Chapter 14

“ G reyson, you’re the Alpha of our pack. Mayor Perrins has allowed them to build their box homes just along our perimeter. Next, they will be well over the property line, and they won’t stop there. They will take and take until we are no longer here.”

Michel, one of the pack members who wants Oni to rule, said, “Your father would have killed that meddling bastard. You can’t be docile about these humans. We were once and look what happened to our brothers and family.”

“Paráh, Michel… I understand. I just need some more time to figure it out.” I rushed out.

“No, Greyson. Listen to me. The humans are nothing but a fucking pest. If we take out the mayor, then maybe we can stall those builders.”

“That’s a good idea, Oni. Hit him in the middle of the night,” Michel announced.

The small pack group of pack members muttered their agreement as they murmured amongst themselves.

Biting my tongue, the fresh burn of acid seared my throat. Sweat hugged my skin as I turned around and faced the watchful gaze of the pack members who crowded the medium-sized temple. Heated tears hid behind my eyelids. As I made my way out of the temple, I held my head down, shielding myself from their words.

It almost made me regret my past decision.

“Greyson!” My Paráh called from the wooded entrance near our pack’s field.

Dusting the caked-on dust from my knees, I turned to my uncle, whose stern face greeted me from above the old weathered brown stalks. Even from position, I could see the deep frown that set upon his tan face. A gust of wind rustled the leaves, sending the ends of Oni’s hair dancing around his watchful gaze as I dragged my heavy body across the small field. I dreaded the lashing that was to come.

“Paráh, I’m sorry,” I said as I stood before him. My eyes were glued to his brown button-down shirt. “I just needed some time alone.”

“How much more time will you need, Greyson? Our Pack needs a leader that will be present and not one that’s determined to become one with the dirt,” Oni said. His dark brown eyes bore into my forehead.

My cheeks burned as I contemplated shifting and running away from his glare. At eighteen, no one expected Oni to step aside from being the temporary alpha without fighting tooth and nail. Especially since Oni had formed a small alliance inside of the pack that would follow him to the ends of the world and back. I’ve hidden in the shadows of my Paráh and Elder Alo since my father passed away when I was eleven, and Oni loved it. He reveled in leading the pack.

This was why when Elder Alo approached and reminded me that I was the rightful Alpha for our pack on my eighteenth birthday. That was when I made the only other safe place my recent getaway. Some whispered that maybe I was suffering the same fate my mother had once fallen under before she met my father, but others saw it as a weak trait—a stain on my family’s noble name for being only a witch. Something neither my mother nor I could control.

“I’m sorry, Paráh. You’re right, as always. I needed a quiet place to clear my mind, but I’m ready now.”

Oni snorted, “Are you? You’ve spent almost every day here in the mud since your birthday.” Oni lifted my chin to meet his scrutinizing eyes. “All you have to do is relinquish your position, and I will continue to lead the pack. It will be as if nothing ever happened. The pack will get the leader they need, and I will continue to build back the trust for the Swiftwater name.”

Oni paused before he continued, “Listen, I love you like my own child, but you know how some of the pack feels about…your other side. This can work out for the both of us. You won’t be saddled with the burden of being unfit to lead. Your father and I both learned when it was beneficial for us to back down from situations that we have no control over. So, this won’t be a failure in his, nor my, eyes.”

Something about the failure and my close relationship with the word made my stomach lurch. The palm of my hands itched. Even though my time with my father was short, I knew he would never back down from his responsibilities. My father was committed to the pack, but in the end, he was more committed to my mother.

A somberness fell between us as we stood in the forest. Before I could think about my response, I spoke.

“No, Paráh. I have to honor my father and our pack. Even if it takes a hundred years, I will show them I’m worth it. I promise from this day forward, I won’t hide from my responsibilities. I’ll be the leader that the pack needs.”

My tongue became thick as I turned from my uncle and walked away from him with his hawk-like eyes boring a hole into the back of my shirt. Pelts of salty sweat dripped down my forehead until I was out of Oni’s view, and all I could think about was if he saw the fear that riddled me. Or how I threw up every night since my mother went to the afterworld. But one thing my father made sure I remembered was that, “Even when you’re dying inside, fake it.”

