Jake’s heart skipped a beat as he looked down into the crystal blue eyes of his intended. They were the same colour as the water around a glacier, with a darker, almost violet ring in the center of them. He remembered her mother’s wolf, then looked at the thick, shinny white hair that was cascading over her slender shoulders and realized her eyes would be blue as ice water and her fur as white as snow. His wolf growled in appreciation. Jake didn’t realize he’d actually made a noise until Liana’s eyes widened and she stepped back in alarm.“It’s alright, Lia,“ David said reassuringly, “When a wolf rumbles like that it’s sort of like men whistling from a construction site, but it isn’t considered rude among werewolves. Once a female has found her wolf she usually really enjoys hearing that sort of appreciation from a male. It makes her feel pretty and cherished….or so my wife tells me.”“I’ve heard you do that before,” Lia said accusingly, her attention still fixed on Jake. “I’ve heard you and smelled you. You were the wolf in my yard, weren’t you?”“Yes,” Jake admitted, rather than trying to lie to his mate. He heard David’s sigh. This wasn’t the way they’d planned to broach the subject, but he felt it best to be completely honest since she remembered that first meeting. “I scented you and tracked your smell through the woods. My wolf wanted to meet yours. We were...surprised to find you in human form. I didn’t understand at first, but David has explained.”“He has,” she deadpanned with one eyebrow raised, glaring daggers at David, who had the good sense to feel guilty for talking out of turn.“The next day Lia,” He said in his own defense, “when he was watching your house. I told him you were seventeen, hadn’t shifted, and you wouldn’t have been very happy with him if he knocked on the door and announced the moon goddess had sent him to you and he was your mate.” Lia wrapped her arms around herself and sank onto the sofa.“Gran would have shot him,” she whispered, “Or I might have done it myself.”“Well...probably,” David admitted. “But maybe not. She was going to tell you about your wolf soon. She had admitted that it was becoming unavoidable. We’d been discussing it at my house that afternoon.”
This wasn’t going at all how he’d hoped, Jake thought. Certainly nowhere near how his wolf wanted. He hadn’t really expected her to jump for joy, but he’d hoped she’d at least be happy. Instead, she looked a bit sick and was starting to smell a bit scared. Talking about shooting him definitely wasn’t what he’d been anticipating.“Jake is your mate, Lia!” Ellie said, bouncing into the room from behind her father. Lia felt her heart rate accelerate and tried to swallow the fear that accompanied the word ‘mate’ by reminding herself of the positive bond that it had been in all of the stories she’d heard and read this afternoon, but the stories she’d learned first kept floating to the surface. “It’s so awesome!” Ellie continued, “You haven’t even shifted yet, but the goddess already picked your mate! You won’t even be eighteen for three whole weeks yet and you already know who your mate is! Elsie and I are soooo jealous!” Liana was still trying to calm her nerves and Elsie’s constant use of the word was not helping. The buzzing in her head was getting in the way too.Jake didn’t miss the fact that Lia flinched a bit every time Ellie used the word mate. Apparently, she wasn’t as comfortable with the transition to the real werewolf tales as the girls had thought. It had only been a few hours after all. He’d considered waiting to meet her, at least until dinner, but his wolf had insisted. Maybe it would be best to leave her for now and talk again later.“No pressure,” he said softly. His comments were for Lia but also directed at Ellie so she would give the stories some time to settle with Lia rather than continuing to talk about it. “In this pack, both werewolves have to be eighteen and agree to the match. We don’t allow forced pairing,” he continued, trying to reassure her, “David and I just came in so that I could let you know we’ve decided to move Selene to a smaller, less busy room. It’s the first door to the right of the main hall that you were in earlier. She’ll have more privacy there. You’re welcome to visit her anytime you like and I’ve instructed the omegas to notify you the moment she wakes. I’ll be off now. Lots of plans to finalize before the wolf moon. It was nice to finally speak with you, Liana. Maybe you’ll join me for dinner?” He left the room quickly, not giving her time to answer his question in case she said no. In the meantime, he and David could arrange to get her acclimated to life as a werewolf and introduce her to all the young wolves in the Cloud Lake Pack as quickly as possible. Living among them was surely the fastest way to acclimatize to reality.The stories were a