Chapter One

Himera

I slept with a stranger last night. 

That's the first thing that comes to my mind when I open my eyes, and it sends me up and out of my bed with a start. In just two steps, I'm in front of the mirror, studying my reflection for a mark, then sighing deeply when I don't find one. What's wrong with me? I would have felt it if the stranger, who happens to be my mate, had marked me last night. I wouldn't even need a mirror to confirm it.

“You're up,” a deep voice startles me, and I tilt my head in the direction it came from, my hands flying to my naked pussy when I see my mate leaning against the door of the ensuite, staring at me.

I hide myself carefully with one hand as I lift the other to rub the sleep out of my eyes. Seriously, what is wrong with me? How did I not smell him in the apartment? Perhaps it's because he was bathing, judging by the water dripping down his naked, hairy chest.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, my voice low.

“You don't remember last night, do you?” he says with a smirk, his accent thick. He must be a local. 

Of course, I do.

How can I not?

I'm on a solo vacation in Spain, and I was checking something off my travel bucket list last night.

Partying in a paranormal nightclub.

That's where I met this strange man.

I was on the dance floor, dancing my soul away when our bodies crashed, and the impact sent sparks throughout my system. Sparks I believed I'd never feel, because I'm twenty-six and unmated–unlike everybody else in my pack back in America, who gets their wolves and find their mates by their eighteenth birthday.

The first thing that came to my mind after the sparks settled somewhere in my belly was to run, and I did just that. I sprinted away from the dance floor and out of the club like I had seen a ghost, and he chased after me until I stopped outside my apartment, just down the road from the nightclub. He caught up with me even after my attempts to lose him. He's a wolf after all.

I don't remember what he said to me, but I remember our bodies crashing into each other again, kissing our way inside my apartment and fucking like the animals we are, our wolves desperate to connect for life. 

The man snaps his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my memory of last night. I didn't even notice him walking over to me.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” He asks again, his gaze on my face before dropping to my naked breasts.

“I do,” I say, heat crawling up my cheeks as I take one step backward, then another. “You didn't…”

“Mark you?” He finishes my question, and I nod.

“No,” he chuckles. “I couldn't do that, even if that's all my wolf wanted, not while you were drunk.”

He's right. I was so drunk, I don't even know how I managed to run down to the apartment without falling or being hit by a car or a Vespa.

“Thank you,” I say. “Can you now leave my apartment?”

“Why did you run away?” He asks, completely ignoring me.

“That's none of your business, Sir,” I say. “Could you just leave before I call security on you?”

“Elliot,” he says. “Don't call me Sir. I'm Elliot.”

“Fine,” I slouch. “Leave my apartment, Elliot.”

He frowns, studying my face, the stupid smirk not once leaving his own.

“May I know your name at least?” 

I sigh. “Himera.”

“You're American?” He says, his accent somewhat thicker when he says the word.

“Clearrrly,” I say, emphasizing the ‘r’ because that's what we Americans are known for.

“I see,” he says, but he remains standing there, not moving a muscle or doing anything that would suggest he's about to leave.

“I'll leave, but not before discussing our discovery,” he says. “You're my mate, and I am yours. What next?”

I give up trying to make him leave and walk over to the bed, grabbing a sheet and covering myself with it before sitting at the edge.

“You continue with your life, and leave me to continue with mine,” I say. “That's what's next.”

“Fates forbid I find my mate after years of waiting, then let her slip through my fingers,” he says, picking his T-shirt off the floor and pulling it over his head. “I didn't wait all those years just to walk away.”

True, walking away would be very stupid. I'd curse myself if I let him go, given how long I've yearned and waited for my mate. I'm just playing hard to get–it's girl's nature, engraved in our bones.

“Yeah,” I finally say.

“Soooo…” he says. “That means you're accepting me as your mate, right?”

“I don't know,” I shrug. “We'll see.”

He facepalms, clearly annoyed by my attitude, yet trying so hard not to snap and sink his teeth deep into my neck to mark me.

I've never heard of a male of Alpha blood possessing so much self-restraint, let alone seen one. Most Alphas don't hesitate to claim a mate when they find one.

“Listen, Himera,” he says with a sigh. “Every second I stand here without formally claiming you is a sword through my heart. Don't make it any more painful. Allow me to take you to my pack and show everybody that we've finally found our mate.”

“We?” I frown, baffled. “Our mate?”

He sighs again, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to me.

“In my pack…” he begins. “Well, in my bloodline, brothers get to share a mate. It's been like that for centuries.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, almost laughing at the insanity of his thirty-second speech.

“It means,” he says, holding my gaze. “I get to share you with my older brother because you're his mate too.”

Two Alphas sharing one mate? 

That's not tradition. That's madness. 

If this is the prize I get for enduring years without a mate while everybody else around me got one, then I don't want it. I might as well remain unmated and continue travelling the world like I have done the past two years.

I finally burst out laughing because this guy must be crazy. I've heard wild stories about what happens in other packs, but none come close to this. This is batshit crazy.

“What's funny?” He asks, concern written all over his face.

When I finally contain myself, I look at him and sigh.

“You're not sharing me with anyone,” I say. “Heck, I'm not even letting you claim me.”

“That's not your choice to make, Himera,” he says, his voice deep. “This isn't optional. Moreover, the bond doesn't ask for permission.”