And that’s all I’ve been trying to do since we set the ancestral fire to send him off. I was vomiting and crying until I fell asleep in a pool of sweaty mess. Too scared I hadn’t divulged to even my best friend, Hawk, that I would never live up to my father’s legacy. That I wouldn’t be a good leader. I just wanted to find my half and hide away…

“What a waste?” My shifter hearing picked up from across the room, bringing me back to my reality.

Those words haunted me all the way to the woods as I stripped down in the middle of the wooded path. Feeling the joints of my bones cracked and twisted. My fiery skin felt taut until every single inch of my skin was covered in the black fur as I gave over the reigns to my wolf, who greedily took the opportunity to stretch our limbs and run until the pack no longer mattered. Until I was truly free and one with the earth. Once my wolf had taken over, something changed. Like a flipped switch, our nose scented the air, and we set off in chase to find the intoxicating essence. Without a doubt, the slight shiver down my spine made the soft patter of my heart go erratic.

“Mine! Mine! Mine!” My wolf’s voice boomed from within. Was this my reward for trying to be peaceful? I wasn’t sure, but I hadn’t cared.

Like a maniac, I followed the lily of the valley, sweet and floral perfume. Their scent traveled through my nose, warming every inch of my skin… and my cock as we rushed to their location. It’s been hard since then as my nose and cock led me straight to their location. When I laid eyes on her, I knew she was mine. My Hiema. My sun. The dirty and torn overalls couldn’t contain her curves, and if I were impudent, I would have walked over to her and run my hands along them. Exploring every dip and softened edge, I knew what lied underneath the dirty clothing.

I’d finally found my mate… and I almost lost her before I got a chance to hold her.

As the rain tapered off to a light drizzle, pulling one of my hands free, I helped move some of her hair from her face. I hadn’t meant to follow her, but I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. I mean, how could I not? She was too gorgeous to let go.

I almost shifted back to my human form when she tripped over the roots of the foothill pine tree. The Shaman in the village said my mate was a tidbit cloddish.

I froze when she reached the fork in the path. I knew that if she turned left. She was headed straight for death at the edge of a cliff, and I didn’t want to scare her in the wrong direction by changing into my human form. When she mentioned her father, I paused. It was such a weird thing to shout out in the middle of the woods. You would think being lost would make you nicer, but to each their own. Ignoring the outburst, we tried to get her to go to the right side, but she chose the wrong way. It was a constant battle with my wolf not to jump on top of her to stop her, and when she was close enough to the cliff, I changed so I could rescue her.

“I—” she said. “Y—yo?—”

She was a vision of beauty even with her eyes slam shut. Slowly, she opened one emerald eye at a time. Each was just as wide open as her mouth. Under my palms, her heartbeat was the same pace as the rain, hard and fast. When I pulled her back up from the edge of the cliff, she stumbled into my arms, and I couldn’t help myself as I felt the corners of my mouth pulled into a smile.

My Hiema teeth chattered against each other as she tried to form her words. It was then my mind just processed that she might have been cold from the rain.

She shook as she wrapped her arms around herself. That didn’t stop me from also wrapping myself around her soft body, using my body heat to help her keep warm. I could have just grabbed her and taken her back to my house, but that was being too forward. Plus, I would have to ease her into our world. I inhaled deeply, trying to gauge what she might be, but I smelled nothing but her mesmerizing scent.

My mate is human…but that doesn’t seem right.

My heart sank with disappointment for a moment before I looked back down at the captivating woman who stood trembling in my arms. She had dark circles under her eyes and seemed weak. Right then and there, I decided it didn’t matter. We would brace whatever comes our way.

Earth Creator blessed me this early morning and led me to my tethered soul.

When her shivers died down, the rumbling of her stomach rang in my ears. I decided it was best to get her back to the village. She needed to eat and rest. Everything else could wait.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

Her startling jewel eyes hadn’t left my face since I saved her. She squirmed against me, and I almost cum on myself. For a moment, I almost forgot how being close to our mates affected us.

She cleared her throat and finally spoke, “Your dick is poking a hole into my stomach.”