good start, but his Luna would need to know his people, their people. If she started at the pack school when this semester began, she could meet a lot of other werewolves from the area and see what some young mated pairs looked like. There were two fully mated pairs in the graduating class this year if he remembered correctly, and a few more who knew who their matches would be and were greatly anticipating their 18th birthday so that they could consent to the match. Liana could make friends within the pack, with wolves from the other two nearby packs, and learn their ways all at the same time. She’d be graduated and ready to fill the spot of Luna by the time she graduated this summer! He could hardly wait.Now that she was well enough that his mother would let her out of her sight, he’d put her in a room on the top floor Alpha’s suit. Far enough from his room that his wolf wouldn’t have him standing at her door all the time, but close enough that he could keep an eye on her and bump into her often so that they got to know each other before the 17th. Maybe she’d agree to watch movies with him in the evenings, or even sit and talk on the rooftop patio! His wolf really liked the later suggestion, but Jake got the impression that his wolf expected more than just conversation. It might be best to avoid the patio unless she had agreed to the mating. By tonight at dinner he hoped to have her school changed, her room ready, and a selection of suggested reading available to help her understand their pack as quickly as possible.In less than three weeks, she’d be his mate. Luna to the werewolf pack of Cloud Lake. Jake smiled, his steps light as he walked up the stairs to his office with David following a few steps behind.“Are you going to say anything Lia? We’ve still got a half hour left to drive.” Lia ignored David’s question and leaned forward to turn up the radio. No. She was NOT going to have a conversation or even make small talk. She sat stiffly in the cab of Jake’s truck, wedged in between Jake and David, squeezing herself even tighter than necessary as she tried not to brush up against either man at all. Annoyingly, Jake wasn’t taking the hint and seemed to be spreading himself out to brush up against her every chance he got. The tingly feeling on her skin and the stupid buzzing noise in her head were not helping her mood. A Department of Natural Resources van was following behind them filled with what Jake insisted were his ten best warriors. It was the only way he would agree to let her go to her own home to collect some of her things. He’d only agreed to the trip at all when she’d yelled at him over breakfast that she was not his prisoner and he had no right to keep her there against her w
Jake sighed and shifted his weight a bit, trying to get the feeling back in his left leg. He was pressed up against the door so tightly he’d cut off circulation, and still Lia wasn’t happy. Why was she acting like this? David and Marie insisted that she was normally very friendly and rarely complained about anything. To him, she seemed to be socially avoidant and perpetually grumpy. He understood that she was worried about her Gran, but there had to be more to it than that. Reasoning with her was impossible, she wanted what she wanted and that was it. Every time she didn’t get her way she became silent and sulky with her arms across her chest like a spoiled brat. He felt her perk up in her seat when they rounded the corner and could see her cottage. As soon as he began to slow down to park she lunged over David and was out the door of the still moving truck before either man could get a good hold of her.“Liana!” David yelled, but she didn’t even look back. She stooped by a rock on her
“Don’t you dare break the door down!” She yelled at them. “I know how to take a shower. What is it with werewolves and a total lack of boundaries? Haven’t you been around enough humans to understand the concept of privacy? Leave. Me. Alone! Get me some clean clothes if you need something to do. Put them by the door. Or what is it they say in all those old movies...go boil some water. Just leave me be!”“If you pass out in the shower you’ll drown.”“At least I’ll die at home,” she muttered.“Lia honey,” David said softly with his forehead on the door, “we need to know you’re okay.”“Stay the frig out!” She yelled when David began trying to pick the lock. “I’ll sing in the shower so you know I’m conscious. If I stop singing for more than a minute you can barge in here like a bunch of bafoons and save the naked princess from the evil shower monster.” There was nothing but silence.“Lia?”“I’m thinking! I can’t exactly take my phone in the shower for karaoke now can I? Nothing is coming to
