JASMINE
In early July, my parents and I were sitting together at the Monday-morning service. It was a small crowd that day—only the totally devout along with the alpha and beta families. I was having trouble concentrating during the meditations and kept sneaking looks at Blake while everyone else’s eyes were closed. Suddenly, Blake opened his eyes and looked up at me, catching me staring. He gave me a quick wink and then closed his eyes again.
Was I developing a crush on Blake? How basic, having a crush on both the alpha and the beta. Could I be any more of a cliché?
After the service, I excused myself to go to the bathroom while my parents mingled with the congregation, as usual. It seemed like they came here more for the gossip than the actual service. When exiting the bathroom, I almost crashed into Blake, eliciting a gasp from me.
“We meet again!” he exclaimed, smiling widely.
“Hi, Blake,” I replied, not knowing what else to say, smiling back at him. He did have a really nice smile. It was a nice change to the broody appearance he had on the first day we met.
“Hey, want to go do something fun after this is over? I’ve been stuck in the packhouse with my father all week and I’m literally about to kill him. I need to get out. We can leave right now,” he said, grabbing my arm, trying to pull me away with him.
“No, we can’t! My parents can’t see me leaving with you.” I panicked, shoving his hand off me. He stopped walking and turned to look at me, frowning. Suddenly, an idea came to me. “If you want, I can meet you after they drop me at home and leave for work.”
Blake grinned. “Why don’t I come pick you up? Here, give me your phone and I’ll enter my number. You can text me your address when you’re ready.”
I looked around to make sure no one was watching and handed him my phone so he could enter his information. After he returned it, I strolled back over to my parents, baffled by what had just happened. My parents were deep in conversation, gossiping with another couple who also came to every service. My dad finally checked the time and nudged my mom to go so that they wouldn’t be late. They dropped me at home before heading off to work. I ran into the house and watched out the window as they disappeared down the road. When I was sure they were gone for good, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts to find Blake had entered his name as ‘Blake Sexy AF’. I rolled my eyes. Goddess, this guy was so full of himself.
I opened a text message and entered my address, then waited on my doorstep. A black Jeep Wrangler pulled up into my driveway about ten minutes later.
He got out of the car and opened the passenger side door for me. When I approached, he reached out his muscular arm and ushered me into my seat.
“Wow, so chivalrous!” I lauded.
“Good breeding,” he responded as he shut the door.
When he got into the driver’s seat he looked me up and down and said, “I hope you enjoy hiking.”
“I do.”
“I know a good place we can go where there aren’t any humans around, and there is a pond near the base of the mountain where we can cool off after.”
“Should I have packed my bathing suit?”
“Maybe part of my plan was to make sure you didn’t.” He smirked as he backed out of the driveway.
We drove about a half hour before he pulled over on the side of the road. This was clearly not a tourist location. We were on a rural road with no cars or buildings in sight. The forest on either side was thick with trees, without any clear path or trail to enter.
He swung a backpack over his shoulders and led me into the woods until we reached the base of a mountain. “It’s not a difficult hike. I’ve done it in both my wolf and human forms before.” We began our ascent. He was right, it wasn’t too difficult. I was easily able to keep pace with him. It only took about an hour to reach the summit.
We sat down once we reached the top and he opened his backpack. “Here, I brought snacks and water.” I took a granola bar and water bottle from him, and he opened a package of beef jerky for himself. We sat next to each other and stared out over the view of the wilderness. There was something majestic about the Vermont outdoors—it was so thick with nature—maple, pine, and birch trees spread for miles, rising and falling against rocky hills and mountains.
“So, why couldn’t we be seen together by your parents?” he asked, looking at me curiously.
“I told you, I’m not allowed to hang around any males.”
“You said you couldn’t date. I didn’t know male friends were also against the rules.”
“My parents are super strict and religious. I’m not allowed to be around unmated males until I find my mate. Even then, I’m pretty sure they’ll lock me in the house until we’re married.”
He laughed heartily. “Why don’t they just buy you a chastity belt?”
“I’m surprised they haven’t yet!” I joined in with his laughter.
“So, I take it you don’t have one on now, and nothing would stop you from having your way with me on this mountain?” He smiled mischievously, moving closer to me. “You’re already rebelling by spending time with someone of the opposite sex.” He took my chin in his hand and held my gaze, whispering, “Why not take it a step further? What do you say, want me to be your sneaky link?”
I was suddenly extremely hot and anxious. He pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. Instead of dropping his hand, he allowed his fingers to brush against my ear and then slowly skimmed the back of his fingers against the side of my face. The gesture was very intimate, and my skin was sensitive to his touch, practically tingling with each movement of his hand. My heart beat feverishly against my chest and my breathing turned heavy. He continued tracing down my neck and along my collarbone. I couldn’t decide whether I should push him off or let him keep going, probably enjoying what he was doing far too much. He finally allowed his hand to drop. We sat there like that for what seemed like an hour but was probably only seconds, looking into each other’s eyes, his blue eyes glowing in the sunlight, focused intently on me.
