Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
My paws kicked up dirt and gravel as I bolted out of a bush and up a long driveway. There were a couple of cars parked out front. I stopped between one for cover and shifted back into my human form. I wiped my hands on the sides of my jeans and headed toward the front door. I didn’t even knock, knowing it was already open. The sound of my laughter drifted out of an open window.
“Hello?” I called inside as I entered, walking through the spotlessly clean foyer, through the slightly messier living room, and into the absolutely chaotic kitchen.
“Gabe! There he is.” A hard slap on the shoulder greeted me. I smiled and gave Emmy a side-hug. “We were just talking about you missing out on seeing the new guy, Eli, out on the ice.”
Hah. Perfect timing.
“Don’t worry, I already met him. Bumped into him downtown.”
I walked over to the kitchen island and grabbed myself a plate. Emmy had barbecued for the pack tonight, which meant we were all going to bed very much fed. Not all of us were here; some had other responsibilities, and others had family obligations. Not everyone in the pack was blood-related. Shifter packs happened more from a natural push toward community than a forced link through blood.
“Hey, did he smell weird to anyone else?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could while grabbing myself a buttered-up corn on the cob. Chris scoffed, and Soren shook his head, both of them on the team. I looked over to Dylan, who shrugged and continued chomping down on his burger.
“Weird as in how?” Emmy asked. He had an arm around his girlfriend and fellow pack member, Raquel Green. She was one of the newest additions to the pack, having found us during a full moon shift. She had no territory and no wolf pack of her own, so after a two-week trial period and a unanimous vote, she had become one of us. It took about a month after that for her and Emmy to officially hook up. Typically, dating within the pack was discouraged as it could bring some bad blood directly home, but since Emmy was an alpha, the rules could bend around him a little bit.
“Weird as in…” I couldn’t even put it into words. The memory alone was beginning to rile me up. “I don’t know. I picked up on his scent from over a mile away and had to chase him down. Maybe it’s from wherever he came from?”
“Ah, yes,” Dylan said. “Because everyone knows the sweet, sweet smell of Jacksonville, Florida, should be bottled up and sold.”
That got a laugh from the group and a glare from me.
“Or maybe it’s the scent of a fated mate?” Nicky said with a coy smile. She was the youngest member of the pack. At eighteen, she knew what memes were cool, what phrases not to use, and how to bug most of the older members. She also apparently believed in fanciful children’s tales.
Everyone knew fated pulls were either a silly myth (ironic coming from me, I know) or just extremely, insanely, and undeniably rare. No one I knew personally could describe what happened when meeting a fated mate. And no one was going to wait around their entire lives to randomly cross paths with the one person out of a billion something who was their perfect fit. That’s why wolves still dated and married and fell in love without ever feeling that sensationalized pull toward another soul.
There were a couple of stories of a successful fated mate scenario, though. Most of them described an entire ritual that needed to be performed under a full moon in order to “consummate” fate and solidify the connection. It required consent from both parties, so even if a wolf stumbled upon someone fate deemed theirs, the other person needed to agree as well in order for it to become true. If one of them denied the connection, then the bond couldn’t be formed and—according to the rumors—both would slowly wither away from unhappiness and gloom. If they were both wolves, then they’d likely both feel the same exact tug of fate, and neither would hesitate to cement the bond.
But what if the pairing was wolf and human? What then? Was that even possible?
I decided to ask. “If it is… a fated connection, would he feel it as a human?”
Nicky nodded. “From the books I’ve read, yes. It’s happened a couple times. But the human doesn’t feel it as strongly as the shifter. But he’ll feel something.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“Were you attracted to his scent?” Emmy asked, clearly intrigued by Nicky’s suggestion. “Or repulsed?”
“Attracted.”
Emmy crossed his hands against his chest. He wore a black jersey, our team’s logo on the blue and white striped sleeves. “And you were drawn to him?”