AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My fated mate. I’d run from it for so long. So much wasted time. I vowed that day I would never take this man for granted again.
“Come on,” he whispered. “Though the idea of stealing away with you and hiding from the rest of the world has appeal…hmmm…I think I’d like to bind you, Tempest. Spread eagle. Have my way with you and make you beg for the pleasure.”
“Oh!” My whole body thrummed with desire. “I think I might let you. But later. There’s something else we have to do.”
Anson looked toward the woods. The McGraw pack held the lands immediately to the north. My home. Only now, something didn’t feel quite right about that.
We found our scattered clothes. Reluctantly, we got dressed. I knew soon we’d have to find that hidden cave and mate again, away from prying eyes. I placed a hand over my belly. The knotting had lasted for a full twenty-four hours. It was dawn now. I didn’t yet know if Anson’s seed had taken root. I wasn’t sure if I was quite ready for that yet.
“Shh,” he said, reading my mind. “Not this time. I’m not ready to share you yet. And trust me, my love. When that day comes, you won’t get off so easily. You’ll need to take me knotted inside you for days next time. Today was just the first day of your new training. We’ll work up to it. But oh, am I going to enjoy breaking you in properly.”
“Oh, God,” I gasped. Heat flooded through me. I was ready to go to my knees for him all over again. Now.
Anson’s wicked laugh only made me hotter. “Not yet, my Tempest. But soon. Maybe next year if…”
His voice trailed off. If. That “if” depended on what waited for us over the next hill.
So we faced it together. Head on. Hand in hand, Anson and I walked up to the house my parents shared. They were waiting for us.
My mother stood on the porch. My father’s wolf hung back, watching from the top of the hill.
Neve McGraw. My beautiful mother. She came flying down the steps. She threw her arms wide and went right past me. It was Anson she wanted to embrace. Warmth, relief, love. It flooded through me, and tears came to my eyes.
I turned. As my mother pulled Anson into the house, I went to the hill and faced my father.
He shifted. His expression fierce, he stared right through me.
“He’s yours?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s what you want?”
“Yes.”
“You could have a pack of your own, Tempest. The Alphas of Wild Lake have…”
“I don’t belong to Wild Lake,” I said. Though I hadn’t meant to, the moment the words came out, I knew how true they were. My father blanched.
“You know it. You’ve always known it. I know you’ll tell me I’ll always have a place here. It’s part of my heart. That’s true. And I want to come back. But my place is with Anson.”
“Tem,” he said. “The war is over, but that doesn’t mean you’re safe out there. It’s still a hard life for nomad shifters. If he can’t…”
“He will.” Anson’s deep, strong voice sent a shiver through me. His wolf eyes glinted as he faced my father.
“We’re fated mates,” Anson said. “Tempest bears my mark. And I bear hers.”
It was a challenge. An ancient, primal declaration. My Alpha and my former pack leader. Anson was giving Tucker McGraw the chance to accept our bond or do battle to break it.
My father took a step forward. Eyes flashing, he sized Anson up. Anson was taller than my father. Broader. He was almost the size of a bear shifter. The man was quite simply the biggest shifter I’d ever seen. I knew my father was thinking the same. But Tucker McGraw was battle hardened too. And he had an entire pack behind him if he chose to invoke it.
“You’ll protect her,” my father said.
“Tempest is an Alpha,” Anson said. “She’s capable of defending herself. But yes. I will die for her before I let any harm befall her.”
“Will you claim a pack?”
This was the question of all questions. It could upset the power balance here in Wild Lake. As an Alpha, as Tucker McGraw’s daughter, I had a right to lands here.
