by Alisa Woods
Mia’s wolf growled, and Mia nearly did, too. But her roommate was right. She would fix things with Lucas… eventually. They were just having a fight, not breaking up. Not that she could break up with her mate, anyway. Even if she wanted to—which she didn’t—they were mated for life. It was a magical bond stronger than any ring or ceremony or quarrel about mothers and potential mothers-in-law. And Mia didn’t want Colin to think she was miserable being with Lucas. Or would have been better off with Colin instead. Because neither of those was true.
“All right.” Mia sighed and worked her way out of her nest of blankets. “I’ll get dressed. But as soon as you guys leave, I’m going back to the cocoon.”
Jupiter threw up her hands. “Whatever.”
Mia struggled into the jeans and threw on the sweater. Not a moment too soon, as a double knock at the door signaled Colin’s arrival. Mia ran a quick brush through her hair, then Jeeter opened the door. Filling the doorframe with his broad shoulders, Colin was a hunk of shifter muscle all his own. His rugged cable sweater stretched across his chest, and Mia could see her roommate melt a little as Colin fixed those blazing green eyes on her. If he thought her lumberjack shirt and dainty boots were unappealing, it certainly didn’t show in the red hot gaze he was raking over Jeeter’s body. He leaned down, dropped a kiss on her cheek, and whispered something in her ear that made Jeeter giggle.
Giggle. Her roomie didn’t giggle unless she’d had one too many drinks at a dorm party. But Mia could attest to the power of an alpha to bring out that response. And while Colin was officially a beta, he was obviously all-alpha with Jeeter. He didn’t even seem to notice Mia until he leaned back to ask if Jeeter was ready to go. She pulled Colin into the room, coming back to her bed to snag her coat.
“Mia.” Colin’s voice had a little uptick of surprise. He flashed a look to Jeeter then back to her. “Are you coming with us?” He almost sounded disappointed. Maybe there was more to the whole Colin-Jeeter thing than Mia had thought possible.
“No, I’m… under the weather,” Mia said.
“Oh, come on,” Jupiter said. “This is a big deal for the pack, right, Colin?”
He nodded, but his gaze was all for Mia. Not in the hot, intense way he had looked at her before—back when he was still vying for her to be his mate—but in a concerned way. Like he was worried about her. Which only stirred up pangs of guilt in her chest: if Colin was concerned, Lucas must be going out of his mind with worry. She really should have answered some of his texts.
“This is a very special night for the packs and their alphas,” Colin said with a frown. “If you can come, I know everyone would want you to be there.”
It was a tremendously sweet thing for him to say. And it was turning Jeeter into a puddle right before her eyes.
Her roommate gave her a look so sharp it could have speared squirrels for dinner. “See? It won’t be the same without you. Come on! The fresh air will do you good.”
But Jeeter’s pointed looks just reminded Mia that she was not ready to face Lucas. She crossed her arms. “I’m really not up to it.”
Jeeter gave an elaborate sigh and shoved her arms through her coat sleeves. “Fine.”
Colin hadn’t quite given up on her yet. It only took two long-strided steps to bring him right next to her. He peered down at her with a soft expression. “Are you all right? Do you need us to stay?”
Oh god, no. That was the last thing she wanted. Mia put on a smile. “I just need some rest.” She shooed him back with her hands. “You kids go have fun.”
Colin seemed extremely reluctant to leave and confused as to why Mia was truly staying behind. She guessed word hadn’t spread about her fight with Lucas. It took another minute before Jeeter convinced him to leave. Mia let out a long sigh of relief once the door was closed.
She flopped back down on her bed. The phone taunted her from the end of it, lighting up with another message. She buried her face in the pillow and growled. Why couldn’t things just be simple? At this point, she would happily go back to the way things were before—back when her mom was blissfully unaware that she and Lucas were shifters, and they could just have their hot nights in his apartment and happy days in the office, with none of this family business to worry about. Just the two of them, in their own private cocoon. Forget rings and public acceptability—being in Lucas’s arms was all she really wanted.
