by Zoe Chant
“Alethia.” His voice caressed it, like it was something precious.
And it was. Ali had just thought it was broken, like everything else.
“It’s Greek. And she would tell me at night, before I went to sleep, Alethia means truth. And she would mean different things. If I was in trouble for something, she’d use it to remind me that I always needed to tell the truth. Sometimes,” Ali blinked a few times, “she’d just say, Alethia, you are my truth.”
“That’s a beautiful thing to say to your daughter.” Grey was watching her with a look in his eyes. Was that love? Was that what love looked like on someone’s face?
Ali brought herself back into the story. “So the truth has always been important to me. And I used to think that I was so good at finding it, that because I was named after it, I could always tell.
“So when my boyfriend lied to me, and I fell for it so hard— When I had built up this whole future for us in my head, and I thought we were going to be together forever, but it was all based on a lie…” Her voice broke.
She looked up at Grey, and met his eyes. They were a soft silver that seemed to go on forever.
“I sort of lost myself for a while. I started going by Ali, not Alethia, because I didn’t think I was worthy of calling myself the truth, after that. And I dated a lot.” She bit her lip. “A lot. I figured it didn’t matter, since it was all a lie anyway.”
Grey shook his head. “Alethia, I don't think there’s anything wrong with dating around. For men or for women. But I do believe that it should be something you do because it’s fun and exciting for you, not because you don’t care. Or don’t like yourself.”
Ali nodded. “I know. I figured that out after a while, but I already had a reputation. The last couple of years, I haven’t dated nearly as much, and I haven’t gone home with any guys in a long, long time. But all anyone remembers around here is how I used to be, and that’s all they’ll ever remember.”
“And then I came along, and made you think I was something different,” Grey finished. “But when I told you we were mates…”
“…I thought it was the same thing happening all over again.” Ali closed her eyes, remembering the surge of fury and hurt when Grey had said those words. “I’m so sorry I yelled at you like that.”
“I understand why you did it. You had no reason to think it might be real.”
“Is it real?” she whispered. “Is it really real?”
Grey took her hand, kissed it, and then pressed it to his heart, clasping his own hand over the top of it. “Can you feel that?”
“Your heartbeat?” Ali frowned. She could feel the throbbing beat under her palm.
He shook his head. “No. Further in.”
Further in… Ali closed her eyes. Grey’s heartbeat pulsed against her hand, but beyond that, there was something else.
A spark.
A spark inside of Grey that met an answering spark inside of her.
She’d felt it, she realized, when they’d been making love. She recognized that sensation of joining, of their souls meeting at the same time as their bodies did. She’d been feeling her mate.
She blinked her eyes open and stared at Grey in disbelief. “It’s there. It’s real.”
“It is real,” he confirmed, and bent down to kiss her fiercely. “You’re my mate, Alethia,” he said when he pulled back. “And we are going to be together forever. And that is the truth.”
***
Grey was so angry it was hard for him to keep the growl in his chest from making itself known.
He wanted to hunt this boyfriend down and tear him limb from limb. He wanted to do the same to Paul Parker, and to everyone who had ever given Alethia a harsh word or a cold shoulder. He wanted to show them what happened to anyone who hurt his mate.
But more than that, he wanted Alethia to feel safe and happy right now, so he held his growl in and cradled her in his arms.
She’d fallen asleep after telling her story, clearly exhausted, and now she was curled against him, lashes resting softly on her cheeks, breathing low and sweet.
Looking at her, he felt a rush of possessive, protective instincts. He couldn’t imagine how anyone would deliberately hurt someone like Alethia.
From this moment on, anyone who did would pay.
***
Ali woke up slowly, feeling warm and comfortable and content. Better than she had in a long, long time.
Pale light was filtering through the windows. She’d slept until morning. And stretched out next to her was her mate.
He was pressed up against her, his arm around her waist, breathing softly in her ear. Slowly, she eased herself around so she could look at him.
With his incredible eyes hidden, she could appreciate the rest of his face more, its lines and planes. The straight line of his nose, the curve of his lips, his high cheekbones, the way his hair fell across his forehead.
The swell of love inside her was so strong that it made her eyes prickle. She loved this man. His strength, his kindness, his quiet respect, his hot desire. The way he was protective of her without acting like she couldn’t make her own decisions. His warm smile. The way he delighted in his snow leopard form.
As she watched, he stirred and stretched, as though he’d been able to feel her eyes on him. He opened his eyes and smiled. “Good morning.”
“I love you,” Ali said, because she didn’t feel like she could go another second without telling him.
That warm, happy smile spread over Grey’s face. “I love you, Alethia.”
She kissed him, and he wrapped his warm arms around her. Love filled her to bursting, and she held him as hard as she could.
“Are you really going to bring me with you to Montana?” she whispered.
He nodded. “I really am. And I hope you’ll stay with me wherever I go, for the rest of my life.”
“I will,” she promised. “Although I might have a hard time following you out into the mountains or the wilderness. Unless I was a snow leopard too.”
