Chapter 7 – Ryder #2
The woman in my cabin—my mate—who has the intense draw, urging me to return to her.
To bundle her up and keep her safe, everyone else be damned.
The image erases every necessity for water, food, and rest—unless it’s providing those things for her.
It’s a compulsion to care for her, to give her everything she’ll ever desire or need.
Everything I’ve been feeling since this morning now has a name, a definition my body knows is right.
My wolf howls to be released, to greet his chosen.
To mark her, claim her, and explain the new reason she’s stuck here: to be mine.
But the man I am reminds myself of reality and the shred of logic that my mind clings to, which doesn’t at all believe what Marissa is saying—nor does it care.
Dad and the pack come first. Carina Hargrove isn’t and can’t be a wolf’s mate, because it makes zero sense.
She’s a witch, and therefore it’d be impossible for her to be “the best” for a shifter.
My mouth opens and closes a handful of times, the broken thoughts racing and unable to be verbalized, but thankfully, Marissa takes pity on me.
“They’re quite rare amongst shifters, but almost every male in your bloodline has been gifted one. When it happens, only the Alpha and elders are told, protecting the couple even within the pack. The others are told it’s a chosen connection.”
If every male in my family has a fated mate, then Mom was Dad’s. And Dad was wrecked after her death a couple years back.
“Why us?”
“No one knows.” Her hands lower to her chest. “Your father never said anything in case you found someone sooner. Besides, while statistically there was a high probability in it, nothing’s a guarantee, so he tried to save the heartache and instincts that’d drive you to search.
Now knowing who she is, that hunt could have taken years, driving you insane. ”
It makes sense, and I should be pissed at him, but I’m more pissed at how this was discovered. Out of every female on the planet, it has to be her? Not merely a witch, but the one I have to hand to a coven of insane witches?
Fate, you’re an asshole.
“Nature doesn’t pick our mates,” I argue, already sensing no matter what, reality won’t change.
Shifters choose who to claim based on compatibility, interest, and attraction, similar to humans’ mating rituals. It happens within a pack, but often out of it too, encouraging mixed bloodlines across the continent.
“No,” she agrees in a considering tone. “But it does happen on occasion.”
“This sounds made-up. What if never met Carina?”
Marissa shrugs, glancing again at my cabin.
“I believe whatever decides who’ll be a n?kak?stis mate is the very force that’ll ensure the two get brought together.
This is everything your mother was for your father, so believe me when I say, it isn’t made-up.
A love like theirs—that bond…it’s special.
” After a sad smile at Dad’s cabin, worry replaces wistfulness.
“When a male loses his n?kak?stis mate, their body slowly fades away. It’s why your father has aged so considerably within the last couple years since her passing.
He isn’t well, Ryder, and it’s why the magick has been affecting him so much. ”
Somehow, I always knew Mom’s passing affected Dad more than losing a mate should have.
Wolves often fall into a deep depression when the Otherworld tears a couple apart, but Dad’s reactions seemed worse.
Like it was a physical ache on top of the emotional one, and being Alpha was the only reason he continued.
What happens to me when Carina goes with the coven?
If only I could despise her for being alive. I wish I could storm my cabin and tie her outside instead and leave her out in the cold and keep her the hell away from me. Wish I could see her as the witch who cursed Dad and lump anyone from the same species together.
But I don’t hate her. And now, I can’t.
“Why have I never heard of this before?” I ask, if only to continue distracting myself.
“There are stories of other bloodlines having them too, but they’re harder to come by. You know how males are about mates—”
Protective and possessive.
“—so, imagine someone handpicked by nature. You’d do anything to protect them, including not announcing it to others, especially those outside your pack.”
I don’t have to imagine because apparently, I have one.
My gaze slides towards my cabin, a tug in my stomach urging me in that direction.
Fuck.
“How?” I breathe, my shoulders decompressing; I’m finally accepting what she’s saying. The pull is too strong to deny and has been since the second we met. “She’s a different species. Why would nature pick a non-shifter for an Alpha’s mate?”
“I wish I knew.” She pushes a few curls away from her face, pulled there by the breeze.
“But Ryder, that’s all this is—an unknown force choosing her for you.
You don’t have to accept it. From what your father explained, a force pushed him towards your mother, but nothing was settled until they formally mated.
In theory, she’ll be free to go, no matter what happens this week. ”
My wolf growls at the thought of her leaving, but it’s relieving. There’s no way we’ll be bonding. She’s a witch, she’s a stranger, but more importantly: she’s the agreement to get Dad healthy again. There will be no sex, no biting, nothing that’ll solidify the connection.
“Does she know what’s happening?” Last thing I need is Carina’s twisting this in her favour.
“Assuming she isn’t feeling what you are, which I don’t believe she would, then no, not unless you tell her. I also think you need to be very careful in considering your next steps.”
“There are no next steps,” I snap, turning until my back faces the camp.
“She’ll go to that coven, and Dad will get better.
She and I should never have even crossed paths.
Thanks, Marissa.” I back away from the elder, needing away from this conversation before she somehow twists me into actually accepting this traitorous bond.
“Get some rest. You’ve done a lot today. That’s an order.”
She stops me from leaving with a hand to my lower arm. “Tell your father about her when you can. He’ll have more information. And…be careful. If you’re feeling this already, I fear for the next few days.”
“It’ll be fine.” Except, I’m not sure it will be. “She’ll never know what’s happening and will be gone soon. Life will move on.”
With a resigned look I can’t quite read, Marissa leaves me standing by the edge of a camp where my fated mate who’s also my captive witch waits.
And inside, a wolf is hungry to claim her.