Prologue

The small chapel in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains was beautifully natural, with pews carved from matching pinewood standing in rows, a single aisle down the center, and floor-to-ceiling windows at the front. The view of the lake and mountains outside glittered under the brilliant light of the full moon.

Marrok Banes didn’t see any of it.

He was too busy waiting for his mate to walk down the aisle.

His arranged mate.

And his sworn enemy.

Marrok itched to roll his shoulders but didn’t. A twitchy alpha was a dead alpha, and all eyes were on him. If Shakespeare had solved the Montague and Capulet feud by uniting the two families through a marriage of convenience, would it have looked like this?

Two alphas, mating to unite their packs. Bringing an end to their millennia-long feud.

If this worked, he’d thank Delilah later. The enigmatic owner and operator of Brimstone, Inc., a firm specializing in all kinds of supernatural solutions—including matchmaking, it seemed—had been the one to broach the idea to him. For his pack, he’d been willing to make the personal sacrifice of mating not only a woman he didn’t know, but the alpha of the pack his own people despised.

If this worked. If it ended the feud.

Inside, the room was packed with people, the earthy scent of so many wolf shifters in one room filling the space with undertones of moss, dirt, and stone. The majority of those here hailed from the Canis and Banes packs, a line practically drawn down the center of the chapel, with neither side willing to mix with the other.

A few snarling faces among those gathered, along with several missing elders from both packs, told him loud and clear that simply completing the ceremony wouldn’t be enough. He was going to have to show this newly combined pack how to change centuries of behavior and ignore their history of mutual hatred and violence.

But they’d made plans to help with that tonight. Supernaturals were many things, and superstitious fell just below suspicious on the list, and somewhere ahead of fucking resistant to change. He wasn’t above using that as leverage. No way would their packs simply ignore the wishes of the gods, which was why he and Tala had elicited the help of the nymph to fake the gods’ blessing. As long as everyone in attendance believed the elaborate natural display she was supposed to conjure up to be a sign, maybe those still protesting this arrangement would shut the hell up and give both him and his new mate, and this new peace, the chance it deserved.

If not…

The organ music rose in a swell of sound, and Marrok stood taller, shoulders back, every inch the alpha his people expected him to be. The double doors to the church opened to admit Tala Canis—his new mate.

Time to create a new history.

The gathering hushed, and Marrok’s entire being stilled as the visual impact of his bride in her wedding gown stole the breath from his lungs as effectively as a sucker punch to the windpipe. Damn, she was gorgeous, radiant in a formfitting dress that hugged her lithe body to her knees, where it flared out. She’d left her shoulder-length dark-blond hair down, her veil framing her lovely face.

Every man in the place had to reel his tongue back in.

No one could deny Tala—tall and slender with curves he itched to mold with his hands—was the stuff fantasies were made of. The actual mating part would not be a hardship with her.

His wolf stood to attention, rumbling happily inside his head even as he wanted to snarl at every male in the room watching her with lust. The animal part of him had a thing for his soon-to-be mate, which should make things easier, since the animal inside him usually didn’t like anyone.

Mine.

The mating pheromones they were both releasing surged to life. It happened with all wolf shifter matings, and even stronger for alphas, but this was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.

He took her hand, and the strangest sensation, like a settling, overcame him at her soft touch. This was how the earth felt when the winds stilled and the sun shone down. On the back of the settling came a kick of need so violent, his dick pressed against the zipper of his pants, thick and throbbing.

He wasn’t entirely sure if that were the pheromones or his sincere reaction to her.

Thankfully, the ceremony wrapped up in short order. The wedding portion of wolf shifter matings tended to be brief, as, thanks to those pheromones, everyone was itching to get to the actual mating ceremony.

He’d played it cool up until now. Though he doubted others noticed, Tala was definitely skittish, and he hadn’t wanted to scare her off. But tonight…

Time to claim his mate.

Yearning and anticipation hung heavy in the air as he led his bride down the aisle, the gathering following behind in a building silence. Together they made their way out of the chapel. Their paths lit by the cool glow of moonlight, they walked along the river and over a wooden bridge that led them into the woods beyond, the peaks towering above, black outlines in a midnight sky.

Once deep in the woods, the wedding guests stopped, allowing Marrok and Tala to continue on into the trees alone. Marrok had prepared a place for them to mate in private. Despite the offer of help from many women in the pack, he’d insisted on creating this haven on his own. An odd urge to make this moment entirely between Tala and him, with no other eyes or opinions, had driven that decision. Too late now if she didn’t like what he’d done.

“Stop here,” he said.

She glanced his way, an alpha’s instinctual need to balk at an order in her gaze, but did as he asked.