She threw that last line out as though it were a casual joke, but as she said it, her heart started to pound.
If they were mates, and they were going to be together forever anyway, could her old dream become a reality?
He pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. “Unless you were a snow leopard too,” he repeated slowly, as though he’d heard the seriousness behind the line. “Is that something you’d want?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “More than anything. I’ve wished I was a shifter for years. And when I saw you as a leopard the other night, I knew that that was what I wanted. I didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to get it, though. Could you do it? It’s not against the rules?”
“Not for mates. It’s actually better for your mate to be able to run with you and hunt with you. It makes it more likely that your children will be shifters, too.”
Children. That sent a shiver of wistful desire through her, something she’d hardly ever felt before.
“My father was a shifter, but my mother wasn’t,” she said to distract herself. “I don’t think they were mates. He left when I was just a little girl.”
Grey’s mouth hardened. “You deserve better than what you’ve gotten, Alethia.”
“I have better.” She kissed him. "And I want you to change me."
His smile was starting again, tugging at the corners of his mouth. "All right."
"Now?"
"If that's what you want."
"I don't want to go another day without being able to run in the forest with you," she told him, as serious as she'd ever been in your life.
"All right, then." He stretched and got up. "Come on."
They got dressed and went outside. Ali shivered a little in the crisp air, but excitement quickly overran the cold.
"I can't wait to shift with you," Grey said. He kissed her once. And then again, like he couldn't stop himself. Then he stepped back and shifted to his leopard form.
Ali watched him
as he came up to her. She reached out to put her hand on his head and scratch his ears like she had once before.
That's going to be me, she thought. That fur. Those claws. That long, heavy tail. That grace and power.
He sat down next to her, and she held out her arm.
He nipped her delicately just above the elbow. It stung, but the pain was quickly overwhelmed by a feeling of warmth sweeping through her, of rightness.
She was changing, but it wasn't into something else.
She was becoming herself. Her true self. Alethia.
She knew when it had taken. She felt like she'd settled into her skin. She could feel the feline presence inside of her, and when she focused on it, when she thought about being a snow leopard, about hunting and leaping across rocks and curling up in a hollow in the forest to sleep...
She changed.
It was like the world sprang into focus—like she'd never been able to see before, and had just now opened her eyes for the first time.
She could smell the forest around her, the thick scent of plants and the tantalizing trails of animals, and just a hint of snow and ice, wafting down from above. She could hear the birds in the trees and the squirrels running around.
And she knew her mate, next to her. She could see him, hear him, and smell his masculine scent, but she could also feel him, even stronger than when she was human—that pulsing connection, a spark of his own essence inside of her.
He paced around her, scenting her. He was checking to make sure she was all right, Alethia knew, that she wasn’t panicking at the change.
Then he sat back on his haunches and opened his mouth in an obvious grin, before trotting off toward the woods.
Alethia grinned to herself and followed him.
As she caught up with him, he lengthened his stride, and soon they were running together through the forest.
It was truly exhilarating. Alethia was able to run faster and jump farther than she ever had before, and she was absolutely silent when she moved. Grey led her on a hunt for some rabbits, and then shot off toward some rocks in the distance. They played, leaping from rock to rock, and trying to hide from each other. Alethia learned that no matter how well-camouflaged they were, they could always find each other.
Mates.
Alethia wanted to stay in leopard form forever, but after a couple of hours, Grey led the way back to his cabin. He shifted back in the driveway, and Alethia followed suit.
Immediately she was human again. It was almost disappointing, leaving her leopard behind.
But she was there, inside Alethia's chest, a fierce and powerful cat. Alethia knew that she'd never be without this source of strength again.
Grey took her hand. Two sources of strength. Her leopard, and her mate.
***
Grey was amazed at how well Alethia had taken to her snow leopard form.
Or maybe amazed was the wrong word. She'd behaved like the snow leopard had been inside her all along, waiting to come out...and Grey was certain that that was the truth.
They were mates, after all. Her snow leopard had just needed Grey, to bring her to the surface.
Now, they were human again, tucked together in a chair in front of his fireplace. He wrapped her in his human arms and held her close, certain that they would be running together for the rest of their lives.
"Grey," she said into his ear.
He pulled back. "Yes?"
"There's something I need to tell you."
He frowned, concerned. She looked serious. "What is it?"
"I didn't want to say it before, because...I suppose I was afraid of what might happen. But I'm not afraid anymore. My ex-boyfriend..."
"What about him?" He kept his voice steady, although rage was rising inside of him at the mention of the man who had hurt her.
"He's Matt Finch. He was the one who told me we were mates. You saw him in the diner earlier."
Grey heard a growl rising in his chest.
Of course. If any shifter in this town was so amoral and insensitive, as to have told an innocent girl that she was his mate just to get her in bed, it was Matt Finch.
Ali Parker ain’t no lady.
The growl escaped his chest. “He isn’t getting away with it,” he told Alethia. “He’s paying for what he did.”
