by Chloe Cole
The room went silent but for her mother’s sniff of indignance.
“This seems premature, don’t you think?” Grey finally said.
“No. On the contrary, we stayed a week longer than we wanted to.”
The alpha pushed his chair backward, away from his desk, and eyed the two of them grimly. "I had hoped you'd give me the opportunity to prove myself. To show you a better way. But I understand and respect your decision, and you will both be missed."
There was no love lost between them, and everyone in the room recognized that lie for what it was, but clearly Grey didn’t see the whole picture yet. No worry there, because Willa could tell by the dark glee in her mother’s eyes that she was about to clear it up for him.
"Both?" A cruel smile tugged at the corner of Faustine's mouth. "Oh, no, Mr. West. I believe you've miscounted. There are three in our little family."
The room went silent and all of them turned to Willa.
The initial shock in Grey’s eyes quickly gave way to sadness and regret. He shook his head slowly and blew out a sigh. "You agree with them, Will?" he asked softly.
She felt for him. She really did. And, over the course of the past week, she'd even found her way to forgiveness of a sort. But she couldn't stay in Big Sky Canyon. Not after everything that had happened. For the past twenty-five years, she'd been subjected to her parents' views on everything from politics to marriage, and had disagreed with pretty much everything they had told her. This time, though, she couldn't dismiss them. They had warned her that the pack would treat her differently now that she’d been jilted by the alpha, and they were right.
More than that, they seemed like they actually cared this time. When Joseph had been imprisoned and Grey and his new mate were announced, her mother had comforted her. Her father had even hugged her, albeit rather stiffly. So when they'd told her they were going to find a new pack, and asked her to join them, she agreed.
Nothing was set in stone. If she hated it, she could leave. But the way things were right now? All she wanted to do was to get away from here. Away from the furtive, pitying glances, and the not-so furtive whispers, as quickly as possible. She'd make major life decisions later, after she'd had a chance to lick her wounds in private for a while.
"Willa?" Grey called her name again, and she turned her gaze on him. "Is this truly what you want?"
"Don't put that on me, old friend. This isn't about what I want." She flicked a glance at Maggie, who sat beside Grey, her brow wrinkled with concern. "This is about what has to be."
She rolled to her feet and brushed some imaginary lint off her jeans, suddenly desperate to get out of there before the waterworks started. Memories of her and Grey ran through her mind, one after the other.
The two of them romping around in the new Fall leaves as pups, and chasing one another through the trees in the forest, seeing who could leap the furthest. Waking up at the crack of dawn to go on their very first hunt. That time in their teen years where they'd kissed for the first time. It was apparent there was no fiery, passionate spark there, but there was a strong, sweet bond between them that had been enough for Willa.
But apparently not enough for Grey.
"I wish you nothing but success as the new alpha. And I'm sorry it had to come to this."
Maggie stood to join Grey and finally broke her silence. "You will always," she reached out a hand and threaded her fingers with Willa's, "always be welcome here with open arms, should you choose to come back," she murmured softly. Her words were for Willa alone, and she appreciated the gesture. But it was exactly that.
A gesture.
It changed nothing, and the reality was, Willa had to think of herself right now. She needed to find a place with a new pack where she could start fresh, and out of the shadow of her failure.
"Goodbye, Grey. Maggie."
Her father swept toward the door and held it open, ushering Willa and her mother through.
She almost made it all the way to the car before she started to cry.
Faustine slid a bony arm around her shoulder and patted her gently. "It’s all right, darling. It will all be over soon."
Willa nodded, but deep down, she wasn't sure of that. How long did it take before one got over losing everything?
She let her mother lead her to the car and then slid into the back seat. A chill ran over her as her father turned the key in the ignition and she gazed out at the Big Sky land through blurry eyes.
This was really it. She was leaving the only home she’d ever known, and might never come back.
The car ride was long and silent, as they each seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. That was good. The last thing she felt like doing was talking.
As day gave way to night, she fell into a fitful sleep, only awakening hours later when her stomach growled. She looked around blearily and wiped the sleep from her eyes.
"What time is it?"
Her mother kept her gaze locked on the windshield as she answered. "Almost midnight."
Willa tipped her head and eyed her mother's profile in the moonlight. "How much further is it?"
Montana was big, to be sure, but they'd been in the car forever now and they'd be hitting the border if they kept going west.
