Tall, about six three, he had dark mahogany hair that made her fingers itch to run through the thick waves. His cheekbones were high, his Roman nose was straight, and his eyes were blue, but so light in color they resembled ice chips. He was also totally built. The forearms showing from the rolled up sleeves of his white silk shirt were tanned and ropey with muscle. His chest was massive and the waist trim leading to well muscled thighs encased in snug black denim. He was mouthwatering and Rivera so wanted a taste.
Moving further into the room, she watched the man glide slowly towards her, his nostrils flaring, light eyes beginning to glow. When he stopped directly in front of her, he inhaled deeply, that well defined chest expanding and vibrating with a deep growl. Rivera responded in kind, her body throbbing and heart racing.
He remained in place while Rivera looked her fill; his scent was even more intoxicating now that they were so close. He wasn’t completely still though. That big body was trembling, hands clenching at his sides as he visibly fought for control. The sight nearly snapped what little control Rivera had herself, but she held firm. There was something she desperately needed to do while she had the chance and she intended to do it.
Slowly reaching out, she traced one hand, then the other, over his well formed chest. It was rock solid and she could feel his heart beating like a wild thing. She smiled, knowing she was the one who made this incredible man’s pulse race. Moving lower, her fingers roamed over the ridges of a well muscled abdomen. The thought of licking each hill and valley caused her blood to heat even more and a soft moan to escape. An answering groan made Rivera look up into eyes glowing with icy flames.
“Mine.”
The rumble of that one word sent a spear of heat straight to her core, making her gasp with pleasure.
“Mine.” He reached out and brought her closer, one large hand wrapping around her waist. When contact was finally made, those bright orbs bored into hers, his lips slowly descending. “Mine.” Then he kissed her.
A kaleidoscope of flavors and textures exploded through Rivera’s senses. He tasted of spring rain and mint, his tongue was rough, his lips were soft and warm. He wasn’t forceful, but he was skilled. Christ almighty was he skilled. His tongue seemed to explore every inch of her mouth, his lips devouring everything else in between. She was certain she could orgasm from this man’s kisses alone. Lord knew she wasn’t far from it at that moment.
When he finally pulled back, leaving little nips and licks behind, Rivera whimpered in protest. She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to continue, to keep going until they were both too spent to move.
“My True Mate.”
Saying that was the equivalent of having a bucket of ice water thrown in her face. She quickly moved away, those strong arms reluctantly letting her go.
“No. No, no, no.” She shook her head, denying his claim even if her heart and soul told her otherwise.
The look he gave her was one of hurt and sadness but changed to curiosity. “You are upset. Why?”
“I can’t have a Mate. I just can’t.”
Without another word, she bolted.
Running through the house and out the backdoor to shouts of her name, she fled to the woods, racing to the one place that never ceased to calm her. This time though, she had a feeling it wouldn’t help. For the man she just escaped from was more than just someone claiming to be her Mate. He was the Pack’s Alpha, Roan LeGuer.
Chapter Two
When the shock of his True Mate fleeing from him vanished, Roan snapped into action and raced after her. He barely made it to the back door when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“Roan, wait!”
Whirling around, he snarled at Ian. “She’s my True Mate. I need to go after her.” He turned to go.
“Roan, please.”
The sound of tears in Lillah’s voice kept him from opening the door. He turned back to his friends. Ian was holding his crying mate. Her shoulders were shaking.
“What’s going on, Ian?” This was so not how meeting his True Mate was supposed to happen.
Ian let out a deep breath. “Come into the living room, we’ll explain everything.”
“But, Rivera…”
“She’s fine.” He smiled wanly. “She’ll be at the waterfall. It’s her place when she needs time to herself.”
Seeing as he didn’t have much choice, he nodded. “All right, my friend. But not for long. The bond has begun to form so being separated for any length of time could cause problems.” Problems he didn’t want his True Mate to suffer from.
