Page 1 of Make Me

CHAPTER ONE

BETHANY

Age 20.

Late summer/early fall

After battle in Beyond Her Sight

“Bethany.”

She still wasn’t used to seeing Claire’s sightless eyes. Even though she hadn’t had her sight very long, Claire’s eyes had deepened into a sky blue over the last few months. Now they were so pale, you could hardly tell they were blue at all.

“Yes?”

Bethany was headed back to the pride lands. To say the last few weeks had been a lot was an understatement. Especially when she was navigating the two added complications that waited for her twenty yards away. She waved Cody and Zack towards the portal on the Fae lands and headed back towards Claire.

She would rather have started tracking the escaped prisoners right away, but her mom would have kittens if she just disappeared after the battle. Instead, they were going to rely on their new “Ambassadors” titles to get their parents to not cause a huge fuss. Well, Alpha Bryson, Cody’s father, probably wouldn’t throw a huge fuss, but Bethany’s mom was not going to like it. Especially because she would be traveling with Cody and Zack.

She bit back a growl of frustration. She glanced over her shoulder to see that the guys hadn’t moved. She should have never had sex with them. Sex always complicated things. Well, not always, but sex with her fated shifter mate and the wizard her lioness couldn’t get enough of definitely complicated things. She had fought the mate pull for years. Keeping her lioness in check hadn’t been easy, but it had been necessary. Giving into a physical relationship without mating them had the pull intensifying instead of easing like Bethany had expected. And she had only given in a couple of times.

When she had turned eighteen and her lioness had demanded Cody was her mate, Bethany had run to her mom for help. Intermixed matings were not only frowned upon, but they were also rare. Instead of help, though, her mom forbade her from telling Cody they were mates, insisting that the pride and the Realm would never accept it. And she hadn’t been wrong. Intermixed matings weren’t just frowned on by the Realm. After the Great War, they were forbidden as the wr had called every loyalty into question.

Not that it was worth it, in Bethany’s opinion. As she and her friends had discovered, the Great War was built on lies. How many other things had they taken for granted? So many things they thought were true were built on lies. It didn’t really matter, though. The Realm was set in their ways, and her mates were firmly out of her reach. Both men were way too attractive for their own good. But she had succumbed to the pull this summer at the Summer Solstice celebration at Brandlevine in the only way she could let herself. Then again at the Dragon Mountains. Then again at the Fae Lands while they waited for Claire to go through the Traditio.

Okay, so she had given in a lot.

But it had to end now. All she was doing was setting them up for heartbreak later. Her pride would never accept a non-shifter mate, let alone a wolf shifter mate. Cats were a bunch of elitist snobs. Instead, Bethany was getting pressure to take a consort, or an arranged partner, before she took over the pride. But she wasn’t ready to let them go just yet. Maybe that’s why she had volunteered the three of them to go find the escaped prisoners.

“Bethany.” Claire’s voice was amused.

Bethany blushed. She had been lost in thought, staring at Cody and Zack. In her defense, it had been a busy few weeks. They had gone with Claire to the Fae lands to look for more information about her father and discover the clues her mother had left her. During which, Roland and Vanya and the rest of their traitorous followers attacked the Fae barrier, searching for the last ingredient to build their ultimate weapon, which turned out to be Claire.

“Sorry.” Bethany whipped around. “Was just thinking about the escaped prisoners.”

Claire hummed, not convinced. Her light blue eyes seemed amused, even if she couldn’t see out of them. Claire had sacrificed her sight to defeat the traitors and had only woken up a few days ago before the Fae had sent word that her father was wakening.

“What can I do for you, Queenie?” Bethany teased, trying to get Claire’s mind off it. She hated hiding things from her friends, but what was left to say?

“Stop that.” Claire rolled her eyes. “You know I hate that title.”

“I know. I hate to tell you this, but it’s inevitable.”

Claire was already Queen of the Elves and Fae, but in the aftermath of the battle and the destruction of the Council, Bethany had heard rumblings that she should become Queen of the Realm. Something that Claire was going to hate for sure, but that would be why she would be the best person for the job.

“The Realm is changing,” Claire mused. “In more ways than one.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you insist on calling me Queenie, then I feel like it’s my duty to tell you that if you want to choose Cody and Zack, I would support you.”

Fuck.

Bethany didn’t intentionally hide it from her friends, but she’d also tried not to broadcast it. “I don’t know what you mean. Choose them for my team?”

Claire smacked her arm with an amazing degree of accuracy for a blind person. “Don’t play dumb,” she chided. “I’ve let you avoid the subject way too long. I know you feel things for them. I also know about your pride and the way they look at things. I’m saying that if you want them, choose them. We’ll back your decision and support you either way. You would have my blessing.”

Bethany’s heart warmed. She didn’t know what she would do without her friends. “I appreciate that, but you know how the pride is. You need unity among the groups if you’re going to rule.”

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