Faustine's lips pursed and she shot a quick glance as her husband. "Well, actually, you were sleeping so I didn't want to wake you after you'd had such an upsetting evening." She turned and offered Willa a reassuring smile that looked out of place on her thin lips. "The pack that has invited us to stay is an hour in the other direction, but we have to make a stop first."
Willa unfolded her legs that had been tucked beneath her bottom and straightened. A buzz of awareness--and not the good kind--raised the hairs on the back of her neck as she studied Faustine's placid features.
"A stop?"
"Yes, dear. Your father and I haven't just been in talks with this pack we mentioned. What we didn't tell you is that we've managed to secure a private meeting between you and another alpha."
Willa shook her head slowly. "A private meeting? Why would--" She broke off as it hit her. Not a week after her engagement to Grey had been cast aside, her parents were already on the hunt for a replacement.
She could feel her cheeks going hot with the humiliation of it all.
"Mother, I thought you knew my views on this. I agreed to marry Grey because it had been the plan my whole life and I didn't want to dishonor you or the traditions of our pack, but if there was any positive that came from all this, it was that I would get to choose a mate on my own."
She tried to keep her voice steady. They were backward and old-fashioned in their thinking, but they loved her in their way and right now, they were all she had. Giving them the benefit of the doubt was as much for her as it was for them. Surely, they would be able to see it her way this time.
"Oh, my head-in-the-clouds, romantic daughter. I admire your idealism."
Her mother said the words, but they were the furthest thing from sincere. Her parents despised idealism and they viewed romantic love as a weakness. Packs stayed strong by mating their best pups, and that was that.
"You need to understand, Willa. Now, more than ever, if we want to retain our way of life, we have to surround ourselves with like minds. Allies who believe as we do, and want to continue the traditions we've set forth for thousands of years. In order to do that, we need to secure a good match for you. A match that helps us as a family. A match that is about common sense, and pragmatism. Surely you understand that?"
She understood, all right.
But that didn't mean she had to agree to it. They needed to get their heads around that as soon as possible, and there was no time like the present.
"I'm not going to marry someone just so that you and father can get ahead politically."
Her father blew out a long sigh and caught her eye in the rearview mirror. "I won't tolerate your disrespect, Willa. Greyson West wronged you. And I promise, he will pay for that slight. But first we need to find
some allies. In order to facilitate that, you need to get on board and do what you're told."
A sense of dread crawled up the back of her neck as his words hit home.
"What do you mean, Grey will pay? His father is imprisoned and half-mad. We left the pack, and I doubt we’ll be the only ones to defect."
He’d looked so sad…so tired behind that big desk.
She shoved aside her sympathy and pushed forward. "He's paid enough for his perceived crimes. I don't want to be there anymore, but I don’t want to fight or be angry anymore either. I just want to find a home and move on with my life."
The air was tense, and she braced herself for an argument. But her father just reached down and clicked on the radio without responding.
It would’ve been nice if they could talk things through like a real family for once.
Maybe this was a mistake, after all. Maybe she should've given it a little more time before walking away. This wasn’t the first scandal to hit their pack, and it wouldn’t be the last. Maybe in a few weeks, the gossip would die down, and she could go back.
Even Maggie had said she would be welcome.
Willa was still deep in thought when the car finally slowed.
They'd been on a steady incline up the side of a mountain for the past hour now, and her father pulled off onto a scenic overlook.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to face her. "Let's stretch our legs, and have a bite to eat here. We'll discuss your meeting once our stomachs are full."
She didn’t have high hopes for that discussion, but at least he was agreeing to listen. And, after being cooped up all this time, she could certainly use the stretch. Wolves didn’t do well in close spaces for long periods, and she was starting to get twitchy.
Her parents climbed out of the car and Willa followed suit, taking a moment to grab the knapsack of food she'd packed. She'd barely taken a step onto the gravel when a loud roar sounded above her head. Before she could even process what was happening, the sky was lit with fire.
But it was what the fire illuminated that had the knapsack falling from her limp fingers to the ground.
"Holy mother of god, what is it?" she whispered, her heart pounding so hard, she could hear it, even over the beating of massive, black wings. The shape of the beast grew closer as it swooped low, just above her now.
Its poison green gaze locked with hers and she scrambled backward in terror.