He eventually turned away from me and went back to eating his beef jerky, as if we hadn’t just shared a heated moment. I took a sip from my water bottle, suddenly feeling parched.
He turned to me and asked, “So you are planning on only kissing one man your entire life?”
“Is there something wrong with that?” I asked defensively.
“Just seems kind of boring.”
“It doesn’t seem boring to me.” As I said it, I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea as much as I had thought my whole life. My stomach trembled as I imagined what it might be like to disregard all my prior convictions and kiss Blake. I couldn’t help but focus on his lips—they were quite alluring, rosy with a full bottom lip. I envisioned them being both firm and gentle, wagering he knew how to use them too.
“What if you don’t meet your mate anytime soon? What if you’re still mateless at thirty?” he asked, distracting me from my thoughts.
“I never gave it much thought,” I replied. We sat in silence for a minute. Then I asked, “What about you? Was your first kiss with your mate?”
“Nah, I was a horny bastard in high school. Being the future alpha definitely has its advantages in that area.”
“What happened to not screwing around with pack members?”
“Let’s just say I learned that lesson the hard way.”
I looked at him curiously, wanting to know more about him. “If you don’t mind me asking, when did you meet your mate?” He seemed to hesitate, letting out a deep breath. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I said, realizing that maybe I’d overstepped a boundary.
“Not long after I turned eighteen,” he replied suddenly. “She was two years older than me, and I’d always known her, but we’d never hung out, so I didn’t know much more about her than her name. She was a warrior. She was extremely tough and beautiful. I used to call her my A****n woman. We locked eyes during training one day, and a realization came over me that we were mates.” He looked out into the distance as he told me this story.
“What was her name?”
After a beat he said, “Ria.”
“Are you afraid you won’t find another mate?”
“No, I’m not interested in finding another mate.”
“Don’t you want an heir?”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t fuck anyone else.” He turned and smiled at me, but I could see there was a bit of sadness behind his eyes. “Anyway, what’s this? Twenty questions?”
“I’m just curious about you,” I responded quietly, realizing I had definitely asked too much, and this was a touchy subject for him.
“Enough about me, why don’t you tell me more about you. What do you do for fun?”
Not able to think of anything interesting to tell Blake, I replied, “I’m pretty boring. I mostly just work and go to school. I’m also part of the temple choir.”
“You’re right, that’s pretty boring.”
I chuckled and continued, “Like I said, my parents are really controlling. They basically have me on a tight leash.”
“What would happen if you just stopped doing what your parents said and started making your own decisions?”
“I’m pretty sure they would kill me. My mom can be pretty scary when she’s angry.”
“Good thing she doesn’t know you’re alone with a dead sexy man in the middle of the woods. And good thing I have the alpha aura, so if she goes after anyone, it will be you rather than me.” He started laughing. “Either way, I haven’t given up on getting you out of your clothes today, and it’s starting to get really hot, so I think I’m getting closer to my goal. Let’s hike down to the water I was telling you about earlier.”
JASMINE He led me down a different path this time. It took about another hour to get down to the bottom. He was not wrong. The sun was beating down on us. By the time I reached the water, I was ready to jump in. He started peeling off his clothes until he was only wearing his boxer briefs, his muscular body on full display. My breath hitched as I tried hard not to stare while the sun reflected off his broad shoulders and bare torso. Damn, he was so jacked and sexy. Before I could lose myself in my gawking, he sprinted to the water on his bared, muscular legs and jumped in. “The water feels great! Come on in! I know you want to!” I had an internal argument with myself. It was ridiculously hot, and, logically, underwear wasn’t much different than a bathing suit. Thank Goddess I had chosen dark-colored underwear this morning. The devil over my shoulder won this time. I gestured for him to turn around. He rolled his eyes but still did it. Once his back was to me, I stripped down out of
LUCY It was well into summer and hot as hell. We didn’t have central AC in our house, so we relied on window air-conditioning units. It also didn’t help that our gas oven was old and baked the entire kitchen every time I went to use it. Today I was making cookies to put in a care package for Luke—something I had done weekly for two years. I chose today to bake because it was my day off but was now regretting my choice as I unstuck the front of my shirt from my wet body. We were in the midst of a heatwave, and I felt as if I had just showered, sweat dripping down my face and back. I, with all my brothers, still lived at home. There were seven of us living in a small, old four-bedroom house. My parents had five kids that they had to support on just my dad’s modest warrior salary. That’s why everything we had was old and in need of updating. Our windows were drafty, and many of the tiles in the bathroom and kitchen were cracked and in need of repair. I was the middle child and the odd