Liana lay on the floor in her room the next morning with her science textbook. After returning from the trip to her cottage she’d searched the pack house and the grounds, finally discovering a door in Jake’s bedroom room that lead out to a rooftop patio, and from there she could get enough of a signal to use her data and get into her e-mail. She had managed to get in touch with her teachers and explain that this move was temporary, because of her Gran’s health, and that she was hoping to return in a couple weeks. They’d all been happy to know her guardian had simply overreacted and agreed to send her assignments to her and give her a skip on any quizzes or tests for the rest of the month. They said were looking forward to seeing her back in class. Finding a way to sneak in there to send in her assignments might be more difficult, she didn’t want to get caught in his room, but hopefully, she would be living back home and attending school in person before anything came due.Her stomach g
Jake stood just inside his bedroom door waiting for the smell of the soup to dissipate enough to tell him Liana was done with her dinner. He’d been so ecstatic to have finally found his mate that he hadn’t really thought about how she felt. It was time to correct that. Typically both werewolves were happy once a bond was revealed and he’d just arranged things as though she was as happy with the match as he was and would want to start adjusting to her new position as quickly as possible. He should have realized that wouldn't be the case with a werewolf who had been raised to believe she was human. He should have talked to her about what he was doing. Normally they would be sharing through the mind link and he’d just know, but since that wasn’t possible with Liana he should have been talking to her more, asking more questions. It wasn’t as though he’d mated with someone who’d grown up knowing werewolf ways and was excited to find a mate quickly and proud to have the moon goddess choose h
The next Friday evening, Liana sat on the floor of her room with her head tipped back against the side of her bed with a mug full of very strong feverfew tea that was doing nothing to ease the buzz and pounding in her head. Jake’s car had given her the freedom to go about her life as normal as it could be without Gran, who still hadn’t woken, but the time away from the pack house and the routine of her studies had done nothing to get rid of the annoying buzz in her head. She couldn’t concentrate on her work at all. Fortunately, the school was putting it down to worry and stress, so they were “freezing” her grades for the time being. Naturally, she’d have to pull off the final exams though, which wasn’t likely unless she could fix her head.So much for the assumption that being around werewolves was the issue. Even when she was in class with no werewolves in sniffing distance she couldn't get the noise to stop. Jake wasn’t likely the cause of it either. She’d hardly seen him all week! S
The loud noise in Liana’s head eased a bit and she found herself being hurried along the hallway and crowded into the large kitchen. The smell of chili simmering in the slow cookers was very strong. Those who were in wolf form began drooling despite the nervous tension in the air. “Okay pups, listen up” Called Mother Luna from the far end of the kitchen. Everyone was silent at once, all eyes on her. “Les werewolves de Lune Rose de l’Acadie, votre chafeur vous attend a l’atrue cote de cette port ci.” The small group of children shuffled from the crowd and then hurried out the door that Mother Luna had indicated. “Now, Lone Wolves, you can leave through the same door and go to the white van. I realize some of you came in your own vehicles, but for safety reasons, we are taking you all home as a single unit. We will see your cars returned to you as soon as possible. Please co-operate with this.” Ellie and Elsie looped arms with Lia and began to move with the crowd of lone wolves towards
The guards looked rather startled when the pair emerged from the hidden passage, but after looking at each other and shrugging they closed the wall back up and lead the girls out to the front doors. Mark and Jake met them at the doors. Jake growled, but they said nothing to stop Lia from joining Zinnia outside. The scene that met them reminded Lia of an old war video. The Cloud Lake people and wolves on one side of the wide gravel drive, the Blue Moon pack lined up on the other. Two large men were standing in front of the Blue Moon side. “The one with the red coat is my father.” Zinnia whispered. “I don’t know the other.”“The other is your Alpha!” Bellowed the large grey-haired man in the black jacket.Mark placed his hand on Zinnia’s shoulder, obviously telling her not to react.“As you can no doubt smell for yourselves now, she has pledged to Cloud Lake,” Mark called across the drive.“After the death of her mother and sister, her father demands her return. She is to take the plac