Pretty Little Wolf (Fated Mate Bonds #1)

Chapter 1

one

KAT

My damp, blonde curls were heavy in the bun on top of my head as I stepped out of the rain and into the nightclub.

Fear sat in my stomach like nausea, warring with the betrayal that weighed down my shoulders and the warmth that radiated through my body. A bead of water rolled down the back of my neck. I hoped it was rain rather than sweat.

Being a werewolf was a bitch sometimes.

A lot of the time, actually.

We always ran hot, but what I was feeling was something else entirely.

Heat.

Leaving home while I was starting to go into heat was far from ideal, but I was past the point of having options.

Flashing lights and glittering immortals danced in the massive, open space while magically enhanced music pulsed in the air.

The strapless, dark green top I'd paired with a matching high-waisted miniskirt meant I fit right into the packed crowd in front of me.

I walked past it.

There were few things I hated as much as loud music and crowded rooms.

Another bead of water trickled down the side of my neck, and I shivered.

My entire body was hot and achy, and I wished with everything I had that I could’ve been curled up in the nest on my bed. The pain wasn’t horrible, but it would get worse over the next few hours.

My heartbeat was faster than the music's rhythm, faster than the vibrating phone I'd left in my shitty car's cupholder, but my mind was made up.

This was my only choice.

My only way out.

When I reached the metal staircase, I looked up.

A slow breath escaped me.

Was I really going to do this?

If I went up there, there would be no turning back.

"You're insane," Sable, the wolf within me, grumbled.

"And even more desperate," I whispered back.

I climbed the stairs.

She was agitated. My heart beat harder as her worry bled into mine.

"The fae king could kill us," she said. "Jonah will if he doesn't."

"Jonah is technically our beta now. His wolf won't let him hurt us."

I didn't say anything about the king.

She was right about him. If he didn't want to accept my bargain, he really might kill me.

At the top of the stairs, I stopped to take in the scene in front of me while water trickled slowly over my temple.

Please, let it be rain.

On one side of the flat, metal platform that was the nightclub’s loft, there was a much smaller version of the massive dance floor below us. A group of people moved together in the center of it, a variety of different types of immortal beings.

There would be a fae queen and her boyfriend among them, if the internet was right, but I wasn’t looking for her.

My attention turned to the massive, shiny red sectional that stretched across the other side. It could hold at least a dozen immortals, but was empty, apart from him.

Callum Frost.

The winter fae king.

He was sprawled out on the couch as if he was bored, staring out at the crowd below the platform.

His messy black waves were a striking opposition to his fitted sports coat, slacks, and button-up shirt.

The shirt was undone enough to show a few inches of the glittering gray, magical tattoos that supposedly adorned nearly every inch of his light skin.

Each one of them represented a bargain.

Fae were rare, and they were the most dangerous kind of immortals in our city, Rumor. If you could convince one to make a deal with you, your wildest dreams could come true, but there was a heavy price.

A piece of your soul.

The fae you bargained with would hold that piece of your soul on his or her body until they decided to give it back by forcing you to grant them whatever favor they asked for.

Making a deal with a fae was one of the stupidest things anyone could do.

Making a deal with Callum Frost was far more stupid than that.

But, there I was.

And I wasn’t turning around.

Another trickle of water rolled down the side of my face.

It was definitely sweat.

I really should’ve been in bed.

My face had to be crazy red. Everyone would know with one look that I was going through heat.

There was nothing I could do about it, though.

With a soft breath out, I forced myself to take a step toward the king.

And another.

And another.

Until I was standing at his side, my hands hanging awkwardly at my thighs and my heart still beating too quickly.

The air around him glittered dangerously, his power too strong to be fully contained.

He was brutal. Deadly. I should've been terrified.

Instead, I was drawn toward him. His icy magic felt amazing against my flushed skin, and the way he smelled?

Pine, and snow.

I could live in it.

But I was there for business.

Plus, he was a cruel fae king known for inflicting pain and fucking people over while running the city with an iron fist.

I should’ve picked someone else.

Anyone else.

But he was the only fae I knew of who made substantial bargains with people who weren’t in power positions, and therefore my best chance. The clock was ticking on the time I had before my heat reached its pinnacle, and I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed when it did.

