LEVIATHAN
June stared back at me, a hopeful and almost desperate look on her face.
It still made no sense to me. Why would anyone want to bind themselves to a man who’d treated them like shit?
Part of me wanted to offer her the chance to live with the rest of my people in Hidden Grove, but she seemed hellbent on staying in Idlewild to take care of her grandparents.
I knew exactly how bad it could be to go out on your own.
Shifters were pack animals. To be turned out with nowhere to go and no one to rely on was both emotionally and physically devastating.
Having a less than perfect relationship wasn’t ideal, but the support of a pack, of family and friends, might make it bearable.
It wasn’t my life to live, but this was not an easy thing to ask of me.
“You know it’s not that easy, right? How old are you now?”
June pulled her knees closer to her body, almost turning herself into a ball. “Uh, twenty-seven.”
“Shit,” I sighed.
Shifters reached full maturity during puberty, and their first shift usually took place somewhere between eleven and fifteen, depending on the person.
A shifter who had trouble accessing their inner wolf wasn’t entirely that rare: they usually figured it out within a year or two.
For every year that passed from that point, it became more and more difficult to make contact.
Juniper was more than a decade past the point when she should have first shifted.
If it was even possible to connect her with her wolf, it wouldn’t be easy.
She stayed silent as I thought about it.
While I mulled over the possibilities, I recalled that one whispered word.
Primroses. Those three syllables clung in my mind like a barbed fishhook.
Could this woman be Naphele reincarnated?
The odds were beyond slim, but if there was even a small chance, I couldn’t let it slip away.
“All right,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t fully sold yet. “Let’s say I do help you, what’s the plan after that?”
June’s eyes widened, the blue of her irises reflecting the flickering orange of the fire. “You’ll help me?”
“I haven’t said yes yet. First, let’s hear what you’re wanting to do. We figure out how to get you to shift, and then what?”
She swallowed, licking her lips as she looked away. Obviously, she hadn’t considered that yet.
“I go home,” she said with a shrug.
Unable to keep the smirk off my face, I said, “You decided you’d go traipsing down Main Street as a wolf, and everyone in town would come out to ooh and aah over you? That this Anders guy would stumble over himself to apologize and take you as a mate?”
“No,” she said, but from the blush rising on her cheeks, I was pretty sure I’d hit the nail on the head.
“Sure,” I said. “Seriously, what will you do if we get it done?”
She let out a heavy sigh and held her palms out to the fire.
My eyes drifted to her slender, delicate fingers. Did they look like Naphele’s had? Would they feel the same when they stroked my cheek? Try as I might, I was having a hard time not making comparisons. It made me feel like a dick.
This woman was her own person, even if she was the reincarnation of my lost love.
I couldn’t simply wash away all she was, who she was, because I wanted Naphele back.
I’d known since the beginning that if I ever found her, she wouldn’t be the same person.
That was the nature of reincarnation. Perhaps some old memories might resurface, but you couldn’t force a person to be someone else.
Even so, soul mates were soul mates, two spirits intertwined, dancing throughout the centuries and millennia to find each other again and again.
“I would go to my grandparents first,” she finally said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“After that, I’d speak with the elders, and they could address the town.
They’d want a demonstration, and that’s when I would shift and show my wolf.
Then it would be up to Anders to decide whether he’d want to reverse his decision. ”
“And if he still doesn’t?” I asked dryly.
She blinked, pulling her head back as if I’d slapped her. “Well…he has to.”
“I think it’ll take a bit more than shaking a little wolf ass in his face, if your relationship is as bad as it sounds.”
“You’re an alpha. You can show me what an alpha would like in a mate.”
More attempts to change herself. I understood why she was so desperate, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.
The only thing that stopped me from refusing her was the chance to be near her for a few days.
If she really wanted this, then I’d have plenty of time to really get to know her.
I’d be able to tell for sure if she was Naphele reborn, and if so, then who knows what might happen.
Outside, the wind had died down. Through the opening of the cave, I could see the white world beyond.
Pine trees bent under the weight of snow.
From what I could see, at least a foot had fallen, if not more.
Not a full blizzard, but enough that I had no question that Juniper would be dead right now had I not stumbled across her.
Finding her like that, among a thousand acres of forest, at the exact right time?
That had to be fate, didn’t it? The same way I found her all those years ago. Were these signs?