“I understand,” he said as he led them all to a comfy room done in Earth tones. Once he and Lillah were ensconced on the sofa and Roan on a leather arm chair, he began.
“First of all, I want to apologize for not confiding in you sooner and I’ll understand if afterward you need to do your duty as Alpha. You hold no blame, that’s all on mine and Lillah’s head.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Ian?” With the emotions swirling around the two, it was hard to pinpoint which was more dominant, guilt or sadness. It certainly didn’t help that the need to get to his True Mate was riding him hard.
“I’m talking about lying to the Pack for the last 177 years.”
That brought Roan up short. “About what?”
“My attack. It didn’t happen the way we worded it. In fact, I was never attacked at all.”
Roan could smell the truth of that statement; see it in Ian’s light green eyes. “Shit,” he groaned. “And how the hell did you get away with that?”
“It’s all in the wording, my friend.” He grimaced.
Taking a moment to let that sink in, Roan couldn’t help but agree. He’d also been known to play that game a time or three. But to keep at it for almost two centuries, well… “Alright, Ian, explain.”
“Everything we’ve told the Pack about how we met was true. I did save Lillah from that bear trap and we did fall in love afterwards. But I was human when it all happened.”
Human. Which mean Lillah had broke Pack Law letting a human know of their existence. “Go on.”
“With her parents away all the time and only Phillip to watch over her occasionally, it wasn’t all that difficult to be together. But we both knew anything could happen. Times were harsh back then. Most barely made it to adulthood and the ones who did were lucky to live past forty. If we wanted a life together, I would need to be Lupus. It was the only way.”
“And considering I had found out I was pregnant, well, I didn’t want our child to grow up without a father,” Lillah said softly.
Pregnant…Ian still human… Roan’s mind whirled.
“So I did it. I bit Ian in wolf form and made him one of us.”
Without thought, Roan sprung from his seat and blasted the two with his power. “Do you realize what you have done?” he shouted. “What your selfishness and silence have wrought?”
Even though he’d known Ian and Lillah for less than a century and today was the first time he had ever met Rivera, he’d been told about her from them both. The birth had been difficult, Rivera’s childhood fraught with illness and frailty. Reaching adulthood had been a miracle. Even after reaching her late twenty’s, she had still not gone through the First Transformation. That glorious and painful event when a Lupus shifted for the very first time. Lupus went through it in their mid to late teens. Rivera never had. Ian and Lillah had been beside themselves with worry. Then after numerous tests, all the doctors surmised it was because Lillah had become pregnant so soon after Ian’s First Transformation that was causing Rivera to not shift. And maybe never would. Now Roan knew the real reason. She was only half Lupus. Probably the only child to ever survive such a pairing. And she was Roan’s True Mate. Christ.
It was that thought that drained away his anger and made him fall back onto the chair. “Does Phillip know?”
Lillah gave a delicate snort. “My brother is, as always, more concerned with himself than anyone else. He may suspect, but I reall
y don’t think he cares one way or the other. There’s nothing to gain if he said anything and the family reputation to tarnish if it was true. Only my parents would care about that.”
“Heaven forbid that should happen,” Ian sneered.
“Being a part of a high ranking Pack family does have its drawbacks,” Roan quipped then fell silent for a moment. The weight of what Ian and Lillah had done weighed heavily on him. “Why?” The look he leveled on them demanded an explanation.
Ian let out a deep breath. “Fear, mostly. I was barely twenty-one and Lillah had just turned eighteen. We knew the consequences; Lillah had told me in detail what would happen if ever we were found out. But-“
“You were in love with a child on the way,” Roan finished for him.
“That, and well…” Ian gave him a wan smile. “I had no family left after loosing them all to smallpox.”
“And mine were too busy traveling and making important Pack connections to be bothered with me,” Lillah said. “I didn’t want our child raised like I was or to be without us should we be executed for breaking Pack Law.”
