She recoiled into her corner.
“Please say you forgive me.” His big body quivered like a wave about to break. “Please, Gwynn, give me a chance.”
Fear washed her skin in ice. This wasn’t the Aaron whose calm patience made her trust a complete stranger. Where was the man who’d made her feel safe? This man teetered on the brink.
“I can’t do this! You can’t expect me to trust you after all this.”
“Please, Gwynn. I need you.”
“Everything about you is a lie. If I hadn’t run away, you would have turned me over to your boss.”
His face blanched. “No.”
“Even if your land deal for your precious pack depended on it?”
“I would’ve let it all go. You have to believe me. I never would have put you in danger.”
“But I am in danger.”
“We have a plan. The pack has a plan. We’ll take care of everything. We’ve set up a meeting between you, your father, and Leon, but you won’t be alone. We’ll back you up.”
“Back me up?”
“You, me, and the Fated Mountain Enforcers. The pack takes care of its own, Gwynn. After tomorrow, Mike Leon will never bother you again.”
Tomorrow, they’d confront the man who had ruined her childhood and betrayed her, and the man he’d sold her to. After that she’d have no reason to see Aaron again. Could she face that?
“So, then I can go home.”
Aaron’s face blanched. “Gwynn, I know we haven’t had the best start, but I want you to stay. I want you to become part of the pack.”
“Part of the pack?” Gwynn’s head reeled. “Are you asking me to become like you? A...wolf shifter? What the hell?” She shook her head. “I saw the way your body twisted and changed. It was gross.” Watching him shift made her want to throw up, even though the animal he’d become had been beautiful. “I don’t think so.”
He shook his head. “Well, that’s good because the odds of you becoming a full wolf is unlikely. You need two genes to shift. I know you have one, but two?”
“How could you possibly know?”
“It’s complicated, but in special circumstances, males can smell potential mates. It’s a pheromone thing. It’s astronomically rare for anyone outside the pack to have even one gene. It’s one of the ways we’ve managed to keep our existence secret. The odds of you having two, and the exact two for you to become a wolf, are a trillion to one.”
“But it’s possible.”
“I can’t say it’s never happened before, but outsiders never have two genes. Never.” He ran a hand over the back of his neck and blew out a breath. “But I am asking you to be my mate. To accept my claim on you. It would make you part of the pack. And, there’s a chance that you might be something else in our pack. The mating process can still react with a single gene—you just don’t become a wolf.”
Her stomach was doing somersaults and she sagged back onto the bed. “It’s too much.” An emotional storm had stolen all of her stability, and she wasn’t sure it was ever coming back.
Aaron reached for her hand. She jerked away. The anguish on his face almost made her regret her action. It was as if not touching her was painful. She got it. All of this was painful for her. And so confusing it left her feeling totally out of her depth.
“Keep talking. How does it work?”
“When a male is exposed to a potential mate, the Fever quickens. When he bites her, he transmits his version of the Fever, and they bond. It’s fate, Anna.”
She looked deep into Aaron’s quicksilver eyes and saw the edge of the wolf. And underneath, a burning need.
Suddenly the heated look to his skin, the frantic movements, the way he couldn’t keep still or keep his hands off her—it all made sense.
“You have the Fever. Now?”
She wrapped her arms around her shaking body as if she could hold herself together from the outside in. He was ready to take her as his mate—a wolf’s mate. Something she’d never imagined in her wildest dreams.
“Yes. But if I bit you, you still couldn’t change into a wolf without both genes. I won’t lie to you, there will be repercussions. We don’t usually give it to adults. Women in the pack, when they get the mating Bite, it’s the second time they’ve had the virus. They’ve already survived. You’d be getting your first dose as an adult.” He swallowed hard. “You might not survive.”
“I’d just get sick, no wolf. What if you’re wrong? What if I have both genes?”
“One of either gene, and you would be a dormant. But there are two different genes so there are variations. You could have certain...powers.”
