Bonded Beyond Trickery (Trick or Treat Monsters)

CHAPTER 1

TILLY

After growing up in the Golden Summit pack, I had no idea that spending four years away would take away my home. I know I’m welcome in the pack, especially considering I grew up as the Alpha’s daughter and am now the Alpha’s sister, but there’s something missing here in the pack now.

I left for the right reasons—to follow my dreams of college and experiencing something more than pack life—but Golden Summit doesn’t feel like it did when I was growing up. It’s not the pack’s fault. It’s mine.

I’m not supposed to be here anymore and the lack of connection, the knowledge that my home is somewhere else, makes me feel on edge. It doesn’t help that my wolf is just as restless as I am.

She knows exactly what we’re missing. Who we’re missing.

And I’m not sure how much longer she’s willing to go without her mate. She snarls in my mind, a reminder that she’s allowed me to put and keep distance between us and our mate. I don’t think there was a moment she was happy about it, but she allowed it.

To a point.

“Like you were ever going to allow one of those humans to touch us,” she growls in my mind, knowing exactly where my thoughts were going.

“Of course not,” I mentally pacifier her.

Even if I hadn’t known who my mate was, I always planned to wait for my mate. There really was no other choice, not after watching the strong bond that exists between my parents. Growing up, knowing that the Moon Goddess had already found and chosen the perfect other half of my soul, made the idea of dating or giving myself to anyone other than my mate a waste of time.

I also saw the fall out when someone didn’t wait for their mate. No, it wasn’t always males who couldn’t keep their genitals in their pants either. There were plenty of females who were more than happy to spread their legs for a male. Unfortunately, power seemed to play a part in that.

But I was never the kind of she-wolf to chase power and prestige. Growing up as the daughter to the Alpha and Luna, I had a perspective those power hungry she-wolves never had the chance to have. I saw the sacrifice in being at the top. I saw the strain of being at the top of the hierarchy.

It was drilled into me while I was growing up and was the reason I made some of the choices that I did.

Choices that I couldn’t see past years ago when I made them.

Not only did I grow up with the notion that the pack comes first, that the Alpha and Luna give of themselves to the pack and devote their lives to the pack before anything else, but my parents were convinced that being an alpha wolf myself would mean I’d be mated to an Alpha and become his Luna.

That was a lot of pressure for someone who wanted more than the pack, who wanted more than a high school education, and who had dreams of their own. I knew my dreams would never be put before the needs of the pack. I couldn’t rely on an unknown, future mate to give me the freedom I’d need to go after my dreams.

Which is why I did what I had to do to make sure that I could achieve my dreams.

I would do it all over again.

“Even if that means our mate didn’t wait for us?” I can feel my wolf’s anger pulse through me with her question. “What if he decided he waited long enough and has a chosen mate now?”

I swallow hard and shake my head, trying to put my faith in the Moon Goddess that my mate wouldn’t have thrown away our bond to be with another, even if he has slept with other she-wolves. The thought makes me sick, but I know I can’t do much about it. Not now.

I made my choices.

I should be able to put her mind at ease about whether our mate decided that it wasn’t worth waiting for his mate, but I don’t. I made sure to never ask about the other packs and what they were up to. I never wanted to know.

Not after the mating ball five years ago when I found my mate.

It was only because of fear and my plan that he had no idea who I was to him. Well, that and a witch who I bought a very specific spell from. The moment I turned 18, I put my plan in motion which centered around a spell that masked my scent from my mate.

The spell, however, did nothing to hide my mate from me.

I knew who Whitaker was to me the moment I walked into the mating ball and saw him. I held my breath, hoping the spell would do it’s job while also wishing I could throw myself at my mate. Whitaker was polite, but there wasn’t any flare of recognition in his eyes as my brother, Crew, introduced us.

It was difficult to reconcile that was exactly what I wanted to happen even as my heart sunk. It didn’t help to have my wolf howling in my mind, her distress feeling like a living thing inside of my chest.

We were both hit with the reality of what our choices meant in that moment. She allowed me to do what I thought was right, and I did what I needed to in order to follow my dreams first.

There was no doubt in my mind that having a mate, especially an Alpha—which Whitaker certainly is—would not have given me the freedom to go off to college.

Which is exactly what I did. The only thing I could do to try and lessen the strain of not being with my mate was not ask questions about Whitaker or the Silver Howler Pack. I have no idea if he now has a Luna at his side.

Even though the thought is crushing, I understand that there are consequences for the choices I’ve made.

“He may hate us,” my wolf points out with all the delicacy of an anvil.

All I can do is mentally sigh in return and agree with her, “You’re right. It’s possible he’ll hate us.”

“And not just for hiding who we are from him,” she pushes against my mind. “We never even gave him a chance to be what we needed him to be. The Goddess doesn’t make mistakes, but you assumed a lot about who our mate is and what he would demand of us.”

“Don’t act like you hadn’t seen it happen time and time again,” I spit at her, anger taking hold because she’s right. But she’s forgotten that I didn’t make my decision without her input or her acceptance. “How many times did we see she-wolves go off to their mate’s pack, leaving behind everything they had known? Leaving behind their families? Their friends? They left to devote their lives to their mate. I wanted more. We,” I stress the word to remind her that it wasn’t just me, “wanted more. We’ll be a stronger Luna now. We have a degree. We can help our pack and be more effective because of the time we took for ourselves while gaining our education.”

She chuffs out a breath, which I know is all I’m going to get from her.

Arguing with your wolf isn’t easy. We share one body but are two separate entities. Most of the time, we’re on the same page, which makes any dissent between us feel that much bigger.