Dimly, she heard the car doors slam and the engine start as a single word raced through her mind over and over again.
Dragon.
Chapter Two
Drake landed on the gravelly ledge, tucking his wings to his side as he observed the scene before him with keen eyes.
The woman--Willa Stone, he could only guess--scrabbled back further in retreat before promptly slipping in the mud. She landed in a graceless heap at his clawed feet. The two people who had been standing beside her until he'd lowered his aura to make himself visible had climbed into their car and were already tearing ass back toward the winding, mountain road, tires squealing as they went.
So far, they seemed like an odd sort, wolf-shifters. Hopefully that wasn't the case in all ways.
He took a second to morph back into human form, rolling his shoulders to ease his wings back into place, stretching his hands as his claws retracted. The leather sack he kept tied to his ankle dropped to the ground now that it didn’t have his dragon’s girth holding it up. He retrieved it, sparing another glance at the woman, and she gazed back at him stupidly, mouth agape.
"Did you plan to stay down there, or?"
He knew he sounded like an asshole, but damn if he could help it. He could deal with the fact that she wasn't a dragon. And, although he could hardly see her face through the mud, he'd long since resigned himself to the idea that his new mate would be plain at best, and FUBAR in the face at worst. He didn't even mind that she was, from what he could tell, a bit plump. In fact, he rather liked that.
But he couldn't abide an idiot.
Just the thought of having to share his lair with a woman who stared at him with blank eyes all the time made his inner dragon rail with the injustice of it all.
"I asked you a question, wolf."
He tugged his bag open and pulled out a pair of gym pants, yanking them on as he waited for her to answer. Maybe his nakedness had thrown her off? But surely, as a shifter herself, she would know that clothes weren’t always easy to come by.
She wiped a hand over the mud on her face, clearing off just enough that he could make out a pair of light brown eyes that were wide with shock but far too sharp to belong to a dimwit.
One bullet dodged, at least.
He took another step toward her and surveyed her filthy form. She was wearing jeans that used to be blue, but were now a smeary mess of browns, and a forest green cable-knit sweater that camouflaged her figure enough that he couldn't make out much beyond her general plumpness.
Throughout his entire examination, she still hadn't uttered a word, and another, not-entirely unpleasant thought crossed his mind.
"Can you speak?" he asked softly, making sure to enunciate clearly enough that she could read his lips with her pretty brown eyes if she needed to. While the idea of a stupid mate was intolerable, the idea of a silent one…
"Of course I can speak," she said, her voice not much more than a husky whisper. "I'm just trying to decide what exactly I should say. I've never..." She trailed off and scrambled to her feet before crossing her arms over her ample chest and pinning him with a still-incredulous gaze. "I've never seen a dragon-shifter before."
"Well, surely you knew what to expect. I mean, we’re much the same as you." Only better, because of the wings, he added silently to himself. No point in rubbing in the obvious. "And, frankly, I find it hard to believe you wouldn't have taken to the ancient books to get some idea of what your husband would look like before we met."
She shook her head back and forth as if to clear it, sending her tawny colored tresses cascading over her shoulders. "My...what was that, now?"
The irritation that had been building since the second he'd flown up to find the elder Stone’s on the run and his intended covered in mud, cowering like a victim finally came to a head, and molten fire burned at his throat.
"Son of a bitch," he snarled, scrubbing a hand over his face as it all lined up, like a neat little row of dominoes. "Your parents didn't tell you that I was a dragon?"
Her white, smooth throat worked as she swallowed hard enough for him to hear it. "No."
"Did they tell you I was a wolf?"
Her laugh was far from humorous. In fact, the pain it held made his gut clench.
"Even that lie would have been more forgivable than what I was told."
He eyed her long and hard, his brain working to detangle this newest snarl of problems. When he came to the only logical conclusion, his anger bloomed to full blown rage.
"They didn't tell you that they were bringing you to your mate at all?" he growled, a flash of smoke and fire pouring from his lips as he spoke.
She took a step back, clearly shaken by his volatile reaction.
"N-no. They told me we were going to meet someone that they wanted me to consider."
He yanked a packet of papers from his bag and held them out to her. They were already halfway down this treacherous road. Might as well get it over with all at once so she could let it sink in.
"The time for consideration has long past, I’m afraid. My name is Drake Blackbourne. And, according to these papers, we’re already wed.”
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