Mark of the Wolf

  “You’re my lifemate, Maddy,” he said slowly, carefully, watching her expression. “I knew it from the moment I met you. Wolves are able to sense their mates and we only have one. You are mine, and we are bonded by it.” He paused for a long moment, and he knew she was observing him intently. “I will always do what’s best for you. Trust me.”

  He hoped his words would stay with her, because he really needed her trust in the days to come. If he lost her, there would be no one else.

  * * * *

  The rare emotion in his voice struck her. She had never heard it before, never heard him speak so seriously about his own feelings. He was looking at her, waiting for a response, and she just couldn’t stay mad at him; a vulnerability shadowed his words that made her heart melt. She sighed, suddenly tired.

  Mady reached forward gently. He waited. She carefully took the sunglasses and pulled them off his face.

  She looked in his eyes, so green and beautiful with the long dark lashes and elegant brows. “Lifemate, huh?” she asked, with a small grin on her lips.

  He nodded again, shifting uncomfortably, and she sensed that he was waiting for her answer. As though he needed to know what her response would be – if she would accept him or reject him. The sudden power she felt was heady and elating.

  “I could think of worse ways to spend the rest of my life,” she said, smiling. Her heart fluttered when he smiled in return, his true smile, white teeth flashing. Maddy couldn’t keep her stomach from squirming and feeling immensely relieved. He wanted her. It was more than just physical attraction, or some strange sense of responsibility. He wanted her for good, for the rest of his life; more than just a girlfriend, even. A lifemate. She didn’t know everything that that entailed, but she could tell it was a serious deal. I mean, once in a lifetime, she thought, remembering what he had said. That has to be important.

  “Thank you for telling me,” she said quietly, and gripped his hand, never breaking eye contact. “And thank you for everything else, for saving me, for helping me. And I do trust you… very much.” She looked down then, unable to keep his eye contact. The truth left her feeling somehow naked. She had never trusted anyone before, not with the faith that she put in him and his abilities.

  His hands wrapped around her arms, and then he pulled her forward, pressing his lips gently against hers. She felt a tingle shoot straight from the tip of her head to the bottom of her toes. His tongue sought an opening and she gave him one, deepening the kiss and returning it. It was a different kind of kiss, with none of the power or demand of his others, but with a control and sincerity that left her head spinning. When he finally broke away, she had to catch her breath.

  “We should get going. Isak’s waiting,” he murmured, but the look in his eyes told her that he didn’t want to stop either. There was a fire that burned in his gaze that left her feeling branded.

  He started up the car again and drove out of the alley, returning to the main street. The sun was already beginning to set. She sighed, looking out the window, unable to keep the smile off her face. Finally, she had an answer. Finally, she knew his intentions. Finally, she could let herself feel for him in return.

  Chapter 8

  Isak’s house was small and quaint with a perfectly manicured lawn. Not exactly what Maddy had expected, especially after the disaster that was Gareth’s house. They walked up the gravel drive and three brick steps to a brightly painted red door. She glanced at Gareth. It was now full night so he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses, but he was obviously brooding, having grown more and more quiet the closer they came to the house. Finally he stood before the door, silent, not moving.

  She cleared her throat. “Maybe we should knock?”

  There was an abrupt noise from the other side of the door and she heard a bolt drawn back. Then the door opened and she was caught by surprise, staring wide-eyed at the figure who stood there.

  She figured it was Isak himself, but only because the name fit him. The man who stood in the doorway was tall, taller even than Gareth, with a thin wiry build — tough but narrow. His hair was long and white-blond, and icy blue eyes looked down at them, fringed by pale lashes. His face was stunning in a uniquely European way, with wide, pronounced cheekbones and a strong nose. There was something sharp and devilish in the quality of his smile.

  And he was smiling.

  “Took you long enough!” the man barked, his voice an even tenor.

  Gareth was silent, obviously surprised, then she saw a tight grin spread across his face. “I suppose you would be expecting me,” he murmured.

  “For the last seven years! Where the hell have you been?” The man stepped forward and clapped Gareth on the shoulder, then turned to lead him inside. “Come in, come in, my house is your house, old friend.”

