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TAYTE
I woke so abruptly from a sound sleep it was like someone had physically thrown me out of my warm bed. “What the...?”
Someone was banging on my front door, and they weren’t stopping any time soon.
My eyes sprung open and I jumped out of bed.
“Tayte. What’s going on?” My Beta, Sam, yelled from the back of the house as I jogged down the stairs.
“No idea,” I called back up.
We never had this sort of drama in the middle of the night.
It was still dark out. Like, pitch black dark.
I turned on a light in the lounge and opened the door, my eyes blinking rapidly to adjust to the artificial brightness.
“Morning,” Grayson said, stepping inside without an invitation.
Unusual for an Alpha.
We didn’t invade each other’s houses like this. It wasn’t respectful.
“Still night,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes clear of sleep. “But come on in, Gray.” Then I chuckled. “Oh, that’s right, you’re already in. What the hell is going on?”
Grayson grinned at me. “Put your coffee pot on, Tayte. You’re gonna have a visitor soon. You and your pack need to wake up.”
Despite my confusion, I stumbled to the kitchen and put the kettle on like he suggested.
Grayson was one of the few selfless Alphas in our larger pack of wolf shifters. If there was anyone I trusted beyond myself to care for my Beta and Omega, it was Gray.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked as he practically fell down the stairs. He slept like the dead, that one.
Dane, my Omega, walked downstairs more slowly, already pulling a tank over his bare chest.
I only wore the trackies I slept in, and didn’t see any need to dress further.
The Omegas were always more self-conscious than us Alphas.
“Hey, guys,” Grayson greeted them, too cheery for this early in the morning.
“You going to tell us why you’re here, Gray? Something wrong?”
Grayson had found his mate last month and gone through hell to get her away from a bear shifter.
His next-door neighbor, Dexter, had been the first to find a human mate in the pack.
I didn’t know Dex’s pack well, but to say I was jealous of their newfound happiness would be an understatement.
“Nothing’s wrong. I got a call from Nevaeh at the hospital. Seems a woman staggered into Emergency last night, looking for Claire.”
The hairs on my neck prickled up.
Ever since that night two months ago when I’d told a stranger about Claire, I’d been worried something like this might come up.
“Is Claire okay?”
“Yeah, she wasn’t working tonight. So, Nevaeh looked after the girl, and she’s bringing her home now.”
Huh? Nevaeh was bringing another human female here, to the pack. Why? And why was it worth waking us in the middle of the night to communicate that odd piece of news?
Sam and Dane stared at me, clearly confused.
Then the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place for me.
“This girl... blonde, blue eyes, about five feet tall?”
She had been tiny, and sweet, and very sexy, if my drunken brain hadn’t exaggerated the details of that one-night-stand.
“Not sure. I haven’t met her yet. But she asked for Claire by name at the hospital and she told Nevaeh that you were the one who told her about Claire.”
Grayson gave me a hard look and if I’d been inclined to blush, I would have.
Instead, I thrust my hands into my track pant pockets and shrugged.
“Yeah, I did. And I’m sorry about that. I was drunk, and she already knew about the shifting world. It just kinda slipped out. Seemed natural to tell her, actually, in a weird way.”
Sam looked from Gray to me. “So, what are you here to say? Is Tayte in trouble?”
Grayson turned to Sam. “Have you two met her? The girl Tayte slept with a couple of months ago?”
My eyebrows flew up, surprised by Grayson’s swift change of topic.
Dane shook his head.
Sam said, “No. He mentioned it. But that night we were working late. Tayte went into town with another pack.”
I frowned, trying to remember the details of the evening. I couldn’t believe I’d had so much to drink. Why hadn’t I waited for my own pack to join me for the trip? That was usually the way we did things.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” I said, as memories started to come back to me. “It wasn’t even my night to go into town, but with the news of Claire, I wanted to get in there and at least start looking.”
Grayson glanced at his cell phone. “Well, you may have met your destiny that night, Tayte. Looks like she’s almost here.”
Grayson stood up and went to move past me toward the front door.
I stopped him by grabbing his arm. “What do you mean? Are you telling me she’s my fated mate? That’s impossible.”
There hadn’t been any of the signs. No fainting, no intensely sweet smell— though I’d been drunk off my ass—not to mention the fact she smelled of bears.
“Grab a coffee, guys, and then make your way over to our place, all three of you.”
Grayson shrugged out of my grasp, gave us a grin then headed out the door.
Dane turned to look at me. “Do you think it’s possible, Tayte?”
“I... ah, don’t really know.”
And I didn’t.
Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “And if she’s your mate, does that mean she’s ours as well? Like with Grayson and Dexter?”
I grabbed our travel mugs and Dane brushed me away, taking over the coffee preparations.
“Thanks.”
He did coffee-making better than me.
“Well, we better get dressed, I suppose.” I glanced down at my half-naked body. I wasn’t sure how Nevaeh would feel if we turned up like this.
“Yep. See you back here in five.” Sam jogged back up the stairs.
I was slower. My brain still hadn’t quite woken up yet.
Gray hadn’t waited for the sun to rise to share this information, which must mean he was excited by the news.
But why?
Was he so interested in building the pack that he was going to foster off a one-night-stand to me and my pack in lieu of the real thing?
A wave of sadness hit me.
I wanted so much more than that.