I know there will be further consequences for the decisions I’ve made. Honestly, when I went to the witch with my request and even when I drank the potion, I had no idea that I would meet my mate so soon after. I wasn’t prepared for it and hadn’t even considered the possibility.

By then it was too late. I had set upon a path and felt like I needed to follow through so at least my plan, and whatever would happen because of my choices, wouldn’t be for nothing.

The thought that Whitaker didn’t wait for me is a heavy weight on my chest.

Not only could he have chosen a mate and marked her, but he could have been with countless she-wolves in the last five years.

The thought of meeting him again, especially now that I’ve taken the antidote for the spell and he’ll be able to scent me, fills me with fear. I have no idea how he’ll react, but I can’t imagine it’ll be good.

Alphas are prideful, after all.

Then, if we can get past the hurdle, what fresh hell will await me at the Silver Howler Pack? How many she-wolves will think they have some claim on my mate? How many will think I don’t deserve their Alpha?

I swallow hard, trying to dislodge the lump in my throat.

Remembering the difficulties and jealous she-wolves my best friend, Elodie, faced here in Golden Summit when she met Crew makes me grimace. He didn’t wait for his mate and had lost hope of finding her long before I was finally able to convince Elodie to come home with me for Spring Break.

Maybe I should have pushed harder because I knew, something in me kept telling me, that I needed to get her to Golden Summit. It was an invisible thread that just kept tugging at my chest. Honestly, it was like that from the moment I met Elodie, and the fact that realizing she was human didn’t make the feeling any less real.

I should have realized that she meant something more to me than my best friend, that she meant more to the pack than I was willing to realize. We were fast friends, but we were always meant to be sisters.

“What has you thinking so hard?”

My head jerks up toward the entrance to the packhouse from the back porch where I’ve been holed up to ruminate on all my problems. Elodie is standing there with a big grin on her face, but there’s concern in her eyes.

How did I not realize that she’s my Luna, my pack’s Luna, sooner? I should have.

I was always soothed around her, which is exactly what a Luna is supposed to make you feel. I felt whole and understood, even when I couldn’t lay all my problems at her feet. I guess I could have tried, but until she was let in on the whole werewolf thing, there were a lot of secrets between us.

Not that those secrets mattered much in the end.

She was always supposed to be part of this world. It was written in the stars and fate put me on a path to find her for my brother.

He hasn’t thanked me for that yet.

I smile at her and tell her most of the truth. “I was just thinking that Crew owes me a huge thank you.”

Elodie arches an eyebrow as she comes and sits next to me on the porch swing. It’s larger than a normal one, more like a porch lounger that happens to swing, but it’s one of my favorite places in the pack. “Oh? Why is that?”

I pout at my best friend, my sister. “You don’t think he owes me a thank you just for being me?”

Her laughter floats around us before she waves her hand dismissively. “Well, obviously for that. Though,” she taps her chin like she’s thinking, “I’ve heard about some of the pranks you pulled on him growing up so I’m not sure.”

I giggle softly and shrug one shoulder, unwilling to confirm or deny if that makes Crew and I even. “But,” I point out, “if it weren’t for me, then he wouldn’t have found his Luna. At least not when he did.”

Elodie hums and relaxes back into the swing, the gentle gliding movement bringing a sense of peace that is in direct conflict to the worry roiling around in my gut. My wolf chuffs, a reminder of our earlier conversation, and I have to swallow down my confession.

Elodie wouldn’t understand the depth of what I’ve chosen to do. Sure, she would have an idea now that she’s been living in this world for a little while, but she didn’t grow up here. The same teachings, the same beliefs, aren’t as ingrained in her as they are me.

It’s one of the things that makes her the perfect Luna for my brother. She’s breathed new life, new understanding, and a new perspective into the pack. Crew was more than willing to give himself to the pack without remorse or a second thought, but Elodie will never let it go that far. She’ll never allow him to sacrifice their happiness for Golden Summit.

They’re perfect together.

“You have a point,” Elodie admits with a tilt of her head. “He really should be kissing your feet.”

“That’s all I’m saying!”

We giggle together, making me feel a little more like the girl who didn’t have to deal with the problems I was creating for myself, the girl who could ignore them for a little while longer.

A masculine throat clearing has us straightening up and turning toward the back door to the packhouse. Crew is leaning against the doorjamb, his eyes filled with amusement as they dart between his mate and me. The love he has for his mate shines through when his focus hones in on Elodie.

My heart aches to have the same kind of love directed toward me.

Before my wolf can grumble or make me feel even worse about the choices I made so long ago, the ones which can’t be undone now, a gold envelope in Crew’s hand snags my attention. My mouth goes dry, and goosebumps break out over my skin.

There’s a tremor to my voice, even as I try to hide it, “Whatcha got there?”

I know what it is. And I’ve been dreading its arrival.

Crew looks at me and smirks. “It’s the pack’s invitation to this year’s mating ball.” When he looks at his mate, his eyes heat and his voice drops an octave, “I can’t wait to see you in a gown, little moon.”

I barely hear them flirting and going back and forth. All I can focus on, all I can fucking see, is the golden envelope in Crew’s hands.

“And you’re going this year, Tilly,” there’s a demand in Crew’s voice that has me looking at him and blinking. “You’ve gotten out of it for years because of school, but you’re home now and I’m sure your mate has been looking for you.”

He might have been looking for me, but I’m not sure he’ll be happy once we meet. That is, of course, if he hasn’t already given up on finding me.