“Good,” she said, and her eyes were fierce. “I want him humiliated. I want him to see what he lost. I want him to understand that you’re stronger than he ever was, and now I’m stronger than he’ll ever be.”
“You always were,” he told her.
Her eyes warmed at that, and he kissed her, tasting her fierce heat. He wanted to bring her inside and make love to her for hours.
Her phone rang.
She sat back. “Hold that thought.” She got up to go answer it, while Grey contemplated the evils of cell phones.
“Paul?” Alethia said, and he sat up, alert.
“So what?” she said into the phone. “You want to know where I am? Well, it’s none of your business because I’m a grown woman, but I’ll tell you: I’m at Grey Landin’s cabin. Yes! And you can try and come drag me home if you want, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Sure, bring whoever you want. It still won’t work.”
She hung up with a violent gesture.
“Company coming?” Grey asked mildly.
“I think so,” she said.
He couldn’t wait.
***
He had to, though. It was almost forty minutes before he heard the telltale sounds of a car outside. Someone was pulling off the road into his driveway.
He took Alethia’s hand, and they went out to face them together.
When he opened the door, there was a rusty pickup truck coming to a stop just outside. Grey and Alethia went down the steps to confront Paul Parker and Matt Finch.
“Found out where you live,” Matt sneered at him.
Grey looked at the pickup truck, looked back at his cabin. “Was that what you came to tell me? Because I figured it out when you pulled up, you didn’t need to actually say it.”
“Don’t be smart,” Paul said. “We’re here to teach you a lesson about what you did to my sister.”
Grey stepped forward. The leopard inside him was flexing its claws, eager to get out. “What I did?” he asked, low and dangerous. “How about what you did?”
“What we did? We haven’t done anything to her!” Paul’s voice was genuinely confused.
“Really?” Grey asked. “You haven’t belittled her? Treated her like she’s worthless? Insulted her?”
He turned to Matt. “And you didn’t lie to her, betray her, and break her heart?”
Paul looked bewildered, as though he’d forgotten about it.
But Matt smiled. “Oh, yeah. We dated a little while when we were kids. She got the wrong idea. You still hurt about that, baby?” he asked Alethia. “You sure got around after we broke up. I thought you were fine.”
Grey saw red.
His fingers were lengthening into claws when he heard Alethia’s voice behind him. “You know exactly what you did.” Her voice was steel. “You just don’t care.”
“But the kitty cat cares.” Matt’s voice was mocking.
Paul was watching Grey nervously. “Ali, get over here,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re going to get hurt.”
“I will go wherever the hell I want to, Paul, and I don’t want or need your protection. And if you don’t get out of here right now, there’ll be consequences.”
Pride swelled in Grey’s chest. Alethia sounded fierce and confident—like she truly didn’t care what Paul and Matt were saying about her.
“Oh, there’ll be consequences,” Matt said, and now his voice had a low growl running underneath it. “But they won’t be for us.”
Finally, he shifted.
Grey instantly shifted too, and faced off against the smallish black bear that was Matt. He was no more than 250 pounds at most, Grey judged.
Grey’s snow leopard form wasn’t quite a
s big, but he wasn’t worried. When shifted, he could take down animals up to four times his own size. Snow leopards weren’t the biggest of the big cats, but they were the most powerful for their size, compact and dangerous.
Taking his time, he prowled around Matt, forcing the bear to turn so as to keep him in sight.
As he’d expected, Matt got bored of this after only a few minutes and charged him, growling. Grey leapt easily aside and then, as Matt was wheeling around, pounced.
He got in a good solid bite to Matt’s shoulder and retreated, waiting.
It was clear that Matt didn’t know how to handle himself in a real fight. He’d probably never spent any time in the wilderness, dealing with actual dangerous animals. He’d probably just postured with other shifters in the area. Grey had seen fights like that, with young idiots swiping at each other for fun.
Grey intended to show him the difference between fighting like boys and fighting like men.
Matt seemed surprised that Grey had actually managed to hurt him. He growled again and advanced, coming up on his hind legs when he got in close.
It was a move meant to intimidate, and it was stupid. Grey went for his exposed underbelly with vicious precision, and Matt howled in pain, retreating.
“Don’t kill him!” Alethia’s voice rang out behind him.
Grey backed up a few paces, glancing back at Alethia in acknowledgment. He didn’t intend to kill Matt. Just teach him a lesson.
A hard lesson.
Matt was angry now, which made him even sloppier. He roared and charged Grey, but he wasn’t far enough away to get any momentum. Grey met this charge head-on and dug his claws into Matt’s forelegs before they could reach him, dodging the snapping mouth and sinking his own teeth into fur-covered flesh.
Matt recoiled from the pain, now bleeding in several places. He’d reared back on his hind legs again. This time Grey used his powerful hind legs to fuel a driving leap forward, knocking Matt onto his back.
Grey closed his teeth around Matt’s throat and waited.
A long minute passed. Grey tightened his jaw.