I craved my fated mate. A woman to complete our small pack. Someone to come home to. To love and cherish. I was old-fashioned that way.
And being born in this era, where there were no wolf-born women, was both frustrating and depressing.
I pulled on jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and some nice shoes.
May as well dress up a little for the meeting.
I trotted back downstairs and the guys were waiting by the front door, coffees in hand.
“Here,” Dane said, handing mine over.
It was hot to the touch and warmed my hands nicely.
“What’s wrong, Tayte?” Sam asked as we closed the door and began the walk toward Grayson’s place.
His pack’s house was on the other side of the central shops.
“Just worried I’m about to be disappointed.”
There was a beat of silence around us as my words settled with my pack.
“What’s she like? Do you remember?” Sam asked suddenly.
“Um...” What did I remember? I’d tried so hard to suppress any thoughts of women of late. It was too painful to be reminded of our loneliness all the time. “I remember feelings, more than anything else. She was sweet, and as drunk as I was.” I shook my head. “I didn’t want to leave her, but she took off straight after we had sex, and the other pack dragged me home. I remember feeling the need to go look for her but being talked out of it. Seriously... I don’t have much.”
I shook my head and swallowed my coffee, trying to settle the strange feelings shivering through me.
I was nervous and tense.
I stretched my neck from side to side and heard satisfying clicks and pops.
We walked up the street and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of Grayson’s house.
The lights were on, the house lit up like a Christmas tree.
But there was darkness all around.
“Do you smell that?” Sam said, lifting his nose to the air.
I did. There was a faint... sweet...
“Oh. My. God.”
It was her.
The three of us raced for the front door, opening it and barreling into the house like a bunch of eager puppies.
I righted myself quickly while Sam and Dane took their time, their reflexes not as sharp as mine.
Her smell hit me like a cloud of perfume. Instant, hot and perfect.
My gaze met hers and all the memories came flooding back.
Of her lips against mine.
The softness of her body beneath my hands.
The tiny gasp of pain as I took her for the first time.
“You were a virgin.”
Her eyes widened even further. Oh damn...
“Fuck. Sorry—I didn’t mean to say that aloud.”
She had been, though. Looking back, I should have known before that point. Her reactions had been too innocent, her enthusiasm too real. The pain in that first thrust, too true.
There was an elbow in my side, as Dane and Sam waited to pounce.
“Oh, um... Dane and Sam, this is... Celeste.”
Her name rolled off my tongue like it had always been there.
Great save, memory.
Celeste stood up and walked toward me, the oversized clothes not suiting her.
“It’s you.”
She reached up to touch my face like I was the dream, not her. I leaned into her caress, wanting to feel her skin against mine.
She was so tiny, I’d forgotten just how fragile and delicate her tiny frame had been. She cupped my jaw and I turned my face to kiss her smooth palm.
The gasp that ricocheted through the room deafened me.
She began to crumple. I swooped down to scoop her up before she hit the floor, and I began to shake as pleasure pulsed through every vein and muscle at the feel of her beautiful body in my arms.
I heard a female voice in the background, behind the rushing of blood in my ears. “Sam, Dane, touch her as well. Get it all over and done with in one go.”
I didn’t understand what the woman meant and bared my teeth to my pack as my Omega and Beta rushed forward to put their hands on my mate.
She cried out as if half-waking up, violently arching her back and shivering all over. Then she passed out fully again.
I glared at Dane, then Sam, fighting my wolf to stay down, and they backed away.
Grayson stepped closer and I snarled at the other Alpha.
He needed to stay away from my mate, or so help me God...
Then Nevaeh was there, pushing Gray back, away from me and my mate, and slowly stepping toward me.
“It’s okay, Tayte. You’ve got her, she’s safe now. I brought her home from the hospital for you. No one’s going to take her away, now. It’s all right.”
Her words made sense. I knew that somehow, on a rational level, but I couldn’t seem to interpret them properly.
My wolf was crawling up my back. Exploding through my humanity. Fighting to get out and take over.
Protect. I had to protect my mate.
Fuck... no!
I couldn’t control the shift. Horror slammed into me. I was going to hurt Celeste because I couldn’t contain my wolf.
I yelled at my Beta. “Take her, Sam. Quick.”
He rushed over and even though I’d called him, demanded his help, a possessive growl erupted out of my throat.
Somehow I found the strength to release Celeste to Sam, and then I backed up to the front door and managed to wrench it open moments before my wolf ripped through me. Muscles transformed, fur sprouting through my skin as my clothes shredded and fell to the ground beside me.
I shook myself as the transformation completed. I looked around the room through my wolf eyes, everything in black and white and gray.
My mate was here, safe in Sam’s arms. Safe with my pack.
Though Gray was still there, across the room.
My lip curled up as I glared at him. I didn’t want to leave another Alpha alone with my mate. Not when Celeste and I were still unmated.
But I couldn’t stay here. I had too much energy to burn off.
Grayson met my gaze calmly, nodding after a moment as though he understood. “I’ll come with you.” He walked toward me, stripped off his shirt and jeans and his shifter emerged.
The silver wolf matched me in color and size.
An Alpha.
He nudged me in the shoulder with his head and we took off together, running through the woods. Running away from my destiny at this point. So that I could return, clear headed and stronger than ever, and accept whatever path my destiny led me down.