Page 2 of Bonded Beyond Trickery

Which is exactly what I did. The only thing I could do to try and lessen the strain of not being with my mate was not ask questions about Whitaker or the Silver Howler Pack. I have no idea if he now has a Luna at his side.

Even though the thought is crushing, I understand that there are consequences for the choices I’ve made.

“He may hate us,”my wolf points out with all the delicacy of an anvil.

All I can do is mentally sigh in return and agree with her,“You’re right. It’s possible he’ll hate us.”

“And not just for hiding who we are from him,”she pushes against my mind.“We never even gave him a chance to be what we needed him to be. The Goddess doesn’t make mistakes, but you assumed a lot about who our mate is and what he would demand of us.”

“Don’t act like you hadn’t seen it happen time and time again,”I spit at her, anger taking hold because she’s right. But she’s forgotten that I didn’t make my decision without her input or her acceptance.“How many times did we see she-wolves go off to their mate’s pack, leaving behind everything they had known? Leaving behind their families? Their friends? They left to devote their lives to their mate. I wanted more. We,”I stress the word to remind her that it wasn’t just me,“wanted more. We’ll be a stronger Luna now. We have a degree. We can help our pack and be more effective because of the time we took for ourselves while gaining our education.”

She chuffs out a breath, which I know is all I’m going to get from her.

Arguing with your wolf isn’t easy. We share one body but are two separate entities. Most of the time, we’re on the same page, which makes any dissent between us feel that much bigger.

I know there will be further consequences for the decisions I’ve made. Honestly, when I went to the witch with my request and even when I drank the potion, I had no idea that I wouldmeet my mate so soon after. I wasn’t prepared for it and hadn’t even considered the possibility.

By then it was too late. I had set upon a path and felt like I needed to follow through so at least my plan, and whatever would happen because of my choices, wouldn’t be for nothing.

The thought that Whitaker didn’t wait for me is a heavy weight on my chest.

Not only could he have chosen a mate and marked her, but he could have been with countless she-wolves in the last five years.

The thought of meeting him again, especially now that I’ve taken the antidote for the spell and he’ll be able to scent me, fills me with fear. I have no idea how he’ll react, but I can’t imagine it’ll be good.

Alphas are prideful, after all.

Then, if we can get past the hurdle, what fresh hell will await me at the Silver Howler Pack? How many she-wolves will think they have some claim on my mate? How many will think I don’t deserve their Alpha?

I swallow hard, trying to dislodge the lump in my throat.

Remembering the difficulties and jealous she-wolves my best friend, Elodie, faced here in Golden Summit when she met Crew makes me grimace. He didn’t wait for his mate and had lost hope of finding her long before I was finally able to convince Elodie to come home with me for Spring Break.

Maybe I should have pushed harder because I knew, something in me kept telling me, that I needed to get her to Golden Summit. It was an invisible thread that just kept tugging at my chest. Honestly, it was like that from the moment I metElodie, and the fact that realizing she was human didn’t make the feeling any less real.

I should have realized that she meant something more to me than my best friend, that she meant more to the pack than I was willing to realize. We were fast friends, but we were always meant to be sisters.

“What has you thinking so hard?”

My head jerks up toward the entrance to the packhouse from the back porch where I’ve been holed up to ruminate on all my problems. Elodie is standing there with a big grin on her face, but there’s concern in her eyes.

How did I not realize that she’s my Luna, my pack’s Luna, sooner? I should have.

I was always soothed around her, which is exactly what a Luna is supposed to make you feel. I felt whole and understood, even when I couldn’t lay all my problems at her feet. I guess I could have tried, but until she was let in on the whole werewolf thing, there were a lot of secrets between us.

Not that those secrets mattered much in the end.

She was always supposed to be part of this world. It was written in the stars and fate put me on a path to find her for my brother.

He hasn’t thanked me for that yet.

I smile at her and tell her most of the truth. “I was just thinking that Crew owes me a huge thank you.”

Elodie arches an eyebrow as she comes and sits next to me on the porch swing. It’s larger than a normal one, more like a porchlounger that happens to swing, but it’s one of my favorite places in the pack. “Oh? Why is that?”

I pout at my best friend, my sister. “You don’t think he owes me a thank you just for being me?”

Her laughter floats around us before she waves her hand dismissively. “Well, obviously for that. Though,” she taps her chin like she’s thinking, “I’ve heard about some of the pranks you pulled on him growing up so I’m not sure.”

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