Suddenly Fated (Wolves of Riverton #1)

1.

1.

NO, no no no! This couldn’t be happening. Not now! Why me? I stood in the back of the room, peering over my camera across a sea of shifters who converged on our town for the annual pack Holiday Gala. Everywhere I turned there were people dressed to the nines, silk and diamonds (real and fake) glimmering in the golden fairy lights as far as the eye could see. Laughter and chatter filled the room and couples swirled around the dance floor, or at least they had until about one minute ago. The ballroom was in a large community building that could hold the entire town of Riverton, where our pack lived, closed off from the human world. The room was enormous and built to hold the entire pack for functions like this one, but it was also used for training, private parties, and summit meetings with other packs, presided over by…him. Michael Belisarius, the next in line and in training to be the pack Alpha. The one whose dark eyes drilled into mine from across the ballroom as if they could see into my soul.

William and Elise Belisarius-who were standing on the stage as well, watching their son in shock- served as Alpha and Luna of the River pack for three decades, but William planned to retire and let his only son lead. Michael would be Alpha, and his wife Avelin would be Luna. They were not fated mates, but had joined together to form an alliance between the River and Sunset packs. The two were the largest packs in the entire continent, and the alliance brought peace between them for the first time in as far as anyone could remember. Avelin was on the stage by her husband’s side in an amazing ice blue silk evening gown, her white blonde hair piled up on her head in a halo of curls. She looked like an angel come to life, except for the horrified look on her face as she stared at her husband, who continued to gaze at me.

The music stopped as they stepped to the front of the stage. Michael was about to make a welcoming address to the pack, but now he stood at the microphone in silence. He dropped his wife’s hand as if he didn’t even notice he’d been holding it. My heart began to beat wildly in my chest and my breathing became erratic. Earlier, I'd maneuvered through the crowd, snapping pictures and enjoying the evening. Now though, my gaze locked into his, and every sense in my body drew me to him as if we were magnets. My heart cried out, “Mine!” even as my mind was horrified. Not now! Not him! He is married; this is impossible! Why me? I’m no one!

He moved to descend the stairs, his eyes never leaving mine. People audibly gasped as he left his wife on the stage alone. My pulse picked up, my heart banging against my rib cage like a bass drum. He clearly intended to approach me. I couldn’t let this happen, especially not in front of the entire pack. As the crowd began to part for him, I turned quickly, looking around wildly for a hole in the crowd so that I could find a door. I wove my way through, bumping into shifters left and right, frantically seeking a way out. People exclaimed and a tidal wave of incredulous conversation began all around the room. At last, I encountered a door and hurried through it, slamming it shut behind me as a growl and a roar echoed through the ballroom.

“MINE!”

I entered a pitch dark room. Feeling blindly for a light switch and cursing internally as I bumped into a piece of furniture, I chastised myself for managing to find one of the only doors in the back of the ballroom that didn’t lead outside. Surely there was another door on the other side of the room? Why were there no windows in here? I found a table and set my camera down gently. I couldn’t run and keep it safe; my parents would find it later. As I continued across the room in complete darkness, my panic hit new heights when I heard the door open behind me and quickly slam closed again. The scent that hit my senses almost brought me to my knees. Oh. My. Goddess. I never smelled anything so amazing in my entire life. I knew immediately that it was him. Michael Belisarius was my fated mate, and I had to get out of this room immediately and run away as far and as fast as I could.

Everything in me screamed to give in, to turn around and run to him. The thought of leaving that room felt like torture, but I couldn’t stay here, I couldn’t be the fated mate of a married man, and I definitely could not be the fated mate of the Alpha. I was no one. Our family had no status within the pack, and I did not want to usurp the current Luna and cause a war between the two most powerful packs in the world. Or, maybe he’d reject me. After all, he was already married, and Avelin was beautiful–raised to be a powerful Luna. Who would want me instead of her? They were perfectly matched, with her golden glow and his dark hair and brooding eyes. They looked like they belonged on a magazine cover. Being with Michael was insane to even think about. Regardless, he neared swiftly, and the door was just within reach. My eyes finally adjusted, and I could see the dim outline ahead. I reached out to grasp the knob, when suddenly, an arm yanked me backward by the waist and a hand banged against the door on the other side of me.