“Close your eyes.”

Now she frowned, and a smile tugged at his lips. He knew what he was asking. They were both fighters, predators. Instinct screamed to watch another predator closely. He was asking for her trust.

She gave him a long, hard stare, then slowly closed her eyes.

Victory surged through Marrok, pumping even more desire into his veins like shots of adrenaline. He allowed himself a brief moment to study his mate. Flawless skin, high cheekbones, feline-slanted eyes of startling green currently hidden from him. Gorgeous.

“Are you going to stand there staring?” Tala kept her eyes closed but cocked a single eyebrow in question.

Marrok chuckled. “Just admiring what’s now mine.”

Something flickered across her expression, but with her eyes closed, he didn’t catch the emotion. Marrok pulled one of her hands through his arm. “Keep your eyes closed.”

Taking care so that she wouldn’t stumble, he parted a curtain of vines that appeared to cover solid rock, but, once drawn back, revealed a tunnel large enough to stand in. He led her inside, where the air caressed their skin, cool and damp. Their footsteps, particularly with her sky-high heels—what kind of woman wore stilettos in the woods?—echoed off the stone floor, the noise pinging around them.

Tala’s nose twitched. “Are we in a cave? It smells like wet rock.”

“Maybe. Not much farther.” Unable to not touch her any longer, he circled his thumb over the pulse point on her wrist. Her small gasp fed his growing satisfaction.

As they moved down the tunnel, a rushing sound of water grew louder and louder. Finally, he led them into a small chamber behind a waterfall. A light mist swirled around the room, which he’d lit with thousands of twinkle lights. Wanting to provide a luxurious and comfortable setting, he had brought in cushions—silk, satin, chenille, any soft materials, all in the same emerald green as his new mate’s eyes—and strewn them about the cave.

“Open your eyes.”

Unaccustomed nerves gripped him as she slowly lifted her eyelids and took in the scene he’d prepared for them.

No reaction.

Slowly she moved forward, taking in the details. He crossed his arms and waited. First, she examined the waterfall, trailing her hand through the downpour. With her back to him, he couldn’t gauge her reaction, though. Then she crossed to the pillows and leaned over to touch one, running her long, tapered fingers over the opulent material.

His own skin tightened as though she’d physically touched him.

Finally, she swung around to face him, her expression unreadable. “You did all this for me?”

“Yes.”

Confusion flashed across her features so quickly he almost didn’t catch it. “But this is an arranged mating.”

“It may be starting that way, but you are my mate.”

She glanced away, once again taking in her surroundings. Then crossed the cavern to where he stood. With a featherlight touch, she laid her palms against his chest and gazed up into his eyes. Her one simple touch, combined with her wildflower scent swirling around him, fired his blood, but he managed to hold himself still. Waiting for her.

Slowly she trailed her hands up, under his tuxedo jacket, pushing it off his shoulders, then down over the fine linen of his shirt where she paused and undid his pants. Already hard as the granite mountains, he ached at her actions, throbbing, but held back, letting her lead for now.

Pants loose, she pulled his shirt out and started on the buttons. With each exposed patch of skin, she laid those delectable lips against him in sweet kisses which had his blood driving through his body. Marrok fisted his hands, because the second he touched her, he knew gentle and slow would be over.

At the warm flick of her tongue against the ridges of his abs, he groaned. “Tala. I can’t—”

He choked off the words as she snaked a hand into his pants and wrapped a fist around his cock. She gave one hard pump and he shuddered.

Claim. His wolf paced inside his head.

He reached for her but found himself holding nothing because she dropped to her knees, freeing him from his pants at the same time.

He didn’t want her feeling as though she had to. This was about both of them. “Tala—”

“I want this,” she whispered.

Before he could stop her, she wrapped those amazing lips around him. Marrok’s head dropped back and a feral growl ripped from his throat as his wolf howled his delight.

Marrok buried his hands in her hair, holding and guiding at the same time, and slowly pumped his hips, dragging at her plump lips, surrounded by heat and her slick, searching tongue. Once. Twice.

Sweet agony.

But his body was too primed, and she was going to send him over the edge before they consummated their mating.

“Tala,” he choked.

She chuckled, the tickle of it against him making the ache worsen, but she released him and glanced up. Her green eyes now glowed. She, too, was on the edge of shifting, losing control.

Time to take over. He reached down to drag her up, but before he got a grip on her, she rolled backward and up to her feet in a move both lithe and athletic, and damn difficult in a wedding gown, he’d bet. Standing apart, gaze never leaving his, she reached for the zipper at the back of her dress. In a flash, she peeled the silken gown off her body.

Naked.