  Maddy followed after, quiet and anxious. She definitely felt like an intruder, trespassing on something that she wasn’t really a part of. She closed the door behind her as the men walked into the living room. They filled out the small space with their broad shoulders and deep voices. Isak’s floor was wooden and polished, his living room immaculate with a cheery fireplace and comfortable-looking couches. She could see a dining room with a tall table and bar stools through an open doorway, and through that was a glimpse of a neat kitchen. Another door led off down a long hallway.

  Isak and Gareth traveled through the main room and into the dining room, where they sat down in the tall bar-stool chairs. Maddy hovered awkwardly in the background, quietly listening. She felt like she was eavesdropping.

  “After you left, things made a turn for the worse,” Isak was saying. He gave Gareth a meaningful look. “Kane isn’t the most sympathetic of Alphas… he has allowed several new wolves to join the pack that we don’t approve of. They’re vicious sons of bitches, no respect for the Laws.”

  Gareth nodded. “I believe I had a run-in with a few of them back in Black River,” he murmured. “And I saw Jesse and Malcolm down at the gas station.”

  Isak didn’t smile, but there was a slight twinkle in his eye. He said, “I've already heard about that. Kane’s already got your message. News travels fast in this town.”

  “Always has,” Gareth murmured.

  Isak leaned forward seriously then, his eyebrows drawn down. “I can only think of one reason why you’d be here now, Gareth,” he said. “It’s a long time in coming, I think. Well overdue.”

  “Kane initiated it,” Gareth replied. “He attacked my lifemate.”

  “Your…?” Isak’s eyes widened. He blinked, then turned to look at Maddy for the first time. His blue eyes were intense and quizzical. “She is Marked,” he said, sounding a little stunned. Maddy squirmed uncomfortably. He turned back to Gareth. “But she’s human.”

  “The universe works in mysterious ways,” Gareth replied, a slight smile hovering around his mouth. When his eyes turned to her, they glinted with warmth. “A wolf cannot choose his own mate. It's simply natural.”

  The words might have been insulting under any other pretext, but the look he gave her was so hot that it sent a shiver down to her toes. Maddy swallowed, realizing her body was responding to him even now in a stranger’s dining room. She tried not to show the response too obviously.

  “Marked, but unclaimed,” Isak murmured, drawing Gareth’s attention back to him. The two men shared a glance. “You don’t intend…?”

  “I do, and I would leave it at that,” Gareth returned.

  “A human? Really?” a new voice interrupted. “That may cause complications.”

  The voice was female and came from the other side of the room where a new figure stood at the kitchen door. Maddy’s eyes widened in surprised – she hadn't heard anyone come in. The woman was tall, perhaps six feet, almost the same height as Gareth, and she was so stunning that she could have walked out of a magazine cover. She was perhaps twenty-six, with long legs clad in tight-fitting jeans, a revealing tank-top, high cheekbones, blue eyes, and long, silvery hair just a shade lighter than Isak’s. The tw
o could have been twins, their coloring was so similar. She smiled thinly. Her eyes remained cold.

  “Yvonne, you remember Gareth,” Isak said after an awkward pause.

  Yvonne’s smile widened. “How could I forget?” she purred.

  Maddy frowned, her discomfort intensifying tenfold. She didn’t like being dismissed or talked about as though she wasn't even in the room. The tall woman walked directly past her, swaggering in her high-heeled boots, her hips tipping provocatively. She didn’t spare her a glance – rather, walked directly up to Gareth and leaned on the table in front of him. “What brings you back to town? Been a while, babe.”

  “Likewise,” Gareth said, his voice having gone flat. Maddy tried to see his expression but couldn’t around Yvonne’s tall frame. She didn’t like the way the woman talked to him, but she felt like she had no ability to interject.

  “He’s going to challenge Kane,” Isak said, “in case you weren’t already listening. The fight should be prepared by tomorrow, the full moon. Perfect timing, really. Kane is eager to finish this. We should move fast, gather all of the wolves who we know will follow us. There is power in numbers.”