“Magic?” She shook her head. “I can’t believe that.”
“Not magic, not like you’re thinking. The spelltalkers are our shamans.”
“Priests? You have a funky religion too. It’s a cult.” She threw up her hands. “I don’t know what else I expected.”
“I’m not explaining this well.” He growled. “The spelltalker gene is less common, even within our population. It’s more likely you’ll be a shifter—or have a dream wolf.”
“A dream wolf? I don’t even know what that means!” She pushed out of her corner and past him to pace across the cage of the narrow room. “Even without the risk, even though you don’t think I’d change, or be a wolf, or have a magic one in my dreams—staying with you, Aaron, would change my life.” She stopped within arm’s length of him. Close enough to touch him. Far enough to get away. “I don’t know you. Are you the man who kept me safe? Or the man who would do anything for his pack?”
He opened his mouth, but suddenly she didn’t think she could bear to hear the answer.
“I have to go.” She backed away.
“Gwynn!”
“No. I can’t be here with you or listen to you anymore. I need some space.” She headed for the door and he started after her. Her hand shot up into the air, palm out. “Back off.” She reached for the knob but the door was locked. “Let me out! Let me out!” She shook the knob, then gave up and pounded on the door with both fists.
Suddenly, it opened, and she flew out into the hallway, almost tripping over a strange man’s feet. She threw one look at him through eyes blinded by tears, and fled, slamming the door behind her. He let her go and she ran.
Chapter Thirteen
Gwynn ran down the hall, down the stairs, and through the hallway, swallowing emotion all the way. This house had too many people, staring at her, never mind the one wolf she ran into and made a wide detour around. They all let her go. Finally, she burst into the huge great room and out onto the porch.
Here, finally, there was space. The crowd that had been here to welcome her and Aaron was gone. A wide vista of open valley and mountains spread out before her. Gwynn sucked in air until her breathing reached normal. Heartbeat calming, she leaned on the rail and thought about her collapsing universe.
“How are you holding up?”
She turned. The elderly woman, Anna, came up to her, a long, dark purple afghan wrapped around her narrow shoulders.
“I’m fine.”
Anna leaned on the rail next to her. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
People and wolves dotted the landscape, working at distant buildings. There were cabins dotting the hills in the distance and more roads winding out from the main one. The sound of a group of children laughing carried on the breeze. This was more than a working ranch. It was a compound.
“Yes, it is.” Gwynn inhaled the peace of the winter landscape, letting it soothe her soul. “I’ve never seen anything like it—it kind of looks like a set from a movie.”
“We’ve spent many years accumulating land. It’s the only way we’ve survived the modern world.”
“With satellites and cameras and drones, how is it no one knows you exist?”
Anna’s wrinkled cheeks curved into a smile. “Bribes, secret agents.” She winked at Gwynn. “If you stay, you’ll learn all about our wicked ways.”
Wrapped in the fuzzy afghan, her graying hair shot with streaks of black in a bun held up with a pair of wooden chopsticks, Anna looked like someone’s grandma. But underneath the old lady charm Gwynn could sense bands of steel.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Anna laughed. “Don’t worry so much, you’ll end up with more wrinkles than me. Now, I know you have questions. What do you want to know?”
“Do you think I can become a wolf? What happens if he bites me? What’s a dream wolf?” She didn’t ask the most important question—if I don’t do this, will you let me leave?
Anna grinned at her again. “That’s a lot of questions, and it’s cold out here.” She headed for the door. “Come on. Dara has tea for us in one of the parlors. Let’s go warm up.”
“One of the parlors?” Gwynn shook her head and followed Anna back into the house. Her entire apartment building could fit inside this one. And she’d never known anyone who had a “parlor”, let alone more than one.
They settled inside a cozy living room on a pair of matching floral easy chairs.
