by R. E. Butler
He dropped to one knee and gestured to his back. Once she’d climbed on, he hooked his arms around her knees and began to walk toward their home, Mytan padding next to them. They caught up to Auberon and made their way back to the tunnel.
When they arrived, Wrath helped Trinity off his back and sent the young male to bring the others up to the surface to meet her.
“Do I look okay?” she asked, tugging on the hem of her shorts.
“You look lovely.”
She rolled her eyes. “I think you’d say that no matter what I looked like.”
He snagged her around the waist with a growl. “You’re not suggesting your alpha is a liar, are you?”
Her smile was so bright that it warmed him from the inside out. “I’d never suggest something like that.”
“We’ll get you clothes.”
She glanced down at his hide trousers. “I wish I’d gone to bed with shoes at least.”
He laughed. “I’ll send some of our hunters to a human settlement at nightfall to pilfer some things for you. But we have a supply of hides that we can make into clothes for you.”
“I think you remember that I’m not the best at sewing.”
In one of their dreams when they were teenagers, she’d shown him a skirt she’d sewed herself. It unfortunately fell apart when she put in on the first time, the seams splitting and the fabric tearing.
“Creek loves to sew, he’s quite adept at it. I could teach you, but the only thing I make well is trousers.”
They were interrupted by the sound of pack members coming up through the tunnel. “Send Mytan away until you call for him,” he suggested. “We don’t want to alarm them right away.”
“Of course,” she said. She spoke quietly to the beast, who ducked his head so he was closer to her face. She rubbed her knuckle along his nose. The big beast let out a snort, nudged her once, and then bounded off into the trees.
Wrath was still amazed by her command of the creature. He gave Trinity’s hand a squeeze and turned to face his people as they joined them in the grassy meadow outside the tunnels. Eleven males stared at him and Trinity in curiosity, waiting to hear what he’d called them for.
Chapter Nine
Trinity couldn’t believe she was looking at the pack, right in front of her. Because of the dreams, she knew them all even though they clearly didn’t know her. Cael was the second-in-command. She wondered if he’d told them about her. Trick was third, and Dare was fourth; she’d seen them in the forest but hadn’t officially met them. The guards—Jenner, Kayne, Brae, and Rook—appraised her with curiosity, but didn’t say anything. Auberon was a hunter, along with River and Jet. The healer, Magnus, was a big male with a black tattoo that ringed his neck and identified his supernatural healing abilities. Then there was the lowest-ranked male—Creek, who was River’s brother. Trinity had always thought Creek was adorable, sweet and funny with a protective streak a mile wide. His father was a vampire in a kiss from the area that Trinity knew as Boston. River and Creek had the same mother but different vampire fathers. Both of their fathers had tried to kill their mother and them. And both had met their deadly ends at Wrath’s hand. He had no tolerance for anyone who’d harm one of his people.
And that was the interesting thing about Blood Wolves. No matter that only two of the males in the twelve-member pack were related by blood; they still considered themselves brothers. Wrath loved each male as if he were closely related to him, vowing to keep them safe through any trial or trouble. She knew every alpha within five hundred miles by name, and Wrath was far and away the most loyal and fiercest protector.
He was a threat to the purebreds, which meant that they were always at a state of readiness in case the other packs attacked. She hated that there was never any peace. She wished that was something she could’ve changed with her stories. Maybe someday they’d broker peace between the Blood Wolves and the purebreds.
Wrath cleared his throat, and she looked at him.
“Since I was sixteen, I’ve dreamed of my true mate. For the last twelve years, I’ve had frequent dreams featuring this beautiful female.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips with a small smile. “The witch Isolde, who lives at the western edge of the forest, realized that my true mate was living in another world. She opened a magical portal and brought her to me. Isolde has saved me from the blood lust that’s plagued me for these three years by giving me the gift of my true mate. Her name is Trinity, and she’s mine.”
The way he said that she was his made her skin prickle.
None of the males said anything. Cael cleared his throat. “Our alpha would never lie to us about something so serious. I was with them when they spoke to the witch, and I can assure you that she’s not of our world but is our alpha’s destined mate.”
Dare folded his arms with narrowed eyes. “You’re saying there are other worlds out there? Where? How are they accessible?”
“Why would your true mate be in another world you couldn’t access?” Brae demanded.
“We don’t know why we’re true mates when we aren’t from the same world,” Wrath said. “Isolde opened a portal with magic and brought us together, and now that Trinity is here, that’s all you need to know.”
Trinity thought he was being a little heavy-handed, so she said, “I didn’t know the dreams were of a real place, and I didn’t know that Wrath was real. Imagine spending twelve years dreaming of someone you know is meant to be yours, but you don’t know how to reach them. It was heaven and hell wrapped up together.” She looked at her mate and squeezed his hand. “Isolde didn’t say how many worlds there were, she only discussed mine and this one. She opened a portal to my world and brought me here. The portal will stay open for seven days, and then it will close. As for the reason why Wrath and I weren’t from the same world, your guess would be as good as mine.”
“Can anyone from your world come into ours through this portal?” Jet, one of the hunters, asked.
