Chapter 4

“Nice job,” Bruce says, clapping us on the shoulder. “You’re the first back. I knew you would be a good pair.”

I beam with pride as we drop our kill by the fire—the older members of the pack will dispose of the body; that isn’t work for new mates to do tonight—and make our way to our tent.

It’s on the other side of the clearing from the tent where I got ready with the other women. This tent is smaller, and it’s just for the two of us.

“How did you know where he would be?” Kaely asks.

“I don’t know,” I say.

And now that we’re here, I really don’t want to waste time talking about the hunt. We’re still naked from our shift. I’m running my hands all over him, and he’s already hard, no doubt helped along by the exertion of hunting and killing a Moon Caster.

Still, he stops me. He holds me away at arm’s length.

“You didn’t follow the scent,” he says, his eyes narrowed. “The scent turned to the side, but you went straight on.”

“Why are you complaining?” I ask him. “It was the right call, wasn’t it?”

“It’s just weird,” he says. “How did you know?”

I don’t know how I knew. I don’t care how I knew. I pull him closer, pressing my body against his.

“It’s the full moon,” I say softly. “It’s our mating night.”

“You believe that stuff? About it being good luck to conceive under the full moon?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I do. The moon has power, Kaely. If it didn’t, the Moon Casters wouldn’t be such a threat.”

“But wolves don’t use moon magic,” Kaely points out.

“Sure,” I say. “We don’t use it. That doesn’t mean it can’t affect us. We don’t use the energy from the sun, either, but it still helps us live.”

I free myself from his grip, and this time he doesn’t stop me. He lets me press myself close to him, inhale his scent.

“I’ve been wanting you for years,” I tell him shamelessly. “Ever since I was old enough to want sex, I wanted you. If we weren’t mated tonight, I was going to seek you out anyway.”

“I’d have given it up for you,” he says. “You’re the hottest woman in the whole pack, you know.”

“You think so? Even though my hunting style is weird?” I trail my hand down the flat plane of his torso as I say this, teasing him.

He groans, his hips thrusting forward slightly, as if he can’t help it.

“I don’t care if you’re weird,” he says.

His hand lands on my shoulder now, and the pressure is firm. It takes me a moment to understand what he’s after.

“Go down and put it in your mouth,” he says.

I do.

He groans again. “Fuck, baby, yeah, that’s how I like it.”

He can’t be meaning to come like this. I know he can’t, because we just received our alpha mandate to do everything we can to conceive together.

But if this is something he likes before we get down to the main event, I’m more than happy to indulge him. After all, this is Kaely. I’ve been fantasizing about him for years.

And it is incredibly hot, kneeling here while he fucks my face like this. I keep one hand on him and move the other down so I can touch myself, grinding against my own palm.

He pulls back slightly—he’s still in my mouth, but now he’s looking down at me.

“I don’t want you to come until I do,” he says, his voice raspy.

What the hell? Tonight might be my first time mating with a man, but I’ve certainly taken care of myself plenty of times.

I slide off his cock and sit back on my heels. “Why not?”

“I’m your alpha,” he says. “I should come first.”

You’re not my alpha.

That’s my first thought. He’s my alpha mate, but that’s not the same thing as being an alpha of the pack. It just means he’s my primary partner—the one I should be trying to conceive with. It doesn’t mean he has alpha authority over me.

He certainly doesn’t get to tell me what to do with my own body.

But that’s something we can work out later. I want this to be a good night, and that’s not going to happen if we argue.

He can come first. That’s fine. He’ll take care of me afterward, I’m sure.

“Okay,” I agree. “How do you want to do it?”

It’s my first time, but I’ve imagined several positions.

He pushes me over onto hands and knees—it’s a little rough, but there’s something kind of hot about that. He drapes his body over mine, and I can feel him hard against me, about to enter me.

But he doesn’t.

He rocks his hips, rubbing himself against me, and I hear myself gasp at the sudden friction I’ve been craving. His body on mine.

Fuck, if he doesn’t want me to come, he isn’t going to be able to keep this up for much longer, because I feel like I’m about to lose my mind.

My heart is racing again, fluttering wildly, but this time I hardly notice. My body is doing too much else right now.

“Kaely—” I manage, spreading my legs slightly, arching my back, hoping he’ll understand this for the sign it is. I’m ready. I’m beyond ready. I need him inside me immediately. I can’t wait any longer.

But suddenly, I can’t feel him behind me anymore. His touch is gone. I’m not even completely sure he’s in the tent with me anymore.

I turn to look back, to see what’s going on—

He’s not behind me. He’s below me.

He’s below me because somehow I’m five feet off the ground, with nothing but air beneath my hands and knees.

I let out a cry of shock. My surprise seems to break something, and I tumble to the ground, landing hard on my shoulder and hip.

I scramble to sit up.

“What the fuck?” Kaely hisses.

The first thing I notice, in my utter confusion, is that he isn’t hard anymore, and I stupidly move to rectify that situation, but he shoves me away.

Violently.

“What are you?” he demands. He looks revolted.

“What do you mean?” I’m terrified. I feel like this has to be some kind of nightmare, because nothing that’s happening makes any sense at all.

“That’s… that’s Moon Caster shit,” he says. “You’re a Moon Caster.”

It’s the vilest, dirtiest thing he could have called me.

“Of course I’m not,” I say, my voice trembling. I’m offended, but I’m also scared because it’s clear that he believes what he’s saying, and I’m in a very small tent with him.

“I reject you as my mate,” he hisses. “Moon Caster.”

He rejects me.

It’s like being slapped.

No—it’s like being gutted. Like something vital inside me has been ripped out.

And he’s shaking too, his pupils dilated, and I can tell by looking at him that he’s on the verge of shifting. I need to get out of here.

There’s no time to think about clothes. There’s no time to worry about the fact that I’ll be running out into the clearing completely naked. I throw myself backward out of the tent.

Immediately, I feel the eyes on me. The other members of the pack, those who aren’t having their mating ceremony tonight, are still sitting around the bonfire, up late drinking and telling stories. Now they’re all looking at me.

If I can get myself into someone else’s tent—if I can find Jess, maybe—

“Moon Caster!” Kaely yells. “She’s a Moon Caster!”

They don’t wait for an explanation.

People are shifting all around me. Teeth are bared. Bodies are lowered to the ground, ready for the attack.

I have a split second to decide what I’m going to do.

I run.