His mate had been entirely, gloriously naked under her dress this entire time? If he’d known that when she walked down the aisle, he might’ve mated her then and there. Screw the wait and the wedding ceremony and the audience.

“You want me, alpha?” The husky purr in her voice flayed him. “Then come and claim me.”

Her playfulness combined with challenge was like a spark to gasoline. He put on a burst of speed and had her on her back among the cushions, his body wedged between her legs, before she could even take a step.

A surprised laugh burst from her. “Hey. Big men aren’t supposed to move that fast.”

Wow. That smile. His heart contracted. Good thing she hadn’t used that on him while negotiating this mating. “With the right motivation…”

His wolf was demanding he take her, right there, but Marrok wanted to savor his mate’s body first. He dipped his head and took one tight, pink nipple in his mouth, flicking it with his tongue. With his other hand, he molded her other breast. For such a slim woman, she was a perfect handful. She squirmed beneath him and grew slicker where he lay cradled between her legs.

A rushing noise, like ocean waves coming into shore, filled the cavern. In a daze, Marrok watched the backside of the waterfall that had been showering them in mist jut outward from the cave where they hid, as though the flow was being redirected around an invisible obstacle.

Their fake sign from the gods had begun.

And right this second, he didn’t give a damn. He took Tala’s lips in a deep, drugging kiss, his tongue dancing with hers—unabashedly possessive, dominant, but then so was her response. The sweet, ripe-berry taste of her flooded his mouth as she answered every kiss with a needy moan.

His wolf lunged inside him, determined to take control and claim his mate. With a jerk, Marrok pulled back. “I have to take you. Now.”

She gave a vigorous nod, her eyes feverish, a deep flush slashing across her cheekbones. “Do it.”

“Don’t let your wolf maul me.” It had happened to other couples.

In response, Tala parted her legs wider, giving him more access. With a single stroke he entered her. Marrok gave a shout of triumph as her wet heat clamped around him. Pure heaven. His muscles shook with his attempt at control. With each thrust, he dragged his cock over her sensitive nerves, each time faster, harder, and her cries and frantic hands on his body dragged him into an abyss of sensation.

More so, the way her gaze caught and held his, sharing this moment in an unexpected way.

Vaguely, all his focus on the woman driving him higher and higher, Marrok was aware of the forest outside their cave. The waterfall peeled back from the rocks. The wind whipped the trees into a frenzy. Pine needles rained down, filling the air with their zesty scent. Birds screeched their protest as they abandoned their nests and perches. The chaotic world around them echoed the desire slamming through him.

Slamming through both of them, if Tala’s feverish, frantic movements were any indication.

He smoothed a hand over her thigh and bent her leg to wrap around him, seating him deeper inside her. Her shivery intake of breath and the way she dug her nails into his back, no doubt drawing blood, told him she liked it. Their mating might be arranged, but her body’s reactions to his weren’t an act, and he relished every fucking second.

Every movement, every moan, only drove him higher. Tingling gathered in his balls, pressure building. As the culmination of their mating neared, he brushed her hair back from the nape of her neck and licked at the spot he exposed.

“Ready?” he asked.

That emerald gaze had yet to leave his. “Yes.”

Damn, he loved that word on her lips.

Marrok allowed his wolf to show, forcing his canines to drop, and she licked her lips, pink tongue flashing over the plump flesh. With a growl, he leaned forward and, hips pumping, cock sheathed inside her, he bit hard—sank his teeth into the sweet spot where her neck and shoulder met. The rich taste of her blood burst on his tongue.

Still he held off on reaching for his own completion until the ripple of her orgasm fluttered around his dick. That’s all it took.

His body imploded, along with stars and swirls of color behind closed eyes as he continued to suck, marking her as his. His loud growl, deafening in his ears, joined Tala’s scream as he pumped into his mate. Pleasure surged through him as the perfection of her body and an odd sense of connection provided an intimacy he’d never experienced before.

The cacophony of noise from the waterfall and forest beyond suddenly ceased. The water splashed back down with an almighty roar, covering them in a chilly sheen of moisture.

He continued to move inside her until they’d both wrung every ounce of pleasure from their mating. With a satisfied grin, he kissed the mark on her neck, which was already starting to heal, then pushed her sweat-slicked hair from her face.

She gazed back with wide, almost wary eyes. “Violent delights,” she whispered, more to herself than him.

She was quoting Romeo and Juliet. Was that how she saw them? Star-crossed? Fated to end in death and defeat?

Marrok shook his head. “It’s up to us to hold the violent ends at bay.”

Her lips crooked, amusement swirling with determination in her eyes. “Yes, it is, mate.”

Mate, his wolf crooned, equally satisfied.

This was going to work.