wolf doesn’t care about what happened today because she has a one-track mind. Mate. And apparently his does too, because he nuzzles me, and I return the gesture as if we’re exchanging a hello kiss. Roman walks around me, and while a piece of me wants to object when he begins to sniff my genitals, I don’t. While the act can be cordial like a greeting, it can also be intimate when true mates are involved. Once he gets his fill, I sniff him back. And as the warmth of our connection fills my heart, I know I’m meant to be with Roman and it’s going to be too much to fight. But I can’t let what happened earlier go. I refuse to be with someone who won’t respect humans.
I shift out of wolf form so I can talk to Roman, and he also shifts back to his human form. It’s playing with fire because we’re both naked, and a quick glance lets me know he’s as aroused as I am.
“Are you still mad at me?” he asks.
I nod as I step close enough to touch him. “You were going to put my friends in danger. You have to understand I can’t allow that.”
Roman chuckles. “You do know I’m an alpha.”
“I figured that out.” Which means he’s used to getting his way. If there is one thing I hate, it’s being told what to do. I frown, because even though he’s an alpha, I won’t back down when something is important. I step back. “This isn’t going to work. I don’t take orders well.”
“Do you know what it takes to be the mate of an alpha like me?”
I shrug. The alpha’s wife in my clan used to be human, and she’s as sweet as can be.
“I need a strong, stubborn mate whose loyalty can’t be broken. I need a woman who’ll call me on things when I’m not thinking clearly.” He reaches out to brush his thumb lightly across my lower lip, and I blink to regain my focus. “But most of all, I need a partner to help me lead my clan.”
Partner? I smile as I place my hand on his chest. He inhales sharply at my touch before he covers my fingers with his, and I say, “Partner I can do. You need to know it’s important to me that you treat humans like equals.”
“I already do. I wasn’t going to let your friends loose in a field full of wolves looking for a mate.” He moves my hand down his stomach slowly, and his abdominal muscles quiver beneath my fingers.
“No?” I reach out with my other hand to hold onto his arm, and I brace myself as my knees get weak.
“It was going to be a private ceremony with just Alex in wolf form. I was going to ask you to explain it to Jayden after Alex confirmed the bond. I brought Dean and Byron in case we had trouble from other clans.”
He holds my fingers still at the patch of hair just below his navel as I ask, “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
His voice is husky now. “You didn’t give me a chance.” He lets go of my hand, and the nest of hair on his groin is coarse on my skin.
I want to touch more of him, to feel what can be mine. I continue my descent before I grip his long, thick length. It fills my palm with his fertile heat as I stroke it, and I recall how earlier I did do most of the talking and cut him off when he tried to explain. “Oh.”
Roman tips my chin up with his finger and leans down to kiss me. It’s gentle at first, but when his hands roam to my breasts and he teases my nipples, I deepen it with the hunger of my feral side. This alpha is mine. But I’m also his, and Roman lets out a low growl as he pushes me against a tree. He grabs my arms and turns me around before he presses on my back for me to bend. The bark of the large oak is rough on my palms as I grab on and thrust my bottom out toward him.
“Yes.” Roman slides two fingers along my moist seam and thrusts them inside me as he kisses his way down my spine. He drops to his knees and growls again before he tastes me. He may have kissed me awkwardly the first time, but there’s nothing about what he’s doing now that isn’t right. I squirm as he laves me with his tongue until I begin to shake with the orgasm that rushes to the surface.
Roman stops as I’m on the brink and nips my bottom. It makes me yelp, and he chuckles before he dives in for more. He clearly likes being in control, because he pulls back each time I’m about to lose myself to sweet release. I struggle not to beg him for what I want, but after the third time of being denied, I lose the battle. “Roman,” I pant out, and I should be horrified when it sounds like a whine. Strong fingers dig deeply into my hips as Roman stands and places himself behind me. But when he only slides his cock between my buttocks, I give in to my wolf completely and throw my pride aside. “Please. I—"
I barely get the words out before he rams himself into me and leans down to whisper in my ear, “I’ve wanted to be here since the first time I saw you.”
I let out a small sound of pleasure as his slow movements torture me in the most delicious way. “What took you so long?”
Roman lets out a low growl and moves faster. Yes, purrs my wolf as I submit totally to him to get what I desire. I growl back as I push against him with my bottom so he’ll go deeper, give me more, and satiate my burning need. My nails dig into the bark of the tree as I hold on for climax. When I cry out and shatter beneath him, he pumps frantically to reach his peak.
