Awakening the Alpha (2 page)

Air burned in her lungs, and her heart beat rapidly as she tried to deal with her confused thoughts.

What was she doing? Her father had always taught her she could not escape her fate. As if to prove him right, her wolf did something completely out of character. The creature that was part of her, part of the shadow she had become, had always been content to hide with her, to lick their wounds in self-imposed exile. But no more.

With a flick of her tail, her wolf headed away from the car, which could have driven them to safety. Her wolf made a decision; she didn’t want to be safe. She wanted to be free to run with her mate.

Their pace slowed, not enough to allow him to catch her, but enough for him to begin to gain ground. With an excited yip, she headed for the stream, crossing it and then sitting down on the opposite bank to wait for her mate’s approach.

Sitting and waiting!
Damn it. Tongue lolling out like some lovesick teenager; they waited for their mate to approach.

Sliding to a halt when he saw her waiting, he approached the stream cautiously. He was expecting some kind if trap. But there was none, only a poor, lonely she-wolf.

He stopped, and sat down on the ground, head on one side, whining gently. Her wolf stared, taking in his dark brown coat, the white tip of his tail, and his big amber eyes. Everything a little she-wolf could ask for. And he was theirs.

The wolf stood, one foot in the stream, as he began his approach. Natalie told her wolf to run, to get away from him. She was scared, because if the thought of leaving their mate was difficult now, wait until they touched for the first time. It would be impossible, and she wasn’t ready.

Her wolf refused. Too intent on her mate to listen to Natalie. He was only two feet away now, coming out of the stream, not shaking the water off his coat, maybe he didn’t want to splash her. Or did he even notice the water droplets dripping to the floor from his luxurious thick wolf pelt?

Her wolf swooned, a sense of intense excitement gripping her. Yet she didn’t move closer, she stayed still, barely breathing and let him touch his nose to hers. They both jumped back, a static charge passing between them. Recovering quickly, he came back towards her, this time sniffing her fur, and then rubbing against her. She shivered in delight, from the tip of her nose to the very last hair on her tail.

Her wolf turned its head and rubbed it against him. The male wolf took this as a good sign. So good, he turned back into his human form.

That was not what she expected, and there was no way she was going to do the same. Her wolf might want to flirt with a complete stranger, but Natalie did not. Would not. This was going to upset her whole life and she didn’t want it.
She didn’t want it.

Try as she might, her wolf wasn’t ready to believe her words, and looked longingly up at the man in front of them. Tall, impossibly broad, dressed for work, this was a man of the outdoors, a mountain man. And Natalie pined for these mountains that should be her home.

Reaching out, he ran his fingers through her fur, setting her body on fire. It penetrated her wolf, going down, much deeper to touch the human Natalie too. It took all her willpower not to change, not to throw herself into his arms and demand he make love to her by the side of the stream.

Sensing the real danger she was in, Natalie got a firm hold of her wolf, dragging her by the scruff of her neck away from this man and the temptation he held. Somehow, she made her wolf run, crossing the stream and out into the night, heading for her car and this time not slowing down or looking back, until her keys were in the ignition and she was driving away from her mate and the silent promises he offered.

He followed her but she was too fast; the suddenness of their encounter had knocked him off balance, mentally and emotionally, and this had affected him physically. His wolf had run after her, but his legs were uncoordinated, and his breathing laboured. By the time he got close, she was already shifting into her human form.

All he could do was stand and watch as she unlocked her car, slid in, pulled the door shut, and sped off into the night. Then he raised his head in the air and howled, calling to her, begging her to come back. But the tail lights grew dimmer, and then disappeared from view entirely, taking his heart with it.

Sitting down on his haunches, he waited to see if she returned. Surely she found this as difficult as he? But no car came along the road, and when the very last of the sun’s rays had gone from the sky, absorbed into the inky night, he rose and headed back to the place where he had first seen her.