She was about to pick up the phone and start reading the texts, when a soft tap came from the dorm-room door. Probably Colin coming back for one more attempt to get her to go. She debated pretending to be asleep, but when the second knock came, more insistent this time, she growled again and hauled herself up from the bed. When she opened the door, it wasn’t Colin at all… it was Lev.
The steam went out of her. “Lev, why are you here?” She held the door halfway open, and she wasn’t planning on opening it any farther.
Lev scanned her body quickly. “Well, good! Your leg’s not broken. Grab your jacket, New Girl, we have a party to go to.”
Mia just shook her head. “Did Lucas send you?”
Lev scowled at her. “No. Lucas is in a mood I can’t shake, and he’s making me a little nuts. But that’s not why I’m here. I need you to be my date.”
That perked her attention. “Date? Wait… didn’t Rebecca come see you?”
Lev squinted at her then wagged his finger. “You were behind that. I knew it!”
Oh no. “What happened?”
Lev gestured to the door. “Are you going to let me in? Because I’m not spilling the embarrassing stuff in a dorm hallway.”
Mia scuttled backward, opening the door and biting her lip. Did she mess up things with Rebecca and Lev? It had seemed like such a sure thing. Lev strode in, and Mia closed the door.
He checked out the rumpled blankets and the phone at the end of the bed but didn’t say anything. Lev had to know she’d been moping for the last day, with all the texting back and forth with Jeeter. Although honestly, Mia didn’t know what they had actually said.
He ignored all that and spun back to her. “You tried to set Rebecca up with me, didn’t you, New Girl?” His voice was chastising, and Mia shrunk a little against the door where she still stood.
“Did it work?” she asked tentatively.
He gave a short snort-laugh. “Well, if your objective was to have her think I’m a complete jerk, then yeah. Although, to be fair, I did most of that on my own.”
Mia grimaced and almost left her spot by the door to go over and give him a hug. She settled for a verbal apology. “I’m sorry, Lev, I thought—”
He held up his hand. “It’s fine. No big deal. Like I said, that girl’s out of my league. Although I think it’s safe to say she’s not interested in Colin now.”
Mia shook her head. “He’s not her type.”
“Well, I don’t know about that.” Lev wiped a hand across his face, sucked in a breath, and started his story. “She came to see me, no doubt thanks to you, Miss Meddle Pants…”
Mia cringed and was glad she stayed by the door.
“Anyway, I thought she was trying to get me to hook her up with Colin. You know, I’m a beta, Colin is Llyr’s beta… I don’t know, maybe she thinks we all hang out in the Beta Club together.”
This story was making her insides twist. “What did you say?”
“I told her she didn’t want a guy like Colin, not in the phase he was going through, sleeping around Seattle like it’s about to run out of women. Besides…” He dropped his voice. “I knew he was bringing Jeeter to the party, and that was just going to be ugly. You know, dropping his human plaything of the week for the hot shifter girl. Only this time his plaything was your roommate.” He shook his head in a sad kind of way. “I started with a very long and well-considered list of Colin’s deep moral flaws, and… well, things with Rebecca just devolved from there. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what happened. One thing I’m sure of: she left angry. I think she’s coming to the party tonight, but if she is
…”
Mia cringed again. “You don’t want to face her.”
Lev gave her the king of all puppy dog looks. “I have to go, Mia—all the alphas are having submission ceremonies along with the full moon tonight, including Lucas. If I don’t show… let’s just say that’s not really an option. And if I do show… well, I could really use your help navigating the Rebecca Stormfront. Clearly, I’m out of my depth here.”
Mia’s shoulders dropped. Yet another mess she made out of a potentially perfect relationship. At least this one she might have a chance of fixing. It sounded like a simple misunderstanding… and if it was just words that made the mess, then words could fix it. Unlike her problems. Which she would have to face eventually. And if Lucas was having a special submission ceremony—that once-a-month time when everyone in the pack re-dedicated themselves to their alpha—well, she really should be there. Technically, when she submitted to him for the mating, that was sealed into her blood, along with the magic. She didn’t have to resubmit to him every month: her submission was permanent. But in practice, the submission bond was strongest—and the pack healthiest—when that pledge was made new each month with the moon. She didn’t want to mess that up.
