*Vanessa*I don’t recognize the girl in the mirror.She has my dark hair, bound up in a bridal half-up, half-down style, accented by crystal pins. Her skin is flush with nervousness. But the biggest thing that makes her hard for me to recognize, is the look of pure excitement on her face.My face.It’s not an expression I wear very often.Around me, some of the female shifters who volunteered to help me get ready are talking amongst themselves about the coming mating ceremony. We’re not exactly friends but we are neighbors, and in this pack, that’s the closest any of us will get.I look over my reflection in the mirror. I wanted something simple, a dress that would be an accessory to the main thing: the pendant around my neck. My mating-token. Analogous to what humans would use as engagement rings, the pendant was Trent’s gift to me once we discovered we were fated mates – his promise to me that this day was going to come.“Almost time,” says K
*Vanessa*When I wake again, I’m lying in a bed in a place I don’t recognize with a strange woman tending to my bruises. When she sees I’m awake, she places a hand on my arm, as though to steady me. “Don’t panic. I’m a medic, my name is Amara. Our Alpha brought you in and you’re lucky he did.” At first, her words don’t register. It takes her repeating herself before the wall I built against my emotions comes crumbling down as the realization hits me: Trent tried to kill me.“Do you remember what happened to you?” The way she asks the question, I know that I must look at least a fraction as bad as I feel. As though her words inflame the gashes on my body, the pain rebounds so badly that I groan and she quickly administers pain meds which dull the agony somewhat. “I know you’re in pain, but I need to know. Do you remember what happened to you?” she repeats. I know it’s most likely to check for any head trauma and I manage to croak out, “Yes.” Trent’s attack flashes in
*Shawn*“You know, one of the perks of being Alpha is that you can choose where and even if you still want to do patrol runs.” Aaron’s voice is slightly breathless, betraying just how seriously he’s been taking his training lately: as in, not at all. “Seriously, Shawn, if we’re going to be running around this stretch of the woods, can’t we just do it in our wolf forms instead?”I click my tongue. Of course, he’d suggest that. Our wolf forms have significantly more endurance than our human ones. But I needed this run. I needed to rediscover my limits and push myself past what I thought I could handle. The terrain running through this unclaimed area just outside of our pack territory provides just the sort of rocky ground, steep inclines, and lack of shelter from the sun overhead to do just that. I brought Aaron with me because I know that he’s been slacking and needs the challenge. And honestly, he’s one of the few people I like just a little bit more than my own solitud
*Vanessa*I jerk up, my back soaked with sweat as the nightmare bleeds into my new reality, and for a second, I’m not sure where I am. Then Amara’s at my side, patting my shoulder.“It’s alright. The sedatives are starting to wear off. What’s your current pain level?” she asks, her keen brown eyes observing me carefully.“Huh?” I ask, still too muddled to understand what she’s asking.“As in, say, one being a flick against the temple and ten being flayed alive with a wolfbane knife?” she repeats.I blink. “Uh … maybe being shoved off the top of a cliff?”“Okay, so like a solid six then. Is it necessary for any additional meds?” She turns to head out, but I shake my head in refusal.“No, that’s okay. I’m still in pain, but I really don’t want any more drugs in my system.” I need to keep a cool head. Regardless of Shawn’s seeming friendliness, this is still unfamiliar territory and I’m not a part of this pack. The last thing I need is for my sense
*Vanessa*I tell myself that it must just be the excitement of the night’s celebration, and the foolish happiness I feel at having been invited to this dinner that has made me skittish and stupid. There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why Elder Luka seemed to vanish without a trace. Never mind that the territory is small and that the square is even smaller. Never mind that it shouldn’t technically make sense for them to have disappeared the way they did. Yep, there must be a logical reason that my still-muddied brain just can’t quite comprehend yet. Regardless, their words play in my head over and over again until I have them memorized. 'The fated mate bond is not the be-all and end-all of your journey, Vanessa. You can still be happy. You deserve to be happy.'Those words challenge everything I thought I knew about fated mates and even the Goddess herself. I’d held onto the belief that finding a mate would mean finding a family for as long
*Vanessa*“I can’t believe you were ballsy enough to actually ask him that!” Amara’s eyes shine with excitement. She didn’t ask immediately about what happened, but her curiosity was obvious enough to read into her body language, and for some reason, I was actually looking forward to telling her once Shawn left. I shake my head in embarrassment, blowing off her praise. “I really wasn’t.”“Oh, come on. You’re a stranger at the complete mercy of a pack you don’t know, and yet you just asserted yourself to their Alpha. That takes guts. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do that.” She peels back one of my bandages and I grit against the pain.She smiles apologetically at me before her features return to their usual focused expression. I brave a look toward the wound on my arm and the sight turns my stomach. “You’re one to talk about being brave,” I say, laughing shakily. “I can’t imagine doing what you do and seeing the kind of injuries you see on a near
*Shawn*Vanessa’s determination threw me for a loop. I’d put her on the spot, essentially demanding she either admit to being unable to complete the trial or to lie … but she did neither. Instead, she accepted it with a conviction I would never have expected from someone who was dragged into this compound half-dead a week ago. It wasn’t just that she agreed to do what would be an impossible task for most people. Even I am struggling to come up with a way to compensate for our lack of numbers in a way that can allow us to both hunt and protect the pack. I could tell that she doubted herself, for just a moment there. But it was the way she seemed to push through all of that and look me in the eye to tell me that she would do it. That was what shocked me.I wasn’t being dishonest when I said that I believed she could handle it. But still, seeing the change happen right in front of me where she just snapped into that focus, was unexpected. “Hello? Again? M
*Vanessa*I can’t say that I’m too pleased with having a new babysitter.Granted, I wasn’t expecting Shawn to give me free rein to move around the compound wherever I liked even while completing this challenge of his, but I definitely wasn’t super thrilled about my new warden being Aaron. But even the slight anxiety I feel about having him watch over me with his hawklike stare can’t dampen the excitement I feel. And last night, when I fell asleep still thinking about Shawn’s compliments, I had the best rest I’ve had in ages. Against all expectations, I was beginning to find my footing. The next morning though, when I get ready to leave the infirmary and meet Aaron at the territory entrance, I remind myself that I’ve already come a lot further than I thought I would in a strange pack.Having been pleased with her final assessment of me, Amara gives me a sympathetic look as she sends me on my way.“Just a heads up, don’t let Aaron intimidate you. His bark