Her scent hung in the air, although he suspected he was the only one who would be able to smell it. His senses were acutely attuned to her; anyone else would smell the dew-covered grass, or the damp soil beneath it. For Riley, all that existed was the smell of her wolf.

And her human. He could smell that too, although much fainter. However, when he reached the place where she had changed into her wolf, it was much stronger. Because she had left something behind. No doubt, it had been by accident, the leather thong that held the pendant around her neck had snapped in two and he remembered her turning away quickly before she went wolf. In that moment, her hand must have caught in the pendant and it had fallen to the ground.

He sniffed it, inhaling her scent before switching to his human form and reaching down to pick up the pendant: a big tooth of some kind. Bear, if he wasn’t mistaken. Tying the broken leather, he looped it round his neck and made his way across the meadow, deep in thought.

Would it be possible to identify her? He hadn’t caught a good glimpse of her in the twilight when he first saw her, nor when she ran. Although he would recognise her scent anywhere. Did the tooth pendant hold the key that would bring him face to face with her again?

Slipping back into his wolf skin, he made his way home. There he showered and changed, pocketing the pendant safely; he wanted to be careful whom he asked about it. Although Fara was the obvious choice.

***

“We’d almost given up on you,” Fara said as she opened the door to Riley.

“Sorry,” he replied, his mouth watering at the smell of Fara’s cooking. However, his stomach was too caught up in knots of nervous tension; he doubted he could eat a thing. Still, it was tempting, and he took his place at the table, watching Fara ladle stew onto his plate.

“You look sick,” Sol said, glancing up at him, while simultaneously spooning food into his mouth. “Did you eat something bad?”

“No, Sol, nothing like that.” Riley picked his fork up and began to eat, hoping the food would make him feel more like his usual self.

“How did your run go?” Fara asked, her eyes narrowing. Riley felt as if they were piercing his soul, weeding out what they wanted to know, until she sat up, looking satisfied with herself. “You met her, then.”

“Met who?” Sol asked. Riley simply ate another forkful of food. There was no need to deny it, although he did feel kind of foolish that his mate had run off from him.

“I met my mate.” Riley looked at Sol and then back to Fara. “Happy now?”

Fara’s face creased as she smiled. “If you’re happy. Which, looking at you, I’m not so sure is the case.”

He looked down at his food, and then back to meet Fara’s inquiring gaze. “She ran off.”

“Did she? Well, I guess she doesn’t know a good man when she sees one?” Fara’s eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Maybe she’s like you,” Riley countered.

“Like me in what way?” She sounded offended. Fara had never found her mate, instead living alone on her family’s farm.

“You know, would rather shoot a raider then have him in her … life.” He was reminding Fara of the shot she had taken at Cole.

Fara laughed. “You mean in her bed. Riley, any woman would have to be insane not to want you in their bed. If I was twenty years younger…” Fara cut short her sentence, and said, “But it still wouldn’t make you my mate. That is something special. And you’re sure you felt it? I mean really sure, you didn’t just feel the urge to take her to bed? A young virile man like you must miss that.”

“Oh no, it was much, much more than that. I would have married her on the spot if I could have conjured a priest out of thin air. And I have never considered myself the marrying kind.”

“If fate can pull you together once, I’m sure it will again.” Fara gave Sol another plateful of food. “I sometimes think it was fate that brought you three boys to my doorstep. I know we never got off on the right foot, but I sure as hell am glad you stole from me, just so you had to come back and make amends. I never had children of my own, but if I did … well, let’s just say I think your mom would be proud of the way you all turned out.”

“That’s a beautiful thing to say, Fara.” Riley saw her eyes misting up, and for the first time realised how much Fara loved them. It might not be a mother’s love, but it was unconditional just the same. “And you know we feel the same way.”

“Even if I did shoot Cole.”

Riley laughed. “Even if you did shoot Cole.” He put his hand in his pocket and placed the bear tooth down on the table. “She dropped this. At least I’m pretty sure she dropped it.”