She took a breath. “All right, Lev.”
He tipped his head back, closing his eyes and pressing his hands briefly together. “Thank you, New Girl. You are saving my furry hide here.”
She smirked. “Given that I’m the one who got you in trouble, seems only right.”
He pointed a finger at her while simultaneously snagging her coat off her desk chair. “That is true. And after you patch up things with Rebecca, just enough so she doesn’t think I’m a creep worse than Colin, remind me not to have you on the Get Lev A Mate Committee.”
“That’s not fair.” She let him slide on her heavy pea coat. Her gloves and hat were still tucked in the pockets, so she was all set.
“All’s fair in love and pack business, Mia Fiore,” Lev said quietly from behind her. “Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile thrown over her shoulder. “I’m starting to.”
He took her hand, hooked it around his arm, and led the way out of her dorm room. She scooped up her phone on the way. The thought of having to face Lucas was somehow easier to bear with Lev by her side.
Jupiter wasn’t kidding about the Tree Lighting party being deep inside the Olympic National Forest. Mia and Lev drove for over an hour, on increasingly narrow, and eventually dirt, roads before finally pulling off to a clearing that served as a parking lot. Over a dozen vehicles were parked haphazardly in the grass. The moon’s bright light and the thin blanket of snow gave a luminescent quality to the open spaces… even the shadows between the trees were lightened to a mystical gray by the diffused moon-borne light.
Mia quickly scanned the cars and recognized several of them… including Lucas’s red-hot sports car, turned inky dark by the moon’s light.
“Where is everyone?” she asked.
“I’m sure they’re all at the tree by now,” Lev said, buttoning his coat and pulling on his gloves. “Come on—I don’t want Lucas growling at me for being late.”
Mia’s borrowed boots crunched loudly through the snow, but she kept pace with Lev striding toward the trees. The forest was utterly still—even the racket of their passage didn’t stir the nature sleeping all around them. If there were any night creatures, they had already taken flight or climbed high to see the moon.
It peeked between the treetops as they weaved between the moss-covered trunks, both standing and fallen. Along the way, Mia lost some of her foreboding—the scent of the forest flooded and calmed her. It was always like this, which was why most of the wolves she knew came here often to reconnect with the wildness that was part of their inner selves. The scents were even more crisp and fresh at night, without the heat of the day to bake them together. When Mia and Lev broke free of the darkness of the forest, the moon’s glory sent a flush of giddiness through her. Maybe it was the magic in her blood—or it could simply be that the moon was beautiful.
The meadow they had reached was broad, with a single, large tree looming in the center. It was a lone giant, towering at least fifty feet tall, but so perfectly symmetrical that it must have been hand-groomed. The tree was still dark, which meant they hadn’t missed anything… she hoped. Several dozen people milled around the base of it, clumped mostly in pairs. Mia and Lev were still a hundred yards from the group, and half of them had their faces in moon shadow. It was hard to pick anyone out. But one of the darkened shapes seemed to spot them and quickly broke away.
For a moment, Mia was afraid it might be Lucas—but the form was too slight and the gait too feminine. As she got closer, the moon silvered her face: Rebecca. She smiled as she jogged the rest of the way, leaving a trail of moon-lit breath frozen in the air behind her. Mia glanced at Lev, but he was keeping it cool, so she just turned back to greet the apparently gleeful intern. Rebecca grabbed Mia’s two gloved hands in hers and gave them a squeeze.
“I’m so glad you came!” Rebecca exclaimed.
Mia leaned back a little, but then Lev moved to Rebecca’s side, and a small smirk was fighting its way onto his face. She dropped Rebecca’s hands and gaped at Lev: he completely set her up.
“All’s fair, New Girl.” His dark eyes sparkled in the moonlight.
Mia shoved a gloved palm into Lev’s shoulder. “You. Totally. Lied to me.” She punctuated each word with another smack against his shoulder.