“I’ll help you,” I said before I could stop myself.
“You will?” She leaned forward, surprise and delight written all over her face.
Unable to help myself, I let my gaze wander down her body. Initially, I’d been too concerned to keep her alive to truly take her in. The curves and angles of her body made something long dormant stir within me.
I cleared my mind of those thoughts before they could get me into trouble. “Yes, I’ll help. I can’t guarantee it’ll work, but we can try. First question, do you have any idea why you can’t access your inner wolf?”
June chewed at the inside of her cheek. “I’m…uh, well, I don’t know if this is the exact reason, but I’m not a full-blooded shifter. My mother was human.”
“Oh,” I said, unable to keep the surprise from my voice.
Human and shifter romances weren’t unheard of, but it didn’t happen a lot, especially not in this area. We were tucked away fairly far from most human towns and cities.
“She was a photographer,” June explained. “She met my father when she came up here to shoot the scenery for a nature magazine. He was her guide into the woods, and over the course of the week they were gone, they fell in love.”
I leaned around the fire, adjusting her clothes so they would continue drying. “You talked about going back to your grandparents but not to your parents. I assume that means—”
“They’re dead,” Juniper said, her voice completely devoid of emotion.
“My mother was on assignment, and my father went with her. They were out in California, getting action shots of the forest firefighters. It was for a story in a big publication, something that was really going to get my mom’s name out there.
They got caught in a forest fire…” She shrugged.
“I was nine months old. I’ve been with my grandparents ever since. ”
“Did the people in town have anything to say about this relationship?” I asked. “I haven’t been around the shifter towns much the last few decades, but from what I remember, they were pretty traditional.”
Juniper snorted. “You could say that. My dad was the alpha of the pack for a few years. When he fell for my mother, he gave up the role to be with her. Apparently, that was a huge scandal. I think it’s part of the reason some people in town look down on me.
Not only am I a half-breed who can’t shift, but the pack lost their alpha because of my mother.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for how respected my grandparents are, it might have been even worse for me growing up. ”
“If your dad was an alpha, your bloodline is strong. Even with a human mother, there should be inherent power within you. If that wolf is in there and ready to come out, it might make things easier.”
“You think so?” The hopeful note in her voice made my heart ache.
I’d never been much of the caring kind. Since losing Naphele, I’d chosen to remain stoic and detached from most relationships as I bided my time looking for her reborn form.
Sure, I was close to my pack in Hidden Grove, but I still kept my distance, unwilling to grow too close.
It was strange for things so long dormant to suddenly rise to the surface.
“I do.” I gestured to her clothes. “Those look dry enough, and the snow’s stopped. Get dressed. I’ll take you to Hidden Grove.”
June grabbed her clothes and tugged her pants on. “What’s Hidden Grove?”
I chuckled. “What you told me… The rumors about me. Does everyone think I kill and eat anyone who ventures into my forest?”
June gave me an embarrassed smile. “Sometimes. Or that you, uh, take the women to be part of a harem or something.”
The laugh that came belting out of my lungs nearly doubled me over. When I recovered, all I could do was shake my head.
“Fortunately, neither is true,” I said. “It’s where my pack lives.”
“You have a pack?” The look of confusion on her face almost had me laughing again.
“You’ll see what I mean soon.”
Once she was dressed, I doused the fire, and we walked to the entrance of the cave. The forest was blanketed in the muffled stillness that always came after the snow.
“How far away is this place?” June asked.
“Couple miles,” I said, stepping out into the snow.
“A couple miles?” She gaped at me.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get there fast as long as you aren’t opposed to riding.”
Before she could question me, I shifted into my wolf.
Her eyes went round in surprise. My wolf was much larger than average, hulking and muscled in a way few other alphas were. More than large enough for a woman Juniper’s size to ride upon.
“You want me to…” she trailed off, pointing at me.
I gave her the best nod I could in my wolf form, then stared at her.
“Okay,” she said at last. “There’s a first time for everything, I guess.”
Her warm thighs pressed into my sides. How long had it been since a woman had been this close to me? In all my years of leading wayward shifters to Hidden Grove, I’d never let anyone ride me before. It was a bizarre, yet pleasant, sensation.
Once her hands were clutching the fur around the scruff of my neck, I took off. My pace surprised her, and Juniper let out an almost childlike giggle as I picked up more speed, racing toward Hidden Grove.