I yelped as he turned me around and pushed me against the back of the door. His scent surrounded me- cedar, leather, and something sweet- marshmallow? It was delicious and sexy, and suddenly my body joined in with my heart’s desire to remain in this room. Heat pooled in places that I didn’t even know heat could pool. His arms caged me in; I wanted to wrap myself around him and never let go. In the nearly nonexistent light, my senses were heightened, my body attuned to every move and sound he made as he moved his body closer to mine, his eyes once again boring into me. I couldn’t catch my breath. My breasts pushed in and out, brushing against his chest, and I ached to get even closer. My hands rested on his biceps-his very hard, muscular biceps. His eyes practically glowed in the darkness.

“Where do you think you’re going, Little Mate?” he growled, the sound rumbling in his chest and making me shiver. “Why run from me? You know that no matter where you run, I will find you. Now that you're here, there’s not a chance in hell that you’re getting away.”

“But” I began, “but...Alpha. You are married. Your wife is just beyond that door. This is crazy!” He chuckled, the corner of his mouth lifting in a half smile. “I would have to agree with you, but she knew what she signed up for. She also knew that if I ever found my mate, there would be no stopping us being together. And here you are. My goddess, your scent is driving me insane.” He bent his head and nuzzled into my neck, taking a deep breath and running his lips ever so lightly up the side, just barely touching my skin. I clutched his arms as I shivered and gasped. My eyes rolled back in my head. His left arm tightened around me as his other hand slid up my back and fisted into my hair, pulling gently and drawing my head back and tilting it, baring my entire neck to him. Yes. Oh, goddess yes. Wait, no!

I pushed him away as hard as I could, and he let go of my hair. The surprise of it caused him to loosen his hold, and I banged back against the door. I put my hands up in front of me in a defensive stance. “Wait! You can’t do this! You can’t mark me here, right now! I haven’t agreed to any of this. You don’t even know my name!” He stood there looking bewildered as he panted, and a growl once again tore through him. However, I could see that the sense of my words were getting through to him, because he blinked a few times and shook his head, the lust fading from his eyes. He stepped back a few feet, and I felt the loss keenly. I didn’t want to be apart from him for even a second, but someone had to be rational here. “Alpha, please. Think about what this means. To your family, to your wife, to the pack? I am absolutely no one. They’ll be furious.”

“The pack will do what I tell them to do” he said sternly. “My family will-” his words drifted off as the opposite door opened and music followed someone into the room. I assumed that they started the party up again in the Alpha’s absence to distract the people from the world changing event taking place under their very noses.

“Alpha,” a man’s voice said as the light flipped on. I shielded my eyes from the sudden brightness and glanced around the Alpha’s body, noticing a pair of legs in a dark navy blue tuxedo and perfectly shined dress shoes. As I got used to the light, the rest of the man came into clear view. He had somewhat shaggy, curly auburn hair and a nose that was just slightly too large for his face, but it worked for him. I recognized him immediately as James McConnell, known in the pack as Jamie, the man who would soon be the new Beta. “Alpha, everyone is in an uproar. You have to come right away. They’re all waiting in your office.”

Jamie and Michael both looked at me. “Her too,” Jamie said with a look on his face that I couldn’t decipher. The Alpha grabbed my hand, practically dragging me to the entrance to the ballroom. “Come with me, Little Mate.”

“Alpha, please! I can’t go back out there!” I cried, pulling on his hand in protest. He must have agreed because he swiftly changed course, heading toward another door that I hadn’t noticed in my panicked flight earlier. It opened into a hallway and away from the ballroom. The music and laughter faded as we made our way through a maze of different halls and stairways. He barked a few questions at Jamie as we went. Finally we stopped outside of a door and he paused for a moment, looking at me and taking a deep breath before opening it, ushering Jamie in first, and then me as he followed behind. My heart began to beat wildly again as I took in the room’s occupants. William and Elise Belisarius stood regally side by side just behind a sofa near the large desk. My own parents sat nervously in their formal attire on the other side of the room, holding hands. Avelin perched on the sofa, her hands clenched in her lap and her ankles crossed just so, ever regal despite the current circumstances and how she must be feeling. A tear slowly tracked down her cheek and her eyes were red. My face heated as we made eye contact, and I looked down. I couldn’t continue to meet her gaze while I stood here, the fated mate of her husband. I felt shame and fear. Why was this happening?