“So you kept as close to the truth as possible without giving yourselves away and hid the facts of Rivera’s birth.” Roan shook his head, not sure if he should be disgusted or impressed.
“We knew this day would come, Roan. It was only a matter of time, after all,” Ian said with resignation in his voice. “And we’re prepared for our punishment.”
Looking at the two who he had considered his closest friends for nearly a century, Roan couldn’t help but laugh. Ian, with his dark hair and light green eyes was built like the scholar he’d always been, slender and tall. Lillah was a blond beauty with flashing topaz eyes and an iron will housed in a five foot frame. Together, they were a perfect match. His mind and her spirit. Was it any wonder he had become so close to them over the years? Now, their daughter, a half-breed mix of the two was his True Mate. The Fates were most definitely having a good chuckle with this one.
“You’re right, punishment is due.” Roan rose slowly out of his seat and walked in front of the pair. Their heads were bowed in submission, ready to meet justice. “As Alpha, I hereby order you both to tell your daughter everything you’ve told me today.”
Both heads jerked up, two sets of eyes wide with shock.
“But…I thought…” Ian stammered.
“That I’d execute you?”
Light and dark head nodded in unison.
Letting out a harsh breath, Roan rubbed the back of his neck. “As Alpha, I’m well within my right to pronounce sentence and carry it out then announce my reason to the Pack after justice is served. But to say that this sort of problem is unprecedented would be somewhat of an understatement. And considering it happened nearly two centuries ago, I don’t think that Pack Law has established any sort of statute of limitations on such a crime. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to bring up such an addendum to the law. And, truthfully, I can certainly understand your reasoning. I don’t particularly appreciate it at the moment, but I can understand it.” He gave them a small smile.
“Roan?” Ian’s expression showed how shell-shocked he was while Lillah simply jumped into Roan’s arms, sobbing.
Now that the anger had died away, Roan was able to think rationally about the choice his friends had made. Yes, in a way, it was selfish. The pair wanted to be together. They’d broken the Pack’s most sacred law. But a child changed everything. They were the next generation and were to be cherished, loved, and sheltered. Unfortunately, Roan had a feeling that telling Rivera the truth would be more punishment than her parents could ever imagine.
“She’ll hate us after we tell her,” Lillah said softly after her tears had dried and she went back to her Mate.
Ian gathered her close, planting a tender kiss on her blond head. “It’s no more than we deserve, my love. She will forgive us. In time.”
As punishments went, it was worse than being executed. Dying was easy; living with your mistake was hard. Possibly losing the love and trust of your only child would be soul shattering. But this was the choice they had made long ago. Now they would have to deal with the consequences of it.
Leaving them to console each other and prepare, Roan went out the back door, stripped, and shifted. The woods and surrounding area were an unknown to Roan. He had come here a few times and never stayed that long. He certainly never went for a run in the woods. But after having Rivera’s scent branded in his brain, it wasn’t hard to find.
There, to the side of the back yard, was a small trail through the trees, the smell of gardenias and freshly fallen snow on the wind. Roan took off like a bullet; the trail and his nose lead the way. A quarter of a mile in, he heard the falls before he saw them. Not wanting to scare his True Mate, he made a bit of noise. He spotted her through the trees, sitting with her back to him on a very large boulder. The small falls made a rainbow in front of her. She was visible through the spray as she hugged her legs to her chest. The image would be imbedded in his mind forever as the moment he finally realized that Rivera was truly his and Sasha was merely an excuse. Yes, he cared about his brother’s True Mate. But if he had closely examined his feelings, he would have discovered that believing himself in love with her kept him from experiencing heartbreak with anyone else. Kept him from finding disappointment with a Lupa that wasn’t his True Mate. And that was the meat of the matter right there. Wanting a True Mate of his own and being crushed when he didn’t find her. The epiphany rocked Roan to his soul.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t be your Mate, Alpha LeGuer.” Her voice was soft, demeanor one of defeat.