“I love this room. It’s perfect for these chilly days, and tea. And I never let any of those rough cowboys in here. It’s girls only, one of the perks of being an old lady and in charge.” Anna poured and handed Gwynn a bright red teacup. She poured herself one, blew on the hot liquid, and took a sip. “Mmm, Dara’s gotten it just right. Now, let’s tackle wolf shifter DNA.”
Gwynn set her own teacup down. She was shaking so much, she was afraid she’d break it, and Lord knew what an angry wolf grandma would do about broken china.
“We didn’t used to know why we changed.” Anna’s face grew thoughtful. “We knew it ran in families and we knew it was unpredictable, but since science has developed all these new-fangled tests, it’s helped us tremendously. We now know there are two genes that combine to produce a wolf shifter. We call them A and B. They’re both recessive.” Anna took another sip of her tea. “Do you know what that means?”
Gwynn shook her head. “I’m afraid I didn’t pay much attention in biology. Does that mean you need both of them for the trait to show?”
“Very good, yes.” Anna beamed a smile at her. “You need both the A and the B genes to shift into a physical wolf. But it’s more complex than that. You see these genes can lie in wait for generations, never showing up, unless the person catches the Fever. We learned that many thousands of years ago. Science is only now realizing that’s how many autoimmune diseases work, but we figured it out on our own. Now, it’s become tradition to expose our children to the Fever when they hit adolescence. They catch it and we find out what they’ll be. Wolf shifter, dreamwalker, or spelltalker.” Anna paused. “With me so far, dear?”
“I guess so.” Gwynn frowned. “Aaron seems to think I won’t have both genes. Why would he think that?”
“Let me explain how the other types of wolves work, and then you might understand better. We call gene A the wolf gene. If you have two A genes, no B genes, and you catch the Fever, you become a person with an inner wolf. You can manifest the wolf in your dreams, but not on the physical plane. These are our dreamwalkers. If you have two B genes and you catch the Fever, you become a spelltalker. A spelltalker can cross the akashic plane and speak to our ancestors, among other things.”
“So, AB means wolf. AA means dream wolf, and BB means you get to talk to dead people.” Gwynn shook her head, so confused she didn’t even know what to feel. “But what if you only have one gene? What about A without B? Or vice versa?”
“If you only have one, you don’t manifest anything—dormant. We have a lot of pack who don’t manifest as anything. They’re simply human, inside and out. No change.” Anna touched Gwynn’s hand. Her skin was soft and warm. “That’s what we think will happen to you. You’ll get the Fever. You’ll be very sick for a few weeks. Then you’ll wake up one day and be your normal self. No wolf.”
“And the ones who aren’t wolves or dreamwalkers or spelltalkers. What happens to them?”
“Nothing. They live their lives as pack. Once you’re pack, you’re ours. We protect and provide.” Her face grew stern. “And we expect the same loyalty in return.”
“Like a gang.” Gwynn shook her head. “No thanks.”
A small smile curved Anna’s lips. “Not like a gang. Like a family. A big extended family. One that will show up when you call. One you can depend on.”
A family that would be there, who would back her up against her dad, Mike Leon—the world. Or would they?
“You kicked Aaron out. Is that the type of family you mean?”
“Aaron ran off against the pack council’s wishes. He could have let us help, but he’s stubborn.” She shook her head. “Surely you can see that we couldn’t let the likes of Mike Leon near Fated Mountain. We have children here, pregnant women, the elderly.” Anna’s gaze was serious. “It’s the council’s job to think of the entire pack. Aaron put us all in danger.”
“And what if I do something wrong?”
“We’re like any other society. We have rules, but mostly they’re the same as everyone else’s. We don’t limit pack members, we support them. The enforcers do just as many rescues as they do arrests. And we’re much more lenient than the regular law, I’ll tell you that. Just ask Aaron.”
Aaron had said they’d let him back in, but she still needed to think about it. “Can you test me? See what my genes are?”
“We can, but it will take a few weeks.” Anna squeezed Gwynn’s hand. “Gwynn, Aaron doesn’t have that kind of time. The Fever is running too hot and too fast inside his body. If he doesn’t claim you in the next day or so, he’ll turn feral and run wild.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’ll be a wolf for the rest of his life. We’ll never see him again as human.”
