***
Pain streaked through her. Mari bolted upright. She screamed, shattering the silence. Daniel was there, a comforting presence. Instinct made her curl up, her knees pressed up to her chest. She tried to breathe through the pain, as her mate rubbed her lower back. Whatever he said, she didn’t hear it. Why did everything hurt? Her nerve ending burnt. What had happened? Something whirled in the pit of her stomach. Every part of her throbbed, like something tried to push through her skin.
“Mari.” His voice swept over her like cooling ice. “Can you hear me?”
She bit her bottom lip, tasting blood, and nodded. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Your wolf is trying to come through. The first time is always the worst. It’s why you need an alpha to help you. It’ll be okay.” Her head pulsated in time with the beat of her heart, racing out of control. Pain like mental spikes pushed through her. The bed dipped and Daniel crouched in front of her, just to the right of her legs. “I need you to listen to my voice and open your eyes. Look at me, sweetheart.”
She shook her head. With her body held like a tightly wound spring, she tried to control the pain. She failed miserably. A light touch on her knee sent delicious heat through her, chasing the hurt away. It filled every part of her until all she felt was a dull ache. Mari risked opening her eyes.
“How are you doing that?”
He cupped her cheek. “It’s the mating bond. I’m using my power to calm your wolf. As long as I’m touching you, you’ll be okay but it’s only a temporary remedy. Do you trust me?”
She nodded frantically. “God, please just make it stop.”
“Don’t look away, I need the connection.” When he took his hand off her knee, a scream nearly overwhelmed her. The pain was chased away when he took her face in his palms.
“How many times have you done this?” The doctor inside of her hated putting her life in another person’s hand, even if it was Daniel. A man who’d earned her trust.
“Honestly, you’re my first but don’t worry. I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t think it would work.” Gentle warmth, like a deep caress of invisible fingers, flooded through her. The ache and soreness vanished.
The wolf inside of her ran up an invisible path. It was impossible to pull away from him, even as the fullness became unbearable. She shot her hands out and grabbed his shoulders. Shock hit her hard. Her fingers were longer, curved like claws. She snatched her hands back, she tried to pull away worried that she’d hurt him but Daniel held her in place. His touch gentle, but impossible to break contact from. “Breathe Mari. We all went through this our first change. It’s scary, but I’m here. I’m not leaving you.”
The breath she held left her in a hiss, and she kept her eyes on his. If she focused on him, and not what her body was doing, she’d be all right. At least Mari hoped that was the case. Her body buckled. White light blinded her. Everything changed in that moment. Her body lengthened, bones popped, and hot lava ran through her veins. The only constant was Daniel. He never left her side. Never broke contact with her skin.
When she wearily opened her eyes, the bed sheets were a tattered mess. Daniel stroked her fur. It was done. Everything looked strange. The colors were bled out but everything smelt richer, more vivid, and alive. She closed her eyes again and cuddled up against him.
“You can talk to me in your wolf form. I can’t talk back to you the same way, though, not until I shift as well. Are you okay?”
Yes, what else is going to happen to me?
“A lot, but it’ll be okay. We can talk about this in the car tomorrow. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us. Get some sleep.”
During their trip to the pack, he did his best to bring her up to speed about what her future would be like. They spent their nights in each other’s arms, when they weren’t running through the desert, but doubt plagued him. The bond between them was strong but his life was dangerous. He’d managed to guide her through her first shift, which meant he was an alpha in the truest sense of the word. What saved her, also damned them. He couldn’t stay with the pack—and she needed them. He had to establish his own, but he couldn’t take her with him—yet.
When they finally arrived at the compound, he left her outside while he went into the meeting hall. He didn’t want to leave her, but he really needed to talk to Adam alone. It would only make it worse if she heard what he needed to say. He found Adam sitting at the table in the large room with papers scattered in front of him. He glanced up and stood. Adam Reece was a tall man, with a head of dark hair and keen, intelligent eyes. Over the years, he’d come to look more and more like his father. Daniel’s wolf snarled inside of him. There wasn’t any way to control it yet, and he hated that he couldn’t.
