Page 7 of Her Cold Brute

“No, he’ll just follow and when he finds you…” Dad stops, his tone making me shake further. “He won’t hurt you honey but the rest of us wouldn’t fare so well.”

“I don’t understand,” I state looking between my parents.

“He’s your mate, Mora,” Mom says, and I shake my head not believing it for a second, not wanting it either.

“No, no he’s not.”

“Look at your leg, honey,” Dad says, drawing my attention down to it finally. It’s not bleeding any longer, there’s not even a mark on it, bringing my eyes back up to his in question. “Only a parent—shiften blood parent, or mate can heal someone, especially someone hurt as badly as you were. I was suspicious when he didn’t take the final blow after you called out and his fixation on you, but when I saw your leg after he bathed it, I knew. You’re his mate, honey, but the fear flowing through you is likely keeping you from feeling it in return.”

“You can’t be serious. You’re actually going to let her go to that…that…”

“Block of monstrous ice,” Sammy finished for Ryan bringing my attention over to them in further wonder.

“You know him?” I ask, studying their faces. All of them beyond Mom seems aware of something and I want, or perhaps rather, need to know what.

“I’m sure he’ll be different with you, Mora. You’re his mate, it makes a difference,” Dad says, but that’s not at all comforting.

“Different from what?” I ask, repeating it when they don’t speak. “Different from what? Who is he?”

“Cole Arthurian, alpha of the Glacial Mount Pack,” Dad finally answers, making my breath stall entirely in my chest.

“Glacial Mount? As in the pack that lives in the coldest part of the Alaskan mountains and has killed everyone they’ve come across that doesn’t follow his rule?” I thought it was stupid to have a class that was only about the other packs and current events. It seemed absolutely pointless for me to participate in it because I wasn’t one of them really and now…now, I desperately wish I knew nothing about the monster that thinks he owns me.

“Yes,” Dad says, a grimace on his face. “This isn’t the match we hoped for you to find, but it is the one we have to face. We should be thankful that he’s accepting of the match, there are plenty of others in his position that would reject a human mate. That he’s willing to accept it, is already possessive and protective over you, means that he abides by the Mother’s beliefs.”

“No. I won’t do it,” I state, trying to get up, get away from them, from all of this.

“I know it’s scary, and you may not feel it right now, but sweetie,” Mom says, turning me to

face her. “You do not want to give up your true mate. The connection you’ll feel with him is beyond anything you could possibly find with someone else, even a human. There will be a hole that you’ll never be able to fill if you turn your back on him.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want a mate, especially not some absolute brute like him,” I argue.

“I don’t think he’s going to accept a rejection, honey,” Dad warns. “If you try to leave, he will follow. From what I know of him, you won’t be able to hide anywhere. He will find you and push for you to accept his claim.”

“You’re honestly telling me I have no say in this? That even though I don’t want this, I have to?” I ask them, amazed they’d begin to make me do something this insane with a man of his reputation.

“You will want it, sweetie, if you just give it a chance. The Mother creates matches that will please both sides beyond your wildest imagination,” Mom says gently, but I can’t do it. I won’t.

“No…why would he even want me? I’d be nothing but a liability to someone like him,” I counter, hoping to get them on my side, help me get away from him, from all of this.

“The Mother knows what she’s doing when she creates matches. It may not make sense on paper, but soon it will, Mora,” Dad states and I bury my face in my hands. “Right now, just rest. Your mom will pack you some things. We’ll bring the rest with us. Sammy, I want you to go with them. Whether he likes it or not, we’re all coming but it will take us some time to get everything packed up. I want someone with your sister to keep an eye on the rest of his pack until we can get there. I may not have fears that he’ll harm her, but I don’t trust the rest of his pack.”

“Does he know we’re all going to be joining him?” Mom asks, stopping at the doorway with Sammy.

“Not yet, but if he wants Mora as his mate, then he’s going to have to accept us all. I will not let her be that far away from us. Not ever,” Dad says, hugging me as they leave the space, pulling a sigh from me.

“Look on the bright side, Sis,” Denny says with a chuckle. “At least you’ll never be hurt again. Pretty sure he’d kill anyone if they tried to come after you. I mean hell, he was ready to kill Sammy and Ryan before he knew we were your brothers.”

“Plus, he did take out the alpha scum,” Henry adds, and a shudder runs through me recalling the savagery that entailed. I’m not sad that Mark and Tyler are both dead. They deserved to die, but I can’t begin to imagine what that monster will do to me if he learns the truth of why I wouldn’t go near the packhouse.

There will be no hiding it if he gets close enough to…god I can’t even think of that happening with him. With anyone really, but especially someone as cold as he is.

I wanted out of this life. Away from shifters that let their emotions lead them. Let their wildness lead them. I did not agree to become some ice-cold brute’s mate. I will never agree to that, want that.

I want to go back to the morning of graduation and never attend it, never have that attack happen, landing me here still. If I wasn’t here, then that monster couldn’t have found me today. He’d have taken out the scum still most likely, but I wouldn’t have been caught up in this insanity if I weren’t here.

Then he’d have moved onto Dad and the boys.

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