Her voice was soothing, but that didn’t stop my face from burning at her words. A timid chuckle bubbled up from my throat. When I pulled away from her, she turned into a whole different person. Her face changed from wide-eyed awe to an adorable frown that slid onto her face.

“I’m sorry, Hiema.” Rubbing the back of my neck. “I usually don’t?—”

Her face pinched like she smelled something unpleasant around us as she laid one of her soft hands on my chest. I sniffed the air once again to see if maybe I’d somehow gotten it wrong, but it remained the same.

“Sorry, I didn’t get your name?”

“Kaydian,” she said before her small hand covered her mouth. I guess the Earth Creator was blessing me from the afterlife.

Transfixed by her eyes and her body. I’d failed to see that her overalls were shredded on the bottom, and she had scabbed-over cuts on her arms and legs. Her eyes were dipped in red. Which I’d assumed she was crying from being lost in the woods, but maybe she was tired.

“Greyson.” I held out my hand to her. “How about we start over? You seem lost here in these woods and being lost out here can get you killed. I know we started off on the wrong foot, but my home is a short walk from here. I can get you something to eat and a bed to sleep in. Maybe I can even get you some dry clothes to wear.”

I stopped for a moment. “How does that sound?”

Kaydian’s POV

“You’re a shifter…aren’t you?” I whispered, cutting him off as I watched his handsome face contorted. His mouth twisted as he tried to read me.

Absolutely not!

This couldn’t be happening to me. Youna and my magic were conspiring against me to see just how far they could push me. When I touched Greyson, I knew without a doubt that he was the missing link. My fated mate. A werewolf. My magic heated us, casting us in a light green aura as magic reached out to him. The siring electric heat that I’d yearned for so long made my heart leap in my chest as we claimed him as ours. Tears welled in my eyes, but I blinked them away. Holding my heavy body, a shiver ran through me, and the rumbling of my stomach rang in my ears. The lemon scent filled my veins and seeped into me, and there was one thing I knew I wanted more.

Greyson’s inquisitive eyes paired at me through his long, dark eyelashes. With nowhere to go and my mind clouded with disbelief and confusion. I was stuck and needed to regroup from my conflicted mind.

He probably thought a human knowing about shifters was unusual.

“I’m half shifter from my father and witch from my mother,” he said calmly. “I don’t know a lot about any other supernaturals outside of the shifter community. Since I was always taught to stay within my tribe. So, I never had an interest in learning about humans. My mistake, I assume.”

He smiled at me, and my heart leaped in my chest, sending an unwanted feeling to my core. He continued, “Yes, and you’re a human? Maybe half human.”

My frown deepened as my breathing became erratic. A string of curse words sat perched on the tip of my tongue, but I clamped my mouth shut. Luckily, Greyson couldn’t help but be drawn to my full breast. Which basically was outlined in my wet clothing, with my brown nipples poking through the saturated garments.

As much as I liked the attention, I covered my breasts with my arms. My face was feverish with humiliation as I pulled away from his scorching glare.

“I’m fully human and…” I tried my best not to look bothered. “Is this how you greet people? By rubbing yourself on them the first time you meet.”

He stumbled backward, and I fought the urge to reach out and soothe him. I didn’t know him; he was a stranger, but here I was, ready to console him.

“…But you’re my mate…I’m sorry, Kaydian. This is a new territory for me,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “I’m the Alpha.”

Alpha . The word rang through my ears and vibrated in my head. He was the leader of his pack. My eyes felt strained as I stared into his handsome face. At least he was handsome for a werewolf. What the hell was I saying? I wasn’t even able to blame my dark voice, as it was nowhere to be found. Squirming against the wetness between my thighs. A flush of heat crossed my face. If I were alone, I would chastise myself for being so damn needy. For a moment, I almost forgot how close Greyson was until I felt his hands rubbing circles on my back gingerly, causing me to clutch my thighs together.

“Listen, I know you’ve probably had a rough night, but I would never disrespect you. It’s just I don’t shift with clothes on,” he said with his arms up in surrender.

My body was sore, but that didn’t stop me from hiding the emotions that were painted on my face. If my hands were free, I would’ve buried myself behind my hair. A timid giggle bubbled up from my throat. When I stepped away from him, I couldn’t help the heaviness in my stomach.

What am I getting myself into?