Kate was a witch, one of the few in the US without a coven, and she made her home part time with my pack. We gave her a place to her boat, along with protection. In exchange, she occasionally helped us with her magic.
“Garreth.” She didn’t turn around as she said my name, her long hair blowing in the wind.
“How did you know it was me?” I stopped on the dock beside her. “Witches have a terrible sense of smell.”
She laughed. “I have my ways.”
“I’m hoping you can use those ways to help me out.”
“Oh?” She looked at me, then, eyebrows raised. Kate was beautiful in a delicate way, and there might have been something between us when she’d first arrived if I hadn’t been so determined to avoid any attachment and she hadn’t been so heartbroken—by what, I’d never known.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“I need help with my mate.” Even the words sounded foreign on my tongue.
Her eyebrows shot even higher, surprise sparkling in her eyes. “Your mate, you say?”
I nodded. “I saw her in the city.”
“Congratulations.”
I felt a scowl cut across my face, an unconscious display of emotion that annoyed me. “Not in order.”
“Why not? Every wolf is always thrilled to find their mate.”
She was right. It was usually a cause for celebration. It wasn’t a love at first sight thing with most fated mates, but it was fate’s way of saying this person is perfect for you.
If neither party totally screwed it up, it was often the best thing that ever happened to them.
“It’s not an option for me,” I said. “I need a way to break the bond.”
She held up her hand. “Wait a minute. I’m going to need to know why it’s not an option. Because if I’ve ever seen someone who could use a little comfort in their life, it’s you.”
“I’m fine.” I crossed my arms and glared. “There’s nothing wrong with my life.”
“Sure. All those nights working alone must be such a blast.”
“You know the pack needs me.”
She waved a hand dismissively, and I was equal parts annoyed and gratified. Even though she occasionally lived on our land, Kate wasn’t pack. Having a person who didn’t rely on me had turned out to be very valuable. She gave good advice, and I never needed to worry that she wanted something I couldn’t give.
“Sure, they need you,” she said. “But you know what they say on airplanes. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first.”
“I’m breathing just fine, thanks.”
“You know what I mean. You’re going to wither up and die if you stay alone all the time. I’ve never even seen you date.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t.” But I didn’t. She didn’t need to know that, though. “So, will you help me or not?”
“Of course, I will. But first, I want to know why it’s so damned important to get her out of your life. Because that’s just plain crazy, and I’m not going to do it unless you tell me why.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and stared down at the wide wooden slats of the dock. I could just barely make out the dark water below. “You weren’t here when my father was alpha.”
“No. I’ve heard stories, though. No leadership. Young wolves leaving for other packs, like the one in the city.”
Just the mention of the City Pack raised my hackles. They were the entire reason my pack was falling apart. “You heard right. But his mate was the reason for that.”
“What?” She frowned.
“She wasn’t pack. Which is highly unusual for us, but she was his mate, so no one said anything. It was years before we realized that she owed her loyalty to the City Pack.” The shifters living in Seattle were a mixed group—mostly mountain lions, but a few bears, and now two dozen of our wolves—and she’d been one of the mountain lions.
“Holy fates.” She breathed out a shocked sound. “So, when the pack was falling apart and you guys were losing members to the City Pack, it was partially because of her?”
I nodded. “She was polluting his mind. The City Pack hoped that if they could get enough of our pack into theirs, they could eventually take over our land. We’ve lost two dozen of our youngest wolves to their poaching.”
I occasionally saw them in the city when I visited, but they crossed the street to avoid me.
“Bastards.” Her face suddenly turned sad. “Is that why your father killed himself?”
I nodded, my chest tightening. “He realized one day what was going on. It was like he woke up out of a fog, and the truth of his mate crushed him. But discovering how far the pack had fallen was what ended him. He knew he needed to pass it on.”
How he’d done it had been horrifying.
I still remembered coming home from the army and finding his body hanging from the rafters of his quarters. The sight had hit me in the gut and haunted me to this day, along with the contents of the letter he’d left me.
After pulling his body down, I’d found it in his pocket with my name on it. I’d known he was becoming increasingly distracted, but I’d had no idea that such a sickness had overcome him.
The contents of the letter were still emblazoned on my mind. He’d begged me not to make his mistake—not to fall for my mate the way he had and lose his way. Then he’d begged me to fix it. To bring the younger wolves back into the fold.
After my father’s terrible last years as alpha, the City Pack was now stronger than ours. We were at risk of losing everything.
I couldn’t be distracted by a woman. Especially not my mate.
“So, you’ve been roped in to solving the pack’s problems.” Though the sadness on her face had faded, I could still hear it in her voice.
“I’m fine, Kate. I trained my whole life for this. I want to be alpha.” I’d hoped I’d have more time in the human military—I enjoyed the time away from pack politics and my enlistment was a way to honor my human mother—but I’d always known I’d come home to serve as alpha of the Olympia Pack.
“And you’re a good one. But I don’t think you really need to give up your shot at love.”
“I can’t risk it—not after what happened to my father.” I’d die before I let the pack down. Before I broke my promise to my father’s memory. “Will you help me?”
“What exactly do you want to do to her?”
“I want her to forget that I exist.”
“So, she knows you’re her mate?”
“I think not, since she isn’t a wolf. She doesn’t have our sense of smell. But she is interested in me for some reason.”
“Not a wolf?” Surprise sounded in her voice.
“Another reason I can’t be with her.” My father’s mate was a mountain lion and look where it got us. I don’t know what kind of magic she has, but I can’t afford to trust her.”
“You need to start trusting those outside the pack,” she said. “You’ve been too reclusive.”
“I’m not here for therapy. Will you help me, or will you leave?”
Her jaw dropped slightly. “Are you threatening to evict me?”