Quivering as I come down, I marvel in the way Roman fills me as if a piece of the puzzle of us is finally in place. My wolf basks in the glory of our connection and submitting to our mate. I begin to fall back with the aftermath of my ecstasy when another surge of passion rushes through me like a freight train. I cry out, “Roman!” and quake around him with an orgasm so intense my legs barely support me. If it weren’t for Roman’s strong grip on my hips, I’d collapse. He tenses along with me, and a deep rumble comes from my mate’s chest as he growls out, “Juliet,” and splashes his hot essence inside me.
His teeth scrape along my neck as we pant to catch our breath and recover. He whispers, “You belong to me, Juliet.”
I straighten and turn to face him. I may have let my wolf submit completely just now, but I need to know doing so didn’t change anything. I need to be sure we’re equals and that he wasn’t just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear. Placing my hand on his cheek, I say, “You belong to me.”
Roman stares at me intently before he nods. Our gazes are locked on each other as he leans in to brush his lips against mine and says, “I do.”
Nine
Roman and I return to the edge of the RV park as wolves. We find my clothes before he runs off to let me shift and return to my friends. When I get back to the girls, they’re hanging out at the table, shucking corn for dinner.
A husk tears as Alisha yanks it, and she asks, “Did you have a good run?”
A huge grin covers my face. “I did. And you’ll never guess who I bumped into.”
“The big dog?”
I nod as I take the plastic cup Chelsea hands me.
“And did some sniffing happen?”
I take a sip of lemonade and swallow the sweetness down before I say, “Something like that.” A tiny aftershock runs through me at the memory of what Roman and I did this afternoon.
Jayden is over by the fire, and I glance at her. “Jayden, I talked to Roman about what happened earlier, and I’m sorry. He had a plan, but I was too angry to let him tell me about it.” I think about that for a moment. Roman could have easily forced me to listen to his reasoning if he’d wanted to, but he didn’t. Because I would have looked foolish in front of everyone. One of the most important things for an alpha—and an alpha’s mate—is to have the respect of the clan. I wonder if he let me go because he realized I needed to appear as if I was doing the right thing.
Jayden says, “Alex called and told me that you’re like our alpha, and he said Roman told them he let you go because he should have talked to you first instead of assuming what he had planned was okay.”
“Hey,” says Chelsea. “I thought I was the alpha.”
Alisha winks at me. “We just let you think that.”
I smile because I like what I’m finding out about Roman. He was willing to take a hit to help me save
face. That’s not something a cocky-as-all-get-out werewolf does. I wrap an arm around myself as I sip on my drink, and the warm glow that fills me isn’t from the fire. I think I fell in love with Roman today, because the way I feel about him is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before.
I walk over to stand next to Jayden. “Are you seeing Alex tomorrow?”
She nods. “I know we’re supposed to go tubing, so I hope you don’t mind that I invited all the boys to come.” She pushes a log to rearrange it, and sparks fly up.
We plan to go a few miles up the river, where we’ll take inflated tractor-trailer tire tubes and sit in them to ride the current back to the RV park. “Not at all. That sounds fun.”
She pulls me into a hug. “Thank you for helping me. I feel like I’m going crazy. I’ve only known Alex for two days, but I can’t imagine living without him. I want to become a werewolf, have his babies, and give up everything I know to spend my life with him.”
“The true-mate bond is strong. But you’re going to have to move to Alex’s town and become part of his pack. You only know Roman, Dean, and Byron. Are you ready to give up your job and other friends?” Jayden grew up with a single mother who wasn’t exactly a model citizen, and I know she cut her ties with her mom after high school. I think she’ll enjoy being part of a big pack family.
“In a heartbeat. What about you, though? Won’t I have you too, since you’re Roman’s true mate?”
Roman made his intentions clear earlier today, and I bask in the love I felt with him. “Yes. You will.” I think about leaving Winter Valley to become part of Roman’s pack. I do have friends and will miss a lot of my pack. I’ll miss my job teaching too, but I’ve had a hollow feeling from being without a mate for so long, and now that Roman has filled it, I know this is my destiny. Like Jayden said, being without Roman would be harder than staying where I am now.
I say, “There are schools where we’re going and lots of new people to meet. Plus, we’ll always have Chelsea and Alisha. We’ll be fine.”
