Leviathan
“I’m not used to this,” I said, gazing out the window as a massive SUV drove by. “Christ! Why are the cars so fucking big?”
Rainier chuckled. “Damn, man. I really should have tried to get you to venture out into the modern world more.”
“I was fine in the forest,” I snapped. “I had everything I needed there.” I sighed in frustration and added, “Well…most everything, anyway.”
“How many are out there?” Rainier asked, craning his neck to see around me.
Anders had given us the use of this small two-bedroom house as a base of operations while we hammered out the details of our alliance, and so I could cast a wider net to find Naphele’s reincarnation.
“Enough,” I said, letting the curtain fall back into place.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Rainier said. “I need to head home and make sure all is well there.”
“Thanks, Rainier.”
“I’ll come back tomorrow or the day after to see how all this is going. Are you sure you’re going to find her? We don’t have to do this,” Rainier said.
“She’ll be here. She has to be.”
I’d pushed away all the worries I had about her reincarnating somewhere else in the world.
My entire life hinged on finding her. I’d put too many years into it.
I’d been willing to give up for June, but she left, and now I was back to trying to find Naphele again.
My inner wolf didn’t like it. He was torn and broken.
He wanted to find Naphele again, but he was also pining for June.
I was being pulled in two different directions, which made it hard to focus.
“If you say so,” Rainier said. “I’m gonna go out the back way. I don’t want to push through all your groupies.”
“They aren’t—ah, fuck it. See you later,” I grumbled.
Rainier smirked as he walked down the hall. I heard the back door shut, and suddenly I was alone with the dozen women standing outside. Taking a breath, I opened the door, putting on my most winning smile.
“Good morning, everyone,” I said.
The women all turned to me, their faces a mixture of hopefulness, anxiety, insecurity, and desire.
“I thought we could take five or ten minutes each,” I said. “Uh…does everyone know why we’re here? What I’m looking for?”
A lovely young woman strode forward, exuding confidence. “You’re hoping one of us is your reincarnated mate,” she said, then placed a warm palm on my chest. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we, cutie?”
My smile stayed in place, but I had to force it. This woman had already proven herself to be nothing like Naphele. My mate had been fierce and determined, yes, but also demure and conservative in her attitude. She wasn’t inside this woman, not even hidden in the deepest depths.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, making the best of the situation, extending my hand. “Leviathan Cross. You can call me Levi,” I added, leading her inside and closing the door.
“Oh, I know you,” she said, taking my hand and giving me what I could only call a lascivious look. “The Demon Wolf.” She bit her lower lip. “You don’t look scary. I’m Sophie Williams.”
“Nice to meet you.” God, I already wanted to end this meeting. My inner wolf was unimpressed with the woman. There was nothing here. No spark, not even a hint of Naphele.
The discussion with Sophie went as well as I thought it would, mostly her trying to flirt with me and me doing my best to ask probing questions about her life and background.
I wanted to get to know her, but she only had one thing on her mind: seducing a powerful alpha.
After her, the next several women were more pleasant, but equally disappointing in that I didn’t sense anything.
If any of these ladies had been my fated mate reborn, I’d have felt something. The pull in my chest, that sense of knowing them, the sudden urge and desire to be near them—all the signs that someone was your fated mate. With these women, I felt none of that.
Worse still, even as I did my best to give the women my full attention, all I could think about the one person in the last hundred years who had given me all those sensations.
June. My mind kept drifting back to thoughts of her: the moment I found her asleep in the snow; her smile; the sound of her voice; the way her body felt against mine.
A constant barrage of subconscious movies playing through my head.
“That was when I dropped out of college,” Tanya, the current woman, said.
“College?” I tore myself from thoughts of June.
“Yeah.” She frowned. “You asked what I majored in.”
I did?
“Right,” I said, smiling at her. “Uh, why did you drop out again?”
She shrugged. “I decided I wanted to do what I loved.”
“Which is?” I prodded.
“I wanted to be an influencer,” she said, her eyes brightening and smile growing wider.
I stared at her, trying to figure out what the hell she meant by that. Influence what? Was that some sort of politician or something?
Tanya must have seen my confusion. Her face went red, and she put a hand to her head.
“Oh, shit, sorry. I forgot you’ve, like, lived off the grid forever.
An influencer is sort of like a marketer on social media.
Posting fun and interesting videos, and if you do well, companies pay you to mention their products.
It’s really tough to make money from it, but I’m doing all right. ”
“Social media?” I frowned. “I’m not following. What is that?”
Her face went slack, and she stared at me as though I’d told her I didn’t know that fire was hot.
Thankfully, the uncomfortable silence was broken by a knock at the door.
Turning, I spotted Anders on the porch, an aloof look of boredom on his face.