Callum didn't look up at me. "I don't fuck anyone whose magic hasn’t settled yet. Go home."

Ouch.

In the months before an immortal turned twenty-five, their magic stopped growing and changing. It was solid, by the time their birthday hit.

Most kinds of immortals didn’t care about magic settling. We were considered adults at eighteen, like humans, and I’d just turned twenty.

But fae were known to be picky about it.

"I didn't come here for that. I want to make a deal," I said.

He finally lifted his head and looked at me. When he did, it felt like a bolt of electricity raced down my spine.

God, he was even more gorgeous up close.

The prettiest immortals were always the most vicious.

Callum’s expression shifted slightly, growing sharper and more dangerous as he slowly looked me up and down.

I ignored the sudden burst of need in my lower belly and resisted the urge to open my legs wider.

That would be heat, rearing its brutal face.

"Maybe you should ask him to spend the night with you to finally put this to an end," Sable murmured.

Apparently, the way he looked was enough to make her forget just how dangerous this man was.

Besides, I was too young for him.

I ignored her.

I had to remember what I was there for.

"What do you want?" Callum finally asked, lifting his gaze back to mine.

"My sister was chosen as the new Alpha a few days ago. She had cosigned on the cafe we were opening together, and the bank cut our financing when she backed out because of an order from the Beta. I had already spent my half of the money. We were supposed to open next week, but I don't have the funds to do it, and I can’t pay anything back if I don’t open. "

Callum studied me for a long moment. "You’re fucked, then."

"Basically."

He stood, his movements a little stiff.

I barely stopped myself from taking a sharp breath in as he straightened to his full height.

Not because he towered over me—which he did.

I was used to that. For immortal men, their power relative to the others of their kind determined their size, so I’d met plenty of werewolf men around that large.

It was his magic. His power. It literally radiated off of him, cooling my skin in a way I needed desperately at the moment.

"I have a room in the back," he said. "Follow me."

The internet had mentioned a room he made bargains in, so I wasn’t caught off guard.

I’d researched the hell out of him. Considering I was about to trade a piece of my soul, learning as much as possible had seemed wise.

He strode across the loft, and I stayed close behind, trying not to check him out any more than I already had.

Considering the tight ball of need in my lower belly, I mostly failed.

Callum opened the door and waited for me to step through. The room was spacious. There was a mini bar set up on the back wall, and a door that I assumed led into a private bathroom off to the side of it.

In the center of the room, there were two couches set up across from each other. Behind them, there was a plush, oversized chair.

"What's your name?" he asked me, as he walked to one of the couches.

"Kat."

"Interesting choice for a werewolf."

"It's short for Katherine."

He sat down.

I sat too.

Our gazes locked, and it felt like there was something between us for a moment.

"He smells unnaturally good," Sable remarked.

"It's just heat, and his magic."

"No one's ever smelled like that before. You should fuck him."

"I distinctly remember you saying he was going to kill me a few minutes ago."

"Just think about it. Look how pretty he is," she pressed.

"You're going to get us killed."

"You're the one who wanted to make a deal with him."

I hadn’t wanted to.

It was just my only option.

"You do look similar to the new Alpha. Gwen?" he asked.

I nodded.

If the favor he demanded from me in the future had to do with her… well, I’d prefer never to see her again, but I’d figure it out.

"Let’s begin with the obvious. You’re in heat, Kat. Female werewolves aren’t known for being clear minded during heat," Callum stated.

He was right.

We weren’t.

"I’m aware, but I don’t have a partner to end it quickly, and I’m out of time. I didn’t exactly anticipate losing my sister like this."

The king dipped his head. His messy waves seemed to be the only uncontrolled thing about him. I ignored the irrational urge to bury my fingers in them. There was too much space between us to manage it, anyway. "You only need money."

"Just enough to get the cafe up and running."

"There must be someone else you can turn to. Making a bargain is rarely the best option."

"I made an enemy out of my sister’s Beta, and there is now no one in Shifter Borough willing to help me. Including my parents, and the pack I was born into. Not that any of them have this kind of money sitting around."

The king’s eyes gleamed with interest. "Care to elaborate on your issues with Simon?" Simon was the Beta’s name.