  “Wonderful,” Yvonne purred again, this time her hand moving to rest on Gareth’s shoulder. Maddy still couldn’t see Gareth’s reaction and she wasn’t about to start craning her neck. Everything inside of her was begging that she step forward and plant herself firmly between the wolf-woman and the man who was supposedly her lifemate – but she couldn’t bring herself to move. She didn’t know what the situation called for, and werewolf etiquette was turning out to be far different from the human kind. The incident at the gas station proved that.

  It was Gareth who spoke next. “How is Kane by the way, Yvonne? Last I remember, you two were getting along just fine.” His voice carried innuendos that Maddy didn’t know how to interpret. She thought the tone was sarcastic, but Yvonne leaned in further, now pressing her body against Gareth’s shoulder.

  “Things didn’t work out,” she said in a low voice. “Couldn’t compare to you, babe. He didn’t have your… expertise.”

  Maddy felt like she had been slapped in the face. She was confused and innocent, but not stupid. The woman’s blatant flirtation was obvious, and she felt like an even bigger idiot. Had she and Gareth had some sort of relationship before? Then what was all this talk about lifemates? Did it even mean anything? And why wasn’t Gareth pushing her away? The woman’s hand was still on his shoulder, her breasts still pushing into his arm. Maddy looked down as her face flushed, overwhelmed by her mixed feelings. She didn’t know how to react. Maybe it was some sort of werewolf game?

  She glanced up and found Isak looking at her, his eyebrows drawn down into a frown.

  “Yvonne, Gareth and I have things to talk about,” he said, his voice carrying a growl of warning. “Why don’t you girls step out of the room for a moment? Make friends?”

  Maddy looked up, wondering what she was supposed to do. Yvonne removed her hand from Gareth’s shoulder, raising an arrogant eyebrow. She turned, flipped her hair, and flounced off to the kitchen. Maddy hesitated for a moment, unsure of where to go, then she caught Gareth’s meaningful gaze. Wherever she ended up, she wasn’t supposed to be there, so she followed Yvonne to the other room, not knowing what else to do.

  She shut the kitchen door behind her, figuring the two men needed privacy. Then she turned to look around the kitchen. It was a cheery yellow color, with tiled floors and white cupboards, and a window looking out into the backyard, though it was night outside. She was surprised to see raindrops hitting the window. It was raining, though not too hard.

  Yvonne went over to the counter and took down a glass, then pulled a bottle out of the fridge. She started mixing herself a drink. When she was finished, she turned around, brandishing the drink in one hand and a smirk on her face. Her cold blue eyes looked Maddy up and down, not hiding their scrutiny, and then she sneered, obviously unimpressed.

  “What are you, fifteen?” she asked snidely.

  Maddy frowned, unsure of how to respond. “Eighteen,” she said.

  Yvonne snorted, then turned around again, taking a deep sip of her martini. She picked up a magazine from the counter and started flipping through it. It took Maddy another moment to realize she was being ignored. She shuffled her feet against the ground and looked down at her old jeans and dirty sweater, then back at Yvonne’s stylishly casual outfit, designer jeans and knee-high suede boots.

  Questions about Yvonne's relationship to Gareth buzzed around her head, making her more and more frustrated. She bit her lip, clenched her fists and tried to douse the jealousy inside of her. But she needed answers, and as long as she and this woman were alone, she would try to get them. It would probably be less intimidating than asking Gareth, anyway.

  “So… you know Gareth?” she asked, appalled by the squeak in her voice.

  The woman flipped a magazine page and didn’t answer.

  Maddy cleared her voice again, this time steeling her nerve. “Obviously you had some sort of relationship – what, were you guys friends, or…?”

  Yvonne paused, then turned, crossing her arms over her chest. She smiled in a way that reminded Maddy of her blond enemies back at high school. She prepared herself for an insult, but none was forthcoming.

  “Yeah, we fucked,” she said, her grin widening. “We were going to ‘settle’ together, if you know what I mean, but he was going nowhere... and I needed to find myself a real man. That’s the thing about good ol’ Gareth. He talks a lot, doesn’t do much though. I bet he was just working at some car shop, huh?”