Someone cleared their throat, and I glanced up and noticed another much older man in the room. He was mostly bald, with a fringe of snow white hair over his ears. His bearing told me without having to ask that he was a pack elder. “Sir, if you’re ready?” He said in a wavering voice that belied his straight and steady posture. Alpha William glanced at his wife and stepped forward to address the room at large.

“Now then. What are we going to do about this?” he asked in a clear and forceful but kind tone. “This is an unprecedented situation. It is so rare for a wolf to find their fated mate in this day and age, we had no idea that it was even a possibility for Michael. Son, what do you-”

Luna Elise broke in forcefully, her hand grasping Williams arm, her nails obviously digging in. “Of course he is going to reject her,” she nearly shouted. “We know nothing about her background, she hasn’t been bred or trained for the position of Luna, and most importantly, we already have an incoming Luna in Avelin!” As Luna Elise spoke, her voice rose and became more and more shrill. She turned to my parents. “We have been preparing for Michael to take over as Alpha for years, and the ceremony is happening in mere days. If you think for one second that your nobody of a daughter is going to come in here and ruin everything that we’ve-”

“Mother!” Michael shouted. “That is quite enough!”

My father lurched forward, his face angry and his mouth open to protest, but he closed it again and sat back at Michael’s words. He obviously wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t need to stand up for me as Michael continued.

“Last I checked, you and Father were retiring immediately, making me the Alpha of this pack. Therefore, the decisions will be made by me. And as Alpha, I absolutely refuse to reject-” he looked my way, the question in his eyes.

Deep breaths. “Esyn,” I murmured. “Esyn Stone.”

“Esyn,” he repeated almost reverently, looking around the room, moving past his parents and mine, the Elder, Jamie, and eventually landing on Avelin. “Av, I’m so sorry, but I can’t. I can’t reject my fated mate.”

Avelin looked up at him, taking a deep breath and unclasping her hands. More tears fell from her eyes but her face was stoic. “I…do we have to talk about this here, in front of everyone?” She turned to Alpha William and Luna Elise. “Would it be permissible to have a few moments alone?”

“NO!” Elise spat, even as William replied, “Of course.” Elise cut her eyes sharply at her husband. “Fine” she said in a tone that said it was anything but fine, “you have five minutes.”

Michael turned to me and said in a quiet tone that only I could hear, “I know this is bizarre. But please, Esyn, don’t leave. Just wait here. Please?”

My name on his lips made me shiver. Gone was the commanding Alpha tone that he had used thus far, and in its place was a voice that let in just a hint of vulnerability. His scent swirled around me again and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It made perfect sense to leave this office, to tell them all to go to hell and to march out the door, out of the building and down the walk to town. It made sense to shift into my wolf and run far, far away from here. Maybe I could start a new life somewhere and forget this night ever happened. Luna Elise would be pleased. What was the Goddess thinking, putting me in this position? Breaking up a family? Causing potential political strife? Changing my entire life in a matter of one evening? I couldn’t run away, though. I couldn’t leave my parents, and I knew in my heart–even after only minutes together–that I couldn’t leave him.

“I’ll stay,” I whispered, and he let out a breath as if he’d held it while waiting for my answer.

“Thank you,” he replied, then turned to the rest of the room. “Avelin, let’s go. Father, we’ll be back soon. Mother, behave yourself, and remember who makes the decisions.”

