“That why he told you that you were his mate?” Grey asked incredulously, pulling back to look at her. “He lied about that to get you into bed?”
Ali nodded. “And then when he got tired of me, he said I’d fallen for the oldest trick in the book.”
It had been the worst thing that had ever happened to her. She’d never forgotten the expression on his face, casual and careless, as he said,
Oh, come on. What was I supposed to say? You weren’t giving it up.
She choked on tears again. Normally, she kept that memory locked up tight, where she couldn’t see it and nothing could remind her of it.
Grey’s eyes had changed color again, flaring from grey to silver. “Is he still around town?” he asked softly.
Dangerously.
She nodded.
“What’s his name?”
Ali hesitated. “Not yet,” she said finally. “Soon. I’ll tell you soon.”
Grey nodded. “All right,” he said, but she could feel his muscles coiled for action, ready to chase down the man who’d hurt her and make him pay for what he’d done.
No one had ever tried to make him pay.
She wanted to finish first, though. She forced herself to swallow her tears down and keep going. “I was such an idiot. I believed everything he said. It never even occurred to me that it could have been a line. But then he told me he hadn’t meant it.”
“What happened?” Grey asked. He cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking under her eye, wiping away the wetness that had accumulated there.
“I went home, I was crying. I told my family what happened. Paul was there, and he…” She swallowed. “He told me that M— My boyfriend was right. That mates were just a made-up fantasy shifter boys used to get girls into bed.”
Grey pulled her in close again, his hand cupping the back of her head. “That’s a lie,” he said. “No shifter should say that. We believe that our love is strong enough to last forever.”
Our love is strong enough to last forever
. Ali felt tears brimming again. “I don't think my ex understands what it is to love someone,” she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. “I’ve never once seen him do something because he cared about somebody else. Only about himself.”
“Then it makes sense that he wouldn’t understand. Having a mate is
about
caring for someone more than you care for yourself. Wanting to protect them, keep them safe and happy.”
Ali felt a warm thrill run through her at his words, chasing away some of the coldness that the memories had brought.
Because when Grey said that, he meant he wanted to protect
her
, and keep
her
safe and happy.
“I used to think about my mate,” Grey continued. His voice was low, almost hypnotic, and Ali pressed her face into his neck and listened. “Where she lived, what she was like. If she was all right without me.”
His arms tightened around her. “I used to wish I could find her as soon as possible so that I could be there for her. I used to worry that she might not be okay.”
He kissed her softly behind her ear. “I guess I was right to worry.”
Ali’s breath was caught in her chest. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to speak again.
“I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here for you earlier, Alethia.”
He kissed her hair, her forehead, and she tilted her head back so he could brush butterfly kisses over her eyelids and lay a soft kiss directly on her mouth.
Finally, she found her words. “My mother used to say something to me.”
“Tell me.” He kissed her again, so gently.
“She liked to read.” Ali’s chest tightened again at the thought of her mother, and her soft voice and hands. She’d died almost ten years ago. “She was always reading, every chance she got. Old books, sometimes. So she would tell me about my name.”
“Alethia.” His voice caressed it, like it was something precious.
And it was. Ali had just thought it was broken, like everything else.
“It’s Greek. And she would tell me at night, before I went to sleep,
Alethia means truth.
And she would mean different things. If I was in trouble for something, she’d use it to remind me that I always needed to tell the truth. Sometimes,” Ali blinked a few times, “she’d just say,
Alethia, you are my truth
.”
“That’s a beautiful thing to say to your daughter.” Grey was watching her with a look in his eyes. Was that love? Was that what love looked like on someone’s face?
Ali brought herself back into the story. “So the truth has always been important to me. And I used to think that I was so good at finding it, that because I was named after it, I could always tell.
“So when my boyfriend lied to me, and I fell for it so hard— When I had built up this whole future for us in my head, and I thought we were going to be together forever, but it was all based on a
lie
…” Her voice broke.
She looked up at Grey, and met his eyes. They were a soft silver that seemed to go on forever.
“I sort of lost myself for a while. I started going by
Ali
, not
Alethia
, because I didn’t think I was worthy of calling myself
the truth
, after that. And I dated a lot.” She bit her lip. “A lot. I figured it didn’t matter, since it was all a lie anyway.”
Grey shook his head. “Alethia, I don't think there’s anything wrong with dating around. For men or for women. But I do believe that it should be something you do because it’s fun and exciting for you, not because you don’t care. Or don’t like yourself.”
Ali nodded. “I know. I figured that out after a while, but I already had a reputation. The last couple of years, I haven’t dated nearly as much, and I haven’t gone home with any guys in a long, long time. But all anyone remembers around here is how I used to be, and that’s all they’ll ever remember.”
“And then I came along, and made you think I was something different,” Grey finished. “But when I told you we were mates…”
“…I thought it was the same thing happening all over again.” Ali closed her eyes, remembering the surge of fury and hurt when Grey had said those words. “I’m so sorry I yelled at you like that.”
“I understand why you did it. You had no reason to think it might be real.”
“
Is
it real?” she whispered. “Is it really real?”
Grey took her hand, kissed it, and then pressed it to his heart, clasping his own hand over the top of it. “Can you feel that?”