That just won’t do, Roan thought. He wanted the woman he met earlier back. The siren with the mis-matched eyes the color of fine Peridot and flaming Topaz. Of the sensuous walk and take charge spirit. The Lupa who was his match in every way. And have her, he would. He hadn’t searched this long to find her just to let her slip away now.
“And just why is that, sweetheart?” He asked as he padded over to the boulder she was occupying and sat beside it, shifting once he was comfortable. This was not a conversation he wanted to have while he was a wolf despite the fact that he could. Yes, he was also now naked, but there was no help for that.
“Because I’m…damaged.” The word came out choked. “I can’t shift and probably never will. You deserve a Lupa who can run by your side and hunt. Not a misfit that’s a disgrace to the Pack.”
The sadness and despair coming from his True Mate was enough to break Roan’s heart. He couldn’t imagine what she had gone through all these years because of her parent’s duplicity. Learning she could possibly never shift probably broke a part of her spirit. That kind of news would no doubt have killed a lesser Lupus. Not his True Mate. Yes, there were scars left behind due to that wound, but here she sat, living her life despite the handicap of not shifting. That alone spoke volumes and further proved how strong she was. A fitting match for an Alpha.
“Really? And just who said my True Mate was supposed to be such a paragon of Lupus nobility? Where is it written that my True Mate has to be perfect?”
Dual colored eyes zeroed in on him, a blush staining those creamy cheeks at noticing his nudity. But her gaze never wavered. “She may not have to be perfect but she should at least be able to shift.”
“Are you absolutely positive that you won’t?”
“I…I have been told that by numerous doctors. S…so it must be true.”
“I’ve kept in touch with your parents, Rivera. None of the Pack doctors who have looked over your records, my brother included, have stated that you won’t ever be able to shift. You have the ability, but for some unknown reason, it’s dormant.”
“Dormant or dead, it doesn’t matter.” She huffed angrily as she put her legs down. “It doesn’t change the fact that your mate needs to be a Lupa in every way and I’m not.” She stood, wiping off her backside. “I’m sorry, Alpha LeGuer, you’ll just have to find another mate.”
Before she coul
d run off again, Roan was up and had her in his arms in a blink. “The name is Roan and if you think that this conversation is over, you can think again.”
She wiggled in his embrace, rubbing her lithe body against his. Christ, but he wanted her. He was still half hard from earlier. Now that she was back in his arms, he was on fire. Since being True Mates meant she was the one who had to initiate their first mating, he was near blind with lust. All that passion and spirit aimed at him. It was enough to drive him to his knees just thinking about it.
“You…you…” Her soft hands lay against his chest, gold blond head barely coming to his chin.
“I, what, sweetheart?” He leaned down and rubbed his cheek against her hair. The softness of it was incredible as her gardenias and fresh snow scent filled his nostrils.
“You’re…poking me in the stomach.” That last was said with a huff as he pulled her even closer.
A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Yes, and it’s entirely your fault. Don’t expect me to apologize for it.”
Eyes of green and amber looked up, wide with confusion. “You don’t mean that. You couldn’t mean that.”
“Rivera, you’re going to find that not only am I stubborn, but very single-minded in pursuit of what I want. I don’t lie and I don’t give up on a goal. And I never, ever, back down from a challenge.”
She stiffened in his arms, cheeks flushed with anger. “Is that what this is, a challenge? I refuse to be your Mate so you decide to be all caveman and make me?”
Roan blinked at the caustic tone of her words. “Sweetheart, I…” Then it finally dawned on him just what she had been saying. Earlier and now. She hadn’t been saying True Mate, just Mate. “Rivera, do you understand the difference between a Mate and a True Mate?”
Her mouth snapped shut as she quickly looked down. That honey blond head twitched in the negative.
Letting out a deep breath, Roan nearly groaned aloud. “I know you have been traveling a lot and making the most of your studies, but have you kept up with the Pack at all?”
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