Chapter One
Beau stood at his home office window, his eyes scanning the landscape and his nose damned near pressed against the glass, searching for her. Lucy. His Lucy. Tuning out the racket of the growing argument behind him, the alpha bear focused on the sensual images running through his mind.
The gentle sway of her rounded hips filling out her jeans to utter perfection made his hands itch with the need to touch. The way she tossed her golden curls over her shoulder as she sat on top of a galloping stallion, made his fingers tingle to once again feel their silky softness. The unforgettably adorable way her nose crinkled, and her eyes sparkled when she laughed at one of his dumb jokes made his heart soar. Lucy Benton was nothing short of amazing, and he sounded like he was a poet.
Like a clip from his favorite movie playing on a never-ending loop, the images flipped from sexy woman to alluring white wolf. Fuck, she was beauty and perfection rolled into one. Just like it was happening for the first time; he was once again held captive as she expertly ascended the ridge to her favorite ledge jutting from the side of Mt. Legend.
Enthralled with her graceful moves, the way she threw back her head and howled with such wild abandon, everything about her called to his bear as none other ever had. She was poetry in motion. Every single thing about her spoke to his heart and soul. And she was his. Only his. He really needed to stop thinking so poetically in his head. He was bound to screw up and talk like that in front of someone else.
She was always on his mind, the attraction, the need kept growing within him. Every time their eyes met, he was mesmerized. It was like a punch to the gut that stole his breath and stopped the beat of his heart in the best possible way. Wonderfully lost in her gaze, he fell deeper and deeper in love with no desire to ever escape. And cue the sappy romantic music, even if only in his head.
He wanted her, needed her…had to have her. Sure, he’d tried to push back the insatiable desire to claim her. Boy, had he tried. He’d tried to bury the longing to mark her as his own by staying away and only admiring her from afar. But it was pointless. They were meant to be together. There would never be another female for him. He would make her his…no matter the cost. His bear wouldn’t allow for him to do anything else. They had waited too long as it was.
And he knew she felt it, too. There was no doubt about it. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, Lucy Benton wanted him just as much as he wanted her.
How many times had he come to a screeching halt in front of the enormous iron gates leading to her family’s ranch? He’d practiced precisely what he’d say to her father so many times that the words were tattooed on his heart. Not that he expected her father to ever agree; there was no way he was going to allow a bear to court his precious purebred wolf. Even if he didn’t treat her well.
No doubt, it was an antiquated notion to approach her father before talking to her. But that was just the way of things in old shifter families. And there were very few as old and long-standing as the Bentons and the Sampsons.
It was no secret how set in his ways Lucy’s dad was. The stories of the lengths Cleland Benton would go to preserve the old ways, to keep his wolves “pure,” were infamous.
Hell, a few years back and entirely unbeknownst to the alpha wolf, Beau had helped one of Pack Benton’s omegas relocate. It wasn’t the lupine’s fault that he fell in love with a female cougar, or that Cleland had denied the union.
The heart wanted what the heart wanted, and that was all there was to it. Nobody understood better than Beau. Being away from the one meant to be his was agonizing. Beau laughed at himself, he was turning into a damn good poet.
Cleland was 0lder than dirt and dumber than shit. Had the alpha never heard of fated mates? Didn’t he wonder why his numbers were dwindling? Couldn’t he put two and two together? See all the unmated wolves within his pack? Let nature take its course?
Apparently not...
It was a known fact that Cleland found his fated mate when they were both incredibly young. Boasted about how destiny had smiled upon him. Was proud to tell anyone who would listen that she was from a long line of respectable Luna wolves.
Goddess knew, Beau’s dad laughed about the way the old wolf had strutted around like a peacock many, many times over the years. He’d even mimicked Cleland, making his deep voice higher and reedier as he touted on and on about how Lucy’s mom was lupine, and bloodlines should never be mixed.
Every leader of every shifter group had an opinion about the old wolf, and none were favorable. They were very vocal…when he wasn’t around. They absolutely did not agree with Cleland’s ways, but they weren’t prepared to piss him off either. Nope, that chore had always fallen to Beau’s dad, Nick, and sadly, the old bear wasn’t around anymore.
Cleland Benton was a cruel, heartless son of a bitch. He wasn’t above deceit, bribery, and good old-fashioned intimidation to get what he wanted. Every month, Beau’s dad would return from the shifter council meeting with stories of the old alpha’s latest act of treachery to get what he wanted.
The worst came at the expense of the local mountain lion pride, and to this day, Beau was sure it was what led to the death of his parents. Daring to vote against the expansion of Pack Benton lands into their own, the lion king stood up to Cleland in front of the entire council. Then called the alpha out for the medieval way in which he governed his wolves.
The meeting had gone from bad to worse when the lion prince announced that no feline prides would be doing business with any companies in which Cleland so much as owned a single share. Trying to be the voice of reason, Nick Sampson attempted to mediate the quickly unraveling situation, focusing only on the transfer of lands.
Chapter Two
Watching his father expertly defend both sides while trying to make Cleland see the error of his ways, Beau couldn’t have been prouder. The meeting went on for hours, with neither the old alpha nor the lion king giving an inch, and every other leader in the room growing more uneasy.
The acrid scent of worry and rage filled the room. The council was divided straight down the middle with an overriding fear coming from those supporting Cleland. Looking into the eyes of the men he’d always admired, the men his father called friends, Beau saw their frustration, felt their unmitigated defeat.
They’d been figuratively neutered by the ruthless alpha. He’d collected their secrets like a squirrel hoarded nuts and was holding the damaging information over the once powerful leaders like the blade of a guillotine. Cleland had spies everywhere and was willing to use the tawdry details to get what he wanted.
Some of the most powerful, influential shifters in the Pacific Northwest were the old wolf’s puppets. They wanted to speak up. They knew what was happening was wrong. Beau could see it in their eyes, feel the need coming off them in waves, but they were caught in a web of their own making. They couldn’t do or say anything against Cleland without risking everything they held dear.
It was an unwinnable situation, but Nick refused to give up, and Beau couldn’t let his dad fight alone. Reading his father’s thoughts, the younger bear jumped to his feet, and pretending not to understand, made a show of acting naïve as he asked, “Alpha Benton, I know this is not my place, and please excuse my ignorance, but I so want to be a part of the council someday, and I think I might have a solution.”