  Maddy’s mouth went dry; she didn’t know how to respond. Yvonne laughed at her silence. “Typical. Well, those days are over. Things didn't work out with the last few guys and now I’m on the market for a new mate. How convenient that he should come back in town. Who knows? Maybe he'll become Alpha.”

  Maddy felt sick and dazed, not sure what to believe. Gareth had dated Yvonne? “But I thought… about the lifemate thing….”

  Yvonne laughed again, this time shrilly, no humor in her voice. “Lifemate? You? You’re a human. Wolves don’t have human lifemates. It doesn’t work that way. You think the pack is ever gonna accept you? Or that they’ll accept Gareth if he chooses you?” Her sneer widened, if that was possible. “Why would he pick a girl like you when he can have a woman like me? He's just lonely. Once he's Alpha, he's going to forget all about you.”

  Maddy felt stunned. Her eyes widened and she thought of Gareth’s words only a few seconds before – “A wolf can't choose his mate.” But what did she really know about lifemates? Apparently it was possible to have a relationship between werewolves even if they weren’t “meant to be.” She didn’t understand anything, there seemed to be no rules in this new world, only exceptions.

  She looked at Yvonne again, her beautiful starlight hair, her sparkling blue eyes. She was Gareth’s age, they had more in common, a common background, a common history. She was the outsider here, just like she had always been. And Yvonne had a point – she hadn’t considered how the wolves would react to her presence. They didn't seem very friendly so far. What if Gareth changed his mind after becoming Alpha? Maybe she would mess everything up for him. Maybe he would ditch her once he realized she was useless.

  And he hadn’t pushed Yvonne away, after all.

  Feeling sick and betrayed, she put her hand on the kitchen door. She felt like she was suffocating, she needed air and space and somewhere to run. Except that this wasn’t her father’s cabin in the middle of the woods; this was Davenport, where she didn’t know anyone or have any place to go. But she needed to get outside at least.

  She opened the door, feeling Yvonne’s cruel smile on her back. The wolf-woman laughed low in her throat, a final taunt.

  * * * *

  “They’ll expect you to Change her,” Isak said seriously, his blue eyes intense. Gareth still felt slightly uneasy. He had been expecting a far less welcomed homecoming, but his old fr
iend had taken him into his house readily enough, showing nothing but support. Things must be very bad with Kane. If Isak's words were true, then more than half the pack was ready for a new leader.

  “It’s her decision. I won’t force her,” he said, thinking of Maddy. The pack would have to adjust to having a human female as their Alpha, but it had been done before, and he was confident that they would follow him readily enough, especially with Isak’s support. Isak’s father had been the old pack leader before Kane. Isak had backed down from being Alpha; he was strong, but not quite brutal enough. Kane didn't like keeping the son of the old Alpha around, so Isak had been pushed to the edges of the pack. He would have been exiled by now just like Gareth of Kane could find a good reason.

  “So you won’t force her… the same reason why she’s unclaimed, I suppose?” Isak’s tone was dry.

  “She’s human, I don’t want to push her away,” Gareth said shortly. “She doesn't understand our ways.”

  “And will you explain them to her — or just show her firsthand?” Isak asked, a sly smile on his face. “From what I recall, you aren't much of a teacher.”

  Gareth didn't answer. Whether or not he taught Maddy their laws, he would always protect her. “Leave that to me, my friend,” he said. “But now to business. I have something to ask of you.”

  “You don’t need to ask,” Isak said. “I know why you were here.”

  Gareth nodded solemnly. “Then you’ll be my Beta?”

  “It would be an honor,” he responded formally.

  Gareth knew what was expected next. There was a tense silence as the two men looked at each other, then abruptly Gareth launched himself over the table, slamming into Isak’s chest and smashing them both to the floor. The taller man didn’t put up much of a fight, but rather let Gareth pin him down, offering his neck in submission. It was usually a ritual done in wolf form. This was somewhat of an exception.