by C. C. Dado
Epilogue
THEY STOOD on the edge of the field with their pack. It was the first time Jack attended a pack run. Seth could see the apprehension on some of his pack to shift in front of a human, even though they knew he was Seth’s mate.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here?” Jack asked as another pack member walked by, glancing at Jack as she passed.
“Yes,” Seth assured him, linking their fingers together and giving his hand a squeeze. “This is your pack now too. It’s just going to be hard for some to adjust to shifting in front of a human when we’re taught our whole lives not to.”
“I wish I could be like you,” Jack said, not for the first time.
Seth still remembered the night Jack had asked him to change him. It was a few weeks after the incident with Mrs. Stegal’s nephew, God rest her soul. Jack and Seth had been lying together in Jack’s bed doing some hands-on research on mating when Jack whispered the request as he kissed his way up Seth’s neck.
Seth had frozen, not sure how to respond. It was about the most romantic thing he had ever heard, but that was not actually a thing that happened. Being a shifter was genetic, it was something you were either born with or not. Jack’s disappointment was palpable in the air. He had actually started to pull away from Seth after that, but thanks to Seth’s newfound confidence, he wasn’t having it and had forced Jack to talk to him. It turned out it wasn’t really about being a shifter, thankfully. He was worried that not being a shifter would mean they would never really be whole as a mated couple in the pack. That he would not be enough to be mated to a shifter. Seth was blown away hearing this perfect man question his worth.
He had ended up taking Jack to meet the elders, thinking he needed to hear the same thing that Seth had from them, that they were meant to be, not as two shifters but as two souls. After that, like him, Jack had embraced their fate, but Seth knew he still wished he could run alongside him.
Seth gave Jack’s hand one more reassuring squeeze and received one in return before letting go and pulling off his clothes in preparation for the shift. He had shifted in front of Jack quite a few times since the night of the incident, giving Jack time to come to terms with him and Solo being one. The look he was giving Seth now, as he focused to prepare for the shift, was the same blend of pride, love, and desire that he got every time he stood naked in front of Jack. And as usual, it took Seth’s breath away. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve this man, but he wasn’t going to question fate.
Exclusive Excerpt
Fearing Fate
A Series of Fates: Book Three
By C.C. Dado
He is a fearless protector by nature and in his heart. But nothing’s ever simple with love… or fate.
At nearly seven feet tall, Zeus’s role in the pack has always been protecting young wolves—but his newest charges need him more than most. Kimber and Kron are transplants from another pack, and they have a dangerous stranger on their tails. Zeus is determined to do his duty and drive the human out of town. But when he confronts Toren, his wolf has other ideas….
Something isn’t right, but should a huge, tattooed wolf with a secret soft heart fear his fate—to love a man with secrets of his own?
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Chapter 1: Another Move
ZEUS STOOD against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Max and Seth pack. It was like déjà vu, listening to them banter back and forth like a pair of irritating younger brothers.
“Is he still making you shift for him?” Max asked Seth, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
Zeus shook his head in exasperation.
“He doesn’t ‘make’ me shift.” Seth glared across the bed at Max before glancing up at Zeus. “He’s just intrigued by it all still.”
Zeus respected the way Jack, despite the fact that he was human, had embraced their pack. He was sure it had to be a lot to take in, but Jack was a tree-hugging animal lover, so Zeus wasn’t all that surprised he was fascinated with their culture. And as the first human/shifter mates in their pack, everyone was fascinated with Jack as well. They were dependent on legends passed down from the elders on how a mating like theirs worked. While they couldn’t “turn” a human into a shifter, they learned that Jack’s life span would now be interwoven with Seth’s; his natural human aging would slow. The impact Jack had on Seth’s self-confidence was the best side effect as far as Zeus was concerned. It was like night and day.
“What are we going to do about you now?” Max said, closing up a box and handing it to Zeus.
“Me?” Zeus asked, even knowing he shouldn’t ask.
“Yes, you. You’re mateless.”
“Max!” Seth said, looking like he was going to slap Max upside the head.
“What? I didn’t say he was unmateable. I mean, look at that big hunk of shifter. I just don’t want him to be alone. We need to work harder to find him the perfect mate.”
“He’s not alone. He has us, and now he has Rosetta too.”
Zeus thought about the rabid shih tzu that was probably chewing holes in his couch at home right now. “I do not want or need your help,” he assured them, folding up another box and placing it on the bed for them to fill.
“Harrumph,” Max grunted, throwing Seth’s books in the box.
“Are you sure it’s okay to leave the apartment empty?” Seth asked Zeus for the third time since they’d started packing.
“Yes. I told you I have surveillance cameras on the bakery. Nothing’s going to happen to it. Now, they’re on their way back, so you might want to do less talking and more packing.”
Christian and Jack had taken a few boxes next door. Zeus could hear them heading up the stairs. Christian came in first, walking up behind Max and wrapping his arms around his waist. Zeus was happy for his friend, his alpha. Max made Christian lighter. Zeus hadn’t been sure if he would ever see that side of him again after the loss of his parents.