He held back a grin, putting up his hands in mock defense. “Hey, not in front of my date!” He reached for Rebecca’s hand, and when she took it, his grin broke out completely. The moon lit both his smile and Rebecca’s. The fact that they were together forced a smile to Mia’s face as well. But having Lev’s romantic problems apparently solved for the moment only rushed back the dread about her own reunion with Lucas. Mia’s smile faded as she glanced over Lev’s shoulder and saw a tall form standing separate from the others: his face was shadowed, but she didn’t have to see it to know it was Lucas.
“Oh, come on, New Girl,” Lev said, “it’s not going to be that bad. I promise.” He was still holding Rebecca’s hand, but he beckoned Mia with the other.
She trudged through the snow alongside them. “So what really happened?” She jabbed a finger at Lev. “And I want to hear it from Rebecca, because I’m not trusting another word out of your mouth, Lev Sparks.”
He grinned like he couldn’t have been more proud of that fact. Mia just shook her head.
Rebecca peered up at Lev, who was a good two or three inches taller than her. “Did you tell her the Colin story? Or the version where you rescued me from Steven’s bad jokes but that I insisted on a chaperone for our date?”
He shrugged. “She would have totally seen through the chaperone story. On the other hand, Colin’s a believable villain in almost any tale.”
“Oh my god,” Mia said, her mouth falling open again. “I can’t believe you two.”
“Hey, you almost ruined all my plans, New Girl,” he protested. “I had the perfect date set up, and then I had to come wrangle you out of your sulk.”
“Wrangle me? I was just fine where I was, Lev.” Mia dropped her voice because they were approaching the group.
He snorted. “Yeah, right.” Then he smirked. “Jupiter didn’t think it could be done. Obviously she hasn’t seen me in action often enough to know my true capabilities.”
Mia shook her head. “So that’s what the texting was all about.”
Lev shrugged. “Well, it wouldn’t have worked, if you’d actually read your messages. Which reminds me, your roommate owes me ten bucks.”
Mia sighed. “Unbelievable.”
Rebecca was nearly choking on her attempts to hold back her laughter. Lev gave her a private grin. Mia punched his shoulder one more time for good measure.
Laughing, Lev tugged Rebecca away with their clasped hands. They were leaving her alone, and she knew why
: Lucas was waiting for her at the edge of the gathering, by himself. Mia bit her lip. She had no idea what to say to him. But with him standing there in the moonlight, tall and gorgeous and all-alpha with his head held high… it reminded her of the first time she met him.
Except this time he had clothes on.
That memory sent a flush through her—not only had he been ridiculously sexy, he saved her in an alley before he even knew who, or what, she was. Because that was the kind of man, and wolf, Lucas Sparks was. And it was why she loved him above all the obvious reasons, like being ridiculously handsome, brilliant, and kind. It was why she agreed to be his mate in the first place, trusting her heart as well as her life to him.
He waited for her, and while there were other people nearby, they gave them room. Word must have finally spread about what had happened—good gossip like that never would have lasted under wraps, anyway. The snow crunched lightly as she stepped up to him. His face was half in shadows, but the part that was shining in silver light was pensive and frowning.
“Mia, I know you’re mad at me,” he started, but she held up a finger to stop him.
He fell silent.
“I want you to know something, Lucas Sparks.” There was a slight tremble in her voice, but it was just because the emotions she’d been keeping at bay for the last twenty-four hours were finally surging up again. Her wolf paced a tight circle of anticipation inside her. “I chose you for my alpha because you’re the finest man I’ve ever known.”
Lucas’s shoulders dropped, and his face opened with surprise. “I would have come for you, Mia. There was only one thing that could have kept me away.”
She gave him a small smile. “Me.”
He breached the distance between them and took her hands in his, pulling them up against his chest. “It was killing me to stay away. To give you time. If you hadn’t come tonight, I would have come to the dorm and done anything you asked, if only you would come home with me again. I’ll always fight to keep you, Mia of mine. I’ll do anything and everything it takes. There’s nothing in this world that could stop me from trying… not even you.”