His mother looked as if she might have a stroke. Her face turned bright red, and in her anger her mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. However, she remained silent, obviously seething at being commanded by her son. Michael and Avelin left the room, and the rest of the occupants turned to me. My face grew bright red once again as I walked over and gingerly sat down beside my mother in a chair flanking the desk. Luna Elise took Avelin’s place on the sofa, still scowling, and Alpha William moved to the chair behind the desk, sitting down and placing his folded hands on its sleek surface. He glanced at his wife with a stern look. The Elder remained standing. Looking around, I noticed that Jamie slipped out of the room at some point without my noticing. Where had he gone? Maybe to placate the guests downstairs?

“Now, let’s get down to business,” Alpha William said. “Elder Sheehan, give us the information.”

Elder Sheehan cleared his throat and intoned, “Alpha, this is Esyn Stone, daughter of Victor and Amanda Stone. She is the only child of the family. Her father works in the groundskeeping department, and her mother is the head librarian at the pack library. They live on the grounds but do not generally attend anything but pack-wide events.”

“Peasants,” Luna Elise whispered, though she definitely meant for us all to hear her. “Disgusting.”

“Now, Esyn here,” continued the Elder as if he hadn’t heard her outburst, “was the first in several generations of her family to attend University. She just graduated six months ago and is currently unemployed, but seems to be making somewhat of a name for herself as a photographer. She came highly recommended to us on the planning committee and we hired her to be the official photographer for the event this evening. She was in the process of documenting the Gala when, ahem -”

He obviously didn’t have to finish that statement. We all knew what led up to this. Everyone at the Gala knew what led up to this. Shifters could sense when fated mates are together; it changes the atmosphere when their scents combine, but it is exceedingly rare. I had certainly never experienced it. I thought that fated mates were nearly a fairy tale, as seldom as it happened these days. Years ago, finding one’s fated mate was common, and every shifter expected to find theirs at some point in their adult lives, which officially began after their first shift. Some found theirs at 13 or 14, some in high school, some at University, some as adults…but not anymore. Over time it became less and less common until it rarely happened to anyone. They taught us about the phenomenon in high school history class. Now, Shifters married the same way as humans, finding partners in life if not in fate. Most did love one another, but that feeling that your entire heart and soul was connected to another? Definitely romance novel territory. A vague, black-and-white movie thing that happened to someone who knew someone who’s cousin’s best friend found their fated mate, something that teen she-wolves fantasized about.

“Well now, no offense meant, but of course we’ll have a look into your backgrounds, Mr. and Mrs. Stone,” said Alpha William. “If you are both employed by the pack, then obviously you are decent people. And you, Esyn, regardless of your background, are what the Goddess has chosen for our son, a fated match for the first time in generations. We will have quite a situation on our hands with Avelin, her father being who he is. However, even he can’t argue with the Goddess herself. Tell me though, Elder Sheehan, what is to be done?”

Elder Sheehan shook his head. “I can’t answer that until I have conferred with the Elder Council. This is something that we’ve never encountered, so we will have to do some research.”

“I can assist you with that if necessary,” my mother spoke up, finally gaining her voice after sitting silently through the entire debacle.

“Excellent, thank you Mrs. Stone,” Elder Sheehan said.

Alpha William turned to my father. “Now, if this moves forward, we will have to discuss the contract. Be prepared to come to the table with your terms. But be warned, sir, I won’t be taken advantage of.” He wiggled his eyebrows and smiled, showing that he wasn’t serious, but suddenly I was livid.

“It would be fantastic if everyone stopped speaking about me as if I wasn’t here,” I snapped. “I can speak to my own family and my own background. Don’t I have a say in this at all, or am I just going to be bartered like cattle?”

“How dare you, you insolent wretch!” shouted Luna Elise. “You will address your Alpha and Luna with the respect that we deserve, or I’ll have you banished from the packlands so fast your head will spin! It won’t matter anyway, because there will be no contract. Michael will be rejecting you, you mark my words. When he does, you can take your little camera and your little peasant family and go back to the gutter where you belong!”

“Mother, you are dismissed.” Michael entered the room again while his mother ranted. “Return to the party, go to your rooms, take a vacation if you want to, I don’t care. But you will leave my office at once. If I catch you speaking to Esyn like that one more time, I’m afraid you will be the one that is banished. Forgive me, Father, but I will not tolerate this disrespect.”