*** One and a half years earlier *** LUCY I planned an elaborate trip to visit Luke for my eighteenth birthday. Three months earlier, my friend Emma had turned eighteen and realized that my brother Kyle was her mate after months of grossing me out with their constant hooking up. While my brother and friend becoming mates was initially shocking, it made me feel hopeful about my own relationship and that it could happen for me too. In the same way that Emma and Kyle were attracted to each other long prior to knowing they were mates, I was sure it was the same for Luke and me. In honor of the occasion, Luke booked a luxurious hotel room in Quebec City for the weekend. He made a reservation for a fancy dinner at a steak restaurant at eight o’clock, so we would be dining just as dusk hit on my birthday on April 23. I planned to lose my virginity and allow him to mark me that night, after we knew for sure that we were mates. The act of marking each other by sinking our canines into each o
JASMINE About a week after Blake and I went hiking, I was working with Lucy. I had opened that morning. And I was working a shorter shift than normal. It was just after nine and the rush had slowed. I was looking forward to leaving in an hour when my replacement, a new hire named Reena, would be taking my place. Lucy was on her cell phone and put it down next to mine as a customer entered. She quickly took his order, and I ran to go make it. After I handed him his drink, I looked to see the screen of my cell phone flash. I was about to reach for it, but something caught Lucy’s eye and she grabbed for it first. “Ooooh! Who’s this ‘Blake Sexy AF’? Is that Alpha Blake?” Her eyes darted up at me. Shit, I forgot to change his name in my phone. “And here I was thinking you’re a lost cause!” “What do you mean by that?” “I mean, you’re such a prude. I don’t mean any offense by that, but damn, I guess I had you all wrong! Blake Sexy AF! And here he is texting you and I had no idea you ever
JASMINE He drove to and parked in the same area as last time, immediately exiting the car and coming around to my side. Upon opening my door for me, he held his hand out to help me down. He grabbed his backpack from the back seat and led me to the base of the mountain so we could hike to the top. Once we got to the summit, he spread the blanket out for us to sit down and pulled out some sandwiches. “I put a little more effort into lunch today.” He grinned and handed me a ham and cheese sandwich and a water bottle. We sat in silence, eating our sandwiches, looking over the landscape of trees below, a carpet of green forest, with openings for bodies of water. I spotted the pond where we had gone swimming below, the sun reflecting off it, giving it a glass-like appearance. The view was spectacular, and I could see why Blake liked coming here. “Do you bring all your girls here?” I asked, suddenly wondering if I was just one of the many girls he was hanging out with, especially after his
JASMINE A week went by, and I hadn’t heard from Blake since the last time we went hiking. Lucy had called me that night begging me to tell her all the details, but I just told her that we hiked and talked. She obviously didn’t believe me, but I wasn’t ready to start spilling all the details of what had happened yet. The whole thing felt like a dream, and I didn’t know how to make sense of it. We were at work, and during a lull, she leaned over to me. “How’s Blake Sexy AF doing?” “I haven’t talked to him.” “I don’t believe you.” “I’m not lying. I haven’t heard from him since last time.” “Why don’t you text him and ask him to hang out?” “Because I don’t want to.” In reality, I did want to, but I was too ashamed to actually do it, and ashamed of myself for wanting to. I didn’t want to seem eager and was still determined to not allow things to advance any further than they had. “You’re definitely lying about that. I don’t think there’s a warm-blooded woman on this earth that wouldn
BLAKE It was now late July, and I was, once again, with my father and Beta Alfred in the packhouse office. We had spent the morning going over the pack budget with the pack accountant and office manager. My father was still mostly handling the casino along with the casino managers, which was where most of the funding for the pack came from. However, I would soon oversee the distribution of the funds that flowed down from the casino to different areas of the pack such as road repair, snow removal, security, school, temple, and housing subsidies. After lunch, my father, Beta Alfred, and I sat together in the office at the packhouse, situated around the desk on a conference call with Luke and Alpha Antoine from the Lune Nordique Pack. These phone calls were becoming a weekly occurrence. We were all concerned about Alpha Édouard, who led the Bois Sombre Pack in Quebec. He was a crazy motherfucker and was known for being sadistic and unhinged. He made my father look like a straight-up sa
JASMINE I knew, logically, I should say no. I knew I should reject the far-too-smug alpha. But something inside me wouldn’t allow me to do it. I had been feeling a yearning blossom within me. I loved how he broke down all my barriers and made me feel desired. After being Perfect Jasmine for so many years, it was energizing to do something so rebellious and wrong for once in my life. That was why, without argument, I found myself at the front of the café, looking forward to the evening. I had told my parents I would be eating dinner with friends that night so they wouldn’t expect me at home. As soon as I exited work, I spotted his Jeep parked across the street and walked over. He opened the passenger door for me and helped me in. Once he hopped into the driver’s seat, he turned to me. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, but I’d like to invite you over to the packhouse. The parents are out of town on pack business and the staff doesn’t work on Mondays, so we’ll be the only ones t