Did Adam have to contend with the same thing? If he did, he hid it well. “How did the hunt go?”
“It has become…complicated.”
Adam frowned and breathed in deeply. “Is one of those complications outside?” Daniel quickly brought him up to speed. He hated the fact that Ryback had escaped, but Adam wasn’t as pissed as he’d thought he would be. “You’ve found your mate? That’s excellent. We’ll have to move you into a bigger house. What’s she like?”
“Beautiful. I’ve guided her through her first change.” He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Adam raised his eyebrows. “It took you a while to figure it out.”
With only one thing he could be talking about, Daniel only felt surprised. “You knew?”
“I guess I knew before you did. What are you going to do?”
“I can’t stay, but I can’t take her with me. She needs something I can’t give her just yet. I need a pack of my own. I’ve also made my fair share of enemies. It wouldn’t be safe. Can she stay here? She’s a trained doctor. She might be able to help with William. How’s he doing?” For a lifetime it had been the three of them, three natural born wolves, boys without any foreknowledge about the future. They’d grown apart. Adam became the alpha, William, beta, before he became sick, and Daniel the wolf who hunted and killed on a regular basis.
Adam’s expression darkened. “He says he is all right, but he isn’t. It might be a good idea if she stayed with us for a while. William is against seeing a human doctor, but he might change his mind with a wolf doctor. When are you leaving?”
“Soon. I’ll get her settled but the sooner I leave, the better. I need to try and take over from the wolf tracking Ryback. It’ll be safer for her to be here.”
“Is she going to understand that?”
Daniel sighed heavily. “I feel like a dick, but it’s for the best.”
***
He’d been silent since returning from his private conversation with the alpha, and, with his tight control over his wolf, even with her fledgling abilities she couldn’t break through it all. She could only watch him and wait.
“You’re leaving me here, aren’t you?” She glanced up and into his eyes. For once, the wolf inside of her was silent, shocked.
“I don’t want to.”
She could barely think. After everything he’d talked about, the bond between mates, and he planned on leaving her? “What will happen if I don’t see you every day?”
He smiled at her. Small and barely there. “We’ll be okay, Mari. It’ll be hard, but this is for the best. You need to learn how to be a wolf, and this is the place for you to do that.” His tone might have been light but, at that moment, she felt his wolf push against her, a gentle whisper.
“I want to be with you.”
“There’s someone here who needs you. I know you’re still confused, trying to find a balance between wolf and human. My friend William, he’s sick and could use your help.” He brushed his lips against her parted ones. Could he taste her confusion? What wasn’t he telling her? “It won’t be for forever. As soon as William is better and I have a pack, we’ll be together.”
She closed her eyes before she rested her face against the curve of his neck. “Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
Present Day
Mari Stonewall didn’t fit in, an extra piece to a supernatural puzzle. All the years she’d spent training to be a doctor were rendered useless after Ryback changed her. The blood coursing through a wolf’s veins healed even the most grievous wound. It made her role pointless. Only a few weeks before, Kat Moon had survived a fall off of a cliff—after the alpha—her mate—infected her with the virus. The witch had resembled a puppet with its strings cut. Now, Kat ran around the compound with boundless energy, as if the fall had never happened.
Some of her skills were useful for treating William, the alpha’s best friend and the pack’s beta, who was sick. He’d lived with the illness for weeks before Daniel dropped her off at the compound. The wasting disease wasn’t like anything she’d ever seen before. It ate away at him, to the point he could barely move without crying out in pain. The situation had been infuriating to the point of driving her insane, an illness with no logical cure, a hospital miles away.
In the end, Kat found the cure, a recipe for a potion blended from a rare flower, in her magical texts. It hadn’t been easy to keep him comfortable; sedating him with painkillers hidden in a specially brewed tea. Even then, he’d burnt through the drugs at a frightening pace.