Fara recognised it instantly. “Well, I'll be damned. First thing in the morning, you go down and speak to Kira. She might be able to tell you where you can find that mate of yours.”

“So you know who it belongs to?”

“I know who it
used
to belong to. But that’s a long time ago; I think it’s better if you speak to Kira.”

And that was as much as he could get out of Fara. After they’d eaten, he and Sol made their way home, although Sol wanted to stay with the puppies. Riley could see a time real soon when Sol would be living with Fara permanently. It seemed that Sol had found a surrogate mother, and couldn’t be happier.

After a couple of miles Natalie had to stop and pull over, her hands trembling too much to risk driving on busy roads. Opening the window, she let the cool air in, waiting to see if there was any sense that he had followed her. There was none.

Disappointment clouded her thoughts.

Ridiculous.
She didn’t want this
, she reminded herself. Years ago, she had cut all ties with Wolf Valley. There was no going back. Her wolf knew the score; they kept away from trouble, only allowing themselves brief excursions into the mountains. Although they might have to stop completely now she knew
he
was out there.

Involuntarily, her hand went to close around her pendant.
It was gone
. Switching on the interior light, she rummaged around, seeing if she had dropped it in the car. No. That meant she had dropped it on the mountain. She closed her eyes, feeling a sense failure once again.

The talisman had been in her family for generations, looked after and treasured by all who wore it. Not only had she ended the line of alphas, now she had lost their most prized possession too. Their symbol of power.

What power? It was dead, gone. It had blown away like her father’s ashes on the breeze the day she scattered them on the mountain overlooking Wolf Valley. She did not possess the power, the authority, to be the next alpha. The line was broken and she didn’t even know if her children would rekindle it. That was the true reason she had left, to avoid the hope she saw in the people of Wolf Valley every time they looked at her. It was an expectation she could not live up to.

There was no blood heir, no alpha. It was that simple.

Switching the light off, she pulled back on to the road and drove home. In her life, she had experienced some low points, but nothing to compare with this. Rudderless on the sea, a sea that took her here and there with a will of its own. No, she was mixing the sea up with fate. One of the beliefs her father had taught her was that you couldn’t escape your fate.

Until now Natalie had never considered herself having a fate worth avoiding; she was like a damp match, unable to spark and glow. A damp, dark disappointment. That was her fear. She would outrun her mate so that she didn’t have to live with seeing the same disappointment in his eyes that she saw in the mirror every morning. For the first time she saw how self-centred and self-absorbed she had become. This was not just about her any longer.

“No. It’s about self-preservation,” she told herself firmly. “He wouldn’t want me.” But she knew he had no choice, just as she had no choice.

Oh yes, I do
. Natalie drew on her inner strength, pulling on the mantle of a woman in control, and made herself drive home, away from the mountain, away from her mate.

Slowly, the streetlights appeared, lighting her way, guiding her back to the life she had carefully created. This was where she belonged, this was where she lived and worked, and she must not let the promise of a different life pull her back into a world of chaos that had nearly destroyed her.

On losing her father, she had slowly slipped into a depressed state. At first so subtle, she hadn’t noticed, and then it began to weigh heavier on her, until it sucked the breath from her body. Wolf Valley looked to her for guidance, but she had been too young, not old enough or responsible enough to carry other people. If she had been the alpha, had that power, she would have been strong enough. Without it, she was just a useless child.

Looking back, she knew she had been a coward. But the blame was not all hers; no, it should have been different. With the alpha having no male heir, the power should have passed to the pack’s beta. However, he had been exiled for reasons a young Natalie couldn’t understand. Until now.

Tonight she had understood how the beta had betrayed his mate and the whole of Wolf Valley by taking another woman to his bed when he already had a mate and a young family at foot. Because tonight she understood how terrible it would be for her mate to be with another woman when he was hers. Natalie was struck by the realisation that if she didn’t claim her mate, then she would die an old maid, because there was no one else for her.
No one else for him
.