“Isolde said it’s not visible to anyone but the witch who cast the spell, so no—no one from my world can come in and no one from this world can leave.”
“If the portal is open,” Creek asked, “does that mean you’re not staying?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but Wrath spoke first. “As surprised as you are about Trinity being here, trust that she and I are far more surprised to have woken up in each other’s arms for real. While she’s my true mate, she’s asked for time to get used to things.”
Creek nodded. “You need clothes.”
She pressed her lips together, suddenly aware of how thin her pajamas were. At least she had panties on.
“I need some volunteers to head out to a human settlement and secure clothing for her,” Wrath said.
“I can make you hide trousers and a vest,” Creek said. “But real fabric clothes would be good, too.”
“I’ll go,” River said. “I’ve got a hankering for the almond butter cookies from the bakery in Whisten. They don’t lock their back door.”
“Me, too,” Dare said.
“Thank you,” Trinity said.
“I can see you’re still not sure what to make of my mate, so let me prove to you that she’s who she says she is.” He jerked his head toward the woods where Mytan was hiding.
“Come,” she called, putting out her hand and gesturing toward herself.
There was nothing for a long moment, and she wondered if she’d included the training Montana had gone through when he was a puppy in Mytan’s history. Then the big beast bounded from the trees, tongue lolling and jaws wide. The wolves all gasped, some taking a defensive stance.
Mytan skidded to a halt a foot in front of her, his tail wagging. She motioned down. “Sit.”
He sat and lowered his head so she could scratch his ears, and she did. “Good boy.”
“What the hell?” Trick demanded, rising from his defensive crouch.
Trinity smiled at Wrath and said, “Maybe we should all sit so I can tell them everyth
ing.”
“Of course,” he said.
The group settled on the grass. Mytan curled around her, wedging himself between her and Wrath so he could put his head in her lap. Wrath looked disgruntled, but she thought it was adorable. Wrath started the tale of their shared dreams, and she explained about the spell that Isolde cast. When the wolves all looked like they didn’t believe her, she started to tell them stories from their lives that she’d learned from the dreams.
“Magnus,” she said, looking at the healer. “The scar on your left arm came from when you were a child and swimming in a lake. There was a spiny-tailed lobster crawling among the rocks under the surface. You dove under the water and scraped your arm on its spines. They scarred because you were too young to shift to heal them.”
Magnus’s eyes went wide, and he touched his arm. The scars were thin and pale with age, but she knew that they’d hurt a great deal when it happened. He hadn’t cried, though, because his father told him that males didn’t cry except on two occasions—the birth of their children and the death of their true mate. “How did you… ?” Magnus asked, then he looked at Wrath. “You told her?”
“No,” Wrath said. “The things she knows about you, about our world, are because she’s been here in my dreams and seen and heard things from you and many others. Trust me when I say that she and I shared many things in our dreams, but I never told her about your childhood injury. Until this moment, I’d forgotten about it anyway.”
Trick, who seemed the most disbelieving, called out, “Tell me about my childhood, great seer from another world.” His voice was all sarcasm and anger, and Trinity suspected he thought she was lying or trying to trick them.
She thought back over what she knew about Trick. “I know how you got your name.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do tell.”
“Your mother was certain you were going to be a girl. She even had a dream about a little girl while she was pregnant. She spent hours making a pink blanket for the bassinet. When you were born, she said you were a trickster, making her think you were a girl when you weren’t. So she named you Trick, a name you lived up to as a youngster because you liked to play pranks on people.”
Trick’s eyes went wide like saucers and his cheeks flamed.
Trinity continued. “You were a prankster until a prank you played on your grandfather went awry and his barn burned down. It’s why you have a burn scar on your leg—you helped save the barn animals.”
Trick’s mouth opened and closed, and then he shook his head in silence.
“Well?” Jenner demanded. “Is she telling the truth?”
“Yes,” Trick said. “I’ve never told anyone that. How did you know?” He met her gaze, his eyes filled with wonder and a bit of reverence toward her.
“When you got word that your grandfather was on his deathbed, you went straight to see him. You told him that you were still grieved about what happened to the barn and how he almost died saving the animals. He said you apologized after it happened, and he forgave you when you asked him to because that’s what family was supposed to do.” She paused, unsure if she should continue.
Trick slowly rose to his feet. “Finish it.”
She stared up at him. “He said he was proud of the male you’d become, and that while you were a devil when you were a child, you’d grown up to be a male of worth. It never mattered to your grandfather that you were a hybrid. He always thought hybrids were the best of both worlds and should’ve been revered and not feared.” Trinity’s heart clenched with emotion as she remembered the scene she’d witnessed and written about. “He told you he loved you and was proud of you. And the last thing he said before he died was that he wanted you to have a good, long life because you deserved all the good things.”
Trick stared at her, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
He dropped to one knee, staring at her and Wrath. “I believe you, Trinity, from another world. I believe you’re who you say you are, and that you’re the true mate of our alpha. I pledge myself to your service.” He pounded his fist into his chest and then slammed his fist into the ground with a growl. One by one the other males followed suit, rising to one knee and pledging themselves to her.
