Puck of My Life (Pucks, Packs & Pregnancies #3)

Archie

Eight years ago

Our town was known for being one of the coldest in the country.

There was the cold that came off the lake in January.

It slithered inside your clothes and got into your bones.

But there was another kind that lived in my pack.

Our Alpha’s moods could turn with no warning from frosty to freezing, and that had nothing to do with the weather.

There was an unspoken rule among pack members which was keep your head down and your wolf quiet.

That winter I was eighteen and a senior. I didn’t pay much attention to the second kind because I had a life full of promise and possibility ahead of me.

My life consisted of school, the rink, then home for food and study.

I played left wing for my high school team, the Ridgeline Hawks.

My wolf loved the ice, the speed, and how the crowd roared when I scored.

A couple of scouts had started showing up to games with clipboards, and they studied me as I skated over the ice.

But on Saturday, I was working in my pop’s hardware store because despite having a wolf inside him who helped him heal, he’d thrown his back out. I sold drywall screws, hammers, and hinges while watching the snow come down and thought about the next game.

The bell over the door rang, and I glanced up as two people strolled in.

One was older, maybe the dad, and the other guy was about my age.

He had that bored expression that was common in my peers when trailing after our folks on a shopping expedition.

They stamped the snow off their boots, and I smiled, noting the absence of any shifter scent, and went back to reading.

The older man was chatting about a supplier and a delivery that was three days late. I was pretty sure the pair weren’t from here and decided they must have gotten turned around looking for the freight office two doors down.

But the younger guy walked past when a gust of wind sent his scent washing over me just as the door banged shut.

Mate, mate, my wolf repeated.

Oh my gods! He is my mate.

I gripped the edge of the counter so I didn’t slide to the floor. His scent was clean and warm as if the snow was melting on his skin. But I looked at the book I’d been reading because I didn’t want him to catch me drooling.

A human mate. I’d never considered mating a human, though I had plenty of human friends. But fate had decided, and I couldn’t resist looking up and catching his eye. He had a paperback sticking out of his pocket, and he grinned at me.

The man introduced himself as Trevor and his nephew was Walter.

They were visiting from a town a couple of hours down the highway.

As I suspected, they just needed directions, and I answered in a complete sentence which was difficult since the universe had decided he was the one for me.

But Walter didn’t know. He couldn’t. I was just the cashier.

He didn’t have a wolf that helped him recognize his fate.

I told them how to get to the freight office and they thanked me, and I snuck in a question about where they were staying.

My wolf was clamoring at my insides telling me not to let them leave, but I could hardly shift in front of them and create an interspecies incident.

I did let my gaze hold his for a little too long, though, and he tilted his head before following his uncle outside.

“What’s wrong with you?” my dad asked at dinner. “You can’t sit still.”

My wolf was pacing inside me, but if I explained, my folks would ask why. But they’d both sniffed when I walked in and given one another knowing looks.

After closing the store, I drove past the hotel once where Walter and his uncle were staying, then twice, and I lost count after that.

I’d parked and tried to come up with a reason to go inside.

I could pretend they’d left something in the store, even though my cousin worked at the hotel front desk and I could look over his shoulder at their family name and room number.

But as we were finishing dinner, a sharp knock at the door told us there was only one person who’d announce his presence like that. Our pack Alpha, Garrick. He didn’t visit for tea or a chat but only came to your door when he had a reason, and it was rarely good news.

My alpha father let him in, and he strode inside. I assumed he was here to speak to my parents, but he turned his ice-cold gaze on me.

What did you do? My wolf was cowering.

No idea, and why ask because you were with me the whole time.

The temperature in the house lowered, or that was how it felt. All eyes were on me as I attempted a smile.

“You discovered something today.” It wasn’t a question, and in this small town, there was no need to ask how he’d found out.

One of our pack members had come into the store after Walter and his uncle, and my scent, plus my dazed expression and inability to ring up his order, must have alerted him I’d met my mate.

Walter’s scent was on my skin, my clothes, and in my hair and nostrils.

There was no hiding it. My folks had picked up on it too.

“And he’s human.”

“Walter.” He wasn’t the human, he was my mate, and he had a name.

I gulped and fisted my hands as fury was etched on Alpha’s face.

“I don’t give a damn about his name. There are no humans in our pack. There never have been. You know our law.”

“But he’s my mate.” I considered falling to my knees and begging, but Alpha wouldn’t be moved by my gesture.

“A human who knows who we are is a danger to the pack. You will not mate him, not while I’m Alpha.”

I blurted out that I’d leave the pack and never return, and my dads hugged me and told me to reconsider what I was saying

Garrick’s nostrils flared. “You’ll eventually come back and bring him with you.”

I begged my folks for help, but they whispered they couldn’t do anything, and I shoved them away, inwardly raging at their cowardice.

“You’re never going to see or speak to him again and don’t even think of driving past the hotel again.” He went on to say I was going to let our bond whither and die. “And if you don’t, I’ll deal with him, and you’ll get to keep the memory of his face.

My wolf bowed his head inside me and said we had to let Walter go. This was the second kind of cold, and it was worse than the low temperatures outside. I couldn’t sign Walter’s death warrant, so I agreed.

I applied to every college on the other side of the country and got a scholarship offer eleven days later. I’d study, play hockey, and not think about Walter and the hopefully happy and carefree life he was living.

I told everyone it was the offer of a lifetime, and it kinda was, but for Walter, not me.

He didn’t know I existed. I hoped being so far away would stop me from turning my truck around and driving back.

There was no guarantee, but other than finding a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific, this was the best option.

Garrick was right about one thing. A mate bond didn’t cease because of distance. But Walter was alive and safe. He was mine but only in my heart. I’d never know where he went to college or if he got married and had a family.

I consumed gallons of coffee on the drive to university, only stopping for food and gas, and I didn’t look back.