“Are you okay, Doctor?”
She smiled at the half naked man standing in front of her. William was unrecognizable from the man who’d been at death’s door. He still faced a long road, but with the right food and exercise, it wouldn’t take long for him to get back to who he’d been. She removed her stethoscope and placed it back on the desk. “I’m fine. You can put your shirt back on.”
William pulled his T-shirt over his head. When she’d joined the pack three years ago, he’d been in the early stage of his illness. She’d never seen him like this, with a sparkle in his blue eyes and an easy grin on his lips. “You don’t like seeing me half-naked?”
She laughed. “Ahhh, so there’s the legendary William charm I’ve heard so much about from Jesse.”
“There hasn’t been much chance to unleash it. You can’t blame a guy for trying.” He gave her a sexy grin. “We should go out for dinner at some point. You know, a thank you for saving my life.”
She wished her wolf would treat him with anything but vague interest. Her inner beast already knew who her mate was. She raised her hand and stopped a fraction from touching his chest. “I have a mate, William.”
The playfulness faded a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Who’s the lucky guy?”
“Daniel Greyborn.” It still hurt to say his name. The last time they’d seen each other had been three years before, a lifetime for a mated wolf. Their only contact, a single phone call, was supposed to have made it easier, but it hadn’t. His voice traveled over her skin like trickles of water, evoking memories of their last night together. He’d sounded distant on the phone. The connection they’d share muted by distance and lack of contact.
Could an alpha wolf close the bond between mates? She counted herself lucky she filled her days with work, even if she spent the majority of her time with her head buried in old medical books. Every time the pack ran through the woods, she fought the urge to travel down the mountains into Daniel’s territory. Her wolf nipped at her heels, wanting to find and roll around in the grass with her mate. A need so potent, she could taste it.
She wanted it, too. It hurt being apart from him. A muted pain like a wound never fully healed. She clenched her hands, her nails biting into the soft flesh. A handful of nights together and it still haunted her, making her body tight with need. The way he touched her like he doubted she was real. The way her hands clutched at the bed sheets. How she’d destroyed them as shifter strength coursed through her for the first time. The one word he’d whispered in her ear buried deep inside of her—
forever
. A promise she intended for him to keep.
If William could smell her desire, he ignored it. Instead, he nodded. “Then, why are you here? Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for you saving my life, but why aren’t you with him? Wait a minute. He didn’t die, did he?”
It should have been the only reason for mates to be separated. She slipped off her white coat and sat down at her desk. “No, he is alive and well. It’s complicated, William, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay, well, the invitation for dinner is still open.” William raised his hand, cutting off her protest. “I wouldn’t dream of getting in the way of mates, but I still want to say thank you.”
There wasn’t any point in arguing with him. The dark haired man had been stubborn, even when he’d been sick, a stubbornness Adam and Daniel both possessed.
How long will it be before he finds his own mate?
Jesse had visited him regularly in the infirmary and the heartbreak in her eyes had been impossible to miss. The younger wolf liked him, but Mari doubted William saw the younger girl as a potential mate. As Adam’s little sister, even if she was eighteen, he probably thought of her as off limits.
“Okay, thanks for the invitation,” she finally answered him.
The door banged against the wall and Mari jumped as wood splintered under the impact. She hadn’t even heard anyone enter the makeshift hospital. Thinking of Daniel left her tangled up in the emotions and memories. She spun on her heels, ready to attack, a snarl twisting her lips. William’s hand on her shoulder stopped her from attacking the intruder. “It’s Kat. I don’t think Adam would appreciate you going tooth and claw against his mate.”
The former witch blushed. “I’m sorry Mari, I’m still getting used to this strength. I’ll get the door replaced.” The young wolf pulled her black braid over her shoulder and took a deep breath. Inside every wolf, a balance between animal and human needed to be reached. It wasn’t an easy burden for anyone to carry or get used to. Adam helped her. Mates were two halves of the same coin. They completed each other. That was the point.
“Is everything all right?”