“Did you tell them yet?” Christian asked.
“No,” Max said, sounding a little nervous.
“Tell us what?” Zeus and Seth asked in unison.
“Umm… we’re having a baby,” Max said.
Zeus waited with bated breath for the joke. The same skeptical look crossed Seth’s face.
“Congratulations,” Jack said, reaching his arm around Seth’s shoulder, completely oblivious to Max’s previous made-up pregnancy.
“Well, we’re not literally ‘having’ a baby. Sorry, Zeus,” Max said, apologizing yet again for the aforementioned fake baby.
Zeus grunted in response, still not ready to completely forgive Max.
“We’re going to adopt.”
“Well, technically more like foster,” Christian corrected.
“That’s kind of sudden, isn’t it?” Seth asked.
Zeus totally agreed in his head.
“We didn’t plan it this way,” Christian admitted. “But there are special circumstances. There’s a three-year-old little girl named Kimber, and her six-month-old baby brother, Kron. They’re children of an alpha and omega who recently died. The elders of their pack are concerned for the kids’ safety. There is a lot of strife in the pack, and the new alpha hasn’t been decided yet. The circumstances surrounding their parents’ deaths make the elders believe they may have been murdered.”
Zeus was a little annoyed that he was just hearing about this now, in a group. As the beta, he was head of security and had always been the first person Christian informed of new people coming into their town. He guessed he needed to accept that Christian’s inner circle had grown.
“Oh wow,” Seth said, sitting down on the bed.
“I’ve agreed to keep them both safe. No one will be told they’re coming here, and there are no plans of them ever going back until they reach the age of maturity and can decide on their own whether to return and take their rightful places in their pack or to stay as part of ours.”
“I still can’t
believe this is real life,” Jack said, shaking his head, his long, wavy hair brushing his shoulder.
“Yep, it’s all real. Better start planning those baby showers for my kids,” Max said, tossing more of Seth’s things into a box.
As much as he tried, Zeus couldn’t hold back his grin. Life was definitely about to change for all of them.
More from C.C. Dado
A Series of Fates: Book One
Fate is a funny thing. Some try to cut its threads, while others wrap themselves in it like a blanket.
Young wolf shifter Max is cocky and crass. Unlike others his age, he has yet to discover a talent that will serve his pack. Since childhood, he’s been convinced the pack alpha is his mate, but Alpha Christian cannot envision unfiltered and directionless Max taking the place of his elegant mother at the head of the pack. As Max begins to build a life with his best friend, he also begins to see that maybe what he thought was inevitable was all in his head, and it’s time to move on.
Or are they both denying fate?
Elliot Beck may not have been blessed with mad art skills, a crooner’s voice, or a godlike physique, but he makes up for it with an abundance of quick-witted sarcasm, massive insecurities, and a love of bad boys.
After his best friend Trevor finds him naked and tied to his bed—abandoned by his latest troublemaker—Trevor convinces him to take a chance on a nice guy. When he has an awkward encounter in the men’s restroom with a fitness instructor named Chase, he never suspects the Adonis might be his perfect bad boy.
The Seattle Chronicles
When recent college graduate Nathan Harris makes a life-changing move out from under his mother’s thumb and into his own place, he is determined to take some risks. He is tired of not being good enough, tired of allowing his fears to control him.
What he thought would be an exciting adventure ends up being one jaw-dropping mishap of embarrassment after another, leaving him with a life he doesn’t even recognize anymore.
His once boring, lonely existence has been replaced by a brownstone filled with colorful friends, a rough around the edges, tattooed bad boy best friend, and a stripper for a boyfriend who’s not even sure he’s gay.
The Seattle Chronicles
Levi can remember the exact moment the projection of his life changed entirely, from homeless dropout to college graduate. It was the day he found Jamie Donovan standing on his front porch—the boy Levi had secretly drooled over from afar would become the best friend he secretly drooled over up close.
When Levi gets a full ride scholarship but Jamie doesn’t, Jamie becomes an exotic dancer to help pay his tuition. Watching Jamie perform is pure torture for Levi, and hiding how he really feels starts to take its toll. And when the hot new guy from his Econ class hits on him, Levi has to decide just how long he’s going to stay devoted to his straight best friend.
C.C. DADO is a native of the Pacific Northwest and a strong believer in the power of getting lost in someone else’s story, even if it is only for a little while.
Twitter: @C_C_Dado
Email: [email protected]
By C.C. Dado
Meet-cute
One Pulse Anthology
THE SEATTLE CHRONICLES
Imposter in Zebra-striped Briefs
Say It With Ink
A SERIES OF FATES
Denying Fate
Embracing Fate
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
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Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Embracing Fate
© 2018 C.C. Dado.
Cover Art
© 2018 Brooke Albrecht.
http://brookealbrechtstudio.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
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Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-730-3
Digital eBook published October 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America