Gwynn went cold. “And if I let him bite me?” Her words were little more than a whisper.
“You’ll be bound to him for life. You’ll be one of us. Pack.”
Gwynn held onto the old woman’s hand like it was a lifeline and stared into her still-bright eyes. Was what she felt for Aaron strong enough to save him and change her entire world?
Or should she walk away and leave him to run wild forever?
Chapter Fourteen
Gwynn had dinner in her room by herself, then spent a long night tossing and turning, her brain spinning round-and-round as the night ended and another day began. Even a long hot shower and the breakfast they brought to her did nothing to quell her anxiety.
Would she become a wolf? Anna had explained that they were pretty sure the A gene, the gene that carried the wolf, was no longer out in the general human population, but that the elusive B gene still showed up now and then. Did that mean she could be a spelltalker?
She shivered, wishing she had her own afghan to shelter her against the ghosts that might be coming her way.
“Hey.” Aaron poked his head around the open door. “Can I come in?”
When she’d first seen him hiking up the mountain, he’d looked like a man ready for action. Now he looked like a man strung on a wire.
She knew that look. She’d grown up with it. Her dad had thrown her, her mother, and her sister under the bus too many times for her not to know when a man was desperate. Love, hate, trust, mistrust. It was all too much, and she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to see him at all. But she couldn’t turn away from the hope in his face.
Her nod was hesitant. “Sure. But watch out. I guess Anna doesn’t usually let in the guys. Too many breakables.”
“I’ll be careful.” He entered, glanced at the seat next to her, then sat instead on the couch on the other side of the coffee table as if she were one of the fragile things in the room.
Her relief was mixed with disappointment.
She wanted to touch him, be reassured by his warmth and solidity that everything was okay. But she could tell by the tension in his neck and face that everything wasn’t okay. And now she suspected it was her fault. No, n
ot her fault. Her DNA, his DNA, the Fever. None of this was either of their faults. But according to Anna, the final decision lay in her court, making Aaron and his fate her responsibility.
“Anna said you had a long talk. I bet she did a better job explaining it all than I did.”
“Yeah, she explained it all. And why I probably won't become a werewolf.”
“Wolf shifter. We don’t really look like the guys in the horror movies, do we?” His grin was there and gone before she was even sure it had been there.
“No.” She gave him a cautious smile back. “You were pretty cute as a dog, though.”
“Dog?” This time his grin widened, becoming real. It lifted her spirits and had her smile widening in response. “I’m no dog. Wolf, baby, wolf.”
There he was. Under the stress, the exhaustion, and the desperation, she could still see Aaron—the man she’d fallen in love with.
She stood up. “Aaron?” She couldn’t believe she was considering this, but she had to know everything before she ruined his life, and maybe hers.
“Yes?”
She crossed over to him and sat down next to him. The heat from his thigh seeped into hers and her fingers tingled with the need to touch. There was no question—she wanted him.
His eyes went wary and his body stiffened. “Gwynn, I...”
“Shh.” She placed her fingers on his lips. “I need to know Aaron. Would bonding to you put me above the pack? I mean, would you back me before them. Put me first.”
Aaron’s answer came fast and strong and true and with no hesitation. “Yes.”
Could she trust him? Believe him? She still wasn’t sure if she could take that leap.
She ran her fingers along his lower lip, slid one finger into his mouth. He shuddered and sucked it in, Kept his burning eyes locked on hers, until she shut hers tight on the heady feeling of pleasure rushing from his mouth into her bloodstream.
She wanted him. Was that enough?
The loud rap on the door and Zeke’s voice startled them both. “Hey, knock it off in there. Anna says it’s time to go. Be in the main room in five.”
Fated Mate: Paranormal Werewolf Romance (Fated Mountain Wolf Pack Book 1) Page 11