As much as I didn’t want to talk to him, I was grateful for anything that would get me out of the misery of this conversation.
“Oh, looks like your alpha is here,” I said apologetically. “I guess we’re done. It was really nice to meet you.”
“Uh, sure. Thanks.” I could see the disappointment on her face. We’d only spoken for five minutes, but that was long enough for me to mark her off my list of potential mates.
I led her to the door, and opened it. She stepped out and nodded to Anders.
“Tanya Melrose?” Anders said with a wicked grin. “Didn’t think I’d see you trying to get into Levi’s pants.”
Tanya blushed furiously as she hurried down the steps. “See you later. Nice to meet you, Levi.”
Anders had embarrassed her, apparently on purpose.
That was not the way an alpha should act toward his people.
From my limited experience with the man, June’s description of him being a bully rang wholly true.
I did not like him. It gutted me that June had left me for him, even if it had been partly my fault that she’d felt the need to leave in the first place.
If I didn’t need him, I’d never have agreed to work with him.
“’Sup, big guy,” Anders said, strolling into the house before I even invited him. “Any luck finding a new piece of ass?”
Gritting my teeth, I closed the door. “Not as of yet.”
“Eh, I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for. Lots of available ladies in town. The arrangement ceremony scheduled for next year should have a hell of a lot of people slated for pairing. If you’re lucky, you’ll snatch one of the hot ones.”
“Is there a reason you’re here, Anders? I thought you were going to give me space to find my mate.”
“I am.” He leaned down to inspect a newspaper sitting on the counter. “Came by to give you a heads-up about something important that might be of interest to you, especially since you haven’t seemed to find your long-lost mate yet.”
“And that is?” I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms.
Anders gave me a cocky grin. “My and June’s mating ceremony. We’ve started planning it.”
If he was hoping to get a rise out of me, I was the wrong guy to play that game with. Did I loathe the idea of June being this man’s mate? Of course, but I wasn’t going to give him the enjoyment of seeing my discomfort or anger.
Instead of reacting, I simply nodded, and said, “Okay. What does that have to do with me?”
Anders appeared a little taken aback that I hadn’t given him the reaction he wanted. He frowned and went back to scanning the newspaper.
“It concerns you because it’ll help you widen your net.”
“Go on.” I wasn’t sure where this was going.
Straightening, Anders shrugged. “I want the ceremony to be a big deal,” he explained.
“You and I have decided to form an alliance, but I’m still a little worried about this Red Maw threat.
I’m looking to expand that alliance to other packs.
Part of my initial attempt at that will be to invite several of those packs to the ceremony.
I’ve tasked June with planning it, and I’m going to send her a whole list of things I want.
This is going to be the premier shifter event in the state.
Tons of people.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Lots of ladies from surrounding packs will be in town that week. Lots of options for the big bad wolf, if you know what I mean.”
I didn’t want to admit that he was right, but my heart leapt at the idea of dozens of other women being in town. More chances to find Naphele’s reincarnation and try to put my heartbreak over June behind me. It was actually more than I could have hoped for.
“I’m intrigued,” I admitted grudgingly.
“Thought you might be.” Anders moved to the door.
“I’ll send word when we have the official date.
I think most of the other packs have online forums where you can put the word out for them like you did here.
You should have lots of hot tail swinging through here looking to latch onto a famous alpha. ”
“I’m sure that will work,” I said, doing my best not to glare at the other man. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
Anders stepped out, then turned back to me. “Shit! I meant to ask you something.”
Letting out an impatient sigh, I tried my best to smile. “What’s that?”
Anders glanced around conspiratorially before leaning in close. “Any of these ladies give you a little taste of what it could be like as their mate? Huh?” He nudged me with his elbow. “I went to school with Tanya; I know for a fact she’s got a really talented mouth, if you know what I mean.”
Rage unlike anything I’d felt since being back in town flooded through my chest. It was all I could do not to punch him in his smug face.
He had no business being an alpha. Not when he was talking about his own people like that.
My heart shattered again, imagining June being stuck with this piece of shit forever.
“Let me know that date, Anders,” I said, not deigning to respond to his crude question. “See you later.”
Anders locked eyes with me, and I could see he wanted to assert dominance over me. That would have been a very bad choice. Luckily, he chose the better option, grinning again, and backing toward the porch steps.
“Sounds good,” he said. “You have a good day, Leviathan,” he said, overemphasizing my name as if it was a slight before shifting and trotting away.
As I watched him go, I made a conscious effort to calm myself.
There was more going on here than just my dislike of the Idlewild Alpha.
I needed his help to protect my pack, and I needed his permission to meet with the women here to find Naphele.
I’d need to control my temper around him until both of those things were accomplished.
Closing the door, I thought of June and cursed myself for being unable to let go.