Trinity couldn’t help but cry at the sweet scene. As each male vowed himself to her as alpha female, she felt a connection to them bloom within her. Wrath stood and pulled her to her feet. He cupped her face and kissed her. “You can feel it?”
She let out a shaky breath as tears cascaded over her cheeks. “That I belong here?”
He nodded.
“Yes. I feel it all the way to the center of my being.”
He smiled. “You know what to do.”
She turned and faced the group. The males all had their heads bowed, their fists pressed to the ground. She swiped at her cheeks and smiled at them as she walked forward. She stopped at each one, touching his head and thanking him for pledging himself to her.
With each male, she said, “I pledge myself to you as alpha female.”
When she’d reached the last male, Creek, the youngest and beta of the pack, she said, “Thank you, Creek. I pledge myself to you as alpha female.”
He lifted his head and grinned. “Maybe Wrath won’t be so growly now.”
She chuckled. “Maybe not, but I’ll love him just the same.”
Turning to face Wrath—who she’d finally accepted as her mate—she said, “I’m yours, Wrath. I feel it deep within myself, that this is the place I belong. With you, with the pack.”
Wrath lifted his head and howled, a joyous sound that reverberated through the trees. The pack lifted their heads and howled, too, as did Mytan, his “aroo” blending with the wolves’ howls. Wrath stalked to her and swung her up into his arms.
“We’ve got some celebrating to do, mate.”
Before he could take a step toward the tunnel, Cael said, “Not to interrupt your plans, Wrath, but the full moon isn’t for six nights.”
Trinity blinked in confusion. “What’s he talking about?”
“The mating ceremony,” Wrath said. “The full moon is when males claim their true mate, and it’s also when the pack can officially recognize you as alpha female.”
She lowered her voice. “We can’t make love for six nights?”
He snarled and then chuckled. “Hell no. It just means I can’t mark you. But we already have the bonding tattoo, so everyone knows you’re mine. It just won’t be official until the full moon.”
“Good,” she said, breathing out a chuckle. “I didn’t want to have to wait.”
“Trust me when I say I’d move the moon through the sky myself if we needed to.”
Wrath looked at his pack members. “Cael, set up patrols. River and Jet, head into the nearest human settlement at nightfall and find clothing for my mate. Creek?”
“Yes, Alpha?” the young male said.
“How about something special for her to wear for our mating ceremony?”
“Oh, could we match?” Trinity asked. “Maybe something the same color or style?”
Creek nodded vigorously. “I know just the material. When I have the pieces ready, we’ll have a fitting.”
“Awesome,” she said. Then she looked over Wrath’s shoulder and whistled at Mytan. “Come on, pup. It’s bedtime for you.”
He rose to his big paws and shook himself out, fur flying with the motion. “Is there a bone somewhere he could occupy himself with?” she asked.
“On it,” Trick said. He hurried ahead of them into the tunnel. Trinity watched the pack members speak to Cael and then disperse. Some were going to patrol, some were going hunting, and some were going to rest so they’d be refreshed for their shift. Mytan followed them as Wrath carried her down into the tunnel. She rested her head on his shoulder, loving the way it felt to be in his arms. He turned into the cavern that was his private chamber.
Wrath set her on her feet, then she went over to a wood cabinet and pulled out a blanket, which she set in the corner of the ro
om. Patting the surface, she called Mytan over. Cael appeared with the leg bone of some creature, maybe a deer or antelope. There was fresh meat still on the bone. Mytan snuffled at it curiously, and then chomped his jaws around it and hurried into the corner, turning in two complete circles before flopping down with a happy grunt.
She rubbed his ears and smiled at him.
“I can’t believe it,” she said softly.
“What part?” Wrath asked from where he stood by the bed.
She gave Mytan a pat on the head and whispered, “Good night,” then rose to her feet. “How much like Montana he is.”
“Isolde said you created him, and you said you patterned him after your pet. Why are you surprised?”
She joined Wrath, stopping a few inches away to drink in his features. He was by far the sexiest man she’d ever known, and the fact that she was with him and no longer just dreaming about him was incredible. “I know,” she said, linking her fingers through his. “My mind is still kind of reeling from everything. The way your pack accepted me was what sealed it for me. This is where I belong. I don’t know why we were separated on different worlds, or even how it’s possible that there’s truly more than one Earth, but I’m thankful I’m here now. Thankful for Isolde’s interference.”
“I am as well,” he said, his voice dropping to a husky tone that sent shivers down her spine. “While it’s true that we can’t mate officially until the full moon, I wanted to ask you a question.”
Her gaze tripped to the bed and then back to his emerald-green eyes. “Anything.”
“Do you need more time?”
“Time for what?”
“To ensure you want to stay here with me forever. We might have seven days, but if I take you to bed now—when we’re no longer dreaming and what happens between us is very real—I won’t be able to let you go. It would kill me if you went to your own world and didn’t stay with me.”
She inhaled and let her mind roll over his words. Her entire attitude had changed over the course of the day. When they’d left Isolde’s, she’d asked for time to come to terms with the situation. But after spending time with the pack, the feeling in her bones that she was where she was always meant to be had changed her mind.