“Your heartbeat?” Ali frowned. She could feel the throbbing beat under her palm.
He shook his head. “No. Further in.”
Further in… Ali closed her eyes. Grey’s heartbeat pulsed against her hand, but beyond that, there was something else.
A spark.
A spark inside of Grey that met an answering spark inside of her.
She’d felt it, she realized, when they’d been making love. She recognized that sensation of joining, of their souls meeting at the same time as their bodies did. She’d been feeling her mate.
She blinked her eyes open and stared at Grey in disbelief. “It’s there. It’s real.”
“It is real,” he confirmed, and bent down to kiss her fiercely. “You’re my mate, Alethia,” he said when he pulled back. “And we are going to be together forever. And that is the truth.”
***
Grey was so angry it was hard for him to keep the growl in his chest from making itself known.
He wanted to hunt this boyfriend down and tear him limb from limb. He wanted to do the same to Paul Parker, and to everyone who had ever given Alethia a harsh word or a cold shoulder. He wanted to
show
them what happened to anyone who hurt his mate.
But more than that, he wanted Alethia to feel safe and happy right now, so he held his growl in and cradled her in his arms.
She’d fallen asleep after telling her story, clearly exhausted, and now she was curled against him, lashes resting softly on her cheeks, breathing low and sweet.
Looking at her, he felt a rush of possessive, protective instincts. He couldn’t imagine how anyone would deliberately hurt someone like Alethia.
From this moment on, anyone who did would pay.
***
Ali woke up slowly, feeling warm and comfortable and content. Better than she had in a long, long time.
Pale light was filtering through the windows. She’d slept until morning. And stretched out next to her was her mate.
He was pressed up against her, his arm around her waist, breathing softly in her ear. Slowly, she eased herself around so she could look at him.
With his incredible eyes hidden, she could appreciate the rest of his face more, its lines and planes. The straight line of his nose, the curve of his lips, his high cheekbones, the way his hair fell across his forehead.
The swell of love inside her was so strong that it made her eyes prickle. She loved this man. His strength, his kindness, his quiet respect, his hot desire. The way he was protective of her without acting like she couldn’t make her own decisions. His warm smile. The way he delighted in his snow leopard form.
As she watched, he stirred and stretched, as though he’d been able to feel her eyes on him. He opened his eyes and smiled. “Good morning.”
“I love you,” Ali said, because she didn’t feel like she could go another second without telling him.
That warm, happy smile spread over Grey’s face. “I love you, Alethia.”
She kissed him, and he wrapped his warm arms around her. Love filled her to bursting, and she held him as hard as she could.
“Are you really going to bring me with you to Montana?” she whispered.
He nodded. “I really am. And I hope you’ll stay with me wherever I go, for the rest of my life.”
“I will,” she promised. “Although I might have a hard time following you out into the mountains or the wilderness. Unless I was a snow leopard too.”
She threw that last line out as though it were a casual joke, but as she said it, her heart started to pound.
If they were mates, and they were going to be together forever anyway, could her old dream become a reality?
He pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. “Unless you were a snow leopard too,” he repeated slowly, as though he’d heard the seriousness behind the line. “Is that something you’d want?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “More than anything. I’ve wished I was a shifter for years. And when I saw you as a leopard the other night, I knew that that was what I wanted. I didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to get it, though. Could you do it? It’s not against the rules?”
“Not for mates. It’s actually better for your mate to be able to run with you and hunt with you. It makes it more likely that your children will be shifters, too.”
Children
. That sent a shiver of wistful desire through her, something she’d hardly ever felt before.
“My father was a shifter, but my mother wasn’t,” she said to distract herself. “I don’t think they were mates. He left when I was just a little girl.”
Grey’s mouth hardened. “You deserve better than what you’ve gotten, Alethia.”
“I have better.” She kissed him. "And I want you to change me."
His smile was starting again, tugging at the corners of his mouth. "All right."
"Now?"
"If that's what you want."
"I don't want to go another day without being able to run in the forest with you," she told him, as serious as she'd ever been in your life.
"All right, then." He stretched and got up. "Come on."
They got dressed and went outside. Ali shivered a little in the crisp air, but excitement quickly overran the cold.
"I can't wait to shift with you," Grey said. He kissed her once. And then again, like he couldn't stop himself. Then he stepped back and shifted to his leopard form.
Ali watched him as he came up to her. She reached out to put her hand on his head and scratch his ears like she had once before.
That's going to be me
, she thought. That fur. Those claws. That long, heavy tail. That grace and power.
He sat down next to her, and she held out her arm.
He nipped her delicately just above the elbow. It stung, but the pain was quickly overwhelmed by a feeling of warmth sweeping through her, of
rightness
.
She was changing, but it wasn't into something else.
She was becoming
herself
. Her true self. Alethia.
She knew when it had taken. She felt like she'd settled into her skin. She could feel the feline presence inside of her, and when she focused on it, when she thought about being a snow leopard, about hunting and leaping across rocks and curling up in a hollow in the forest to sleep...
She changed.
It was like the world sprang into focus—like she'd never been able to see before, and had just now opened her eyes for the first time.